Seattle Space Needle

In the summer of 2019 we took some time out from our Canadian holiday to visit Seattle. While Daddy and his fear of heights managed to avoid the towers in Calgary and Vancouver, he had absolutely no chance of doing the same in Seattle. No way were we missing out on a visit to the iconic Space Needle.

Where is it

The Seattle space needle is located at 400 Broad Street.

Getting there

Seattle is a pretty compact city with most attractions within walking distance.  Pike Place to the Seattle Space Needle is roughly a mile (up hill) and the closest tube station would be Seattle Centre. We were coming from the Freemont Troll so opted for an Uber, which are readily available in Seattle and at times cheaper than using public transport.

History

I won’t give away to much information here as while waiting in line to get the lift to the top, you will have the opportunity to view the exhibition which lines the walls showing the history of the tower. However, I will give a quick run down… The tower was built for the 1962 Word Fair. The tower itself is 605 metres tall and 183 feet wide, it can withstand earthquakes up to 9.1 in magnitude and has many lightening rods attached to it.

Opening Hours & Cost

The Seattle Space Needle is open 365 days a year from 8am to 12am. There is a huge variety of pricing structures so I recommend you visit the website to see what best suits yourself, here. We booked our tickets on the day of our visit online for the next available time slot.

What to see and do

Once we boarded the elevator, the doors closed and in slightly under 40 seconds we were at the top and free to explore.

Uninhabited 360 degree view

First to explore was the observation deck. The glass panel structure offers an amazing unrestricted views of the whole of Seattle, and on a good day further afield.

We spent most of our time on the observation deck playing a game of who could point out the attractions we had visited earlier in the day. Along the platform there are a number of selfie areas to get that Instagram perfect photo. That is if you can beat the crowds to input your details then make it across to the designated spot without any randomers joining in time for the snap of the camera. We weren’t one of the lucky ones, and Megan lost all patience trying!

Inside there is a bar and concession stands. Happily for us they sell beers, wine and cocktails, great for settling the nerves while also taking in the view.

The Loupe

After Megan had enough of scaring Daddy on the observation deck, we moved onto ‘The Loupe’.  The Loupe is situated on the floor below the observation deck and has a floor made entirely of glass. To add to the experience the floor rotates around the tower, not for the faint-hearted.

Megan always takes great pleasure in scaring daddy, as you can see from this picture.

Virtual Reality

A nice surprise at the end and not advertised but included with the price of your ticket, was the virtual reality experience. Megan jumped at the chance to dawn the headset and bungee jump off the viewing platform VR style.  She clearly enjoyed it as the roars of laughter were very audible around the gift shop.  What she also enjoyed was making fun of Daddy as he wasn’t so game, and give it a miss!

Exit Via the Gift shop

Like all major attractions, you exit via the gift shop and this one was huge. Megan had her eye on a Rubix cube she spotted while waiting to go up, so made a bee line straight for it.  As usual expect slightly dearer than normal prices for everything here.

Would we recommend

As far as big towers with observation decks go this was one of the best we have visited. If you have a head for heights then it is a fantastic experience and an amazing way to see the city.

Top tips

1. Time it right. We visited the Space Needle on a weekend and it was busy enough, apparently not the worst but busy still. Try early morning or late evening for some of the apparent best views.

Thanks for reading

The Lewis Family.

For further posts about our time in the USA click here.