Seattle Center

Address:Seattle, Washington

Seattle Center is a fairground, park and arts and entertainment center in downtown Seattle. It is home to Seattle's most famous landmark, the Space Needle. Its expansive lawns and tree-lined walkways are lined with fountains, museums, theaters and arcades, making it a great place for a daytrip. Most of Seattle's nightclubs and late night entertainment venues are found here, and throughout the year, people swarm the grounds for popular local festivals.

Seattle's Space Needle is the centerpiece of the area, featuring an observation deck and a revolving restaurant. The iconic sky-high structure has put Seattle on the map in several films, including Austin Powers and Sleepless in Seattle, and television shows Frasier and Grey's Anatomy.

The Center is also a mecca for Seattle performing arts. The Center House Theater houses the Seattle Shakespeare Company and Book-It Repertory Theatre, the Children's Museum and the Experience Music Project (EMP), a museum of rock-and-roll near the Space Needle. Fisher's Pavilion is the cultural and community heart of the city, with many venues for shopping and dining. More than 5,000 free performances are held here through various cultural festivals and concerts throughout the year, especially in summer. A favorite among the locals, the Folklife festival is a folk music gathering with impromptu bluegrass bands playing throughout the grounds. Seattle is also a theater town. The Seattle Repertory Theatre stages avant-garde productions as well as standard plays and musicals. McCaw Hall is home to one of the best and most reputable dance companies in the United States, the Pacific Northwest Ballet, and one of the country's best opera companies, The Seattle Opera. Both offer a full range and calendar of performances. You may also want to take in a concert at the Seattle Symphony.

Seattle Center is popular with sci-fi and science buffs. Check out the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, featuring memorabilia like movie props, first edition sci-fi books, costumes and models. Check out Captain Kirk's command chair from Star Trek, the B9 robot from Lost in Space, and the dome from the film Silent Running. The X Prize trophy is currently on display in the museum's lobby. The Pacific Science Center, on the south side of the Center, houses the Boeing IMAX Theater, Eames IMAX Theater, and Seattle Laser Dome.

The Seattle Center Monorail runs through the Pacific Science Center and one mile along Fifth Avenue from Westlake Center in Downtown to Seattle Center in Lower Queen Anne. The monorail, as well as fifteen Metro bus routes that serve the Center from around the city, make it easy to traverse this exciting downtown area without worrying about parking. If you do decide to drive in, the area is easily accessible from both Interstate 5 and Highway 99, and parking is plentiful once you get there.