Seattle: The Emerald City of the Pacific Northwest

Pike Place Market is Seattle's most essential destination — a working public market since August 17, 1907, located on a hillside above the Elliot Bay waterfront, covering 9 acres with 85 farmers, 225 craftspeople, and 600 commercial vendors. The flying fish (the Pike Place Fish Company throws purchases from counter to counter over the heads of the crowd) have been a market tradition for decades. The original Starbucks (a small roastery at 1912 Pike Place, opened 1971) is here — the line is always long and the experience primarily photographic. The more substantive reason to come: the fresh Dungeness crab, oysters, salmon, and clams from the Puget Sound fishmongers; the Pike Place Chowder (consistently voted best clam chowder in the US); and the flower vendors with the finest cut flowers on the West Coast. Go early — cruise ship day passengers arrive around 10am and the market becomes extremely crowded.

The Space Needle was built for the 1962 World's Fair — a 605-foot observation tower whose distinctive flying saucer profile has been Seattle's visual identity for six decades. The Observation Deck provides 360-degree views of the city, Puget Sound, the Olympic Mountains, and Mount Rainier (on clear days). The glass floor revolves continuously. Entry approximately $37 to $42 (bundle with Chihuly Garden and Glass for value). Chihuly Garden and Glass at the Space Needle's base is arguably a better experience — an extraordinary collection of Dale Chihuly's large-scale glass sculptures in 12 indoor gallery rooms and an outdoor garden, with the Space Needle as backdrop.

Kerry Park in the Queen Anne neighborhood is the best free city viewpoint in Seattle — a small park on the south slope of Queen Anne Hill, approximately 1 kilometer north of Seattle Center, with a clear view of the Space Needle in the foreground, the downtown skyline, Elliott Bay, and Mount Rainier in the background on clear days. It is the most photographed view of Seattle and is free, accessible, and perfect at both sunset and blue hour. Olympic Sculpture Park (free, waterfront, Elliot Bay views, major Alexander Calder sculpture) is the finest free cultural space.

Seattle's food culture is built on three pillars: Pacific Northwest seafood (Dungeness crab, geoduck, Pacific oysters, Copper River salmon, Alaskan halibut — among the finest seafood in the United States), a coffee culture that created and then transcended Starbucks (the specialty coffee scene in Seattle — Victrola, Caffe Vita, Lighthouse Coffee — rivals any in the world), and a farm-to-table ethos rooted in the extraordinary produce of the surrounding Pacific Northwest valleys.

The Pike Place Chowder (at the market, voted best clam chowder in the US multiple times) and Dungeness crab from the market fishmongers are the quintessential Seattle food experiences. Taylor Shellfish Oyster Bar (multiple locations, direct from their tidal farms on Hood Canal and Puget Sound) is the best oyster experience in the city. The Canlis restaurant (a mid-century modern dining room on Capitol Hill Lake Union — opened 1950, still the most celebrated special-occasion restaurant in Seattle) has outlasted every trend in the city's restaurant history.

Seattle is the birthplace of Starbucks (1971, Pike Place Market) and the city where the third-wave specialty coffee movement gained its deepest roots. The current Seattle coffee scene: Victrola (Capitol Hill — the most respected specialty roaster), Caffe Vita (multiple locations), and Seattle Coffee Works (the finest single-origin coffee program) have all moved well beyond Starbucks into a coffee culture of genuine sophistication. Independent cafés are Seattle's living rooms.