Seattle, Pioneer Square
 

It has been a few years since DH and I were in Seattle. Is Pioneer Square still safe for walking, including in the parks? Taking our daughter this time. She's interested in the waterfall garden.

Pioneer Square is not looking great right now because of the Covid pandemic lingering effects. Loads of closures in the neighborhood both retail and professional offices, especially along 1st Avenue South. So it feels kind of deserted and the homeless people are more noticeable.

What "parks" in Pioneer Square exactly are you asking about? I'm not aware of any.

You could certainly go see Waterfall Garden Park if that is important to someone. It's not dangerous or scary by day, just not as vibrant as it was a few years ago when you saw it last.

Meggies - Have you seen the Waterfall Garden Park. I mean it's a nice place to eat lunch when you work in the neighborhood, but it is certainly nothing I would go out of my way to visit as a tourist. Suze

City Hall park is right across the street from Pioneer Square, not that it's anything that special, and it's not large. I think the biggest park in that area is Occidental Square, there is even a tourist info booth there and a streetcar stop. It's nice enough to sit around a bit, nothing grand like Central Park, of course.
https://www.seattle.gov/parks/find/p...idental-square

Thanks, Suze. I am grateful for your input.

Thank you, Christina. We realize also that Seattle still may not be fully in swing yet by early June, but we will make the most of what is available. Our hotel will be near the Space Needle. What form of public transport would be most efficient for getting over to Lake Union? I know we can watch the sea planes land there. Is there anything special we shouldn't miss in that part of town? Thanks for all advice.

Last time we were up in Seattle we stayed near the Space Needle, we loved the Chihuly glass exhibit and we had a fantastic meal at Toulouse Kitchen nearby.

If you go over to the Fremont section, you can see the big troll under the bridge. Also in Fremont is the so called "Center of the Universe".

{there is even a tourist info booth there and a streetcar stop} Sorry but that's not current about Occidental Square. The streetcar stop is moved over from South Main to Jackson now. And the tourist booth is very rarely staffed. I worked looking out at the plaza for the past 8 years :)

From Space Needle to Lake Union (depending where to where) you could walk or take a taxi or Uber/Lyft. I don't know if a Metro bus would work between those two places and definitely there's no streetcar. Up around the other end of Lake Union but you might enjoy Gasworks Park.

Chihuly Glass Garden is a good suggestion. Also Olympic Sculpture Park (all outdoors) would be good at this time if the weather's nice.

Thank you to all for your generous advice.

From the Space Needle you can take the number 8 bus (marked Mount Baker Transit Center) at 5th and Denny to Denny Way and Westlake and then switch over to the South Lake Union Streetcar at Westlake and 9th that will take you right down to Lake Union. You can also walk to the streetcar stop if you are good walkers-google shows it as just over 1/2 mile from the Space Needle.

Just FYI, google maps covers transit options very well in Seattle and even allows you to specify if you want the fast route, the route with least walking, etc. So that is a good way to compare taking transit to walking or taking a Lyft.

We couldn’t believe all the new Amazon buildings near Lake Union on our last visit to Seattle two years ago. It is city by itself.

HappyTrvlr-that could change. Amazon and other tech companies have started to become very unhappy with Seattle's policies regarding taxation of large corporations, so many of the tech companies are moving over to the "east side" as we call it. Also an interesting fact that non-locals may not know is that most of that whole neighborhood (called the Denny regrade) running from Denny street to Lake Union was bought up by Paul Allen-the co-founder of Microsoft and was primarily developed over the years as a tech and bio-tech office neighborhood.