DAY 1

09:30 - Travel in style from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in a luxury sedan arranged by your five-star check-in: Four Seasons Hotel Seattle. Housed in a U-shaped 21-storey high-rise, it’s set cinematically atop a bluff overlooking Puget Sound: a 100-mile-long deep estuary of the eastern North Pacific Ocean. Those bay-fronting vistas have a habit of following guests around, whether that be in the property’s 12-metre-long heated infinity pool, 24-hour fitness centre or award-winning spa. After a brief orientation, drop your bags at its Pacific Northwest-inspired lobby, which masterfully meshes locally-sourced materials and neutral tones with clean lines. The 147-key downtown hotel also keeps excellent company, with the Seattle Art Museum across the street, the Seattle Symphony Orchestra a block away and waterfront landmarks like the Great Wheel mere minutes on foot.

10:30 - Ask the concierge to arrange a ride in the hotel’s Tesla—which delivers guests anywhere within a one-mile radius—to the city’s 60-metre-tall spinning spectacle, The Seattle Great Wheel, which more than lives up to its name. A long-defining feature of the city’s skyline, the Ferris wheel extends 12-metres out over scenic Elliott Bay. Lasting around 15-minutes, there’s ample time to take in a bird’s eye view of downtown and not one but two mountain ranges: Olympic and Cascades. Consider splurging on the wheel’s four-person glass-floored VIP cabin, complete with plush leather seating, mood lighting and stereo system.

11:00 - A whisper from the wheel is Seattle Aquarium’s striking new multi-story Ocean Pavilion, situated just across the public plaza from Piers 59 and 60. More than two decades in the making and unveiled last summer, its crowd-pleaser is a ray, shark and tropical fish-filled, 325,000-gallon tank where you can marvel at 100 different species of Southern Pacific sea life. Meanwhile, its pedestrianised rooftop walkway tethers the central waterfront—that’s in the final phase of a multi-million-dollar makeover—to Pike Place Market; your next port-of-call.  

12:30 - Open since the turn of the 20th century, neon-lit Pike Place is the oldest continuously operated public market in America. Founded to enable local farmers to sell their produce directly to consumers, the working market has evolved into a must-visit gourmet destination, where the likes of Beecher’s Handmade Cheese and Starbucks got their start. Follow your nose to Truffle Queen; a specialty store selling everything from honey to pasta sauce made from the prized fungi. Then swing by Shug’s Soda Fountain & Ice Cream for one of their signature prosecco floats.  

13:30 - Sate your appetite at nearby Lola: author, chef and Seattle restauranteur Tom Douglas’ lauded but refreshingly laid-back eatery located in the hip Belltown neighbourhood. Lola marries mod Greek-inspired dishes with Pacific Northwest (PNW) ingredients like Anderson Valley lamb and Bristol Bay sockeye salmon, that’s skewered into kebabs and served with smashed garlic fried potatoes. Wash it all down with a Greek martini or pomegranate lemonade, then treat yourself to a dessert-to-go like their made-to-order donuts with seasonal jam and vanilla mascarpone.

15:00 - Hail a cab to Pier 55 for a new perspective of the ‘Emerald City’—so-called for its evergreen forests—from the water. Argosy Cruises is Seattle’s original sightseeing cruise and still deemed the best. Over the course of its hour-long narrated tour, you can see alfresco art at bay-fringing Olympic Sculpture Park, the city’s only over-water hotel—once patronised by the Beatles—and Seattle’s original skyscraper, Smith Tower. Harbor seals are a regular sighting, as are a colony of charismatic California sea lions at Seattle’s cargo terminals, where container ships reaching up to a quarter-mile long are unloaded.

16:30 - Back on dry land, point your compass to Seattle’s historic Pioneer Square neighbourhood. It’s the address of Browne Family Vineyards’ stylish tasting room, which specialises in spirit flights, whiskey-chocolate pairings and world-class Washington wines. The most exclusive of its wine flights is the ‘Bitner,’ which includes a Rye Barrel Aged Cabernet Sauvignon and Premier Collection Merlot among its four pours. If you plan on going home with a liquid souvenir, make it a bottle from Browne’s Forest Project, which plants one tree in the Pacific Northwest with every sale.

18:30 - Enjoy a slow sunset stroll along downtown’s shoreline via Alaskan Way to the Four Seasons. For views out to Seattle harbour, request a window table at Goldfinch Tavern, which takes its name from Washington’s state bird. The hotel restaurant—a sultry study in wood, stone and leather—is headed up by acclaimed chef Ethan Stowell aka America’s answer to Jamie Oliver thanks to his role in overhauling school cafeterias. Stowell brings together the region’s formidable flavours and ingredients in Tavern staples like the beet and Dungeness Crab salad and beef burger topped with Beecher’s Cheese (of Pike Place fame). Round out the evening with their palate-cleansing raspberry-mango sorbet.

21:30 - Retire to your Deluxe Elliott Bay Suite, that’s bathed in soft blues and warm caramel tones which echo the PNW’s natural colour palette. Much like the hotel’s other four suite categories, it splices state-of-the-art technology with Seattle Art Museum-curated art from more than 36 Washington-based artists. Its premium linens, meanwhile, are an excuse to linger longer in bed, particularly as you can take advantage of the hotel’s complimentary fresh coffee concierge service. As for the suite’s spa-like bathroom, it’s outfitted with a deep soaking tub, double vanities, a ginormous glass-enclosed rain shower and in-mirror TV, meaning you’ll want for nothing.

DAY 2

10:00 - Start day two on a high, literally, from Seattle’s saucer-topped Space Needle; the city’s answer to the Eiffel Tower that was famously designed on a cocktail napkin. Rising 185-metres high above the Seattle Centre, it was built as a showpiece for the city’s iconic World’s Fair, which drew nearly 10 million visitors here in 1962. Purchase tickets in advance to admire the panorama from its revolving glass-floored lounge and open-air observation deck, where you can eye Mount Rainier’s snowy peak on a clear day. For the full space-age experience, board the city’s ‘60s monorail, which travels between downtown’s Westlake Centre Mall and the base of the Needle in just three minutes.

11:00 - The Space Needle’s arty neighbour is Chihuly Garden and Glass. An indoor-outdoor-museum, it celebrates the oeuvre of Washington-state-born and world-renowned glassblowing artist, Dale Chihuly. Playful installations, larger-than-life tentacled chandeliers and technicoloured ceilings fill its eight themed gallery rooms. The much-photographed pièce de résistance is a suspended 30-metre-long floral glass sculpture that runs the length of the museum’s glorious glasshouse.

12:00 - Drawings by the eminent glassblower emblazon the illuminated back-lit wall of the museum’s onsite café, simply known as The Bar. As much a visual as a gustatory delight, diners eat from shadow-box tables displaying Chihuly’s own curious collections—think tin toys and alarm clocks—and beneath 80 ceiling-strung accordions. The Bar’s local-leaning menu shines with seafood-centric dishes like northwest razor clam chowder, Penn Cove garlic mussels and fish and chips battered with Seattle-brewed Pilchuck Pilsner lager. Satisfyingly, many items are made in-house, from the spicy ketchup to the Blood Orange and Cedar Smoke Soda.

13:00 - Walk off lunch in Chihuly’s Alice in Wonderland-esque landscaped gardens before heading next door to honour the city’s rich musical heritage. A non-profit founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) turns 25 this year. It owes its colourful and curvy steel-aluminum skin to starchitect Frank Gehry. Inside, the interactive museum celebrates local legends like Jimi Hendrix, Pearl Jam and Nirvana and showcases priceless musical memorabilia alongside sci-fi, video game and fantasy exhibits.

14:30 - Swap Seattle Centre’s retro charms for the Scandinavian flavours of the city’s Ballard neighbourhood. The Nordic fishermen and boat-building immigrants who settled here in the early 20th century have left a lasting impression. Their heritage is honoured in Ballard’s must-visit National Nordic Museum, unmissable thanks to its fjord-inspired architecture and giant wooden troll sculpture gracing the entrance. Amble along Ballard Avenue NW—that’s primed for craft brewery crawling and boutique shopping—before jumping in a cab to Ballard Locks. Hailed as a marvel of engineering, the locks let boats of all sizes pass between Puget Sound’s saltwater and Lake Union’s freshwater, along with thousands of migrating Pacific Salmon. From June to September, visitors can see three species navigate the fish ladders from a specially-designed subterranean viewing area.

16:30 - Back in downtown, satisfy your sweet tooth at Fran’s Chocolates: an award-winning artisan confectioner that’s connected (all too temptingly) to Four Seasons Hotel Seattle’s lobby. Its Seattle-raised founder Fran Bigelow’s signature smoked salted caramels are a favourite of the Obama family. Buy them individually or beautifully boxed-up, along with best-selling truffles like their barrel-aged Single Malt Whiskey, Oolong Tea or Dark Espresso that’s flecked with gold leaf.

17:00 - Take the elevator to the hotel’s third-floor luxury spa; a tranquil 560-square-metre sanctuary where you can unwind in its dry sauna or eucalyptus-scented steam room. If that isn’t enough to revive tired limbs and combat jet lag, indulge in a woodland-inspired Evergreen Aromatherapy Escape massage. Drawing inspiration from the PNW, the treatment uses warm shea-soy candle wax infused with a trio of therapeutic oils: cedarwood, fir and rosemary.

18:30 - Turn the clock back to the “Roaring Twenties” at Fairmont Olympic Hotel’s namesake bar. No ordinary lobby bar, this two-tiered beauty—decked out with marble floors and original oak-carved panels—has old-world ambience aplenty. Forgo the lounge seating for a velvet stool at its curving bar, that’s crowned with a kinetic art installation in a touching tribute to the city’s maritime heritage. The standout from their seasonally-tweaked cocktail list is the Olympic Mule, sweetened with honey harvested from the rooftop hives of the hotel, which happens to be listed on America’s National Register of Historic Places.

19:30 - Where better to bid farewell to this shoreside city than at one of Seattle’s newest and buzziest seafood restaurants: Half Shell, which nestles at the north end of Pike Place Market. Despite the name, freshly-shucked oysters served ‘on the half shell’ (raw) aren’t the only item on the menu. Taste Washington’s native Dungeness Crab (no cracking required) as a remoulade with fried green tomatoes, or in a roll with hand-cut fries. Be sure to leave room for their resplendent seafood towers of oysters, scallop crudo, Sockeye salmon belly and wild shrimp, which pair brilliantly with Half Shell’s popular martini menu.