Seattle Bucket List: The best food, drinks, & things to do in Seattle

Looking for the best food, drinks, and things to do in Seattle? We’ve got you covered!

Before living on the road in our Sprinter van, we called Seattle home for 3 years and fell madly in love with this city and surrounding areas. The mix of nature, city life, coffee shops, and proximity to many other amazing cities truly makes it, in our biased opinion, one of the best cities in the United States! We are so, so excited to partner with our friend Allie from Adventures After Coffee for our biggest content piece ever: a 10 page Seattle Bucket List!

While we have many Seattle and Washington blogs and travel guides, we have always wanted to create a huge resource with all of the must-visit restaurants, coffee shops, dessert spots, bars, weekend trips, and best things to do in Seattle. Itโ€™s JAM PACKED yโ€™all!

And we couldnโ€™t have done it without Allie! Partnering with her was a no brainer: we both love this city and love to explore it as much as we possibly can. It was awesome to be able to combine our brains, preferences, and favorite spots to make a well rounded list that everyone can enjoy!

We hope that whether youโ€™re visiting and want a huge list of things to do or are a local looking to visit more spots around town, that this bucket list helps you eat, drink, and sightsee your way around the Emerald City! Keep on scrolling to see the full list orย download your own copy!

Pro tip: to keep track of all of the spots you visit on this list, download the guide, screenshot each page, and use the โ€œmarkupโ€ tool (if you have an iPhone) to cross off the spots you visit!

For a pre-made Seattle itinerary that features a lot of these spots, check out our 3 Days in Seattle guide! And to get more Seattle and Washington ideas, read the rest of our guides and blogs.

Neighborhoods

Check out our blog post about our 5 favorite Seattle neighborhoods, with list of the best sights and places to eat in each one here!

Things to do in Seattle | Best neighborhoods in Seattle

Ballard
Great for: Breweries, boutiques, beach, farmers market

Belltown
Great for: Bars, shopping, food

Capitol Hill
Great for: Bars, food, coffee, nightlife, parks

Downtown
Great for: Pike Place Market, water views, piers, shopping

Fremont + Wallingford
Great for: Fremont Trail, views, art, breweries, trails, Lake Union

Pioneer Square
Great for: History, happy hours, professional sports

Queen Anne
Great for: Views, hills, Space Needle, Seattle Center

West Seattle
Great for: Water activities, Alki beach, farmers markets, mountain and skyline views

Restaurants

There are so many great restaurants in Seattle, varying in price and cuisine. Read about our favorite cheap eats in Seattle here!

Ballard

Belltown

Capitol Hill

Downtown

Fremont + Wallingford

Green Lake

Pioneer Square

Queen Anne

U District

West Seattle

Multiple Locations

Coffee

Seattle has no shortage of amazing coffee shops! Curious which coffee shops are our absolute favorite? Check out our must-visit coffee shop list!

Ballard

Belltown

Capitol Hill

Downtown

Fremont + Wallingford

Green Lake

Queen Anne

South Lake Union

West Seattle

Multiple Locations

Sweets

From the best vegan ice cream ever, molten chocolate cakes, to pies, here are some of the best spots to satisfy your sweet tooth!

Ballard

Belltown

Capitol Hill

Denny Triangle

Downtown

Fremont + Wallingford

Green Lake

University District

West Seattle

Multiple Locations

Drinks

While we don’t drink, all of these spots have come highly recommended by Allie, our friends, and from our research!

Ballard

Belltown

Capitol Hill

Downtown

Fremont + Wallingford

Georgetown

Pioneer Square

Queen Anne

West Seattle

Things to do

Looking specifically for free and cheap things to do in Seattle? See our top 30 recommendations!

Ballard

Belltown

Capitol Hill

Downtown

Fremont + Wallingford

Green Lake

Madrona

Magnolia

Pioneer Square

Queen Anne

South Lake Union

  • Sea plane ride

Sodo

  • Mariners game
  • Sounders game
  • Seahawks game

U District

  • Explore the UW Campus (especially during Cherry Blossom season)
  • Go to a UW game

West Seattle

Multiple Locations

Weekend Trips

Want more details about these areas and suggestions of things to do? Check out our 6 Seattle Day Trips and 37 Favorite Hikes in Washington blog posts, as well as our Olympic Peninsula and North Cascades guides!

Things to do in Seattle | Weekend trips from Seattle

Olympic Peninsula

  • Rialto Beach
  • Ruby Beach
  • Hoh Rainforest
  • Hurricane Ridge
  • Sol Duc Falls
  • Mount Storm King
  • Murhut Falls
  • Lake Crescent
  • Lena Lake
  • Cape Flattery
  • Mount Ellinor

Islands

  • Moran State Park
  • Cascade Falls
  • Mount Constitution
  • Deception Pass State Park
  • Fort Casey
  • The town of Langley
  • The town of Bainbridge

Stevens Pass

  • Blanca Lake
  • Barclay Lake
  • Wallace Falls
  • Lake Serene
  • Bridal Veil Falls
  • Heybrook Lookout
  • Colchuck Lake
  • Eightmile Lake
  • Icicle Ridge
  • Lake Wenatchee
  • The town of Leavenworth

Mount Rainier

  • Naches Peak Loop
  • Tolmie Peak
  • Myrtle Falls
  • Comet Falls
  • Mount Fremont Lookout
  • Glacier Basin

Mountain Loop Hwy

  • Big Four Ice Caves
  • Heather lake
  • Lake 22

North Bend + Snoqualmie

  • Mailbox Peak
  • Twin Fall
  • Navaho Pas
  • Lake Annette
  • Rattlesnake Ledge
  • Snoqualmie Falls
  • Franklin Falls

North Cascades

  • Washington Pass
  • Diablo Lake
  • Heather Maple Pass Loop
  • Blue Lake

Ready to explore Seattle?

Click the image below to download our Seattle bucket list with the best things to do in Seattle!Things to do in Seattle | Seattle Bucket List with the must-visit restaurants, coffee shops, dessert spots, bars, things to do, and weekend trips | Best food Seattle | Seattle restaurants | Best coffee Seattle | Seattle bars | Best drinks Seattle | Seattle Desserts | Must eat desserts Seattle | Where to eat Seattle | Where to drink Seattle | Seattle neighborhoods | Things to do Seattle | Seattle must-visit | Seattle weekend trips | Seattle day trips | Seattle hikes | Washington trip ideas

about us

Hi yโ€™all! Weโ€™re Adam, Kathryn, and Kona, an adventurous married couple (+ pup!) living on the road in ourย self-converted sprinter van! You can often find us driving all around the US and Canada, scoping out the best coffee shops, eating tacos and ice cream (weโ€™re a 5+ taco and 2+ scoop household), and enjoying nature.

search

affilliate disclosure

This website contains affiliate links from websites such as MileValue.com, Amazon.com, Booking.com, and Rentalcars.com. If you use the links provided and make a purchase, we get a small commission at no extra cost to you. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. We only recommend products we truly love, actually use during our adventures, and think you can benefit from too!

instagram

Never miss an adventure

Sign up to get travel updates, guides, vlogs, and other resources delivered straight to your inbox once a month!

4 Comments

  1. Suzanne

    Lots of good stuff!

    Reply
    • Kathryn Frazer

      Thank you! ๐Ÿ˜€ We hope everyone finds it helpful!

      Reply
  2. Stepahnie

    Thank you! So glad I found this guide before my anniversary trip this weekend!

    Reply
    • Kathryn Frazer

      Happy Anniversary!!! We hope you have an amazing trip and let us know if you have any Seattle questions ๐Ÿ™‚

      Reply

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

ยฉ 2023 Adventures of A+K. All Rights Reserved. Website built with love byย Dreamworthy Design. - Stock Photos provided by our partner Depositphotos