A Week in the Kid-Friendly Emerald City: Seattle for the Little Ones

For your first day, take the time to recover from your flight while watching more planes at the Museum of Flight. You will be able to see a lot of different planes, rockets, and basically everything that can fly in the sky. The museum is very interactive, and you can spend the whole day there. Bonus point is you will get to see Mount Rainier from the control tower.

If the weather is nice (feel free to switch the days around if the weather play a trick on you), I recommend the Burke-Gilman Trail. Hop in a cab all the way to the beach of Puget Sound, where you can just walk and enjoy the view of the Olympic Mountains. Then, walk along the trail until the locks. The walk is peaceful and there are plenty of little shops for coffee and snacks. The next interesting point is Ballard Locks, where, I guarantee you, your kid will be begging to stay to watch the mechanism of the locks, allowing the boats to go one way and another. On the way, depending on the day, there are a couple of museums that are worth the detour, and you can end up in a little local brewery if you want to reward yourself for pushing the stroller all the way.

Pick up where you left off and enjoy the Fremont area. I recommend wandering around without a set schedule, and you will be surprised by the little parks hidden around. A detour to the troll under the bridge is worth it. Allow plenty of time to run around Gas Works Park while enjoying the view of the floating houses on Lake Union.

After exploring the surroundings, it's time to focus on the heart of the city: Seattle Center. First must-do: Take the monorail—the kids are going to love it. Then, you will have to go up the Space Needle. Enjoy the view and check out their cute exhibition about when it was built. The combined ticket for Chihuly Garden and Glass is a good deal, as the Space Needle visit is short and you will want to check out the glass structure. The restaurant between the two is also great, with an affordable menu and kid-friendly offerings.

A trip to Seattle wouldn't be complete without taking a detour by the bay. Start by picking up a snack at Pike Place Market, then head to the aquarium, where the marine life is incredible. I guarantee wide eyes and fascinated kids. After the aquarium, walk along the bay and pick one of the restaurants in Miner's Landing that feel like an attraction in itself! Afterwards, if your little ones still have energy, you can do a detour to the public library. Make sure you are ready though, because you will have to climb up quite a bit to reach it!

If you still have time and have a little scientist on your hands, you can take the monorail again and go back to Seattle Center to enjoy the Pacific Science Center. Over there, you will find exhibits about light, sounds, dinosaurs, space, and so many other things. You can definitely spend the full day there, but if you want to combine several museums, you can also add the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPop) to the list or just hang around the playground at the bottom of the Space Needle.

If you really have a rainy day and have younger kids to entertain, the children's museum is also nearby, and it's the best I've ever visited. We spent a full day from opening to closing over there because there are so many different play spaces and time is unlimited. You can either pick which activities work best for you or split it over several days. We did all of these activities on three separate days. It really depends on your pace and your preferences.

Back to the city itself! Feel free to walk around and enjoy a nice coffee and good food. Some activities worth checking out would be the Museum of Illusions, the Titanic exhibition, and the Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI). MOHAI has a full room where you can rest your legs while your little one plays with Magna-Tiles, a marble run, and other activities. The museum is interactive for the kids, and you have a great view of Lake Union from the cafe.

If you have done everything in the city or need a break with something different for your last day, head to the Woodland Park Zoo. It is a great zoo, with lots of learning spaces and great animal diversity.