Seattle's Most Iconic Landmarks

The Space Needle was built for the Century 21 Exposition, the 1962 world's fair that celebrated science, technology and the future. Its slender legs and flying saucer top quickly made it the symbol of Seattle, and it remains the most recognizable feature of the city's skyline.

A renovation completed in 2018 replaced many of the solid walls with floor-to-ceiling glass and added The Loupe, a rotating glass floor that lets visitors look down at the tower's structure and the grounds of Seattle Center below.

The open-air deck has tilted glass benches that seem to hang over the city.

On a clear day the views take in downtown, Elliott Bay, Lake Union, the Olympic Mountains and Mount Rainier. At night, the city lights spread out in every direction.

Chihuly Garden and Glass opened in 2012 to showcase the work of Dale Chihuly, the glass artist from Tacoma, Washington, whose large installations have been shown around the world.

The museum presents his series in a sequence of galleries, each designed to highlight color, light and form.

The Glasshouse, a tall glass-and-steel conservatory, holds a huge suspended sculpture in shades of red, orange and yellow, with the Space Needle visible through the roof.

Outside, the garden mixes glass sculptures with plants, so the artwork changes with the seasons and the light.

Seattle's central waterfront has been transformed in recent years. The removal of the elevated highway that once ran along Alaskan Way opened the shoreline to the city, and new promenades, bike paths and parks now link the piers.

In 2024, the Overlook Walk opened, connecting Pike Place Market with the waterfront by way of an elevated park with sweeping views.

The Seattle Aquarium, which opened in 1977 on Pier 59, focuses on the marine life of Puget Sound and the Pacific, with sea otters, harbor seals, octopuses and tide pool exhibits. Its Ocean Pavilion, opened in 2024, adds a large tropical reef habitat and a public rooftop.

Along the piers, visitors find the Seattle Great Wheel, seafood restaurants, shops and the Colman Dock ferry terminal, where Washington State Ferries depart for Bainbridge Island and Bremerton.

The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, known locally as the Ballard Locks, opened in 1917 as part of the Lake Washington Ship Canal.

They connect the salt water of Puget Sound with the fresh water of Lake Union and Lake Washington, lifting and lowering boats ranging from kayaks to fishing vessels and yachts.

The locks include a fish ladder with underground viewing windows, where visitors can watch salmon migrating upstream to spawn. Next to the locks, the Carl S. English Jr. Botanical Garden offers lawns, trees and flower beds that are ideal for a picnic.

Gas Works Park occupies the site of a former coal gasification plant on the north shore of Lake Union. When the plant closed, landscape architect Richard Haag designed a park that preserved part of its industrial structures, an unusual choice at the time. The park opened in 1975.

The rusted towers and pipes now stand beside grassy lawns, and a large mound known as Kite Hill offers views across Lake Union to the downtown skyline. Seaplanes take off and land on the lake, and sailboats and kayaks glide past.

The Seattle Central Library opened in 2004. Designed by Rem Koolhaas and the Office for Metropolitan Architecture with LMN Architects, it is a public library wrapped in a diamond-patterned skin of glass and steel.

Its floors are stacked at different angles, creating dramatic interiors.

Inside, a continuous spiral of shelves winds up through several floors, a bright red level surprises visitors, and a reading room at the top is filled with natural light. It is one of the most celebrated public buildings of its era.