Seattle Center is the heartbeat of modern day Seattle and a must see for anyone visiting the Seattle Washington area. It is perhaps one of the most famous places in Seattle if for nothing else, for the Space Needle that is housed here. The Space Needle is one of if not the most easily recognized landmarks in the U.S. Northwest.
The Seattle Center has evolved over time and now hosts many cultural aspects of Seattle City life. Among these cultural centers is McCaw Hall, which is the home of the Seattle Opera and the Pacific Northwest Ballet. In addition to these establishments, Seattle Circle is also home to several theatres. Among them are: the Bagley-Wright Theatre, Leo Kreielsheimer Theatre, Poncho Theatre, and the Intiman Playhouse.
If theatre, opera, and ballet is a little too ‘high brow’ for you, then you will also be interested in knowing that Seattle Circle is home to Key Arena where the Seattle Sonics play as well as the Thunderbirds (Seattle’s Western Hockey League team).
If you enjoy music, you should be sure to check out the Experience Music Project while you are here. This is essentially a museum of rock memorabilia and multimedia displays. Seeing the building itself is almost worth the hefty admission price, but the actual exhibits makes it a good bargain. You can make your dollar go even further by purchasing combo tickets for the Experience Music Project and the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame. Both of these are located within Seattle Circle and they each offer a unique look at the cultures of today and the past. The Science Fiction Museum is one of my favorite places in Seattle to visit and I think even the stodgiest and most humorless among you would be hard pressed not to find something of interest in either of these museums.
For the younger members of your vacationing group, Seattle Center offers a great deal to do. First of all it is home to the Children’s Museum. This is an incredibly fun, interactive, hands on learning experience for big and little kids alike. You could easily spend an entire day at the Children’s museum without seeing the same thing twice. Even better is the knowledge that your kids will learn a lot and you can disguise their learning as fun. They will never know what is really happening.
Another point of interest for small children is Pacific Science Center, which is home to the Boeing IMAX Theater. The museum consists of eight buildings and houses not one, but two IMAX theaters, a tropical butterfly house, a planetarium, and several hands-on exhibits that are constantly changing and traveling around the country and to other museums.
In addition to all of these wonderful places, there are several fountains and gardens throughout the circle in addition to many restaurants that will appeal to all kinds of tastes and desires. But perhaps the most interesting feature of Seattle Center to the teen crowd is the skate park.
As I’ve said, you could very easily spend a day or even a week in the Seattle Center area and never run out of fun things to do. If you are planning a visit to Seattle Washington any time in the near future you will want to be sure that a stroll through Seattle Center is pretty high on your itinerary.