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If Seattle was famous for grunge in the Nineties, today it’s equally as famous for grub.
The city’s living, beating heart is Pike Place Market, established in 1907, making it one of America’s oldest covered food markets.
Today 500 artisan producers and restaurants greet a daily stream of 30,000 hungry visitors, and the best way to get your taste buds around the city is with a tasting tour from Savor Seattle Tours, where you’ll sample vanilla lattes, smoked salmon jerky, handmade cheese, sugar-dusted madeleines, salted caramel chocolate and parmesan crumpets.
Local ingredients
The general consensus among locals is that Seattle owes its feverish foodie obsession to two things: the moody winter months and the abundance of top-notch local ingredients.
Seattle’s port status ensured a supply of exotic ingredients, and Washington state is legendary for the quality of its local produce - apples, pears, cherries, peaches, wheat, fresh seafood, seasonal foraged mushrooms, heirloom vegetables and more.
A short stroll from Pike Place is Chocolate Box, an impeccably curated emporium of the best locally made chocolate and wine. This pioneering boutique and tasting room offers a number of gluttonous “experiences”, but for vineyard-bound clients, their £45 Wine and Chocolate afternoon is an invaluable introduction to local wineries.
Sights worth seeing
Of course, Seattle satisfies more than an appetite for amazing flavours.
This famously music-obsessed city is a delight for culture lovers, with the thrilling Museum of Pop Culture celebrating the history of popular music, science fiction and general pop culture.
Any visit to Seattle should also include the classic landmarks of the Space Needle, a Jetsons-esque 1962 observation tower, and Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum. Local artist Dale Chihuly’s trippy, blown-glass sculptures are beautifully exhibited worldwide (one piece adorns the entry hall of London’s V&A) but as of 2012 his enchanting body of work found a permanent home in this dedicated museum at the Seattle Center.
And of course, there’s the fact you’re right on the water, allowing for boat trips, stand-up paddle boarding and kayaking in the bay.
This is a state worth lingering in, too, and visitors to Washington tend to split into two camps after a few days in Seattle. Active sorts venture west into Olympic National Park, hiking misty, forested mountains and wandering windswept beaches. The wineheads, however, travel south-east towards Oregon, deep into wine-country. Whichever route you choose, expect to fly out of Seattle satisfied.
A Seattle break the British way
Book your next trip to Seattle at ba.com/seattle
