We just got married at the end of October and while we aren’t planning to take our proper honeymoon until the Spring, we did want to take a trip to take advantage of the time off from work and also have a moment to celebrate together before going back to everyday life.

When picking a destination I knew it needed to be quick to get to, somewhere there was a lot to do in a small area to maximize our 2-3 days, and lastly, I preferably wanted it to be somewhere neither of us had been before so we could experience it together. Seattle checked all of the boxes.

We lucked out that we visited in the off season, because all the big attractions had zero wait time and we did get a discounted rate on our hotel (it was about $130 a night vs the $300 it goes for during spring/summer), but if you’re looking for tricks on how to save money on a trip to Seattle you’re in the wrong place haha. We definitely treated this as a splurge trip and didn’t limit ourselves to budget friendly options, BUT I can promise that 99% of the places we visited we would definitely go to again if we did it all over.

Trip Agenda

We left a lot up in the air, but we had reservations/tickets for Thursday. Other than that we had a general outline of places we wanted to go and then filled in the rest of our days with other things in the same vicinity. As I mentioned – having a lot of stuff to do in a small area was one of our big motivators because I didn’t want to rent a car when I knew we’d be eating and drinking and I love nothing more than exploring a new city by walking it.

Day 1: Arrive mid-morning, check-in to our hotel, and then just figure out what we wanted to do

Day 2: Pike Place Market area and Chinatown

Day 3: Space Needle and Museum of Pop Culture

Day 4: We flew out at noon so we slept in then headed for the airport

Day 1:

Hotel: Belltown Inn

We flew Delta and left at 8am our time so landed about 10:30 Seattle time. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to check into our hotel, Belltown Inn, until 4pm, but they offer to hold onto your bags which was beyond helpful, so after we landed we caught a Lyft, checked our bags and then set off to eat lunch and check out some of the sights.

ROCCO’S

ROCCO’s was AMAZING. We almost went back our last night, but told ourselves we had to experience a new place so we didn’t…I regret that decision. Their dill pizza is my new favorite food and they had a great Seattle beer selection.

Appetizer: Meatballs (House made Washington Grass-Fed beef in marinara sauce with mozzarella & pecorino cheeses. Served with house bread)

Beers:

• Lucky Envelope Pumpkin Emoji Cream Stout
• Rueben’s Brews Autumn Harvest (Pumpkin Ale)

Pizza: DILLious (Sausage, ricotta, onion, fresh dill, mozzarella, fresh garlic rub base). They call this their HALF order. These slices were HUGE!

The Spheres

Our hotel was a little less than a mile from the Space Needle and “downtown” Seattle. Once we ate, husband pulled out his phone to search “things to see in Seattle” and The Spheres popped up so off we went! It’s a really cool architectural piece, but it’s only an office building, so other than this photo we did nothing else there haha. However, the Spheres were right next to Sub Pop which is ultimately where husband wanted to go.

Sub Pop Records

Sub Pop Records is iconic so we naturally bought all the things at the gift shop. Husband was very happy.

Chihuly Garden and Glass:

Chihuly Garden and Glass wasn’t a stop we had planned originally, but we were so close, had time and we knew we wouldn’t have time on Thursday when we had our Space Needle visit so we bought tickets and walked right in! The scale of the glass is breathtaking.

Wakefield Bar:

Wakefield Bar in Belltown was just around the block from our hotel (as were many of the places we visited). We ended up eating around 7pm and had intentions of going out longer, but exhaustion from the last few weeks pre wedding and being up at 5:30am that day for our flight finally hit and that concluded Day 1.

Day 2:

Day 2 was all about exploring Pike Place Market and the attractions surrounding it and then we jetted over to China Town for dinner.

Pike Place Market: Gum Wall

To me, Seattle is synonymous with the Gum Wall. It may not be one of the 7 greatest wonders of the world but it’s always been one of my personal goals to see it. I have no real idea why. I think to me it screams Nirvana and the 90s and I fancied myself fully grunge in the 90s.

It’s located below Pike Place Market and it’s as disgusting as you’d think! Our shuttle driver the last day actually told us that 3 years ago they had completely cleaned this all up and that it started filling back up right away.

Pike Place Market: Lowell’s

Lowell’s restaurant was an absolute win for us. This was another spot we were told there is a line for during busy season, but we lucked out in that we arrived right after they had finished breakfast and only 20 minutes before lunch so we were seated at a prime table on floor 2 and able to start off with cocktails and Clam Chowder, which was husband’s one ask for the trip – a bowl of amazing clam chowder.

I ordered the fish and chips which was also amazing, fiance’s “meal” was the crab cakes and I had my fill of espresso martinis – my heart was definitely full and this was a highlight of the trip for both of us.

Pike Place Market: Brewery + Shops

After lunch we wandered around the stores and shops, bought some knick knacks and presents and then ended our trip with a visit to the Pike Pub. Pike Place Market is HUGE and we thought we had seen everything, but didn’t realize until later how much we actually missed like the cheese shop and the first Starbucks!

Seattle Great Wheel:

The Seattle Great Wheel was one we threw on as a game time decision. Husband doesn’t like heights so I was convinced he’d say no and extremely happy when he agreed to do the wheel with me. It was cool to see the harbor and sights from an aerial view. We were also able to have beer on the wheel which I think helped calm him haha

Seattle Aquarium

The Seattle Aquarium was our next stop. It was fun to be able to actually touch the sea creatures.

Chinatown: Ping’s Dumpling House

We headed to Chinatown for dumplings and were not disappointed with Ping’s Dumpling House! We had dumplings, potstickers, and noodles and left so full and happy.

The Whisky Bar:

The Whisky Bar kept popping up as a must go so we headed there for cocktails. I have to admit I wasn’t super impressed with the service. We were pretty ignored and it took a very long time to get a second drink so we decided to leave after then. I do believe they were busy, but it didn’t make it less frustrating.

Shorty’s Coney Island:

We saw Shorty’s Coney Island the first night and intended to go, but as I mentioned were too exhausted so when we were looking for somewhere to go that would have people at it during the middle of the week, we figured even if it was dead, we could play some pinball! It was really fun, not super crowded and I was very pleased when I needed some late night munchies and saw nachos on the menu!

Day 3:

We lucked out the first 2 days with decent weather. Day 3 was the only day of constant rain so we actually lucked out that it coincided with our reservations at the Space Needle and the Museum of Pop Culture.

Biscuit Bitch

Biscuit Bitch was literally next door to our hotel so we knew it was going to be our breakfast stop. My breakfast sandwich was amazing and husband ordered the Hot Mess Bitch (Biscuit and Sausage Gravy topped with shredded cheddar, grits, two eggs, split grilled Louisiana Hot Link and pickled jalapeños). So good. Definitely add this to your list.

Space Needle: Loupe Lounge

Seeing as this was our mini-moon I decided to splurge for us to have a chef experience in the Loupe Lounge on the rotating floor of the Seattle Space Needle. It was $99 a person and we were served with amazing hors d’oeuvres and Brandy Carlisle brand bubbly! With the experience we were able to have a secured table in the lounge and also Space Needle admission.

We were both a little laggy after a late night the night before so the rotating floor may not have been our favorite that day haha BUT I would still very much recommend this experience. The reservations sell out so if you are planning to go, make sure you keep your eye out for when they release reservations.

Museum of Pop Culture

We had tickets to the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) and it was the perfect day to have it since it was down pouring all day, but the Museum itself was super cool. The exhibits were full of iconic movie/tv props and musical artifacts. 100% recommend going and make sure you buffer enough time. We ended up being there for 3 hours.

Cyclops

Our final Seattle stop was Cyclops for late night dinner. We chose it because the reviews on Google talked about the eclectic decor. While the art was cool, the food wasn’t necessarily impressive so we probably would not put this on back on the list.

All in all we would give our trip a 4.9/5 stars. We fully intend to go back at some point so we can experience all the things we missed out on!

And yes, if you were wondering the entire time we were there I kept thinking of Dr. Frasier Crane, “Good Morning, Seattle. I’m listening.”