Seattle Travel Checklist: Top Instagrammable Places

Jun 29

I'm so excited to share my Seattle travel checklist today. I'm sharing all the places I visited, including top Instagram-able spots around the city, and my recommendations on what to do in the area.

EAT:

1. brunch at Stateside -- located down the street from the Starbucks Reserve Roastery & Tasting Room The restaurant itself is Instagram-worthy, with palm tree wallpaper and dangling lights at the bar. Not only that, but they had the best brunch menu around. I ordered the avocado toast with a side of crunchy potato wedges to share, and my brother ordered the turmeric chicken noodles.

2. Walk down the street to the Starbucks Reserve Roastery & Tasting Room and order a special coffee or latte. I ordered a soy latte with an exclusive shot of espresso that you can only get at the Starbucks Reserve.

3. Try the Homemade Ice Cream at Miner's Landing on Pier 57. Miner's Landing had a lot of fun activities to do along the Waterfront of Seattle. We ended up getting these homemade ice creams TWICE on our trip because they were so creamy and delicious.

4. Eat at The Crab Pot -- located at Miner's Landing on Pier 57.

Apparently, one of my mom's friends had recommended this spot. It's a MUST if you're in Seattle. They serve king crab, which is rare, as well as any other possible seafood you can think of.

We ordered TWO Seafeasts (The Alaskan). This is one of their specialities, where they take various seafood, steamed with spices, and pour it out onto a butcher paper to feast on.

It was messy, but so good!!

5. Dine at Athenian Seafood Restaurant with a view of The Great Wheel -- located in Pike Place Market. We ended up dining here when we first arrived to Pike Place Market because we were starving. My brother ordered the New England Clam Chowder Bread Bowl (so good!) and my mom and I split the seafood sauté, which included salmon, prawns, clams, mussels, cod, onions, bell peppers, and more.

6. Pike Place Chowder -- located in Pike Place Market This one had the longest line every time we walked by Pike Place. Apparently, their clam chowder out of this world and worth standing in line for.

7. The Pink Door -- located in Pike Place Market This restaurant was another option I wanted to go to for lunch. They serve Italian food with organic Northwest vegetables from the farmer's tables.

TO-DO:

1. Walk around Pike Place Market and explore shops and restaurants. There was this one coffee shop called Storyville Coffee that I wanted to try, but didn't have enough time.

2. Buy fresh fruit and produce at Pike Place Market. We ended up buying lots of fruit. The cherries and berries were so fresh and I highly recommend buying some to snack on while visiting.

3. Play tourist and buy fresh flowers at Pike Place Market. I ended purchasing a bouquet of peonies and 1) peonies are my favorite flowers and 2) the flowers there were so fresh and beautiful. No wonder people go crazy over the flowers in this market...

4. Visit the Volunteer Park Conservatory -- 1400 E Galer Street Just a warning: photoshoots are not allowed in the Conservatory, unless you have a permit or special permission to do so. You're allowed to take photos, but only for the purposes of taking a photo for personal use.

5. Pose in front of the original Starbucks sign -- located across from the Pike Place Market sign.

6. Ride the Seattle Monorail -- $2.50 one way, and $5 roundtrip We rode it from the Seattle Center station to Westlake Center Mall Station.
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7. Visit the Freemont Troll -- Troll Ave N This was on my to-do list in Seattle, but we weren't able to get to it. Definitely check out this cool troll sculpture located under the Fremont Bridge.

8. Watch a movie at Pacific Place Mall We ended up having lots of free time on our Seattle trip, so we took a day off on a rainy day to watch Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. The movie theater had the best reclining chairs that you could fall asleep in. So good.

INSTAGRAM-WORTHY SPOTS:

1. Carousel at Miner's Landing on Pier 57.

2. The Gum Wall -- located in Pike Place Market

I ended up leaving my mark on the Gum Wall. It's touristy, but a must if you're visiting Seattle!

3. The Peace Sign Wall -- 314 Bell Street

I thought this was a fun, cool wall that I happened to pass by in downtown Seattle. The photo is the cover photo of this post.

4. Diablo Lake in the Cascade Mountains

I posted this on Instagram yesterday, and a few of you DMed me wanting a blog post travel guide on my hiking experience to Diablo Lake... stay tuned!

{ the view }

5. Ride the Seattle Great Wheel -- located on Pier 57

6. Walk around Miner's Landing on Pier 57

This is a fun area to walk around, hang out, read books, chat, etc.

7. Lemon at Miner's Landing on Pier 57

I ran into a similar lemon this time last year while visiting Austin, Texas, and just had to snap a pic.

8. Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum -- located in Seattle Center

This museum is a MUST if you're around the Seattle Center. It's right beside the Space Needle, so we ended up going to both on the same day. It's a beautiful exhibit that showcases studio glass, with tons of intricate pieces indoors and outdoors.

9. Chihuly Garden and Glass Cafe -- located in Seattle Center

This cafe is located right beside the Museum. You can dine there, but I fell in love with the dangling pianos and the exquisite art pieces on the wall. Talk about a great Instagram shot.

{ view from the top }

10. Climb the Space Needle -- located in Seattle Center

Even though it's currently under renovations, we were able to see half of the view from the Space Needle.

11. Take a photo by the Giant Red Twin Popsicle -- 4th Avenue and Vine Street in downtown Seattle

12. Take a photo by the Greetings from Seattle wall -- 2235 2nd Avenue

13. Visit the Amazon Spheres -- 2111 7th Avenue

I got this shot while driving past it in my Uber. The Uber driver recommended it because somehow while researching, I forgot about the Amazon HQ located in Seattle.

15. Take a photo of Bruce Lee and Brandon Lee's Grave Site -- 1554 15th Ave East

If you're up for a trip to the cemetery, check out Bruce Lee and Brandon Lee's grave site. As weird as it sounds, there were actually people there when I arrived. My Uber driver probably questioned our motives when she took a turn into the cemetery, but she ended up visiting the grave with us because she didn't know about it either. What an interesting adventure.