Seattle, from the water up.
Pike Place at opening, the ferry out across Puget Sound, Rainier on a clear morning and the buried streets under Pioneer Square. What each tour is really like, what it costs, and where to book it.
Seven you should book first.
First trip or fifth, these carry a Seattle itinerary: the market food tour that beats the crowds, a clear morning up at Rainier, the harbor cruise past the skyline, and the walk through the streets buried under Pioneer Square.
Guided Underground Walking Tour
Walk Pioneer Square’s underground passageways from the 1890s on a guided 1-hour history tour, including the Great Seattle Fire.
From $31 per person
Read the review →
★ 5.0Sells out fastSeattle City Highlights TourFrom $882,000 reviews
★ 5.0Local favouriteMt. Rainier Day Tour from SeattleFrom $1641,828 reviews
★ 5.0Easy winPike Place Market Tasting TourFrom $681,696 reviews
★ 4.5Worth the early startSpace Needle and Chihuly Garden and Glass Combination TicketFrom $661,551 reviews
★ 5.0Crowd favouriteSeattle City and Snoqualmie Falls Half-Day Guided TourFrom $941,293 reviews
★ 4.5Book aheadBoeing Factory Tour with Guided Transport from SeattleFrom $1251,247 reviews
One clear morning and Rainier is yours.
Catch the early pickup, wind up through the old-growth forest to Paradise, and stand in the wildflower meadows with fourteen thousand feet of volcano overhead. A wilder day than anything downtown, and back in Seattle in time for dinner. This is the one people plan the whole trip around.
Which mountain day is yours?
Almost everyone leaves Seattle for at least one big day outdoors; which one comes down to how much time you have and what you want to see. Three ways to spend it, each already reviewed and priced.
The big volcano
The Rainier day
10 to 12 hours (approx.) · from $150 · 3,156 reviews
The full-day trip most people mean when they say the mountain. Up through the old-growth forest to Paradise, wildflower meadows in high summer, waterfalls and glacier overlooks, roughly ten hours door to door. The longest day out, and the one that hands you the postcard.
Compare the Rainier days →
Rainforest and coast
The Olympic day
12 hours (approx.) · from $368 · 1,006 reviews
A ferry across the Sound, then the mossy Hoh rainforest, glassy Lake Crescent, and the wild Pacific beaches, or the ridgeline views from Hurricane Ridge. Three landscapes in one park, the most variety of any Seattle day trip. Take the small-group tours; the driving is long.
See the Olympic days →
Half a day
The short version
4 hours (approx.) · from $94 · 1,293 reviews
When you only have a morning. The 268-foot Snoqualmie Falls, a forest walk below the viewpoint, and usually a Woodinville tasting room on the ride back. Close, easy, and green all year. The mountain day for travellers who want the afternoon back in the city.
See the Snoqualmie days →
The waterfront saves its best for dusk.
When the light drops low over Elliott Bay, the city turns on. A sunset sail with the skyline lighting up behind you, the ferries sliding out toward Bainbridge, a lantern walk through the ghost stories of Pioneer Square. This is the quiet, glowing end of a Seattle day.
Breakfast starts at Pike Place.
The market is best before the crowds land: piroshky straight from the oven, a paper cup of chowder, smoked salmon and warm doughnuts, and yes, the fishmongers still throw the salmon. If you book three food hours in Seattle, book them here.
Wine country is closer than you think.
Woodinville puts more than a hundred tasting rooms half an hour from downtown, pouring Columbia Valley cabernet and Yakima reds grown a whole state away. Most tours fold in a stop at Snoqualmie Falls on the drive back out.
The city built on top of itself.
After the great fire of 1889, Seattle rebuilt a full storey higher and left the old streets and shopfronts down in the dark. Guides still take you below the sidewalks, through the buried storefronts and the tall tales that came with them. It is the strangest, most Seattle hour downtown has to offer.
The city comes in pockets.
Pike Place for breakfast and the fish counter. The waterfront for the ferries and the harbor cruise. Pioneer Square for the history buried under the streets. The Space Needle when you want the whole map at once.
Know the kind of day you want?
Pick the sort of day you are after and every option behind it is already reviewed, rated, and priced.
A morning out, home by dark.
Seattle sits within an hour of almost everything. Rainier's meadows, the Hoh rainforest, the falls at Snoqualmie, Leavenworth's Bavarian main street, and the ferry across to Victoria are all a day trip out and back.
Three days, if it’s your first.
You can’t see all of Seattle in one trip, but you can do the right three days. Land at SeaTac tomorrow and this is the order to walk it in.
Day 1
Downtown and the market
Start at Pike Place before the crowds land, work down to the waterfront for the ferries and the wheel, then drop below the sidewalks under Pioneer Square. Easy pace, the whole heart of the city.
Plan day one →
Day 2
Up high, then out on the water
Ride the Space Needle for the lay of the land, wander Chihuly's glass garden next door, then trade the tower for a harbor cruise or a sunset sail past the skyline. The city from above and from the bay.
Plan day two →
Day 3
The mountain
Give the last day to Rainier. The early van, the forest road up to Paradise, the meadows and glacier overlooks, and back in the city by evening. Check the forecast two days out and save this for the clearest sky.
Plan day three →
The latest reviews.
★ 4.2Seattle Terrors Spirits & Spirits Haunted Pub CrawlFrom $3010 reviews
★ 4.4Brunch CruiseFrom $10910 reviews
★ 5.0Guided Kayak Tour To Hope Island State ParkFrom $8910 reviews
★ 3.8Seattle Terrors: Spirits & Spirits Haunted Pub CrawlFrom $3010 reviews
★ 4.0Brunch Cruise with Buffet in WashingtonFrom $8910 reviews
★ 5.0Private Snoqualmie Falls & Woodinville Wine Day Tour from SeattleFrom $2,52910 reviews
★ 5.0Seattle, WA Hourly Rental Around Town & SightseeingFrom $9011 reviews
★ 5.0Mt. Rainier Sunset Balloon Ride with ChampagneFrom $40511 reviews