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How to visit Seattle without breaking the bank.
Sprawling urban centers like New York and Los Angeles might get all the fanfare, but there’s a reason Seattle remains a secret hiding in plain sight: locals don’t want everyone to know how great it is. It’s one of the few places you can get the best of breathtaking nature, world-renowned art, super fresh farm-to-table, quirky adventures, and a storied history at a fraction of the price of larger locales.
Yes, the Pacific Northwest gets its share of cloudy days and light rain, but it’s unanimously agreed that a light rain jacket will do you fine (and summers are known for being so sunny that you’ll actually want to load up on extra sunscreen). More so, travelers on a budget will be relieved to know that Seattle is packed with all sorts of exciting ways to soak up the city for free. Start your Seattle adventure with these free attractions, from taking in curated Mesoamerican, European, and contemporary works at the Seattle Art Museum and Frye Art Museum to getting lost among the flora and fauna at the Washington Park Arboretum and Discovery Park.
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Seattle Art Museum
Whether you’re a seasoned art fiend or an intrepid traveler who loves a good immersive Instagram experience, the collection at this world-class art museum is out of this world. A pillar of downtown Seattle since 1933, the Seattle Art Museum is home to a melange of over 23,000 objects, including renowned Italian masterpieces, modern manga watercolors, ancient Persian relics, and an exclusive collection of indigenous Pacific-Northwest American art. This is truly a “something for everyone” art museum that’s a safe bet to please the whole family or kill a few hours getting lost as a solo traveler. Doing it for free, however, requires a little planning: complimentary access is limited to the first Thursday of the month.
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Museum of Flight
Aviation nerds, welcome home. Those who are obsessed with soaring planes and fearless space cadets will have no shortage of jetliners and NASA shuttles to explore. Considered among the top aviation museums in the world, the Museum of Flight is where you can find over 175 historic air- and spacecraft exhibits on display, from pre–Wright Brothers biplane gliders, stunning replicas of beauty flyers, and single-seat fighter planes to NASA Space Shuttles, modern dreamliners, and going inside the original Air Force One. Not only can you see these behemoth crafts in person—you can live out your pilot dreams with immersive experiences like a Spacequest VR experience on the moon, shuttle and restoration tours, and climbing inside the cockpit of a SR-71A Blackbird reconnaissance plane or a F/A-18L Hornet fighter.
INSIDER TIPGet free access on the first Thursday of every month from 5 to 9 p.m.
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Frye Art Museum
Soak up daring contemporary art from late-19th- and early-20th-century local and international prolifics at this innovative art museum located in Seattle’s First Hill neighborhood. Frequently rotating exhibitions bring life to contemporary issues, where you can discover famous and emerging voices from notables like prolific fringe photographer Diane Arbus, emerging artists from the Studio Museum in Harlem, psychedelic computer-generated media works from Polish multimedia artist Agnieszka Polska, and geometric abstraction from the late Washington-based artist, Mary Henry.
INSIDER TIPAdmission is free, but so is education. Take a complimentary tour Tuesday through Sunday at 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.
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Coast Guard Museum
Seattle is the last frontier onto the Pacific Ocean, so make time to stretch those sea legs exploring its incredible shipping history—all free of charge. Nestled within the Seattle waterfront at Pier 36, the Coast Guard Museum is where you can discover over 15,000 photographs dating from the mid-1800s, the largest public collection of Coast Guard patches, historic memorabilia, vintage uniforms, and restored artillery. Smaller than most area museums and entirely volunteer-run, this is a great place to intimately connect with knowledgeable maritime enthusiasts for a unique look at local history (entirely free of charge, of course).
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Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park
America’s famous 19th-century gold rush is a period most commonly associated with the formation of California, but Seattle is actually considered its true gateway toward Alaska (where there is a sister Klondike Goldrush National Historical Park in the city of Skagway). Over 70,000 prospectors flooded the town before the turn of the 20th century, laying the framework for Seattle’s shipping and industrial revolution. This two-story, self-guided museum situated just off the bustling Pioneer Square gives an in-depth look at this unique Pacific-Northwest American slice of history. As a National Park Service attraction, the museum offers free admission year-round and is staffed by friendly park rangers who can provide fascinating tidbits and help young adventurers working toward their junior ranger badge.
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Washington Park Arboretum
Get lost in over 230 acres and 10,000 native plants at Seattle’s premier oasis for flora and fauna fanatics. Explore gardens brimming with indigenous plants, shoreline marshes and wetlands, paved woodlands, flowering cherries and dogwoods, plus one of the largest Japanese maple collections in North America. On their year-round self-guided tours, you can spot wildlife with seasoned birders and nature enthusiasts; you can also hit the water by renting a canoe, kayak, or other nonmotorized boat to circumnavigate Foster Island and explore small inlets off of Union Bay of Lake Washington.
INSIDER TIPTake a free walking tour the first Thursday of each month from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. from January through November. Don’t worry about showing up last-minute—registration is not necessary.
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Hiram M. Chittenden Locks
Salt and freshwater converge at this popular scenic (and free) attraction where you can watch boats lowered and raised between six to 26 feet on these historic locks that separate the mixing of waters between Lake Washington, Lake Union, and Salmon Bay from the tidal waters of Puget Sound. Below ground is a viewing area to catch sight of the 21-step fish ladder where large spawning varieties of salmon (king, steelhead, coho, and sockeye) migrate throughout the year. Surrounded by grassy knolls and the Carl S. English Jr. Botanical Garden, this is a great way to spend the days outdoors on a dirt-cheap budget.
INSIDER TIPIf you get lost along the way, ask where the “Ballard Locks” are—it’s a moniker dubbed after the eponymous neighborhood to its north.
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Discovery Park
Boasting 534 acres of winding woodland trails, picturesque sea cliff views, sprawling open meadows, and other natural landscapes all nestled right in the heart of the Magnolia neighborhood, Discovery Park lays claim to being the largest park in Seattle and is considered its natural crown jewel. Which means that as far as free things go, you really can’t beat ditching the hustle and bustle of the city streets for a day getting lost in nature. Rent a bike or lace up for a long run along the scenic 2.8-mile Discovery Park Loop Trail. Take a stroll or a shuttle bus to the West Point Lighthouse, offering sweeping views off sea cliffs and sand dunes overlooking Puget Sound, Bainbridge Island, and the Cascade and Olympic mountains. Grab your binoculars and bump into birders—the park is home to over 270 species of birds, including chickadees, ruby- and golden-crowned kinglets, downy woodpeckers, and red-breasted nuthatches. Before you head out, soak up indigenous arts and crafts at the Daybreak Star Indian Center, featuring a permanent collection of styles from over 360 tribes in North America.
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Kerry Park
Don’t judge Kerry Park by its small size on the map—it’s unanimously agreed upon that this is where you’ll find the best panoramic views of Seattle. In fact, you might get a little déjà vu while up there—it’s actually the same backdrop featured in ’90s pop culture hits Frasier and 10 Things I Hate About You. Perched atop Upper Queen Anne, this is a great place to pack a picnic and set up for an afternoon with a bird’s-eye view of Seattle’s iconic skyline, the Space Needle, and Elliott Bay backed by the peaks of Mt. Rainier (on a good day). If it’s an intimate evening you’re after, however, you’ll want to look elsewhere.
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Volunteer Park
If you’re more into elegant greenspaces than rustic woodlands, head to Capitol Hill to explore this iconic urban park designed by the influential turn-of-the-20th-century landscape architectural firm the Olmstead Brothers. This is where you’ll find one of Seattle’s first reservoirs, built in 1900, along with landmarks like the Volunteer Park Conservatory, the Seattle Asian Art Museum, a water tower with an observation deck voted—though hotly contested by locals—to offer one of the best free views in Seattle, and a seasonal wading pool during the summer. Time it right to catch 250 varieties of dahlias in full bloom from late summer through fall.