Welcome to our epic Seattle to Portland 8-Day Itinerary! These Pacific Northwest cities have been on our travel wishlist for quite some time, so when it came time to pick a destination for our annual anniversary trip the decision was easy. Not only do we visit two awesome cities, but we visit an incredible National Park, the Northwesternmost Point of the US, lots of waterfalls, an incredible rocky coastline and so much more.
While there are endless things to do in Seattle, Portland, and the other destinations I will write about this itinerary is to help give you an idea of how much you can truly fit into your day. You may want to squeeze in less or more things but this should give you a good base idea.
Day One: Flight And Seattle
4:00 pm
Flew into Sea-Tac airport and got a ride to our hotel and checked into the W Seattle. Such a cool hotel! We were offered a view of the Space Needle or Mt. Rainier and we chose the mountain view. We decided to stay at the W Seattle due to its proximity to several destinations on our list, and it is only 5 blocks from Elliot Bay and a few more blocks away from Pike Place Market.
6:45 pm
Dinner at Vons 1000 Spirits and it was such a cool place with delicious food. They make their pasta in-house and their macaroni and cheese is incredible.
7:45 pm
After dinner, we took a stroll around Pike Place Market. The market was closed at this time, but the views were still great.
8:35 pm
We decided to get an ice cream treat at Shug’s Soda Fountain and Ice Cream, an old-time soda fountain. Afterward, we walked around Pike Place
9:30 pm
Purchased tickets to ride The Seattle Great Wheel, a huge Ferris wheel on the coast of Elliot Bay. The sun has set to just a little orange sun on the horizon and the city lights made for great views.
11:45 pm
Wrapped up our evening and head back to the hotel for some much-needed sleep!
Day Two: Seattle’s Pike Place Market, Space Needle, and So Much Food
10:00 am
Day two of our Seattle to Portland itinerary starts at this liege waffle place near the hotel called Sweet Iron Waffle that we decided to get breakfast at. We’ve had a liege waffle before at a local market and they were so good we had to try one again.
10:30 am
Our first biscuits of the trip at Honest Biscuit in Pike Place Market! The Pacific Northwest seems to really love their biscuits. These biscuits are huge so we shared one. We found Honest Biscuit inside the Market Front Producers Hall area.
Want to know more about all the delicious things we ate in Seattle? Check out my Things We Ate Seattle post
Pike Place Market is A Flower Lovers Heaven
11:00 am
After enjoying our biscuit, we took some time to explore the famous Pike Place Market. This place is huge and spans multiple city blocks and is filled with shops, food vendors, and my favorite- flower vendors.
There were so many that the rows of flowers had to have gone on for a mile. They were some of the most beautiful, hugest bouquets I’ve ever seen and only cost $15-$20. I was blown away by this.
Watch a Fish Toss like on The Real World Seattle
We ended our visit walking through the fish market where we saw the famous fish toss the fishmongers do when a fish is purchased. I remember seeing this back in the day when watching The Real World Seattle so it was interesting to see it in person. After watching the fish toss we headed out to our next destination.
11:30 am
Started to walk towards the Space Needle and found another biscuit shop called Biscuit Bitch so we had to give it a try. We split a biscuit called Biscuits and Gravy Straight Up Bitch!
Incredible Frank Gehry Architecture & Pop Culture Delights
12:30 pm
Before visiting the Space Needle, we decided to go visit the MoPOP museum and it was so much fun. Tons of exhibits on Sci-Fi, Music, and all kinds of pop culture. The building is by one of my favorite architects, Frank Gehry, known for his wild and curvy building design.
1:50 pm
After leaving the museum we made our way over to see the Space Needle and wandered into a festival that was going on called the Northwest Folklife Festival. We got some fun photos of the Space Needle with the Chihuly sculpture Sonic Boom in the background as the Chihuly Garden and Glass museum is next to the Space Needle.
2:30 pm
Trying out the yummy food options were on top of our Seattle to Portland itinerary. We made our way back to Pike Place Market and stopped at Beecher’s Handmade Cheese. It was a really cool shop that was half a restaurant and cheese shop and half cheese factory. We split grilled cheese and a small cup of their “Worlds Best” mac and cheese to try a few things and leave room for more Seattle eats.
2:46 pm
Our next stop was Rachel’s Ginger Beer. The interior was super cute and they even had soft serve.
3:15 pm
Top Pot Hand-Forged Doughnuts & Coffee was next on our list but feeling pretty full we grabbed a doughnut to take back to the hotel for later. I grabbed a Cookies & Cream flavor that was a chocolate cake doughnut with white glaze and Oreo’s crushed on top. Yum!
3:30 pm
Cupcake Royale was right around the corner so we picked up two cupcakes for later. We love trying cupcake shops in all the cities we visit. (OK, mostly me, but Nathan doesn’t mind the sweet treats)
You Had Me At Pink Door
6:30 pm
Dinner reservations at the famous Pink Door! I was super excited to try this place out as I love Italian food, pink is one of my favorite colors, and it seems like such a unique spot to have a meal. We get seated outside on their cute patio and have the most delicious meal, It’s one I still think about. Also, their branding & marketing collateral is beautiful! (as a designer this stuff stands out to me)
7:30 pm
We start our walk back towards our hotel and stroll through Pike Place Market again to see The Gum Wall, the grossest but kind of fascinating alley filled with used chewing gum pushed against the wall. It’s worth a walk through to check it out!
8:30 pm
Back at our room in W Seattle to enjoy our cupcakes and to watch the sunset to reflect on the buildings and Mt. Rainier in the distance. This trip has been a lot of walking so we tired out early.
Day Three: Boat Rides and Seattle City Views.
9:30 am
It’s our last day in town and we still had a lot to pack into our Seattle to Portland itinerary. We decided to wake up slow and enjoy the views from our window of Mt. Rainier while eating our Top Pot doughnuts from yesterday (still good! before heading out.
10:00 am
Left our hotel to meet up with a friend of mine who moved to Seattle recently for breakfast. We ate at Bacco Cafe in Pike Place Market and had a yummy spread of breakfast staples and took time to catch up.
11:30 am
Said our goodbyes to my friend and headed into Pike Place Market for another walkthrough and took time to explore some of the many shops and vendors outside of the food market. One of my favorite shops was The Paper Feather where I bought some cool letterpress Seattle postcards to frame later as a memento of our trip.
Take a Cruise on Elliot Bay
12:45 pm
We decided to take a Harbor Cruise of Elliot Bay on Argosy Cruises. The trip took about an hour with some time spent waiting for the boat to arrive and be boarded. If you want great Seattle skylines, views of Mt. Rainier (if you’re lucky), and views of the industry ports this will be a fun cruise for you.
The Best Seattle Skyline Views Found at Kerry Park
3:15 pm
Next, we visited Kerry Park to experience the panoramic views of downtown Seattle, the Bay, and Mt. Rainier. We booked a ride and it was only about 10-15 minutes outside of the downtown area in the Queen Anne neighborhood. If you’re looking for some of the best views of Seattle you must visit this park!
4:00 pm
Back to our hotel to relax and get ready to meet another friend for dinner.
6:30 pm
We head out to Serious Pie to try some pizza and meet up with friends. I have no idea why I didn’t take photos of this other than the outside of the box. We walked around the area a bit and saw some fun neon signs before heading to our next destination.
7:30 pm
While downtown we decided to visit the REI Flagship store. In the middle of downtown, it had a small forest surrounding it with trails and beautiful trees. It was a huge store full of all kinds of great outdoor gear.
9:30 pm
It’s our last night in town so we decided to get some drinks in the hotel bar The Living Room. Turns out I like Mai Tai’s.
10:30 pm
We couldn’t resist one last visit to Vons 1000 Spirits for a late-night snack. We didn’t have much pizza and found ourselves feeling a bit hungry. So good!
There you have it, 3 awesome days in Seattle, Washington! We really enjoyed visiting this part of the Pacific Northwest and look forward to returning someday soon!
More of our epic Pacific Northwest trip: Part 2 Olympic National Park and Part 3 in Portland, Oregon
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