The Market opened in 1907 because Seattle shoppers were sick of paying middlemen for onions. It has been trading ever since — through the Depression, through a 1960s plan to bulldoze it for a car park that citizens beat at the ballot box in 1971. What you walk through today is nine acres on the side of a hill: the arcade of produce and flower stalls at street level, then three floors of small shops descending toward the water.
Give it an hour and you will see the fish throwers, the gum wall and the flying-fish crowd. Give it ninety minutes and you can get down to the lower levels where the strange little shops are, out to the Overlook Walk — which opened recently and is still missing from most tour itineraries — and back up with coffee.
What our drivers would tell you
- The original Starbucks at 1912 Pike Place has a queue down the block by 10am; the one two streets over pours the same coffee.
- The lower levels are where the market stops being a postcard. Most visitors never find the stairs.
- Ask your driver to drop at First and Pine and collect at the Overlook Walk — you walk downhill the whole way instead of doubling back.
Where it is
On these tours
- ✓The Seattle City Tour — 3h, from $405
- ✓Seattle in a Day — 6h, from $810
- ✓The Cruise Day — 6h, from $810
- ✓The Rainy Day — 5h, from $675
Nearby, and often on the same day
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