Best Time to Visit Seattle: Weather, Crowds and What's Open

Check Seattle CityPASS® Availability for Your Dates

Seattle CityPASS® covers five top attractions and can save up to 47%: the Space Needle and Seattle Aquarium are included, then you choose three from Chihuly Garden and Glass, the Argosy Harbor Cruise, MoPOP, Woodland Park Zoo and Pacific Science Center.

The pass is valid for 9 consecutive days, which works especially well in Seattle: save the Space Needle, harbor cruise or zoo for clearer weather, and use the indoor attractions on rainy days. Space Needle admission also includes one daytime and one nighttime visit within 24 hours, so you can see the city in two very different lights.

Reservations are required for the included attractions, so use the calendar below to check what is available for your dates and plan the pass around the weather.

Other experiences you might enjoy

Around your dates, consider the enclosed Seattle Great Wheel, the Underground Tour beneath Pioneer Square, a summer Mount Rainier day trip and Pike Place Market food tours.

What each month is like in Seattle

Temperatures are the average afternoon high and overnight low. Rain is the average monthly total, and days with rain count the days in an average month with at least a hundredth of an inch. Sunset is for the middle of the month. Hotel occupancy is for downtown hotels in 2025 and gives a sense of demand, not how busy any attraction will be.

July and August are highlighted because they are the driest and warmest months, with rain on about five days in an average month, and every seasonal trip is running. June and September sit just behind them: highs in the low 70s, about eight or nine days with rain, and in September’s case slightly lower hotel demand than in July and August. In 2026 the hop-on hop-off bus, daily whale watching from Pier 69 and the cruise ship season all end on October 11.

October is where the weather turns. It averages 3.9 inches of rain against 1.6 inches in September, and November is the wettest month of the year, at 6.3 inches. From November to February the city is at its quietest for downtown hotels, and the indoor attractions carry the trip.

Which pass or ticket suits your season

The indoor attractions are the same in January and July. What changes with the season is how much you get from the parts of a Seattle trip that happen outside: the Space Needle’s view, the open deck of a cruise and a day on the water.

Ratings and review counts are from GetYourGuide, checked September 15, 2026. For the pass itself, see is the Seattle CityPASS worth it.

What’s on in Seattle through the year

Much of what changes between months is on a published calendar: when the bus and the whale-watching boats start, when the cruise ships arrive, and when the holiday events take over Seattle Center and the waterfront. Dates below are the 2026 ones, as published by each organizer.

January and February: indoor attractions and a quieter city

The Space Needle, Chihuly, the Aquarium, MoPOP, the Museum of Flight and Pike Place Market are all open, and the harbor cruise keeps sailing in the off-season, though Argosy does not publish its winter timetable in advance, so check your date in the booking calendar. The bus and the whale-watching boats from Pier 69 are not running. In the mountains, Mount Rainier’s Paradise area stays open year-round, but the road from Longmire closes at night in winter, and the park requires every vehicle to carry tire chains from November 1 to May 1. Our guide to winter at Mount Rainier covers the tours that run then.

March and April: blossoms, tulips and the start of the season

The University of Washington says its Yoshino cherry trees typically bloom in March and April, and that the bloom has been shifting later. In the Skagit Valley, north of Seattle, the Tulip Festival usually runs through April, with peak bloom often in the first two to three weeks. On April 17, 2026 the first cruise ship of the season arrived and the hop-on hop-off bus started running.

May and June: whale watching, Folklife and long evenings

Clipper’s daily whale-watching cruises from Pier 69 started on May 21 in 2026, and Argosy’s seasonal sunset cruise starts on May 21. The Northwest Folklife Festival filled Seattle Center from May 22 to 25. Seattle hosted six FIFA World Cup matches at Lumen Field between June 15 and July 6, 2026. By mid-June the sun sets after 9 p.m.

July and August: dry days, the mountain and Seafair

These are the driest months, and the National Park Service says July and August are the sunniest months at Mount Rainier, where many wildflowers are usually blooming by mid-July. The Sunrise Road on the mountain’s northeast side usually opens in late June or early July; in 2026 the Sunrise area closed on August 13 because of wildfires. Seafair Weekend ran from July 31 to August 2, and Chihuly Nights opened the garden after 5 p.m. on weekends from August 1.

September and October: the season winds down

Bumbershoot was at Seattle Center on September 5 and 6, 2026, and Chihuly Nights ran until September 26. The hop-on hop-off bus, Clipper’s daily whale watching and the cruise ship season all ended on October 11. The Sunrise Road usually closes in late September or early October.

November and December: the holiday season on the water

November is the wettest month, and whale watching dropped to weekends before ending on November 15. The Seattle Christmas Market ran at Seattle Center from November 20 to December 27, Winterfest from November 27 to December 31, and Argosy’s Christmas Ship Festival from November 27 to December 23. On Thanksgiving, Pike Place Market, the Museum of Flight and the Underground Tour close; on Christmas Day, Woodland Park Zoo closes as well. Our December guide sets out what to book in December, from the Christmas Market to Leavenworth.

Rain, cold and clear days

Why this page shows days with rain as well as inches

November averages 6.3 inches of rain and July 0.6 inches. A monthly total is the depth of all the rain that fell across the month, so one heavy storm and three weeks of drizzle can add up to the same figure. It says nothing about how many days were wet. The count of days with rain is closer to what a visitor notices: in an average July there is measurable rain on about five days, and in January on about 19, which is more days than not. Neither figure is a promise about a particular afternoon.

Winter: cool, damp and short

From December to February afternoon highs average 47°F to 50°F and nights average 37°F to 38°F, so the city is chilly and damp more than freezing. Snow at the airport averages about 2 inches in January and February. The bigger constraint is daylight: in mid-December the sun sets at 4:18 p.m., so plan the waterfront and the Space Needle’s daytime view for the middle of the day.

Summer: warm and mostly dry

July and August average highs of 77°F and 78°F. An average high does not rule out hotter days, and in the mountains the National Park Service says rain is possible on any day even in the sunniest months. A dry month is also no promise of a clear view on a particular day, so check the cloud forecast before you book a time at the Space Needle.

What rain does to a sightseeing day

Rain changes the order of the day more than whether it works. Chihuly’s galleries, MoPOP, the Pacific Science Center and the Museum of Flight are indoors, and the Seattle Aquarium says most of its habitats are indoors, apart from the outdoor harbor seal habitat. The Space Needle has indoor and open-air observation levels, but its tickets are non-refundable, so a wet, cloudy day is a reason to use the indoor attractions first. The Great Wheel’s gondolas are fully enclosed, and Argosy’s boats have heated indoor decks. The hop-on hop-off bus has limited indoor seating, and its operator hands out ponchos on the top deck in bad weather.

How busy does Seattle get?

No attraction publishes monthly visitor numbers, and Visit Seattle reports visitor totals only for the whole year. The closest monthly guide is downtown hotel occupancy, which Visit Seattle does publish. In 2025 it ran from 50.1% in December and 51.4% in January to 89.2% in July, with August at 85.8% and September at 83.5%. Average room rates followed the same pattern, lowest in December and highest in July.

What these numbers are and are not: they cover downtown hotels only, and Visit Seattle notes that not all visitors stay in hotels. They are a guide to the seasonal pattern, not a count of people at the Space Needle or Pike Place Market.

Travel through Seattle-Tacoma International Airport points the same way: about 3.4 million passengers in February 2025 against 5.6 million in July. That figure includes connecting travelers and residents, so it describes travel through the region rather than crowds in the city.

Cruise ships add a second, more local pattern. The Port of Seattle scheduled 330 cruise ship calls between April 17 and October 11, 2026. By our count of that schedule, Saturdays and Sundays had the most calls, 70 and 64 across the season, against 14 on Wednesdays, and May to September each had more than 50. The date checker shows how many ships are scheduled in port on your day. Pike Place Market says it is generally less crowded before noon and busiest from Thursday through Monday.

At Mount Rainier, the National Park Service says visitation peaks in July and August, that entrance waits can be over an hour on the busiest summer weekends and holidays, and that entering before 10 a.m. or after 2:30 p.m. can help avoid delays. For more on the mountain, see our guide to day trips from Seattle.

Best time of day at major attractions

Space Needle

The Space Needle schedules arrivals in 15-minute windows and lets you stay on the observation levels until closing. It does not name a least-busy hour, but it says peak-season mornings fill up fast. Tickets cannot be refunded or exchanged for weather, so the most useful check is the cloud forecast for your date. With the CityPASS Day/Night ticket you get one daytime and one nighttime visit within 24 hours; in mid-July sunset is after 9 p.m., and in mid-December it is before 4:30 p.m. For prices and ticket types, see Space Needle tickets.

Chihuly Garden and Glass

Chihuly says the first hour of the day, or after 5 p.m., has fewer crowds. It posts its opening hours about a month ahead, so check them for your date. On summer weekend evenings, the lit garden was open late during Chihuly Nights in 2026.

Seattle Aquarium

The Aquarium is open every day from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., with last entry at 5 p.m., and says it is generally less busy on non-holiday weekdays and after 3 p.m. on weekends. More in our Seattle Aquarium tickets guide.

Pike Place Market

The market is closed only on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. It says mornings before noon are generally less crowded, and it is busiest from Thursday through Monday. Our Pike Place Market guide covers the best hours in detail.

Is your season a good time to visit Seattle?

Is spring a good time?

Yes, for a trip that mixes indoor attractions with the start of the outdoor season. March averages 54°F and April 59°F, and both still have rain on about half their days. In exchange, the cherry blossoms and the Skagit Valley tulips are out, the bus starts in mid-April, and whale watching from Pier 69 begins in May, when rain falls on about 11 days of the month.

Is summer a good time?

Yes, and July and August are the strongest months for a first visit. Expect the most visitors and the highest downtown hotel rates, plus cruise ship traffic on the waterfront, especially at weekends. Reserve the Space Needle and your other CityPASS attractions before you travel, and keep a day in hand for the mountain.

Is fall a good time?

September is close to summer on weather, with highs in the low 70s, and the bus, whale watching and cruise ship season run until mid-October. From October the rain returns: it averages 3.9 inches in October and 6.3 inches in November, and sunset moves before 5 p.m. once the clocks change on the first Sunday of November.

Is winter a good time?

Yes, if you lean on the indoor attractions. December to February have the lowest downtown hotel occupancy and rates of the year, and the Space Needle, Chihuly, the Aquarium, MoPOP and the Museum of Flight are all open. Days are short and wet, so a pass whose attractions are mostly indoors, such as Seattle CityPASS, makes the most sense. Late November and December add the Christmas Ship Festival and the holiday market at Seattle Center.

How we know

Temperature and rain. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, U.S. Climate Normals, monthly series for 1991 to 2020 at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (GHCN station USW00024233), the National Weather Service’s official Seattle climate site. Days with rain are the normal number of days with at least 0.01 inches of precipitation. Temperatures are rounded to whole degrees and rain to a tenth of an inch in the table.

Sunset. Computed for downtown Seattle (47.606 N, 122.332 W) with the NOAA solar-position algorithm, the standard 90.833-degree zenith and US Pacific time with daylight saving. Accurate to about a minute; the table uses the 15th of each month.

Forecasts in the date checker. The US National Weather Service forecast API for the Seattle gridpoint, read live in your browser. Cloud cover is the forecast sky cover averaged from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Hotel occupancy and rates. Visit Seattle’s monthly downtown hotel performance reports for 2025. Airport passengers. Port of Seattle monthly passenger summaries for 2025.

Cruise ship calls. The Port of Seattle 2026 Cruise Schedule, published April 20, 2026. The weekday and month totals are our own count of that schedule and include ships that stop in transit.

Seasons, hours and events. Each operator’s or organizer’s own page, checked September 15, 2026: City Sightseeing Seattle, Clipper Vacations, Puget Sound Express, Argosy Cruises, the Space Needle, Chihuly Garden and Glass, the Seattle Aquarium, MoPOP, the Pacific Science Center, Woodland Park Zoo, the Museum of Flight, Pike Place Market, the Seattle Great Wheel, Bill Speidel’s Underground Tour, Seattle CityPASS, the National Park Service (Mount Rainier), the University of Washington, the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, Seattle Center, Northwest Folklife, Seafair, Bumbershoot and Seattle’s FIFA World Cup host committee.

Ratings and review counts. GetYourGuide listing pages, checked September 15, 2026.

What these numbers cannot tell you

• Climate normals are thirty-year averages from the airport, about 12 miles south of downtown. They are not a forecast, and the mountains are much wetter and colder.
• A count of days with rain does not say how long or how hard it rained, or the chance of a dry afternoon on a given date.
• Hotel occupancy covers downtown hotels in 2025, and airport passengers include connecting travelers and residents. Neither counts visitors at any attraction.
• We have no per-date ticket prices, so this page does not name a cheapest month for tickets.
• Season and event dates are the 2026 ones. The 2027 bus, whale-watching and cruise schedules had not been published when this page was checked.
• The Space Needle publishes its hours about a week ahead and Chihuly about a month ahead, so this page gives no opening hours for either.
• Wildfire smoke and air quality are not shown in the date checker.

Checked: September 15, 2026.

Plan the rest of your Seattle trip

Once your dates are set, Seattle in one day shows how to fit the main sights into a single day, and what the Seattle CityPASS includes lists every attraction on the pass and how to reserve them.