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INTRODUCTION

Seattle. Jet City. Portal of the North Pacific. Queen City of the Pacific Northwest. “Metronatural” (to use a recent tourist slogan). The “Emerald City” (to quote a previous tourist slogan). Land of airplanes, software, coffee, fish, casual wear, and indie rock bands.

Whatever you call it, it’s a young city with a lot of history. Once a frontier settlement at the nation’s far corner, it’s now a crossroads of world trade and cultures.

And it’s a great place to walk. We’ve got lush greenery. We’ve got mountain and water views. We’ve got cozy bungalows, stately mansions, postmodern palaces, and outdoor art all over. We’ve got wide boulevards, narrow cobblestone lanes, and carless pedestrian pathways. It seldom gets too cold to go walking, and almost never gets too hot.

Seattle is a wonderful walking city. Just be careful of the hills. We’ve got some steep ones here, even after the massive pre-World War I regrading projects. When possible, I’ve devised these walks to avoid the more punishing inclines. The one exception, in Discovery Park (Walk 10), can be taken in reverse to avoid the steepest climb.

I’ve walked every foot of these trips, most of them several times, in different seasons. Each one will take you on an adventure through one of the most fascinating cityscapes in the United States.