Yes, Seattle!
Take a Vacation to Seattle this Winter
Ready to try something new this winter? Seattle’s ready for you! Beautiful by nature with its Puget Sound setting, surrounding mountains, and nearby national parks, winter in Seattle can be a magical and festive time. The season also brings more affordable rates. Check out new places like Waterfront Park and Overlook Walk, visit classic favorites like the Space Needle, and sink into a hot tub that’s also a boat! Seattle is where urban adventures meet creative verve, with a food and drink culture of award-winning fare and fusions—from “Gin Alley” to one of the world’s best new restaurants. Warm up to Seattle this winter.
Floating Hot Tubs
Some like it hot, and that suits Seattle’s Hot Tub Boats just fine. This do-it-yourself luxury excursion is James Bond style. Sink into a floating oasis—warmed to 104 degrees—then navigate the lovely Lake Union waters, cruising past the city’s skyline. Bring your favorite people and play your favorite tunes using the boat’s Bluetooth. Stock the cooler with food and beverages for an excursion to warm everyone’s spirits.
Hot Tub photos courtesy of Hot Tub Boats.
Park It Here
Meet Seattle’s new Waterfront Park, an expansive public park with a plaza, playground, and plenty of green space. Oh, and banner views of the iconic Olympic Mountains and of Mount Rainier, rising in the south. The design ingenuity here not only benefits people, it helps marine life too. This includes improved waterways for salmon thanks to a smart pier design allowing nature’s light to filter more easily into the water. This helps plant life grow, thereby providing a healthy food source for the fish.
Stroll to Seattle’s famed Pike Place Market on the Overlook Walk—a scenic connector from the waterfront to the city’s thriving core with terraced gardens, play areas, and places to eat.
Waterfront Park photos by David Newman / Visit Seattle.
Space Out
It’s famous for a reason. The 605-foot-high Space Needle is a celebrity of the urban skyline. Wheelchair accessible and family-friendly, this Seattle landmark built for the World’s Fair (1962) has an observation tower and rotating restaurant with round-the-compass views of downtown, Puget Sound, and the Olympic and Cascade Mountains, including Mount Rainier.
Combine your visit to the Space Needle with the nearby Chihuly Garden and Glass. See the exhibit of intricate and impressive glass sculptures and works by artist Dale Chihuly. Visit the Glasshouse and stroll the seasonally changing Garden.
Space Needle photo by @ppoppo2 / Visit Seattle; Chihuly Garden photos courtesy of Visit Seattle.
Culture Club
Whether you want to splurge a little on a musical or revel in finding stylish vintage clothing at a bargain, Seattle’s never short on theater, music, and the art of thrifting.
Of paramount prominence in Seattle is Paramount Theatre. Take in a music or comedy show at this historic live performance venue. Get tickets to hit musicals like the currently touring “Wicked.”
Love a good deal? Find one and have fun at Seattle’s Fremont Vintage Mall. Explore this basement antiques spot filled with vintage clothing, accessories, décor, and other home goods.
The Triple Door is another stylish music, comedy, and burlesque show venue with tables for enjoying Thai food from the adjacent Wild Ginger restaurant. Its location next to the light rail station makes transportation easy, too.
Independent bookstores have long been popular destinations for travelers when visiting world-class cities, and Seattle is no exception in its luminescent literary offerings. Left Bank Books in Pike Place Market specializes in collections offering diversity in perspectives. Elliott Bay Book Company offers 22,000 feet of reading nirvana within the historic Globe Building.
Triple Door photo courtesy of Triple Door; Elliott Bay Book photos by Ben Lindbloom.
Welcome to the Laser Dome
Science is so cool, especially when you visit Seattle’s incredible (and incredibly popular) Pacific Science Center. Your ticket includes daytime laser and planetarium shows. While you’re there, check out the latest IMAX movie or documentary. The Center has different science exhibits throughout the year, a tropical butterfly house, and special event light shows curated and presented by a guest DJ monthly at the Laser Dome.
Located on the University of Washington campus, the Burke Museum is all about dinosaurs and fossils, plants, animals, and Northwest Native Art. Active workspaces and activity alcoves enhance the interactivity here as you explore multiple floors of exhibits, galleries, and workspaces.
The Seattle Asian Art Museum, lushly located in Volunteer Park in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, features Asian art set in a 1930s art deco building. It has sister museums as part of a collective: Seattle Art Museum near Pike Place Market and, a mile north, Olympic Sculpture Park has sculptures across nine acres of Seattle’s waterfront—with beautiful views of the Salish Sea.
BONUS: February is Seattle Museum Month. Stay at a participating hotel and get a museum guest pass for up to four people to receive half off the price of admission.
Pacific Science Center photo by Rachel Jones / Visit Seattle; Burke Museum photos by Rachel Ormiston; Seattle Asian Art Museum photo courtesy of Seattle Asian Art Museum / Visit Seattle.
Bean Dreams, Craft Brews, and Bathtub Gin
The city may be home to the first Starbucks but after you’ve “bean there” at Pike Place Market, go beyond to sip and savor artisan coffees from Hello Em Việt Coffee & Roastery and Vita at KEXP—yep, this café is located in the headquarters of one of the country’s top radio stations … coffee while listening to the radio, recording studio in full view … how very contempo-retro!
What’s behind this wooden door in an alley? Why, Bathtub Gin & Co., a cocktail bar located in the former basement boiler room of the historic Humphrey Building. Enjoy drinks inspired by the Prohibition era. “Enter through the alley, look for the wooden door.”
Ever had a plant-based cocktail? Then give Life on Mars a try—where non-alcohol and full spirited drinks are as innovative as the vegan food menu. The venue is cool too, with a 6,000 vinyl record wall. There’s also an outdoor covered patio (considered a top bar in town for date night).
Representation, access, excellence, and collaboration all have a seat at Métier Brewing Company (MBC) in Seattle. Black-owned and committed to women in business, art, and the BIPOC community, Métier is brewing good vibes and inclusivity along with damn good beer, including a no-alcohol option brewed with Chinook hops. Bike, walk, or Uber on over to their flagship tap room on Cherry Street.
A beer hall with social bench tables that’s kid-friendly, dog-friendly, and of course—brew-friendly! Go hang out in the beautiful beer garden at Seattle’s Fremont Brewing. Family-owned and committed to the community and sustainability, the beer’s really great, too. Their Cowiche Canyon Fresh Hop Ale made from organic hops won Bronze at 2024 Best of Craft Beer Awards.
Acclaimed chef Kristi Brown has a saying: “Everybody’s Gotta Eat!” Which is one of the many reasons you should eat at her restaurant, Communion. Along with co-owner and GM Damon Bomar, this dynamic pair has created a dining spot that can’t stop earning accolades! Condé Nast magazine named Communion among the 12 best new restaurants in the world. And of course, Seattleites know how good this place is… You do too, now.
Small and cozy is the way Homer restaurant is described physically, but this place has a big heart, and plate sizes! Located in Beacon Hill, Homer is known for the Family Feast, a multi-course menu to share around the table. Owners Sara Knowles and Logan Cox named their neighborhood restaurant after their dog, and their Alaska travels. Events they host include fundraising dinners for places like Dog Gone Seattle, a nonprofit that saves dogs.
There’s From Farm to Table and then there’s From Tide to Table, which is what you get with Taylor Shellfish Farms. They’ve been committed to sustainable local shellfish since the 1890s. Feast on their Pacific Northwest catches at Seattle’s Queen Anne Oyster Bar, Pioneer Square Oyster Bar, and Capitol Hill Oyster Bar.
Keep it casual and international with real Vietnamese cuisine, including favorites like Pho in Beef, at the vibrant yet unfussy restaurant, Phở Bắc. Whether you go for the grilled pork with rice or the meatball pho, be prepared for lots of other enthusiastic eaters because this Phở Bắc is beloved.
This one’s for all the noodles! Make that Biang Biang Noodles. Handmade is how it is at this delicious spot with a menu so fun and tasty it’s going to be hard to settle on just one dish. Spicy chicken, spicy beef, cumin lamb—just a few of the flavor-filled soups with hand-pulled noodles. Pair it with a Chinese Mai Tai, or a Drunken Thai Iced Tea, or a pineapple juice! Paper Fan Cocktail Bar is located in Biang Biang too, so you can get adventurous with an Oolong Highball or Lychee Blossom tea–infused cocktail.
Bathtub Gin photo courtesy of Bathtub Gin; Homer photo courtesy of Homer; Phở Bắc photo courtesy of Phở Bắc; Hello Em Việt Coffee photo courtesy of Hello Em Việt Coffee.
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