Natalie & Vince’s Great Guide to Seattle
PIKE PLACE MARKET
THINGS TO DO:
Wander the many levels of Pike Place Market, shop the stalls, watch the fish throwers, take in the views, and walk the beautiful new stairs to the Seattle Waterfront.
GREAT SPOTS:
Ghost Alley Espresso - Grungy coffee window, you’ll love it! (Daytime)
The Athenian - a classic fisherman’s spot. If you are sans kids, skip the restaurant and walk straight to their bar in the back. Food is fine, but the beers come in frosty mugs!! (Daytime)
Cafe Campagne - French NW cuisine. Hosts a great brunch. (Daytime)
Emmett Watson’s Oyster Bar – The cheapest, freshest oysters in the market and great fish and chips. Tucked behind the original Starbucks—you’ll need your exploring hat to find it. (Daytime)
Place Pigalle – A historic restaurant serving PNW-French cuisine. It can be hard to find, but it’s well worth the effort. Try to snag a table on their petite patio and watch the ferries cruise in with clams and cocktails. (Daytime & Evening)
Copacabana – This Peruvian-inspired restaurant sits on a huge deck with colorful umbrellas overlooking the market. It’s a great place to grab a quick drink and take in the hustle and bustle. (Daytime)
Old Stove Brewing – An epic patio overlooking the water. Amazing at sunset. On a nice day it’s slammed, but if you have hawk eyes you can swoop in on a good table. (Daytime)
Il Bistro – Word is Eddie Vedder hangs out here. It’s a moody Italian restaurant and bar with a great late-night happy hour. On Thursday nights, they host live jazz! (Evening)
WHAT TO SKIP:
The Original Starbucks - Long line and it looks like every other Starbucks - Sub Ghost Alley Espresso
Piroshky Piroshky - Long line, overrated, and likely to give you gut rot.. SKIP!
Pike Place Chowder - Another very long line. You can get chowder everywhere, and honestly… why are you eating chowder in the middle of summer?? - Sub Emmett Watson’s Oyster Bar or The Athenian
THE SEATTLE WATERFRONT
THINGS TO DO:
Walk along the waterfront from Molly Moon’s Ice Cream and the Ferry Terminal on one end to the SAM Sculpture Park on the other.
Hike up the new Seattle Waterfront stairs to Pike Place Market
Check out the Seattle Aquarium.
Wander through the SAM Sculpture Park, soak in the views, then follow the path along Elliott Bay through Myrtle Edwards Park to the beach at Expedia’s headquarters. It’s a great path for rental bikes or Lime scooters.
Take the ferry to Bainbridge Island – It costs less than $10 and takes about 20 minutes. Ferries run every 30 minutes and drop you in the cute, bougie town of Bainbridge with lots of shops and restaurants. You’ll feel like a yokle!
GREAT RESTURANTS:
Six Seven at The Edgewater Hotel - Restaurant and Bar directly on the water, check! Floor-to-ceiling windows and a great deck hovering feet over the water, check! Some of the best seafood in Seattle, check! Killer brunch, check! Awesome happy hour, check! Best spot for dinner and a sunset, you bet!! - It’s Natalie and Vince’s favorite spot. (Anytime)
Ivar’s Acres of Clams – A classic Northwest fish-and-chips restaurant. Sit in the restaurant or grab takeout from the Fish Bar and picnic by the water. Yes, it’s touristy, but it is great for kids! (Daytime)
Elliott’s Oyster House – Classic Northwest fare. Perfect for grabbing a bite while waiting for the Bainbridge ferry. (Daytime)
WHAT TO SKIP:
The Crab Pot - Sub Ivar’s Acres of Clams
Anthony’s Pier 66 - Sub the Six Seven at The Edgewater or Elliot’s Oyster House
Any touristy t-shirt shop - Sub Pike St Press
THE SEATTLE CENTER / LOWER QUEEN ANNE
Seattle Center was built for the 1962 World’s Fair. It includes the Space Needle, McCaw Hall (Opera & Ballet), Frank Gehry’s MoPop, and Climate Pledge Arena, home to the Seattle Kraken (NHL) and Seattle Storm (WNBA). It also hosts lots of family-friendly attractions, including the Pacific Science Center and the Seattle Children’s Museum. There’s almost always something happening at the Center—cultural festivals, music festivals, and community events.
THINGS TO DO:
Take the elevator to the top of the recently renovated Space Needle for epic 360-degree views of Seattle. Don’t worry, there are snacks and drinks at the top.
Visit the Chihuly Glass Museum - A quick, easy museum with very engaging blown-glass exhibits.
Grab a coffee at KEXP and sift through vinyl. KEXP 90.3 is our local radio station, and they are mega-famous in the indie music scene. If you're lucky, you might catch a live in-studio performance.
Hang out at the International Fountain and watch people run through it. Better yet, let your kids run through the fountain. The fountain is mesmerizing and synchronized to music!
Check out MoPop (Museum of Pop Culture) - Designed by Frank Gehry to house Paul Allen’s collection of vintage guitars, the building is meant to resemble a smashed guitar. It’s a large museum and not everyone’s thing, but it does have interactive, kid-friendly exhibits, including an indie video game exhibit and the Sound Lab.
Walk through the Armory and take the Monorail to downtown. It’s a fun ride flying above the traffic with great city views. It’s a quick one-stop ride, and you don’t even have to get off, the train just heads back to the Seattle Center.
Teens and young adults can catch a show at The Vera Project.
GREAT SPOTS:
Cafe Vita at KEXP - Great spot for coffee!
Coba - Vietnamese restaurant with great pho and a killer bánh mì. (Natalie’s favorite sandwich.)
Mecca Cafe - Old-school grungy diner and bar with a great brunch. If you don’t have kids, sit at the bar in the side room.
Streamline Tavern - Best dive bar in Seattle. Wrap around bar, pinball machine, pool table, and Tex-Mex tacos, need I say more?
Dick’s Drive In - Our local fast-food burger chain. Think In-N-Out, except the burgers aren’t dry. Open until 2 am and absolutely slammed late at night.
WHAT TO SKIP:
Toulouse Petite - An overrated tourist spot. Seattle is about as far from New Orleans as you can get in the continental U.S., and Creole cuisine isn’t our specialty. Also, a few years back they had a pretty bad food safety rating. Skip!!
BALLARD
THINGS TO DO:
Ballard is full of boutique shops, restaurants, and music venues. Ballard Avenue is a great place to shop, eat, and wander.
Visit the Filson store. C. C. Filson famously outfitted prospectors heading to Alaska for the Klondike Gold Rush. They are the kings of outdoor apparel. While this store may be small, it offers a serious selection of wool flannel.
On Sundays, Ballard Ave hosts the huge Ballard Farmers Market! - Not to be missed!
Just down the road are the Ballard Locks, connecting the saltwater of Puget Sound to the freshwater of Lake Union. Boats are lowered about 25 feet to enter Lake Union. There’s also a salmon ladder, and you can walk across the locks to Magnolia. It is very cool!
GREAT SPOTS:
You can’t go wrong with any restaurant in Ballard… it’s a foodie area.
But our favorites are:
Gracia - Elevated Mexican. Their house-made tortillas are so good! (Daytime/Evening)
San Fermo - Farm to table Italian. They own the farm and own the table. Fancy and very, very tasty. (Evening)
THE BALLARD SIDE TRIP, SHILSHOLE!
Golden Gardens - Beautiful northwest “sandy” beach overlooking the Puget Sound. Great for a bonfire.
Ray’s Boathouse - THE classic PNW cuisine with great crab cakes. Skip the fancy dining room and head upstairs to the café for sunset views. A local’s spot.. shh don’t tell!
LAKE UNION
THINGS TO DO:
Rent kayaks at Agua Verde, paddle to Gas Works Park, weave through the houseboats, and explore the waters of Lake Union. There are lots of places where you can paddle up and grab a bite.
**Skip the paddleboards. They look cool, but you can’t get very far on them.
Check out Gas Works Park (where they filmed 10 Things I Hate About You - a real Seattle love story).
Visit Lake Union Park and watch the seaplanes take off.
GREAT SPOTS:
Westward - PNW seafood tapas-style. A great stop if you’re canoeing on Lake Union.
Gasworks Brewing - Excellent sandwiches, great pit stop when you're on the lake.
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
THINGS TO DO:
Wander around the University of Washington campus. It’s beautiful, designed by the Olmsted Brothers, with a protected view corridor of Mount Rainier.
Must see sites: The Quad, Red Square, Drumheller Fountain, and Suzzallo Library.
The stadium sits on Lake Washington, where alumni dock their boats to tailgate during football games.