48 Hours in Seattle with 4 Bars and 4 Breweries

What does 48 hours in Seattle (before heading out on an Alaskan cruise) look like? Well, lots of breweries, a few bars, a few tourist attractions, and lots of fun!

We have been to Seattle before to visit family and, of course, had the RV delivery fiasco last year. This time we decided to stay in the city rather than sink into the relaxing backyard my in-laws created. So we booked a hotel near the Space Needle and started planning.

Seattle has been the birthplace of many aspects of our everyday lives. Starbucks began near the famous Pike Place. Grunge was born in its bars and the hipsters first sipped their coffee to stay warm on the wet Seattle days.

Seattle offers many ways for you to fall in love with the area. Here is a little of what we found.

Kimberly Kinrade

Random Facts about Seattle

• Seattle has been home to civilizations for at least 4,000 years.
• Home to the world’s largest floating bridge spanning across Lake Washington. (connecting Seattle to Medina)
• Ranked the most literate city in the USA
• Nicknamed “The Rainy City” due to the marine layer. Seattle receives less rainfall per year than New York City, Boston, Houston or Chicago.

48 Hours in Seattle

It was a whirlwind stay, but we made the most of our 48 hours in Seattle! We hit the ground running as soon as we dropped our luggage at the hotel we headed off to the Space Needle. It was a clear day so we headed to the top to catch the views and lunch!

The Space Needle sets atop its gift shop. You can skip that altogether if you like. (We always need to pick up a patch for my “Thanks Dad” throw blanket.) The tickets to reach the top are available outside at the kiosks. Head around to the entrance and bag check. Immediately after the bag check, you begin seeing with the history of the Space Needle. I am guessing the lines can get long enough that the history is there for wait time entertainment.

The elevator has windows so enjoy or cover your eyes whichever is applicable. The top of the Space Needle has a small deli. I wouldn’t recommend grabbing lunch there. It was expensive and airplane quality.

Facts about The Space Needle

• Edward E Carlson sketched it on a napkin before building it for the World’s Fair.
• It was once the tallest building west of the Mississippi
• Construction was completed in a mere 400 days.
• Said to be capable of withstanding a 9.1 magnitude earthquake. Due in part to its foundation extending 30 feet underground.

Tips at the Space Needle

• Try the Space Needle beer at the top.
• Look down too! Head down a level and check out the glass floor and the mechanics responsible for spinning the floor.
• While looking down the giant spider on a roof is a 3D painting (not a sculpture).

The area around the Space Needle offers a few activities. The Chihuly Garden & Glass, Seattle Children’s Museum, and Museum of Pop Culture are in the vicinity. But we grabbed the monorail to Pike Place.

Pike Place is a common tourist attraction in Seattle. We visited the market before but decided to spend a little more time on this trip.

Must-See List for Pike Place

• The fish (of course)
• Storyville Coffee – Corner Market at 1st and Pike
• Lanterns (look up, look in odd places, there are 6)
• Gum wall (yes, it is disgusting, but you have to do it)
• The pigs!

Pike Place is a 9-acre combination farmer’s market, antique store, and random shopping mall. Make sure you leave the top floor! You will want to wander the levels to see what you find.

• Some popular Pike Place stores:
• Indie Chocolate
• Orange Dracula
• Slow Loris
• BLMF Literary Saloon
• Golden Age Collectibles
• The lanterns are a whimsical art addition to the market. You will see them hung upside down and sideways. There are a total of six so happy hunting!

Heading over to Corner Market (1st & Pike) you will find a great recharge with Storyville Coffee. Of course, the original Starbucks is below it on the street, but Starbucks is everywhere now. So we headed upstairs to this gem. The coffee and views were great!

We will hit Radiator Whiskey on our next trip. They offer an extensive selection of local and global whiskeys. We were a little too early since they open at 4 p.m. We heard the flight is the way to go though!

Deciding it was 5 o’clock somewhere we headed to Cloudburst Brewery (Lenora & Western). This small brewery had big flavor!

My favorite was “Bad Timing.” It was a Nitro Milk Stout with Coffee & Cinnamon (6.8% abv, 43 IBU). Their description sums it up best.

Baby, this is what you came for. Lightning strikes every time she pours. WAIT what? It’s almost May and you DON’T want a full bodied, rich & creamy stout blended with homemade coldbrew from Lighthouse Roasters and infused with Saigon AND Indonesian cinnamon from Market Spice? Even if it’s f’ing delicious and poured with Nitrogen and not even that strong?! G’dammit! Talk about Bad Timing…

You will miss this beer when you leave Seattle!

Buzzing from the coffee at Storyville Coffee and Cloudburst’s Bad Timing we headed to a few more bars. Merchant’s Cafe was first. Merchant’s claims to be the oldest saloon in Seattle, but so did our next stop, The Central.

Led by Google Maps, we stumbled across the historic plaque for the start of the Great Fire of Seattle (1867). Nearby Pioneer Square offered views of our next three stops.

Merchant Cafe boasted a “haunted underground lounge,” but was our least favorite. We headed to The Central next. Shotgun styled with the last remodel decades ago, this place had promise. We bellied up to the bar and chatted with the bartender.

The sign behind the bar read “Oldest Saloon Est 1892” while The Merchant’s sign read “Oldest Saloon Est 1890.” The bartender didn’t want to explain this but did give us a lot of other history.

According to the bartender, this was the heart of grunge and the first gig Nirvana held as Nirvana. The photos surrounding us lead us to believe he is correct.

We prod for more stories as the bartender grins sheepishly and says, “well, this place doesn’t really have a good history. It used to be a seedy brothel.”

Confused by what would differentiate a brothel between seedy and just a brothel, we question some more. He continues to tell us the ladies were kept locked in the basement and fed via a dumb waiter (covered) behind us. The men would pay the fee and head downstairs. Some had a good time. Others were “shanghai’d” as many in Seattle were in those days.

Our bartender friend went on to tell us that he parks his scooter downstairs due to a ramp (added recently) for deliveries. He has had many “experiences” down there, but most notable was this. He claims he was the only person with keys to downstairs. Worked a shift to find a paint can sitting on his scooter seat.

Were any of his stories more than mere stories? 🤷🏼‍♀️

We left to go next door to J &M. J &M boasted Seattle’s Best Bloody Mary and Seattle’s Oldest Bar est 1889. If their dates are correct, J & M wins oldest. The interior had been remodeled to look old which was disappointing. But they were right about the Bloody Mary! The secret was a splash of Guinness. The bartender made a great Bloody Mary but had no stories so we headed to Smith Tower.

Randoms Facts about Smith Tower

• Constructed in 1941
• Once the tallest building west of the Mississippi (Seattle has a trend of “once the tallest” and “oldest bar”)
• Atop the 42 stories is a private residence and a speakeasy bar with viewing deck.
• In 1928, Smith Tower was home to the only bank of manually operated elevators on the West Coast.

There is a small museum-type exhibit on the ground floor leading you to the bank of elevators. Stepping into the elevator is a step back in time. The doors open to reveal a combination of Asian and art deco influence and a 360-degree catwalk outside. If you’re lucky enough for a clear day, you can see all the Seattle landmarks as you walk the exterior.

We probably should’ve scoped out our planned walk, but we did not. This is where we made our mistake.

🚨 Don’t think you can walk the 1.9 miles to Capitol Hill from Smith Tower! 🚨 It is all uphill.

Capitol Hill was a fun walk and beginning to “wake up” for the evening’s activities. But we focused on dinner. Extravagant plans weren’t on the menu tonight. We planned to go old school with Dick’s Burgers. After all, how could 90’s rapper, Sir Mix-A-Lot be wrong? Dick’s is a small old-fashioned drive-up burger stand and it was busy! We soon found out why. It was delicious, especially after a day of chatting up bartenders.

Fremont

The next day we grabbed a Lyft to the Fremont Troll (also known as the Troll Under the Bridge). The troll is the result of a city cleanup initiative in the 1990s. Sculpted by Steve Badanes, Will Martin, Donna Walter, and Ross Whitehead.

From the troll, it is a quick walk down the hill (finally) to Fremont Brewing. At Fremont Brewing, you will find a lively beer patio and great brews.

The tap manager at Fremont suggested we try nearby Rueben’s Brewery before calling it a night. Rueben’s had a large selection that took two flights to try and is a must-stop!

If you are a craft brewery, stop what you are doing and arrange nitro tanks. Yes, I had it before Seattle, but the breweries in Seattle understood the importance of nitro! They all seemed to have it and I loved them, each and every one!
Of course, I loved the coffee too!

Angela DiLoreto

Seattle, and the Pacific Northwest  as a whole, is a craft beer aficionados haven. Every trip we take, I gotta sample the local beer, and Seattle did not disappoint. I tried coffee stouts (which uniquely blends the two things Seattle is known for), IPA’s (which are a personal favorite), and fruit infused beers, although not a favorite of mine, went a long way to convincing me otherwise. It’s safe to say that the breweries were, by far, my favorite part.

Vince Diloreto

Getting to Seattle

• Depending on where you stay you won’t need a car rental. Keep in mind that parking is expensive if you choose to grab a car.
• Use the monorail. We stayed near the Space Needle and grabbed the monorail to Pike Place.

Tips for Your Trip

• Wear comfortable shoes to prepare for hills and walking!
• Take your sunglasses. The glare on an overcast day is intense. You will understand why Seattle locals buy more sunglasses per capita than any other city in the USA.
• Use the monorail and stay near the Space Needle for better pricing.