A trip to Seattle sounds fascinating at the moment. The waves of the Seattle beaches are crashing, the sun is setting, and people are laughing and relaxing under the sunset.
Walking through the sandy shores, leaving tracks behind, feeling the sand squish slowly through the toes as you gaily walk down the shoreline of the outer banks. The idea sounds fascinating, so why not take a trip to Seattle and embrace it?
Seattle is a city surrounded by water. The Elliot Bay and Puget Sound salt waters border the city west, and the massive Lake Washington offers freshwater to the east. These defining water bodies provide a certain amount of Seattle beaches to enjoy, from rocky shorelines to sandy beach expanses.
For untrained visitors sides, it may be a bit hard to find. The beaches in Seattle dot all sides of the shoreline, ensuring people are close enough to visit these areas with relative ease.
It is a port city surrounded by the salt-water Puget Sound on one side and the fresh-water Lake Washington on the other, and it’s no wonder that Seattle beaches are popular destinations among locals and tourists alike.
A few Seattle beaches are more popular than the others as they attract more locals than tourists. A common factor for many Seattle beaches is a beautiful view and an excellent place to enjoy the glistening hot sun. A few fun things on Seattle’s beaches range from volleyball tournaments to hiking trails.
Other captivating attractions include lighthouses, art, and stunning sunsets in the evening. You can expect to encounter other beach-goers enjoying the waterfront access, especially on a summer weekend.
Here is a guide to the best Seattle beaches:
1. Discovery Park
The Discovery Park comprises 500 acres on a bluff stretching out from the Magnolia Neighborhood, northwest of downtown Seattle. This popular natural space offers the epitome of great Seattle beaches. The wide variety of landscapes found within the discovery park features grassland, sea cliffs, forest groves, and lighthouse points.
The skyline views of the Cascade and the Olympic Mountains are available. The park is home to Fort Lawton and evidence of this status can still be found at the heart of the park. The daybreak starts cultural center shall provide historical information about the area’s population.
The wide variety of landscapes found within Discovery Park includes grasslands, sea cliffs, forest groves, and lighthouse points. And skyline views of Cascade and the Olympic Mountains are visible throughout. And the daybreak cultural star center provides historical information about the area’s population.
The park has two Seattle beach areas to the north and south that are great for laying a towel down during low tide. The evergreen West Point Lighthouse can be found on the shoreline at the park’s center.
The wildlife is abundant in this natural place, and seals can be seen on the beach. One great route for exploring is the three-mile loop trail. Another recommendation is to experience the park simply at the art studio shop and explore whatever catches your interest first.
2. Alki Beach
The Alki beach spreads out for two and a half-mile long beach from the Alki beach point to Duwamish head in west Seattle. It has been a popular sandy beach for over a century. It was home to an amusement park in the 20th century and where the first modern pioneers landed back in the 19th century.
The Dash Point State Park in Federal Way is also an enormous waterfront park with trails and campsites. There are hidden swimming beaches around the Seattle beaches area. It is where Denny Party settlers arrived and spent the winter of 1851 before retreating to Elliot Bay.
A popular way to enjoy this rugged northwest shoreline is to walk, run, roller-blade, or push a stroller down the evened-out path that paralleled the beach. Other activities often include sand volleyball, beach coming during low tides, and watching boats pass by on the back dropped Olympic mountains.
Tagged with the Golden Gardens Park, Alki Beach is one beach in the city that allows campfires on the beach, offering the best way to catch the picturesque sunsets. The campfires need to be within the designated fire pits in the park.
Along with Golden Gardens Park, Alki Beach is one of two Seattle beach areas that allow campfires on the beach, offering a perfect way to catch the colorful sunsets. Campfires must be within the designated fire pits spread throughout the park.
3. Madison Park
It is a beach and public area on the Lake Washington shoreline, which could be considered a secret beach in the Seattle Beaches area. It is on the east side of the Madison Park neighborhood, northeast of downtown and off a quiet street in an affluent district. The park is sandwiched between the Washington Park Arboretum and Lake Washington.
Boasting views of the Cascade Mountains in the distance, it is a small beach of only 400 feet in length, and this city park provides everything and more to enjoy the day.
Tagged with a gorgeous place to put a towel down and gaze across the lake Washington shoreline, the beach has a designated swimming area with a lifeguard on duty with illustrious tennis courts.
Adjacent to Madison park has well-groomed walking paths, sprawling laws, two tennis courts, nearby cafes, and restaurants. For better seclusion of a city beach getaway, the Madison park north beach is a few blocks away and features a great lake Washington waterfront overlook above a rocky seawall.
4. Richmond Beach Saltwater Park
The Richmond beach saltwater park is situated 15 miles north of Seattle, WA; the Richmond beach saltwater park provides a secluded place to enjoy the Puget Sound. With a moderate descent to the mile-long beach area from the parking area, the views of the water and sunbathing area appear on the horizon upon hitting the sand.
This beach is popular for picnic shelters and quick getaways from the city. The park leads to the Seattle beaches by providing outlets for furry-legged companions with a designated off-leash dog area. It has a playground area nearby, a popular play nearby, and wind.
5. Madrona Beach Park
It is a tucked-away gem of the city on the Washington shoreline, Seattle, WA. It is situated on the east side of Seattle beaches central district which is approximately a three-mile commute from downtown.
The distance and proximity offer the perfect step back from the city. It is a small sandy beach at Madrona Park, which loosely shows the boundaries for the swimming beach with a lifeguard on duty.
The Madrona park is near the lake Washington blvd, ideal for fishing, picnicking, and freshwater estuary habitats. A large expanse of grass extends from the beach with scenic views of Bellevue across the water.
Madrona park has a reservable picnic area, which is well utilized on weekends, and there is a trail following the shorelines, which is well-trodden throughout the year.
6. Matthews Beach Park
The Matthews Beach Park is the city’s biggest freshwater beach in Seattle, WA. It is situated in the north of Seattle from the expansive Warren G Magnuson Park.
It is one of the best Seattle beaches, expect big doses of crowds here on summer weekends. The Matthews Beach Park of the Seattle Beaches is where you go swimming.
Tucked up in Northern Seattle, the park boasts an interesting history related to the Northern Pacific Railroad and “ the world’s first amphibious commercial air transports over the ocean.”
The beach at Matthews beach park is a thin slice of sandy beach that circles the cove for approximately 100 feet. A green lawn is bordered by large trees surrounding the swimming area, offering plenty of places to dry off. A lifeguard is on duty during summer; a floating platform enticed swimmers to leave the shoreline.
7. Denny Blaine Park/Howell Park
Denny Blaine Park and Howell Parks are two small pocket parks on the Washington Shoreline in Central Seattle. The parks are less than half a mile north of Madrona Park and are known within the nude sunbathing communities.
They are like any other public space in the city. At Denny Blaine, an old stone wall separates the wild and sunbathing area, which once marked the waterline before the lowering of the lake in 1917.
The Blaine Park South of Madison Park toward the tail of Lake Washington Blvd is Denny Blaine Park, found at the end of a looping tree-lined lane. There’s no onsite parking, so there’s a bit of a walk from what few curbside spaces are available along Lake Washington Blvd.
8. Carkeek Park
The carkeek park comprises over 200 acres in Seattle’s northwest neighborhood. The park has a variety of landscapes, forests, wetlands, creeks, and Puget sound shoreline, providing an Au natural appeal that attracts thousands of visitors annually.
A variety of trails integrate all the ecosystems of the park. This park is quite famous among the rest of the Seattle parks.
The 3.5 miles north pipers creek trail within this park has an easy ability to transport users far away from the city. The continued conservation of the carkeek park and interest in the park has made it one of the most pristine in the city, and one of the few homes to a salmon run in Seattle WA.
The waterfront area at Carkeek park presents great views across Puget Sound, and the low tide pools add even more acreage to explore on the wide and welcoming beach.
9. Green Lake Park
The green lake park is five miles north of downtown, attracting tourists to its shoreline since 1907. It is an iconic outdoor destination featuring great running paths, a historic bathhouse, and two designated swimming areas with lifeguards on duty during the summer. These two swimming spots are east green lake beach and west green lake beach.
The Greek lake park has several access points for non-powered boats to get on the water. Kayaks, canoes, and paddle boards can be rented through a concessionaire at the park.
The Green lake park area has so much sand to lay down a towel on. The green grass beach park in Seattle, WA, surrounds beaches offering excellent spaces for a picnic.
The Green Lake is a navigable lake, although the lake remains prone to algae blooms. Woodland Park can also be easily reached on the south side of Green Lake, including the famous Woodland Park Zoo. Green Lake Park is at 7201 East Green Lake Dr, Seattle, WA 98115.
10. Golden Gardens Park
The Golden Gardens Park is composed of the Ballard neighborhood edge in north Seattle. It is one of the most popular beaches in the city and the largest. The park is over 80 acres and has over 300 feet of sandy beaches shoreline.
The beach overlooks Puget Sound and the nearby Olympic Mountains, with easy access to the crowds that gather on the weekends. It has a sandy shoreline, where swimmers and boaters have instant access to the waters, and the beach caters to volleyball games, kite flyers, and for those out there to chill and enjoy the view.
The Golden Gardens feature forested hiking trails and an off-leash dog area. Similar to Alki Beach, campfires are allowed at designated fire pits.
11. Locust Beach
It is a hidden beach in Bellingham. The sunny side beach is cute, long, and has a rocky shoreline on the north side of Bellingham bay. The trail to these sandy shores is very easy to find.
Follow the road towards the water, and continue moving on a small but well-marked trail down the beach. Explore the beach, breathe in the bay, and remember to leave no trace. Watch out for the stairs as they can be steep and kind of slippery when wet.
The beach continues in both directions once on shore. The pilings in the water can be reached by wading or by kayaking during low tides.
12. Seward Park
It is located within the Seattle beaches city limits, and the Seward seattle beach park holds 300 acres of beautiful forest land, home to eagles’ nests, old gold-growth forest, miles of hiking trails, beaches, and beach areas, and more. The Bailey Peninsula is 50′ of shoreline located at the northern tip of the park. It has 300 acres which are dotted with Seattle beaches.
They are surrounded by Andrews Bay (also known as Party Cove), and you will witness an impressive gathering of anchored boats on a beautiful summer day.
Seward Park consists of Swimming, boating, sailing, hiking, and more are all part of the package at Seward Park, a pretty spot set on 300 acres of Bailey Peninsula jutting out into Lake Shoreline.
13. Jackson Beach
A long, sunnyside Seattle beaches two miles from downtown Friday harbor. You can stroll among the driftwood, enjoy picnics, make bonfires, and watch the sunset. A small dock and boat launch makes it an easy place to get a small boat into the water.
The San Juan island park is where the driftwood comes into its white rest that creates a barricade between dark, dense sand and a grassy bluff within the Seattle beaches.
The north bay south of Friday harbor truly shines at night when the bio-luminescent flagellates illuminate the water when brushed with a kayak paddle.
14. Gene Coulon Beach Park
It is 15 miles from downtown Seattle in the city of Renton. It encompasses nearly 60 acres on Lake Washington’s southeast shore. A beach park is an excellent place for a fun day out, it hosts a fantastic swimming beach, and the water might be too cold for some.
The park features a fishing pier, picnic shelters, playground equipment, and two tennis courts. Several events occur throughout the year, including the fourth of July celebrations and the summer concert series, which are worth your time at the Seattle beach.
15. Pritchard Island Beach
It is the one among the many Seattle beaches you choose when you want to escape from the city. Located at the north of the Beer Sheva park, Pritchard island beach is a quaint beachfront lie within the rainier beach of the city.
Stately, cottonwood trees flank it, and the beach area portrays fantastic waterfront views around the Seward park and mercer island. This tranquil beach is a wonderful spot to lay down a towel and read.
16. Birch Bay State Park
Adjacent to the Jackson beach is a Birch Bay State Park, a delightful 194-acre Washington state park that is preserving one of the Puget Sound’s few remaining combination saltwater and freshwater estuary as habitats. The waterfront at Birch Bay State Park featured a one-mile family-friendly stretch of sand.
Other Beaches of Seattle
The centennial park in the north provides even more pathways to follow, and throughout Myrtle Edwards and within the sculpture Park to the south, public art provides other fascinating attractions to catch the eye. Sunsets are a great time to tour through this tucked-away park and beach area to have some fun.
The Olympic National park provides Seattle visitors with a range of recreational options within a compact area. The nature preserve centers around the Olympic Mountains, a system of rivers and valleys to the pacific ocean.
It’s simple to check out the varying micro-climates and zones within the park, encircled by the US highway 101. There are fragrant pine needles along a path deep into the rain forests, finding solid wet sands to save energy exploring the oceanic beaches.
The Discovery Park is a former military installation ingeniously transformed into a wild coastal park in West Seattle. The Park is a recent addition to the city landscape; it wasn’t officially inaugurated until 1973.
The Lincoln Park Forest trails, an outdoor heated swimming pool, and scenic Seattle beaches make Lincoln Park one of Seattle’s most underrated parks. The park has four miles of cycling trails, picnic pavilions, and a bathhouse on a bluff overlooking Puget Sound. If you have plans to hit the beach, there’s a paved path that takes you along the rocky and sandy shore, as well as to the swimming pool at Mt Rainier is fantastic.
Stunning panoramic views of the Canadian Gulf Islands and the Mountains are offered throughout the park, which offers more than two miles of public beachfront for visitors to fish, boat, crab, and clam. It gives you an outline of the Seattle beaches.
The Fay Bainbridge Park is on the Cascadia Marine Trail, which links several regional waterfront campsites. The Fay Bainbridge Park links several waterfront campsites in the region with quaint waterfront taverns and cafes, kayaking, and beautiful sandy beaches at the park.\
Closing Thoughts
These Seattle beaches will be life changing and you will not miss out on vibing with it! All the seventeen beaches listed out, I must say all the seventeen beaches are the best Seattle beaches! so, unleash that explorer in you and find out those secret beaches hidden away from human civilization.
Some beaches do not make it easy for the public to get into. Many of these beaches aren’t very well known or easy to find, but there are plenty of options; before heading to the beach, stock up on supplies, food, and beach equipment at Pier.
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Last Updated on by Pragya Chakrapani