Museums & Attractions
Our park lands are home to a variety of museums, gardens, and attractions. Here's a list of many of these special places, with links to their respective parks and the ways community members can access their services. This page is being updated; more to come!
Center for Wooden Boats
Location: Lake Union Park
The Center for Wooden Boats is a maritime museum and boating education center providing hands-on learning through a variety of boating and sailing programs.
Admission for the general public is free. The Center offers up to 10 hours a month of noncommercial use for community organizations; scholarships for educational programs for underserved youth; and publicly accessible restrooms.
Earth Runs
Location: Magnuson Park
Earth Runs helps educate the public on the importance of trees and provides information on proper tree placement and native plants. Earth Runs also hosts a monthly fitness run for the community called the Magnuson Series. The running series helps keep our communities healthy and provides opportunities for the public to learn about and participate in restoration events.
In addition to providing low cost, family-friendly monthly running and walking events, Earth Runs does fundraising for local charities, tree plantings, recycling, and education.
The Mountaineers
Location: Magnuson Park
The Mountaineers is a nonprofit outdoor community of 12,000+ active members in the Pacific Northwest. Founded in 1906, the Mountaineers have been getting people of all ages outside safely and responsibly for over 100 years. They host hundreds of monthly courses and activities - all led by a coalition of volunteers - to offer ways to get outside and connect with people passionate about the outdoors.
Courses, events, youth programs, and the bookstore are open to the general public. Also, the climbing wall, friction slabs, and basalt columns are open to the general public. School groups and youth-serving agencies can book Mountain Workshops, which offer single or multi-day experiences designed to expose youth to basic outdoor skills. Youth and senior scholarships are available for some programs. More info and Mountaineers website
Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI)
Location: Lake Union Park
The Museum of History and Industry is dedicated to exhibits featuring Seattle's rich history and experience, with a variety of exhibitions and opportunities for learning.
The museum offers free admittance at least one day per month, and kids up to age 14 are free every day (excluding school groups). Also, admission is pay-what-you-can for low-income visitors. Public restrooms and up to 30 hours per month of noncommercial use by South Lake Union community organizations ar also public benefits of MOHAI.
Outdoors for All
Location: Magnuson Park
Oudoors for All enriches the lives of individuals with disabilities and families and helps them to get out and enjoy the great outdoors. Programming includes snowboarding, snowshoeing, cross country and downhill skiing, cycling, mountain biking, kayaking, hiking, rock climbing, youth and adult day camps, yoga, military programs, weekend excursions and custom events.
Outdoors for All offers free adaptive cycle rentals in Magnuson Park during the summer, as well as other adaptive sport programs year round. Financial aid is available on a first come, first-served basis.
Pratt Fine Arts Center
Location: Pratt Park
Pratt Fine Arts Center offers classes for all skill levels and abilities. It is the only facility in the Northwest where absolute beginners and established professional artists work side-by-side creating art in glass, sculpture, jewelry and metalsmithing, painting, drawing and printmaking.
Pratt provides scholarships and tuition assistance, sponsored teen classes, and affordable studios with unparalleled state-of-the-art equipment and professional artist instruction to create an environment where students learn, experiment, and create.
Sail Sand Point
Location: Magnuson Park
Sail Sand Point's mission is to bring the joy and life-enhancing benefits of sailing and small boats to people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds. The nonprofit organization offers learn-to-sail camps and classes, race team coaching, boat storage and more.
Sail Sand Point has a robust outreach program in place, awards thousands of dollars in program scholarships, and is dedicated to incorporating a STEM curriculum into all their youth camps and classes. Sail Sand Point is also developing their adaptive sailing program, where a boater with a physical disability can come sail or paddle any day of the week. The organization offers free community events throughout the summer, camps and classes with scholarships, race teams for students, programs for underserved youth, open boating to qualified boaters, and boat storage.
Sand Point Arts and Cultural Exchange (SPACE)
Location: Magnuson Park
Sand Point Arts and Cultural Exchange (SPACE) funds, facilitates and promotes arts and cultural uses of Warren G. Magnuson Park for the public, serving diverse audiences and forging regional collaborations. SPACE's priority is to build community by connecting the park's many stakeholders and visitors through creative and community-based programming.
SPACE aims to serve all communities and has served youth, elderly, deaf, veterans, LGBTQ, low income, and people of all ethnic backgrounds and nationalities, including immigrants. Has a public art gallery, and a radio station.
Seattle Aquarium
Location: between Piers 62 & 63 and Waterfront Park
The Seattle Aquarium is the region's premier resource for hands-on marine experiences and conservation education. offering fun, exciting ways to discover more about the amazing Puget Sound and our world's one big ocean.
The Aquarium provides complimentary admission tickets through community partner organizations, including the Seattle Public Library, and scholarships for youth marine camps in the summer.
Seattle Art Museum Olympic Sculpture Park
Location: next to Myrtle Edwards Park
The Olympic Sculpture Park houses a collection of renowned outdoor sculptures, an indoor cafe, guided tours, and breathtaking view of Puget Sound. Open and FREE to the public 365 days a year! The park and pavilion strive to be accessible to all visitors, with a variety of supports in place for those who need them.
Seattle Asian Art Museum
Location: Volunteer Park
The Seattle Asian Art Museum collection features artwork from Asian countries and artists. The museum recently re-opened after being closed for renovation and expansion in February 2020.
Seattle Chinese Garden
Location: West Duwamish Greenbelt
The Seattle Chinese Garden is a Seattle Parks and Recreation partner that offers free public access to a lush, beautiful garden within West Seattle. The garden is a traditional Sichuan-style Chinese garden, the only one of its kind outside China, that celebrates Seattle's rich Chinese heritage.
Admission is free.
Seattle Japanese Garden
Location: Washington Park Arboretum
The Seattle Japanese Garden is managed jointly by Seattle Parks and Recreation and the Arboretum Foundation. The garden features winding paths through sculpted landscapes evocative of traditional Japanese designs.
Seward Park Audubon Center
Location: Seward Park
The Seward Park Audubon Center is an Enviromental Learning Center run by the Audubon Society. They offer a variety of exciting programming that inspires diverse audiences to protect birds and their habitat.
The Center offers free teen leadership conservation programs, scholarships for its summer camps, and school partnerships and programs to support the communal development of our future environmental stewards.
Thistle Theatre
Location: Magnuson Park and others
Enjoy the magic of puppetry at Thistle Theatre, located in Magnuson Park, Sunset Hill Community Club, and BYT Crossroads. Thistle Theatre is a non-profit performance arts company that specializes in Tabletop Bunraku puppetry, a variation of a Japanese performance art form that dates back to the 17th century. Community members of all ages are invited to experience colorful stories come alive as Thistle Theatre puppeteers share their heart and their art in unforgettable performances.
Thistle Theatre offers school group discounts, field trip programming and affordable puppetry workshops.
Volunteer Park Conservatory
Location: Volunteer Park
The Volunteer Park Conservatory is a botanical garden with a multi-room display of cacti, tropical plants, orchids, and other species. Its mission is to advocate and encourage preservation, public participation, and education with respect to the Volunteer Park Conservatory and its plant collection.
Friends of the Conservatory (FOC), a 501(c)(3) non-profit, plays an integral part in stewarding visitors, providing outreach and education though docent-led tours, plant sales, special events, and interpretative classes for adults and school children, as well as an "Urban Safari" summer camp for grade school youth.
Washington Park Arboretum
Location: Washington Park Arboretum
The Washington Park Arboretum and Botanical Gardens is a 230-acre park full of interesting gardens and rare plant species. The arboretum is co-managed by Seattle Parks and Recreation and the Arboretum Foundation, as well as the University of Washington.
The Arboretum is free (as it is a city park) and offers a small visitors center with restrooms, miles of trails, classes, tours, events, and venue rental.
Woodland Park Lawn Bowling Club
Location: Woodland Park
Woodland Park Lawn Bowling Club (WPLBC) is located on a beautiful, green hillside with views of Green Lake, the WPLBC facility includes two large putting-surface quality greens, four regulation bocce courts, and a clubhouse. It is committed to sharing the fun of Bocce, Croquet, and Lawn Bowling with all members of the community.
As part of their commitment, WPLBC hosts open hours for non-members and offers free lessons to low-income youth.
Woodland Park Zoo
Location: Woodland Park
The 92-acre Woodland Park Zoo features extensive exhibits with a huge variety of animal species. The zoo's mission is to save wildlife and inspire everyone to make conservation a priority in their lives. It is a recipient of multiple Best National Exhibit awards from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
The zoo works with community partners to provide free tickets for individuals and families in need. It also offers discounts to members of the military, those with disabilities, Foster and Kinship Families and Recipients of EBT/Washington Quest or WIC Assistance.