25 Best FREE Things To Do In Seattle, Washington

what's up you guys Frankie here this is the money resolution where we talk all things save money make money get out of debt and in this video we are talking about how to travel Seattle or explore Seattle on the cheap actually not even cheap we are talking totally free traveling in general can definitely be very expensive and the City of Seattle can also be a very expensive place to travel to as someone who has lived in Seattle for about 15 years now I felt compelled to put together a quick video to help you out of your visiting just for a short weekend or honestly there's enough in this list to cover a full week and I'm not talking kinda free I am talking free free to the point where with most of these places you won't even be tempted to spend money first of all I gotta say there is a big misconception out there about Seattle a lot of people think August is the only time to visit Seattle but in fact Seattle does have a gorgeous spring we're actually still in the end of winter here and we have clear skies that's what sort of inspired me to go ahead and put this video together this video is also great for any people that actually do live in Seattle and just want to sort of explore Seattle as if they were a tourist there is so much to do here that even if you have lived here for 15 years like I have there are lots and lots of things on this list that I bet you probably haven't done but I don't bet because that might cost money and be sure to stick around until the very end where I will recap my perfect day by listing my top 5 from this list of 20 or 21 or so and if you appreciate all the research and insights that went into putting this video together I super appreciate a like drop a comment down below if you have a favorite from this list or one to add I am certain I am leaving all kinds of awesome free things out of this list as always be sure to do your own research I will recommend some great resources and websites I found while doing research for this video and of course be sure to subscribe to the money resolution I put out videos roughly once a week on all things personal finance one quick caveat of course before we get started is that transportation from and to and to and from these places is not necessarily going to be free but for the purpose of this video I'm gonna assume you have free transportation so I do hope you get a ton of value out of this and without further ado let's jump right into the list and my first favorite free spot on this list is gasworks Park truth be told this is one of my favorite places in all of Seattle they have a very large free parking lot stunning stunning views of Lake Washington downtown Seattle and a lot more it's great for individuals for couples to go have a picnic or bring your family and let the kids run around and I gotta say it's a lot bigger than it probably looks at first glance so make sure you do some exploring apparently it is an old gasification plant that ran until the mid 1900s I just found that out and if you don't take 25 pictures while you're at Gas Works Park you're doing it wrong keep an eye on ours though the park does closed relatively early next up is Olympic sculpture park and this is a free outdoor artsy park where they have tons of installations around the park a lot of them are there year round and some are just seasonal but no matter what this is a gorgeous place to see any time of the year it's on 9 acres of land I believe and it's got a beautiful water backdrop so you can really get in a ton of amazing photos here sometimes they have live music I've even seen yoga classes that are going on for free on the lawn in the morning so be sure to maybe go online and check out the schedule but either way the views of the art and the water are stunning I will say parking might be a little bit challenging so this is one you might want to get to via uber lyft or bus next up is to take a hike and actually just recently a friend of mine sent me a list of all his favorite hike so these are great he said even in the wintertime so I'll start with easy Pratt River and North Bend Ivy's landing and Whidbey Island rattlesnake ledge in North Bend Wallace falls in Sultan and little Sai also in North Bend medium if you're looking for something a little more challenging he recommends Snow Lake at Snoqualmie Pass cold chuck lake in Leavenworth and Long's pass in clay Ella and if you want something really really hard he recommended McClellan Butte in North Bend and Granite Mountain also in North Bend so a bunch of recommendations there from a local on all his favorite hikes speaking of hiking next is another Park on the list and this is Discovery Park and I mentioned hiking because this park is massive so you can walk around for miles and miles and miles of course there are once again sweeping stunning views and what I really recommend you do is take the I think it's roughly three mile round trip hike out to the lighthouse and back there are coastal views and you will definitely get a workout in so be sure that you come equipped with some great walking shoes next up we're gonna stay outdoorsy and this is to go on a bike ride on the Burke Gillman trail so this trail runs something like 23 miles and it starts or ends depending on how you look at it in valor and it goes through Fremont walling for the you district and up north from there you're gonna want to pull over and be sure to take a lot of great photos of the view what I actually recommend you do is to end in Ballard that's a neighborhood here in Seattle specifically at Golden Gardens which is next up on the list so Golden Gardens is a great little beach area and actually it's quite large you'll see lots of families lots of picnics lots of barbecues volleyball on the sand and even bonfires but make sure that you do use the designated fire pits if you plan to have one yourself I think there's pretty steep fines if you don't do it that way this is gonna offer I think some of the most beautiful sunsets in Seattle so once again make sure you have that camera ready so there's already a theme here which is a lot of outdoor activities that are great for families that offer stunning views but let's go indoors so the next tip is to check out one of the many many amazing museums we have here in Seattle specifically on the first Thursday of the month when most of these museums are actually going to offer free admission so here's a quick rundown at some of those museums it's the Burke Museum of Natural History and culture living computers Museum and labs never heard of that one the Museum of Flight the Museum of History and industry that's mo hi Seattle Art Museum is probably the most popular on this list the wing Luke Asian Museum Northwest African American Museum and there is a lot lot more a great website that I found in some research is greater Seattle on the cheap comm so I'll leave a link in the description below that has a full list of all the free museums and the same goes with a lot of the museums nearby in Tacoma as well next up is to visit a Sunday market some of my favorite Sunday markets are the one in Ballard as well as Fremont the U District near the University of Washington also has a great Sunday market now this is one of those places where you might actually be tempted to spend money but the reason I decided to include it on this list is because you can actually get a lot of free samples plus of course lots of awesome photos just walking around in free smells those are free to be sure that you do check the hours I think it's something like 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. for most of these maybe 3:30 or so these are year-round and most of these are rain or shine next up is to take a 30 minute drive actually out of Seattle and go and check out Snoqualmie Falls it's nearly 300 feet it is absolutely stunning and there's two ways you can actually experience the Falls there is a viewing area where you'll see most people go there is also it's something like a 1 mile round trip hike down below at the water level where you can get photos looking up at the waterfall and it is truly truly truly a sight to behold plus the hotel at the top you can see is the hotel that they use in the TV show Twin Peaks next up is to visit Archie McPhee's this is in the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle and this is just a super super quirky I guess gift shop magic shop I don't know but you'll have a blast even if you just spend a little bit of time walking around and checking things out and the very back I believe is where they have a rubber chicken Museum where there is the largest in smallest rubber chickens in the world apparently very strange very quirky but also very fun it's like you're in a pee-wee Herman movie or something next up is to visit Cary Park so this is in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle and once again this is on the list of one of the most gorgeous places to take photos so I highly recommend you check out one of the best views in all of the city here at Cary park go early check out the sunrise because this is also going to make sure that you the best parking spot okay truth be told I used to live a couple of blocks from this next one which is the Ballard logs and I never checked them out until I had moved away from Ballard and I super regret that decision the Ballard Locks is a unique beautiful awesome experience that's free every day of the week I think they're actually open 24/7 as well they'll have concerts in the summertime it's another great spot for picnics the locks actually connect the Puget Sound from the Ship Canal and due to the difference in the water height the ships actually have to pass through the locks to go either higher or lower it's super interesting to watch Plus you can actually see the salmon migration I think from June to September if you go across the locks and into the little viewing area Ballard in general is just a lot of fun to roam around so I highly recommend you check out Market Street which is right there next to the locks I actually found this one during research and this is one I'm really excited to do soon and this is to check out the Sunday public sale at the Center for wooden bones at the Center for wooden boats so it looks like every Sunday they do offer a 45-minute to one hour free sail boat rides on Lake Union sign ups are in person only starting at 10 a.m. so I do advise you get there as early as possible this is one where I bet you actually have to pay for parking if you want to park in the lot but I do believe there is a streetcar that runs directly to it next it's a check out Green Lake so at Green Lake there are tons of activities and things to do including playing basketball or running kayaks you can of course have a nice picnic there but the thing I actually recommend you do at Green Lake is to do the walk all the way around which is something like 2.8 miles it can get kind of crowded on the trail there's only one that goes all the way around so I do recommend you go sort of early or later on in the evening next up is to check out a free Art Walk so the free Art Walks in Seattle for the most part are going to be the third Thursday of the month so the first Thursday is where you'll have free museum entrance and the third Thursday is where it will have the free Art Walks there are lots of Art Walks all over Seattle but the one that I definitely recommend you check out is in Pioneer Square and something I learned during research is that this is supposedly the spot where they had the first ever Art Walk in the u.s. some of them even have free snacks or wine available next up is kind of an odd one but hear me out this is to check out the free silent reading party at the Sorrento Hotel the Sorrento Hotel is in and of itself a beautiful historic landmark and on the first Wednesday of every month starting at 6:00 p.m. they host their famous silent reading party and it's pretty self-explanatory this is of course totally free unless you want to check out one of their drink specials next up is to check out the downtown Seattle Public Library and not for reasons you might think but it's actually to check out the architecture here so this is one of the most stunning buildings in all of Seattle it is extremely unique in its design it's eight stories tall it's got displays and the galleries colorful halls it's just lots of interesting viewpoints it's definitely a spa I recommend you check out just for the photos alone honestly and of course they have free books but you got to be a king County resident to check those out next up is to explore the University of Washington this is where I went to school so I'm a little bit biased but I think this is one of the most beautiful campuses in the country and if you happen to be in the area and I think it's March that is where you should definitely check out the quad and the cherry blossoms we have about 10 days I think it is each year sometimes usually starting around mid-march where these are in full bloom and it is simply stunning it is going to be very very crowded with both students and tourists so be prepared for that but it is something you absolutely have to see apparently the quad has 29 large trees that are 86 years old and very very healthy this is a brainer and then of course I mentioned they do have markets on Sunday so maybe you can check out campus on Sunday and also check out the nearby market on Sunday in the industry next up is the Volunteer Park Conservatory this is where you're gonna find a really really awesome indoor conservatory to explore all kinds of plants and if I remember correctly parking here is actually pretty easy especially on Sundays which is something I should point out that in general on Sundays parking is free across Seattle so go check out the indoor plant viewing at the conservatory and if you do want to splurge and spend a few bucks I think it's just five or ten dollars you can go to the nearby Japanese gardens I'm gonna pick up the pace here and rattle off a bunch of these the first is to just explore a neighborhood I mentioned a bunch of these already but some of my favorite neighborhoods are Ballard Capitol Hill Fremont and Queen Ann oh and Georgetown I like to read Sean - there are two beaches that I would also recommend which is Madison Park in Magnuson Beach so if you are here during a nice day I would check out one of those again they can get very crowded because we don't have tons of super awesome hot days so when we do get one of those a lot of people head to the beach I am wearing a shirt I got at the Pike Place Market which I know it's kind of corny but I definitely recommend you check out Pike Place Market the reason I'm putting it so late on this list is because I think this is one of those spots where you're definitely going to be tempted to spend money this is just a really great opportunity to once again explore and take a lot of great photos photos you definitely have to get at the market are the gum wall the golden pig the fish throwing if they happen to be doing that as well as the first ever at Starbucks go see the troll in Fremont so just search the fremont troll on Google I'm sure it'll be easy to find once again parking can be a little bit challenging here and there's not a lot to do here except take a photo of the troll but it's something that is worth seen it was made famous by the movie 10 Things I Hate About You the Seattle Center most things there are quite expensive but you can of course just walk around and explore Seattle Center I would definitely recommend doing that the waterfall garden park is in Pioneer Square so if you happen to be checking out that Art Walk I would recommend you also check out waterfall of Garden Park the Starbucks reserve is another I probably should include in this list there's actually a couple locations maybe even three by now and this is basically like Willy Wonka's factory of coffee so I recommend you check out the Starbucks reserve I will say though if you're thinking about getting coffee at the Starbucks reserve I wouldn't recommend doing so the coffee is definitely more expensive than a standard Starbucks that being said it is worth the trip just to see all the awesome things that they do there and in most cases I think they're gonna offer you some free samples as well that is it if you made it to the end of this video I said I would recommend four or five things to have the perfect Seattle day so I'm gonna go through this list and pick those now I would say without a doubt definitely visit gasworks Park it was number one on this list for a reason next up Olympic sculpture park again this is another no-brainer because you have the outdoors you have the views and you have the art as well Kerry Park without a doubt go see Kerry Park and then just to get you around town I'm gonna put the Ballard Locks on this list and again if you want to do something active I would also add Green Lake this is this is like an impossible task though really anything on this list is a ton of fun once again I am certain that I left some amazing free things off of this list so let me know in the description below if you've got something you'd like to add Seattle is one of my favorite places in the entire world I know that I'm extremely biased because I grew up here but if you are thinking about coming and haven't pulled the trigger I definitely recommend you do so yes it can be expensive but I hope that I have proven to you by now that Seattle can be a lot of fun on the cheap if you are coming to Seattle I hope you are excited to come visit and check out some of these things you are not going to regret it I hope all of you got a ton of value out of this and if you did I super super appreciate a like down below that's just your way of saying thank you and definitely consider it subscribing to the channel if you have not I put out videos roughly once a week on all things money once again my name is Frankie this is the money resolution and as always I will talk to you guys soon if you want more interesting content on all things money you should check out this video or that one see it doesn't rain every day in Seattle it's February

Channel: The Money Resolution

Views: 23,081

Rating: 4.9767442 out of 5

Keywords: seattle washington, things to do in seattle, what to do in seattle, best things to do in seattle, seattle travel, cheap things to do in seattle, space needle, fun things to do in seattle, things to do in seattle today, things to do in seattle washington, free things to do in seattle, unique things to do in seattle, travel to seattle on the cheap, seattle on the cheap, seattle washington 2021, seattle 2021, things to do in seattle area, things to do in seattle with family

Id: d35O-cQwcj0

Length: 16min 47sec (1007 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 20 2020