24 Hours In Seattle

8am

Time waits for no one, and with just one day in the Emerald City you’ll want to start bright and early. You’ll begin your day in the Chinatown International District’s most historic landmark, the Panama Hotel and Tea House for a steaming pot of tea or your first caffeine hit of the day. The Panama Hotel was once the heart of Seattle’s Japantown district, which became somewhere for the community to hide their personal belongings during the war. With its walls covered with newspapers detailing Japanese-American history and a unique windows in the floor of the cafe revealing a basement where abandoned belongings still sit untouched, starting your day here will offer a glimpse into the neighbourhood’s history. Choose a variety of oolong, sencha or green tea from the glass jars arranged on the bar and soak up the history.

10.30am

Whispers abound that Jade Garden serves the best dim sum in Seattle, so that’s exactly where you’ll be headed for your first meal of the day. In classic Cantonese style, dim sum is served from trolleys which weave their way around the loud, no-frills dining room. At weekends brunch queues can be as long as 40 minutes, but get there before 10.30am and you’ll be whisked right to a table. Feast on authentic dim sum; fluffy clouds of char sui bao (stuffed bbq pork buns), ready to burst xiao long bao (soup dumplings), sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf and traditional shrimp dumplings will be making the rounds. 

1.30pm

Pike Place Market is a hub for the city’s culinary talent, and a microcosm of the what Pacific Northwest cuisine has to offer. Yes, you will be overwhelmed by all of the incredible foods on offer. Yes, you may feel like crying when you realise that even if you spent your full 24 hours inside the market, it would never be enough time to try everything. But there’s no time to waste on heartbreak. Spend a few hours eating and browsing your way around the market, which is the oldest continuously operating market in the States, and salmon flying through the air. The latter will make sense once you reach Pike Place Fish Market, where fishmongers joyfully fling fish around, although only once someone has made a purchase. Feast on freshly caught oysters and Dungeness crab or pick up bites from across the globe from the hundreds of artisanal food stores who have made their home here. 

4.30pm

To reach Capitol Hill, hop back on the bus (this time the Line 8 from Queen Anne Ave N) and enjoy the fifteen minute ride across town. This neighbourhood is the city’s vibrant pocket of alternative culture, where a revolutionary spirit and somewhat hipster vibes meet a diverse melting pot of cultures and cuisines. Wander through the area to browse quirky boutiques or vintage stores, or head to Volunteer Park. If the Seattle drizzle makes its way across the Sound (and even if it doesn’t), duck inside the Asian Art Museum which is housed inside a beautiful Art Deco building and see works spanning whole continent and across the centuries.

Editor's note: the Asian Art Musuem is temporarily closed for refurbishment until 2019.

9pm

Hold off on dessert and head to Pie Bar, a cocktail bar which specialises in, well, pies. Make it your last stop of the night and enjoy a banana cream pie or a hearty slice of fruit crumble along with a butterscotch schnapps, amaretto or hazelnut liqueur based cocktail to indulge your sweet tooth. And if all that coffee has left with you with enough energy to keep going (we know you stopped off for at least one more somewhere along the way), Capitol Hill is the perfect place to bar hop and boogie the rest of your night away. With bars and walk-up windows staying open well after dark, you won’t be short of speakeasies to stumble upon and tasty midnight snacks to enjoy before you head home.