Seattle

Seattle has plenty of shoreline but little sea swimming. Alki Beach and Golden Gardens are lovely sandy strips on Puget Sound, good for bonfires, volleyball and sunset views of the Olympics, but the water stays around 12°C to 13°C even in August, and most people only paddle.

The real swimming is in the lakes. In July and August Lake Washington warms to around 20°C, and the city runs lifeguarded beaches at Madison Park, Matthews Beach and Mount Baker, with Green Lake closer to the centre. These make pleasant summer afternoons, but the season is short and beach time is a side note to a visit rather than the reason for it.

Seattle eats from the cold waters around it. Oysters from the Sound and the Washington coast, Dungeness crab, wild salmon and geoduck are the heart of the local table, served everywhere from raw bars to smokehouses. Pike Place Market is the obvious starting point, with fishmongers, produce stalls, bakeries and small counters stacked on several levels above the waterfront.

Coffee is a civic habit here, with serious roasters in every neighbourhood, and craft beer and Washington wines from east of the Cascades fill the bar lists. The Chinatown-International District and the suburbs to the north and east hold excellent Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese and Korean cooking. Teriyaki shops are a local institution. Fine dining is good but small, and prices run high.

Seattle is a young city, and its sights are mostly modern. The Space Needle and the Seattle Center grounds around it, built for the 1962 World's Fair, hold the glass art of the Chihuly garden and the curving Museum of Pop Culture. Downtown has the Seattle Art Museum, while its Asian collection sits in Volunteer Park. The Burke Museum covers Northwest Coast Indigenous art and natural history.

The Museum of Flight, south of the centre, is one of the largest aviation museums in the world. Pioneer Square keeps the brick and stone blocks rebuilt after the fire of 1889, and the Ballard Locks are a pleasant working landmark. It is a solid two or three days of sights, not a heritage city.

Going out in Seattle centres on Capitol Hill, where Pike and Pine streets are lined with cocktail bars, dive bars, dance floors and the heart of the city's LGBTQ+ scene, busy most nights and packed at weekends. Ballard has a looser strip of brewery taprooms and neighbourhood bars, Belltown draws a younger club crowd, and Fremont and Georgetown have easygoing local pubs.

The bars are good and the craft beer and cocktail standard is high, but the night is not long. Last call comes at 2am, the clubs are few, and outside the main strips the city goes quiet early.

Seattle sits between two mountain ranges and a sea of islands, and on a clear day Mount Rainier fills the southern sky. The Cascades begin under an hour east: Mount Si and the trails off Interstate 90 near Snoqualmie Pass are easy outings, and the ski areas there run through winter. Mount Rainier National Park, with alpine meadows and glaciers, is about two hours away, and the Olympic Peninsula's mountains and rainforest lie across the Sound.

In the city, Discovery Park's bluffs, the Washington Park Arboretum and the Burke-Gilman cycle trail give green space. Kayaking and paddleboarding on Lake Union are everyday pastimes, and the ferries are a scenic ride with orcas and seals sometimes in view. Winters are grey and wet, and summers are dry and excellent.

The most rewarding day out is by water. A half-hour ferry crosses to Bainbridge Island, with its small harbour town, galleries and wineries. Further ferries lead to Whidbey Island's farm villages and to Port Townsend, a Victorian seaport about two hours away. Closer in, the Woodinville wine country gathers dozens of tasting rooms barely half an hour north-east.

Tacoma, about an hour south, has the Museum of Glass and a cluster of good museums around its old railway station. Leavenworth's Bavarian-styled mountain village and the cities of Vancouver and Victoria are popular, but each takes longer than a comfortable day. The list is pleasant rather than remarkable.

Seattle has a good set of things for children. Woodland Park Zoo is well regarded, and the Seattle Aquarium on the waterfront focuses on Puget Sound sea life. Seattle Center puts the Pacific Science Center, a children's museum, the big summer fountain and the Space Needle in one place. The Museum of Flight, with its aircraft and space shuttle trainer, is a reliable hit, and the monorail or a ferry ride counts as an outing in itself.

Parks, playgrounds and lake beaches are everywhere, and the culture is relaxed and outdoorsy. Against that, there is no theme park, the steep streets between the waterfront and downtown are hard work with a pushchair, and grey, wet months make indoor plans a necessity for much of the year.

The centre is compact enough to walk, from Pike Place Market through downtown to Pioneer Square and the waterfront, although some streets climb hills steep enough to feel. Link light rail runs from the airport through downtown to Capitol Hill and the University District, and one tap card covers trains, buses, streetcars, the monorail to Seattle Center and the water taxis and ferries.

Beyond that line, neighbourhoods such as Ballard, Fremont and Alki are served by buses that work but take time. Water and hills break the city into pieces, so distances are longer than they look. For the mountains and national parks, a car is effectively needed.

Shopping in Seattle is practical and local rather than glamorous. Downtown around Pine Street has the main department stores and chain flagships, and the city's outdoor heritage shows in large gear stores where locals kit out for the mountains. Pike Place Market adds crafts, local food products and small makers' stalls.

The more interesting browsing is in the neighbourhoods: record shops and vintage clothing on Capitol Hill, independent boutiques and a Sunday market in Fremont, and design shops in Ballard. Luxury shoppers will find a modest selection downtown and more in the malls across the lake in Bellevue.

Seattle is an expensive city to visit. Downtown hotel rooms cost a lot through the summer and cruise season, restaurant bills rise further with tax and tipping, and the headline attractions charge high admissions. Public transport is the main saving, and food halls, teriyaki shops and the counters at Pike Place offer cheaper meals. Budget travellers usually save by staying in outer neighbourhoods near the light rail or by visiting outside summer.

Seattle has a fuller stage calendar than its size suggests. Seattle Opera and Pacific Northwest Ballet, one of the country's leading ballet companies, share McCaw Hall at Seattle Center, and the ballet's Nutcracker is a December tradition for local families. The Seattle Symphony plays a full season at Benaroya Hall downtown. The Seattle Repertory Theatre and several smaller companies keep the theatre programme busy, and historic downtown houses such as the 5th Avenue and the Paramount host musicals and touring shows.

Popular music runs deepest. This is the city of Jimi Hendrix and the grunge era, and clubs in Belltown, Capitol Hill and Ballard host touring and local bands most nights. Downtown also has a well-established jazz supper club tradition.

Seattle has no bathing tradition of its own. The main options are hotel spas downtown and a few Korean-style bathhouses in the suburbs, with heated pools, steam rooms and scrubs. Natural hot springs exist in the Cascades and on the Olympic Peninsula, but they are a long drive.

What the city does offer is an unhurried rhythm. Long mornings in neighbourhood coffee houses, quiet walks through the Japanese Garden and the Arboretum, and rainy afternoons with a book are part of local life. It is a pleasant place to slow down, but not one to visit for rest and treatment.