Best Time to Visit Seattle as Recommended by a Local

Seattle is a popular tourist destination, with over 40 million visitors last year.  It’s also notorious for being a really rainy place. Having lived in the Seattle area for 15 years, when I travel, I often get asked the question “When is the best time to visit Seattle?”  The answer: it depends.  For dependably nice weather, I would say go between July and August.  But for smaller crowds and mostly decent weather, I would pick one of the shoulder months like May-June or September – October.  If you want snow sports and/or indoor activities, visit from January- March.  Each season has its own pros and cons.   Here are my thoughts on each month, and my favorite festivals in each month – you might want to plan your trip around one of these fun events.  This post contains affiliate links.  This website earns a small commission for items purchased through these links with no additional cost to you. 

Best Time to Visit Seattle – Consider the Weather First

Seattle is famous for its rain but there are a few months each year with little rain, and if visiting at other times of the year you may get lucky and have little rain, or it might rain all week.  One thing about Seattle rain is that it rarely pours – but drizzle, light rain, and grey skies are common.  Fun fact: New York City gets more rain (in inches) than Seattle.

Visiting Seattle in Spring –

Spring is notoriously rainy, but in recent years it’s been much drier than usual.  It’s a good time to visit if you want fewer crowds, and there are some great festivals. 

Visiting Seattle in April

April is a nice month to visit.  The Alaska cruises haven’t started and kids are in school, so the number of tourists are relatively low.  My only warning about April is that is can be quite rainy, but it’s possible to have a week of sun too.  Two top reasons to visit in April:

• The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is located an hour north of Seattle and are working tulip fields.  It’s so beautiful to see acres of daffodils and tulips, in every color imaginable, with the Cascade mountains looming in the distance.
• The Cherry Blossoms at the University of Washington – go to the quad to see all the blooms.  Later in the month is a Cherry Blossom Festival
• If you want to try many of the nicer restaurants in Seattle and surrounding for a reasonable price, visit during Seattle Restaurant Week.  This happens twice a year, once in the fall and once in the spring.

Visiting Seattle in May

The Alaska cruise season starts in May, and tourism becomes busy starting this month.   Although there are still many children in school, so it’s not as busy as June – August.

If you like alternative music, Labor Day weekend is the time for the Sasquatch Music Festival which takes place at the Gorge Amphitheater, located a couple hours east of Seattle in George, WA.

Visiting Seattle in June

One of my highlights of Seattle is visiting the free Chittenden Locks in Ballard.  You can see the salmon running in the salmon ladder from mid-June to September each year.

If visiting in June, don’t miss:

• the Fremont Solstice Festival – Celebrate the end of Spring and beginning of summer by watching the famous parade.  Don’t miss the naked bicyclists before the parade!

Visiting Seattle in Summer –

If you want to (almost) guarantee sunny weather, you should schedule your visit between July 5 and the end of August.  There is a running joke amongst Seattlites that it rains until July 4 each year, and sunny from July 5^th and on.   If you’re into hiking, July to September are the best months, as many trails are snowed over until early or mid-July.  I probably shouldn’t tell you this little known secret because we already have too many people moving to Seattle, but we don’t have mosquitoes. That’s right, I don’t even use my screen door because there are no mosquitoes. So when the midwest and Alaska are swarmed in the summer, Seattle and surrounds are a great place to avoid those pests.

Visiting Seattle in July

July is one of the two busiest months – the most cruise ships visit Seattle and many others take their vacation to the city.  You are almost guaranteed sunny days in July.  When I first moved here, we would only get a few days above 90 degrees per Summer, but now expect many more days above 90 degrees in the months of June through August. 

July is my favorite month to visit Mount Rainier – the views and wildflowers near the easily accessible Paradise visitor center on the south side of the park, and Sunrise on the east, are gorgeous. But, it’s also the busiest month for Mount Rainier and parking, especially at the best spots, is at a premium. Insider tip: arrive as early as possible to obtain parking. Hikes of varying difficultly with views of the mountain and wildflowers are available from both parking lots.

July has several events that are well worth attending:

• Independence Day – July 4^th – many cities and suburbs have fireworks shows.  The biggest show in town is in Lake Union.  You can watch the fireworks from Gasworks park or find one of the boat companies offering a fireworks “cruise”
• Seattle Seafair – this is the biggest festival of the year.  Favorite events are the torchlight parade, watching the Seafair pirates, jet boat racing, and the Blue Angels airplane show.
• Many communities have concerts and movies in the park.  It’s fun to bring a picnic and wine in a discreet container and listen to some live music or watch a classic movie.

Visiting Seattle in August

August is also very busy and likely to be hot and sunny.  August is the most likely month to have nearby wildflowers and smoke in the air.  There have been recent years when the air in Seattle was worse than Beijing! 

Some of my favorite events in August include:

• Festival of the River in Arlington.  This festival is my best (no longer) kept secret.  Sponsored by the Stillaguamish tribe and Angel of the Winds Casino, this free festival features known musicians, food such as a salmon bake, and a pow wow.  I’ve seen artists such as Leann Rimes, the Wallflowers, Los Lobos, and Rick Springfield at this festival
• Many of the suburbs are having festivals, for example the Kirkland Summerfest.
• Concerts and Movies in the park continue to the end of the month

Visiting Seattle in September

In my opinion, the best time to visit Seattle is September.  The number of tourists is shrinking as kids go back to school and the end of the Summer Alaska cruise season.  This is one of the best months for hiking – the temperatures are perfect for hiking and every trail is open.

Seattle September events:

• Bumbershoot – each Labor Day weekend, the Seattle Center is closed to host this music and comedy festival
• Ellensburg Rodeo – Ellensburg is a little over 1.5 hours east of Seattle and they have a great rodeo over labor day weekend, and while you’re there, check out the Kittitas County Fair (included in admission).
• Fremont and other suburbs have their own Oktoberfest.

Visiting Seattle in Fall –

If you visit timing is right, you can catch a University of Washingon Huskies or Seattle Seahawks football game – both are in outdoor stadiums.

Visiting Seattle in October

Although Washington is the Evergreen state, there are some places around Seattle that you can enjoy the fall colors.   One of the best places to see Fall colors in Seattle is the Washington Park Arboretum.  Other botanical gardens include Kubota Garden and Bellevue Botanical Gardens.  If you’re into hiking, there are lots of great fall color hikes in the Cascade Mountains.  I research on wta.org for the latest trail and fall color conditions. In my opinion, October is the second best time to visit Seattle for the best combo of moderate weather and fewer people.

My favorite events in October include:

• Leavenworth Oktoberfest – they bring in musicians from Germany and of course there are loads of pretzels, brats, sauerkraut, and beer.
• Various cities celebrate the Indian Diwali festival of lights.

Visiting Seattle in November

November might be my least favorite month to visit Seattle.  In fact, most Novembers I go on vacation to somewhere nice like Antarctica, Colombia, or Cuba.  The days are so short and the weather can be really nasty – heavy winds and horizontal rain is common in November.  If you do visit in November and the weather is nasty, check out my list of best indoor attractions in the “Visiting Seattle in Winter” section below.  For foodies, consider visiting during Seattle Restaurant Week, Oct/Nov is the second time it happens each year (April being the other month).  November is also the date of the Seattle Marathon.

Visiting Seattle in December

The days of December are super short, but there are lots of great indoor events and lots of great Christmas events that include:

• The Nutcracker Suite at the Seattle Ballet
• Leavenworth Tree Lighting – drive up to Leavenworth for choirs, alpen horns, a living nativity, and countdown to lighting up the town after singing “Silent Night”.  Warning: this event is extremely busy on the weekends, so expect a full crowd.
• Bellevue Botanical Gardens – I love visiting the garden in lights.  You can pick up a scavenger hunt list that has you looking for frogs and butterflies in lights amongst the gardens.  If you visit early in the season, entrance is free!
• Since Seattle is surrounded by water in the form of the Puget Sound, Lake Union, and Lake Washington, it’s only appropriate to celebrate Christmas with lighted ships.  The annual Argosy Christmas Ships festival has touring lit boats with local choirs that make stops at various harbors and beaches in the Seattle area.  You can purchase a ticket to ride on board, or view from on land.
• Woodland Park Zoo WildLights has the local zoo lit up in December. 

Visiting Seattle in Winter –

Winter certainly has the fewest visitors and hotels are the least expensive.  Expect rain and grey skies in Winter, with occasional days of sunshine.  Snow if fairly rare in Seattle, as the city is just above sea level, but if you want to see the most snow you’ve ever seen in your life, you only need to drive one hour to Snoqualmie Pass – the pass averages nearly 35 feet of snow per year!  If you’re visiting Seattle in Winter, you’re probably visiting for outdoor winter sports, such as skiing or snowshoeing, or visiting some of the many indoor attractions.  The best indoor attractions include the Chihuly Garden and Glass, Seattle Library (don’t just visit for the books – the Architecture is amazing), Pikes Place Market, Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, the Museum of Flight, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center, Smith Tower, Seattle Aquarium, MOHAI, and MoPOP.  I also recommend visiting Tacoma, less than 1 hour south of Seattle, to visit the Museum of Glass or the LeMay Car Collection.   There’s also many performance arts in Seattle that include touring Broadway at Paramount and 5^th Avenue Theater, Seattle Symphony, and Seattle Ballet. There’s also year-round outdoor destinations that are great for exploring like Pioneer Square or Fremont.

Visiting Seattle in January

January is the best month for skiing.  The best place to ski near Seattle is Stevens Pass along highway 2, but other ski slopes within a couple hours of Seattle include the Summit at Snoqualmie Pass and Crystal Mountain near Mount Rainier.  

If you like boats, there is an excellent Seattle Boat Show where you can see many smaller boats at the expedition and then take a shuttle over to Lake Union to tour multi million dollar yachts.

Visiting Seattle in February

February is similar to January in weather and activities.  The best special invents include:

• Boat Show continues.
• There’s a large Asian community in Seattle, and one of the many Asian festivals includes the Vietnamese New Year, celebrated in February.  Many of these events takes place in the International District on the south end of Seattle’s downtown.

Visiting Seattle in March

March is a good month to do some of the low elevation hikes around Seattle, as most should be snow free.  The city is typically rainy.  Special events in March include:

• Although it’s usually too early to see blooming tulips, you can likely see daffodils and migrating birds such as Snow Geese and Trumpeter Swans in the 1,000’s in Skagit Valley, about an hour north of Seattle. 
• Other events include the Moisture Festival and St. Patrick’s Day festivities. 

What do you think is the best time to visit Seattle and why?  I’d love to see your comments below.

Check Rates and Availability for Seattle Hotels. If you can afford it, it’s well worth staying in the downtown area, there is so much to do there is it’s connected by public transportation and tours to most places listed in this post.

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