Space Needle
Seattle’s Space Needle was built to be the centerpiece of the 1962 World’s Fair which had a “Space Age” theme. It includes two levels of observation decks. The top floor is indoor/outdoor with a cafe and a bar. The lower observation deck is indoors with a glass floor and a rotating restaurant. With two trips up to the top, we are going to explore all of it. The Space Needle opens each day at 9am and closes at 11pm.
I got my Space Needle ticket from City Pass. The ticket on City Pass included two visits within a 24-hour period. I made sure I didn’t go too early the first day so I would have most of the next day for my second visit.
If you just want to purchase an individual Space Needle ticket, you can do that on the Space Needle Website. General admission for adults is $35. If you want the combo that includes Chihuly Garden and Glass, you can get that for $57. The Day/Night pass which gives you two visits in a 24-hour period costs $59. When I ran the numbers I figured even if I missed the aquarium (as I did) and only went to the Space Needle once, I would still break even on City Pass as long as I did Chihuly, Mopop, and the Harbor Tour.
Hotels near the Space Needle are quite expensive. My recommendation is to stay closer to Westlake Center. That means you can take the light rail (LINK) from the airport to Westlake Center. That puts you just a short walk from Pike Place Market. And you’re close to the monorail which takes you to the Space Needle, Chihuly Gardens, and Mopop for just $3.
Once you purchase your ticket from the kiosk, it’s just a short wait for the monorail. The Monorail runs every 15 minutes.
There is a ticket booth in front of the Space Needle. This is where I redeemed my City Pass for a paper ticket. If you have the day/night pass, you need to hang onto your ticket for the second visit.
Once inside this is what the line looks like. On my first visit it was about a 30 minute wait. Look at the blue sign in the middle of the picture below. There are two lines but everyone is in the left line. Once I noticed that I moved to the right line and probably saved some time. There is a lot of historical information on the Space Needle on the left wall.
This is a look down into the gift shop you will visit on your way out.
Here is a look at the elevator ride up and down.
The first level you come to is the top level which is open at the top and has gaps in the glass. The barrier was originally about waist high.
From this view you can see the Great Wheel on the waterfront and the Seattle Stadiums on the other side of downtown.
The tall dark building in the center is Columbia Center which is the tallest building in the state of Washington. It also has an observatory I will cover in another article.
In the distance you can see the Olympic mountain range.
When it’s crowded up here, the picture taking gets out of hand. People have to pose sitting on the bench, standing on the bench, laying down on the bench. It’s too much. It got to the point where I couldn’t take three steps without running into someone’s picture. I had to go inside to get away from it.
When you are ready to exit the upper level, you go down one flight of stairs to the lower level. This is where the bathrooms are located. This is where the restaurant is located. It’s also an indoor observatory with a rotating glass floor.
I was fortunate enough to catch the sunset here. If you have a day/night pass I think this is a good time for your first visit. Catch sunset then you have all day the next day for your second visit. Unless you are only in Seattle for one day. Then you would want to do your first visit earlier in the day and your second one at sunset.
I checked into booking the restaurant but I would’ve had to pay for two people. The cost was $175 per person for dinner or $95 per person for a weekday lunch. I would’ve considered the weekday lunch but not for $200. The weekend price was $175 per person all day.
For my second visit I was coming from the Pioneer Square which is down past the waterfront, past Columbia Center. It’s right by Smith Tower here. The light rail station is just to the right of it.
I’m taking the light rail to Westlake Center, then the monorail to Seattle Center.
With the light rail and monorail tickets, transportation cost me $5.25.
Here is the monorail ride from Westlake to Seattle Center.
Having done this before I could recognize where the line is inside. You can’t see in the windows very well in this picture but from here I can see where the line would be and nobody is in it.
This is where the line was yesterday. It’s non-existent today.
Those people back there just take your picture in front of that screen and sell you pictures. I bypassed them both times.
This is the guy who scans your ticket before you get in the elevator.
There are actually two elevator lines. I was in this elevator yesterday. I’m getting in the other line today because it’s shorter.
There are some people up here but it’s not nearly as crowded as it was yesterday. It’s worth mentioning that yesterday was a Sunday and today is Monday. It does make sense it would be more crowded on the weekend. I was just thinking with a cruise ship leaving tomorrow, a lot of people would get in town today and flock to the Space Needle. I guess not.
In some of these pictures you can see the reflection of the needle on the glass.
From here you can see the top of Climate Pledge Arena. That is where the Seattle Kraken play and where the Seattle Super Sonics used to play.
That ship is docked at pier 91 which is where my ship will be tomorrow.
I’m inside now. I got a Space Needle IPA from the bar. I am glad I got the two visit pass because this visit has been much more enjoyable than my first visit.
Next I got a Space Garden Hazy IPA.
If you’re a people watcher just sit right here and watch all of the poses.
”I’m falling!”
”I’m Spider-Man!”
That’s the Mopop museum through the glass floor.
It’s a good thing you didn’t take my $95. You’re SO busy for lunch!
Here is the Monorail ride back from Seattle Center to Westlake.
I was really glad I had the day/night pass because my second visit was much better than my first. If you can only come up once and have an option between Sunday or Monday, go for Monday. But if you don’t do anything else, definitely visit the Space Needle when you’re in Seattle.
