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Despite the caffeine, Seattle’s coffee culture adds to its laid-back ethos. Coffeehouses on every corner are an invitation to sit for a moment and enjoy. And it’s hard not to enjoy everything about this city, which has culture to spare and abundant opportunities to revel in the outdoors.
To the west, ferries, tugboats, and container ships ply Elliott Bay, and the Olympic Mountains rise in the distance. To the east lie Lake Washington and, beyond, the Cascade Mountains. To the south, Mount Rainier juts more than 14,000 feet high, and Mount Baker rises to the north. Keep these landmarks in mind and you won’t get lost.
But what about the rain, you say? Really it’s more like mist, and, now that summer is here, the diffuse “oyster light” days have passed and the cool weather, brilliant blue skies, and 16 hours of daylight are perfect for exploring.
DAY ONE / Wake up early to the sun glittering on Elliott Bay and the snow-covered Olympics. Below, at street level, Pike Place Market is already bustling. The  Inn at the Market, a 70-room award-winning boutique hotel, features prime location, attentive service, and unbeatable views. Your room, with its earthy, contemporary Pacific Northwest décor, provides a serene escape. But lolling about is not on the agenda, so put on your walking shoes. Seattle’s hilly, and you’ll be doing some climbing. On the upside, besides working off the fantastic food, you won’t have to worry about parking since you’ll be walking—or taking the streetcar and monorail—almost everywhere.
Wander around  Pike Place Market and concoct a breakfast from the fruit stands and bakeries along the way. The market, which began in 1907, covers nine acres and offers an astonishing assortment of wares, from fresh flowers to one-of-a-kind fashions. Market Spice sells hundreds of spices, tea, and coffee. The original Starbucks serves up Seattleites’ beverage of choice. And at Beecher’s Handmade Cheese you can sit on a milk jug and watch cheese being made. On one corner, a busker plays the piano with passion; on the next block, a sombrero-bedecked guitarist regales you with mariachi music. Visit Rachel, the life-sized brass pig, and watch the “flying” fish at the famous Pike Place Fish.
After the multisensory hubbub of the market, you’re ready for something a bit more Zen. The spa awaits. Walk up Pine to 
Gene Juarez, arriving a little early to enjoy the tea, fountain, and footsoak in the lounge. Thoroughly relaxed from your massage or body polish and Vichy shower, wander across the street to Pacific Place, which houses J. Jill, MaxMara, Cartier, and other tempting purveyors of fine goods.
You’ve worked up an appetite, so indulge at 
Etta’s Seafood, at the north end of the market. Try the albacore tuna sashimi with green-onion pancakes or the king salmon with cornbread pudding and siitake relish. Save room for triple coconut cream pie, a cloudlike dessert with coconut in the crust, the pie, and sprinkled on top. Then drop off your purchases and rest your eyes on the spectacular view as you lounge in the hotel’s rooftop garden.
The tiny seaplanes buzzing around the city invite you to make your own altitude adjustment. The hotel’s town car whisks you away for an aerial tour of Seattle. Take a brief detour to  BTop Pot Doughnuts for a midafternoon dessert. Try “chocolate feather boa”—a little glazed coconut number—or an old-fashioned. Check in at  Kenmore Air on Lake Union for your 20-minute seagull’s-eye view of Seattle, where you’ll buzz the Space Needle, check out Lake Union, and view the pricey homes on the shores of Lake Washington.
All the water outside your plane window makes you think about seafood. Head for dinner at
 Nishino, Seattle’s premier Japanese restaurant, where chef Tatsu Nishino will create an omakase meal with fresh fish and produce.
Afterward, stop for dessert at  Dilettante Chocolates Cafe & Patisserie. Then, as you walk along Broadway, note the bronze footprints on the sidewalk that illustrate dance steps, and do a little dancing in the streets. It’ll prepare you for your next destination,  Century Ballroom, a beautiful old theater-turned-dance-and-music-venue on Capitol Hill. Enjoy a salsa or swing lesson and do some more fancy footwork before catching a taxi back to your hotel..
DAY TWO
/ You indulged yesterday, so, after ordering room service for breakfast, start today with a workout. Walk south on 1st and down the Harbor Steps to catch the Waterfront Streetcar. (Streetcars run every 20 minutes and cost $1.25–$1.50 in exact change.) Disembark at pier 52, Coleman Dock, and walk onto the 8:45 a.m.  ferry to Bainbridge Island. You’ll be glad you didn’t drive when you see all the cars waiting. Seattle is not short on stunning views, but the ferry offers some of the best. Stand at the stern and take in the skyline. To your left, the Space Needle hovers on its tripod. Then there’s the market and a gaggle of skyscrapers that dwarf the white, two-tiered Smith Tower. On the right lurk enormous orange loading cranes that look like mechanical giraffes.
The trip to Bainbridge takes only 35 minutes, but the island is a world apart from the city. Walk up the road to the tiny town of Winslow and take a left on Winslow Way. Grab a latte and a little something to munch on at 
Blackbird Bakery. Then backtrack to Ericksen Avenue where the staff at  Exotic Aquatics will suit you up for a kayak adventure. As you paddle around Eagle Harbor, you’ll see daysailers in slips and houseboats squatting just outside the county’s reach, plus plenty of nature: ospreys, river otters, harbor seals, bald eagles, and blue herons.
When your feet hit dry land, let them take you straight up Madison to  Café Nola. Fortunately you made reservations because this European-style eatery is a popular spot. Choose the roasted beet salad with island-grown greens, polenta croutons, and toasted pecans or the fresh halibut fish-and-chips.
Walk back down to the ferry terminal to catch a taxi for your 2 p.m. reservation at  Bloedel Reserve, a 150-acre wonderland that showcases the natural beauty of this mild, moist climate. Wander along paths through the west meadow and into the woods. At the bird refuge, trumpeter swans glide on the mirrored pond. The path meanders through manicured Japanese and moss gardens as well as an orchid trail and dense forests. These woods are prime territory for slugs. Look for the 8-inchers.
After your ferry ride back to Seattle, walk across the hotel courtyard to dinner. Campagne serves the cuisine of Southern France in a location overlooking the flower stalls and produce stands of the market. Try the pan-roasted king salmon on green chard gnocchi with pancetta, sorrel cream, and king oyster mushrooms.
Take the town car to the  Intiman Theatre. This month, you can see The Play’s the Thing (begins June 11), adapted by P.G. Wodehouse. Afterward, stroll toward the Space Needle to catch the monorail. It drops you off at Westlake Center, just a few blocks from your hotel.
DAY THREE
/ Wake up early, and walk up 1st Avenue to 
Macrina Bakery & Cafe for breakfast. Try the squash harvest bread or the apricot nut bread, and sip your favorite Seattle jump-starter as you soak in the sunshine at one of the sidewalk tables. Then take a right on Bell Street and walk down to pier 66, passing one of Seattle’s many public artworks: Wave Rave Cave. At night these sculpted waves look even more fluid as psychedelic lights sweep over them. Cross the pedestrian overpass, stopping a moment at the rooftop area to drink in another impressive bay view. At the bottom of the steps, catch the Waterfront Streetcar to Washington Street station, and walk uphill to Pioneer Square, arriving around 9 a.m. Don’t miss the square’s Tlingit totem pole, statue of Chief Seattle (leader of the Duwamish who originally inhabited the area), the stone-and-brick Pioneer Building, and cobblestone pedestrian area. Buy tickets for Bill Speidel’s Underground Tour starting at 11 a.m., and then wander south on 1st Avenue. Note the newly restored iron-and-glass Victorian pergola on the corner and the purple glass in the sidewalks—the Underground Tour sheds light on its function.
Across the street, Magic Mouse Toys offers intelligent playthings for kids at heart. Drop into other offbeat shops, such as Fireworks Gallery, or just make a beeline for  he Elliott Bay Book Company. A book lover’s paradise, Elliott Bay is a warren of cedar bookshelves. Outside, a sidewalk clock stands sentinel at the corner. Preservationists saved a dozen of these timepieces that originally served as advertisements for wristwatches. If you have a few minutes to spare, take in some art—Pioneer Square is the site of Seattle’s gallery scene. Don’t miss Foster/White Gallery specializing in Northwest artists, most notably glass artist Dale Chihuly, and the Northwest Coast Native American art at Stonington Gallery (both to your left up Jackson Street).
Make your way back to the pergola in time to head two blocks up Yesler Way to  Smith Tower. Your tickets for the observation deck are waiting at the front desk. Built by typewriter and firearm magnate L.C. Smith, this was the tallest building west of the Mississippi for almost 50 years. Liveried elevator operators close the brass-and-copper cage, and the floors flash by on the way to the 35th-floor Chinese Room. The open-air deck offers 360-degree views.
After seeing Seattle from above, it’s time to go below.  Bill Speidel’s Underground Tour takes you beneath the city and back in time to hear about the corruption, stubbornness, and grit of the city’s founders. This quirky tour explains how sewer problems led to a regrade of the whole area in what sounds like an urban myth.
Emerge from the subterranean passageways, blinking your eyes in the sunlight. Next stop: the International District. Take the streetcar south to the Jackson Street Station, and walk south on 5th Avenue. On Weller,  Uwajimaya stocks Asian foods and imports; walking through the store is like visiting Japan without the plane ticket. Wander into the seafood area to see oysters, crabs, and geoducks, the largest burrowing clam in the world. Tiny boxes of Japanese candies at the checkout lanes make fun souvenirs. Gather your lunch, choosing from Thai, Filipino, Hawaiian, Hong Kong, and Korean food. Try the bubble tea with milk, fruit flavoring, and tapioca balls, and for dessert, pick up some green-tea ice cream.
Ride the streetcar back to University Street Station, and walk up the Harbor Steps to the  Seattle Art Museum. Outside, the 48-foot-tall Hammering Man works diligently. You reserved tickets for “Van Gogh to Mondrian,” featuring major works, many never previously exhibited in the United States.
You’ve been eyeing the Space Needle, so take the monorail to Seattle Center. Earlybirds can stop in Experience Music Project, with its fluid, colorful architecture, sitting at the feet of the Needle. The Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, which opens June 18 in the same building, propels you into a world of spaceships, futuristic technology, and alien life forms.
You have 7 p.m. reservations at  SkyCity at the Space Needle, slowly rotating 500 feet above the city. Try the wild line-caught salmon with Braeburn apple relish, and order the “lunar orbiter” for dessert. This ice cream confection looks like a flying saucer as it spills dry-ice fog over the edges of your table. Watch the sun set over the bay and see the city light up as the restaurant revolves. Visit the observation deck to drink in the cool summer evening.
Back at sea level, catch the monorail to Pine Street and walk two blocks south and two blocks west. You reserved tickets for  The Triple Door, a hip music venue sporting state-of-the-art sound and production. The 230-seat theater features Las Vegas–style seating with semicircular booths and small tables. You also can listen to the jazz, blues, rock, world, or folk music from the bar area. Enjoy the music, toast your three perfect Seattle days, and end your visit on a high note—by promising to return for more.
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