Complete Guide to Seattle Museums

Seattle Museums Guide

Seattle museums count as some of the city’s best attractions, especially with the rainy climate that takes hold of the city for days in row.

Be sure to take in as many of these as you can. Leave plenty of time to spend admiring the works of art and the different exhibits that are housed all over the city of Seattle. Comfortable shoes are a must because a lot of walking may be necessary. These museums are well worth the effort and the knowledge you’ll gain is phenomenal. Be sure to stop in the gift shops for souvenirs of your visit to the Seattle museums.

When you’re in Seattle make time to see the Seattle Art Museum and the Frye Art Museum. Both of these great museums house fantastic art pieces and paintings. Also you’ll want to see the Museum of Flight while you’re in Seattle and learn all about the Wright Brothers and the history of Flight. The Log House Museum is where you’ll learn everything you need to know about the history of Seattle. You’ll definitely want to go there too.

Seattle Children’s Museum

Seattle Center, 305 Harrison Street, Seattle, WA 98109

Some would describe the Seattle Children’s Museum is just a 22,000 square feet playground, but those who have visited the place will define it as a space where science rules, and where kids can learn a lot of useful things in a playful and entertaining way.

The 2014 renovated Cog City exhibit is an amazing space, where your kids will learn all about the scientific background explaining phenomena like motion and velocity. The architects who redesigned this exhibit inspired themselves from The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan, filling this space with balls of various sizes your young ones can play with, drop into tubes, pass through air flow pipes, and move up a conveyor belt.

Fort Adventure is the place where young boys and girls can fulfill their constructor dream, building up a fort, a tent or a clubhouse using LEGO sets, shoe boxes, tires, sheets and blankets.

If your kids have globe-trotting ambitions, a visit to Seattle Children’s Museum can provide them with an idea of what visiting distant countries feels like. The Global Village they can sail the seas, create an African drum circle, ride through the Philippines on a rickshaw, and play the Master Sushi Chef in Kobe, Japan!

  • Opening hours: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM, Monday – Friday, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM on Saturdays & Sundays
  • Prices: $8.25 for child and adults, $7.25 for grandparents, $7.00 for active military personnel, but on weekdays you can pay what you can
  • More info: www.thechildrensmuseum.org

Quirky Museums in Seattle

The best quirky museums in and around Seattle will let you get a glimpse of the history of this region and what makes it so special. You’ll also get to experience science, art, and nature in some unique ways.

See your favorite Seattle museums on this list or all of them and you will have a great experience the next time you visit the Emerald City.

You will enrich your knowledge and learn about many interesting topics such as the history of computers, robots or even the tallest man in the world and the shoes or clothes he was wearing.

  • Official Bad Art Museum of Art
  • Robot Hut Living Computer Museum
  • Pinball Museum
  • Last Resort Fire Department Museum
  • Giant Shoe Museum
  • Banana Museum
  • Nutcracker Museum
  • Marsh’s Free Museum
  • SPARK Museum Of Electrical Invention
  • Puget Sound Navy Museum
  • Triangle Of Power
  • Whale Museum
  • Timber Museum

Read more about quirky museums in and around Seattle

Seattle Art Museums

Seattle is a paradise for visual art lovers as well as for fans of music. Seattle museums are home to world wide famous masterpieces of international painters, sculptors, and modern artists. Featuring a collection of over 25,000 art objects, ranging from paintings to African crafts objects and contemporary Northwest Art, Seattle Museum of Art (SAM) is a must-have artistic experience for the entire family.

But there is much more to art in Seattle than the SAM. Legacy of a family of philanthropist immigrants and art lovers, Frye Art Museum houses an impressive collection of 19th-20th century European paintings. Bellevue Arts Museum (BAM) is community center for transformative art lovers as well as an exhibition hall. Those interested in Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Southeast Asian, or Himalayan art, should not miss the Asian Art Museum located in Volunteer Park.

  • Seattle Art Museum
  • Frye Art Museum
  • Bellevue Arts Museum
  • Seattle Asian Art Museum
  • Chihuly Garden and Glass
  • The Center on Contemporary
  • EMP Museum
  • Henry Art Gallery

Read more about Seattle art museums.

Seattle Transportation Museums

The home town of one of the world’s most iconic plane manufacturer, Seattle has no shortage of museums dedicated to aviation, but you also of railway and maritime history.

Pay a visit to the Museum of Flight, if you want to find out everything about the birth of Boeing, and see historic aircrafts that will make you understand how the world of aviation became what it is today.

Aviation Maritime Transportation Museums Seattle

The Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie will reveal a lot of interesting details about the way trains and the railway system influenced people’s lives.

At the Center for Wooden Boat, you can have fun learning how to sail a boat and discovering the fascinating maritime history.

  • Museum of Flight
  • Flying Heritage Museum
  • Northwest Railway Museum
  • Historic Flight Foundation
  • The Center for Wooden Boats

Read more about Seattle transportation museums.

Seattle History Museums

A melting pot of immigrants of different Asian and European origins, home land of Native Indian tribes, Seattle offers an impressive number of history and heritage museums.

Visiting the Suquamish Museum, Wing Luke Asian Museum, the Nordic Heritage Museum, or the Duwamish Longhouse, you will get a deeper understand of the Northwest Pacific past, of the cultural amalgam that influenced the way the city looks nowadays.

Seattle History and Heritage Museums

A visit to the recently opened Seattle Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI) will help you discover the history of various industry branches in Seattle.

  • Suquamish Museum
  • Klondike Gold Rush Park
  • Wing Luke Asian Museum
  • Nordic Heritage Museum
  • MOHAI Duwamish Longhouse

Read more about Seattle history museums.

Seattle Science Museums

Seattle museums focusing on the development of natural science and new technologies are not just exhibition spaces. You will find here complex entertainment centers hosting a wide range of science-related events and youth activities.

Seattle Nature Museums

A visit to Burke Museum will keep your kids entertained for hours as they learn all about the history of Earth, while Pacific Science Center, they get to play the scientists and try their hands at fascinating experiments. These two institutions have their calendar full of events for kids and adults who want to learn more about science in an interactive way.

  • Burke Museum
  • Pacific Science Center

Read more about Seattle science and nature museums.

List of the Most Popular Museums

You’ll be glad you went to any of the ones listed below and there are more. The tourist center is a great source of information for more Museums in Seattle.

Seattle Art Museum
P.O. Box 22000, Seattle, WA 98122-9700
206-654-3100
The Seattle Art Museum has the most awesome collection of artwork. Take your time admiring these works of art.

Frye Art Museum
704 Terry Ave
Seattle, WA
206-622-9250
The Frye Art Museum houses American and European painting. This is a great museum to visit.

Museum of History and Industry
2700 24th Ave E
Seattle, WA 98112
206-324-1126
You’ll learn so much when you visit the Museum of History and Industry. There are fantastic exhibits to keep you more than interested.

Nordic Heritage Museum
3014 NW 67th St
Seattle, WA
206-789-5707
The Nordic Heritage Museum is a great place to learn all about the history of immigration. If you love historical information you must go to this museum.

Museum of Flight
9404 East Marginal Way S
Seattle, WA 98108
206-764-5720
Everything you wanted to know about the history of Flight and the Wright Brothers you’ll find in the Museum of Flight.

Log House Museum
3003 61st Ave SW
Seattle, WA
206-938-5293
The Log House Museum has the history of Seattle. Open from 12 to 6pm weekdays and until 3pm weekends. No admission charge but they hope you’ll make a small donation. Said to be the birthplace of Seattle everything you need to know about the area you’ll find in this museum.

Leave a Comment