Honoring Seattle's historical, aquatic and Native American antecedents, this one-of-a-kind museum and enthusiasts' center features vintage and replica boats and offers rentals. Best of all, however, are its free Sunday public sailboat rides on Lake Union (first come, first served; sign-ups start 10am).
Shutterstock / Andrei Medvedev
Center for Wooden Boats
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
1.27 MILES
A cavalcade of noise, smells, personalities, banter and urban theater sprinkled liberally around a spatially challenged waterside strip, Pike Place Market…
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0.68 MILES
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Even people with absolutely no interest in aviation have been known to blink in astonishment at Seattle's Museum of Flight, which takes visitors on a…
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This ingenious feat of urban planning is an offshoot of the Seattle Art Museum and it bears the same strong eye for design and curation. There are dozens…
3.97 MILES
Seattle shimmers like an impressionist painting on sunny days at the Hiram M Chittenden Locks. Here, the fresh waters of Lake Washington and Lake Union…
Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park
1.92 MILES
Eloquently run by the US National Park Service, this wonderful museum has exhibits, photos and news clippings from the 1897 Klondike gold rush, when a…
3.68 MILES
A favorite hunting ground for runners, personal trainers and artistically tattooed sunbathers, scenic Green Lake Park surrounds a small natural lake…
Nearby attractions
1. Museum of History & Industry
0.04 MILES
Almost everything you need to know about erstwhile Seattle is crammed into the refurbished Museum of History & Industry, the centerpiece of Lake Union…
0.06 MILES
Opened in 2010, this welcome green patch occupies ex-navy land on the southern tip of Lake Union and has a wading pond (with model sailboats you can use),…
0.08 MILES
Unifying Seattle’s various bodies of water, freshwater Lake Union was carved by glacial erosion 12,000 years ago. Native American Duwamish tribes once…
4. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center
0.57 MILES
The work of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is celebrated at this suitably high-tech visitor center, part of a larger foundation building located…
0.59 MILES
Seattle’s oldest park was originally designated a cemetery – but that status ended up being rather temporary, and the land was rededicated as parkland…
0.61 MILES
It would be easy to miss this tiny park, built into a slice of hill surrounded by quiet residential blocks, but it's worth seeking out for its views of…
0.68 MILES
The Museum of Pop Culture (formerly EMP, the "Experience Music Project") is an inspired marriage between super-modern architecture and legendary rock-and…
0.77 MILES
This streamlined, modern-before-its-time tower built for the 1962 World’s Fair has been the city’s defining symbol for more than 50 years. The needle…