Seattle Center Monorail

Seattle is a very tourist-friendly city, thanks in large part to the Seattle Center Monorail. The Monorail connects the two most-visited sections of the city: the areas around Pike Place Market and the Space Needle. It’s relatively cheap and it’s an awful lot of fun.

I love to find a monorail out in the wild. Other than a Disney park and a few airports, you don’t see them in the United States much at all. The Seattle Center Monorail was built for the 1962 World’s Fair, the same fair that built the Space Needle and the Pacific Science Center.

Seattle Center Station

At the Space Needle end, you can find the monorail station behind Chihuly Garden & Glass, a little ways behind the Museum of Pop Culture. Look for the neon “Alweg Monorail” sign. The station is cool and retro-looking, save for some overhead screens and the ticket-buying kiosks.

Once you get your ticket and board, the short monorail train zooms through the Museum of Pop Culture, then down a long straight track through downtown Seattle. The track is above street level, giving you a unique view of the city as you pass.

Westlake Center Station

At the other end of the line, the Seattle Center Monorail stops at Westlake Center. The Westlake Center is a downtown shopping mall, and the monorail station is on the 3rd floor. Just off the monorail platform is an elevator and a set of stairs that lead to street level. You can also connect to the light rail downstairs, and the bus system outside.

Now, this location doesn’t put you right at Pike Place Market, but it’s only a six short-block walk down to where the market and a ton of restaurants and shops are. Plus, you pass Westlake Park on the way, which usually has some food trucks. (Re: eating the wrong thing at Chihuly.)

Down behind Pike Place Market are the cruise ship docks and the most touristy parts of Seattle – the Seattle Aquarium, Pier 57 with the Seattle Great Wheel, and all sorts of boat cruises. When I was there in May of 2023, it looked like there was a lot of construction going on for a park that will bridge the steep area between Pike Place Market and the waterside piers. But until that is finished, you’ll have to work your way through the market (generally past the gum wall) and find some stairs down to the water level.

Using the Monorail in your Touring Plan

So you can see how the Seattle Center Monorail can get you to and from the most popular areas of Seattle. It’s especially useful if you’re walking off a cruise ship and don’t have a car and want to get out to the Space Needle area. I could see a morning of breakfast and shopping at Pike Place Market, an afternoon spent at the Space Needle, Chihuly Gardens, and the Pacific Science Center or Museum of Pop Culture and lunch at the Armory food hall. Then back on the monorail to the cruise ship and maybe an evening ride on the Seattle Great Wheel.

From the other end, you could do what I did with the Seattle CityPASS. I parked near the Space Needle (I like the KOMO garage), did my first trip up the Space Needle in the morning, toured the rest of the area, then took the monorail to Westlake to visit the market and the piers, then came back on the monorail for my second trip to the top at sunset. (The CityPASS gets you two trips to the top.)

Tickets

It only costs $3.50 per trip on the Seattle Center Monorail, and you can buy a $7 round-trip upfront. It’s not a super long trip – just under a mile – but it’s loads better than walking, driving, or taking a rideshare. And I’d say it’s cheaper than all those options, except for maybe the walking.

You can’t buy your admission online beforehand. Only at the kiosks at either station. Seattle city transit Orca Cards are also accepted as payment. It’s $3.50 for all adults, but for ages 6-18, 65+, anyone with a military ID, or disabled, it only costs $1.75 per trip. And kids 5 and under are totally free.

I just love that the Seattle monorail exists, even if it weren’t so helpful and cheap. But it’s both! So if you’re looking to make a day in Seattle and need a quick way to get yourself to the tourist spots, look no further than the Seattle Center Monorail.