Seattle

Nestled between the Pacific, rainforest and volcanic peaks, Seattle is something like the green lungs of the USA. Anyone who comes here automatically moves more, eats better and breathes more deeply. A city break that works like a reset button.

Seattle’s streets as a workout

Seattle is a city you conquer on foot. From the legendary Pike Place Market, you wind your way down steep lanes to the redesigned waterfront, on through the Olympic Sculpture Park to lively Capitol Hill, Seattle’s queer capital. The terrain is hilly, and after one day you’ve done more steps than on the treadmill at the gym.

For years, the city has been investing deliberately in pedestrian-friendliness: wide pavements, car-free zones and Urban Trails linking the neighbourhoods. And if you need a break in between, take the ferry over to Bainbridge Island, a queer-friendly place with a picturesque main street, pretty boutiques and small restaurants. Slowing down, for the price of a ferry ticket.

Food from here: farm to table

The Pacific Northwest delivers the very best for your plate: wild-caught salmon, Dungeness crab, oysters from Puget Sound. At Pike Place Market, where fishmongers have been hurling their wares through the air in great arcs since 1907, fruit and vegetables from local farms are piled high. The neighbourhoods are lined with restaurants for whom “seasonal” isn’t a marketing word but a matter of course.

Water, mountains, breathing space: nature as a neighbour

In under three hours from the city centre, you can reach Olympic National Park with its ancient rainforest scenery, the San Juan Islands for kayaking and whale watching, or Mount Rainier National Park with its 480 kilometres of hiking trails leading through gorges, mountain meadows and subalpine forests.

But you don’t even have to go that far. In the middle of the city lies Madison Park Beach on Lake Washington – in summer, a popular meeting place for the queer community for swimming, sunbathing and unwinding. And around the Washington Park neighbourhood, a Japanese garden invites you on walks that feel like meditation with your eyes open. Seattle makes it easy to see nature not as a weekend project but as part of everyday life.

DISPLAY tips

1 Hotel Seattle — Opened in 2025 in the South Lake Union district, this is the city’s first nature-inspired luxury hotel. Reclaimed wood, stone surfaces, mossy art installations and local craftsmanship define every room. A hotel that feels like the city itself: green, serene, good.

Food — Seattle doesn’t only taste of the Pacific, but of Asia, too: strong Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and Filipino influences still shape the food scene today.

Craft cocktails — In the evening, the creative craft-cocktail scene takes over: bars such as Canon or Navy Strength mix with high-quality local ingredients – herbs from their own garden, spirits from the region.

Snoqualmie Falls — Just a short drive from Seattle, the water plunges into the depths here with impressive force – the Pacific Northwest at its wildest.

Pike Place Fish Market — In the middle of the bustling market, you find that rough, lively charm the city’s waterfront is known for.

The Seattle Great Wheel — Right on Elliott Bay: from the Ferris wheel, wide views open up over the promenade, the water and the striking skyline.

A report by Raphael Hadad · Photos: Raphael Hadad, Edelweiss/Loren Bedeli, Visit Seattle