Enjoy the natural beauty of Seattle’s parks

Luckily the weather in May in Seattle is typically relatively mild with highs in the upper 60s and 70s (Fahrenheit). Perfect for taking a stroll through one of the many beautiful publicly accessible and free parks in the city.

Located literally right next to the Seattle Convention Center, over the I-5 freeway, is one of my favorites, Freeway Park — a nice little green space in the middle of urban downtown to eat lunch or meet up with friends outside during ARVO 2024. Check out various art instillations and brutalist architecture. This park is popular also among parkour and freerunning enthusiasts.

About a 30-minute walk from the Convention Center, through the Belltown neighborhood, is the Olympic Sculpture Park — another gorgeous urban park dotted with numerous huge sculptures you can view for free. This park continues northwest along the Elliott Bay waterfront to become Myrtle Edwards and then Centennial Park, with an accessibly paved walk path along the entire route.

A bit further out, and accessible by cheap public transportation or a quick Uber/Lyft are:

• Kerry Park in Upper Queen Anne for amazing views of the Seattle skyline, Mount Rainier and Puget Sound

• Discovery Park in Magnolia, the city’s largest park with over 500 acres to explore

• Gas Works Park in Wallingford — a former gasification plant, this is where they filmed the paint ball scene in the movie “10 Things I Hate About You”. It has also a nice grassy area to sit by Lake Union.

• Washington Park Arboretum — managed by the University of Washington, you can stroll across 230 acres of gardens, trees, and wetlands for free. The elegant Japanese Garden is also located here which you can visit for a $10 admission fee (view upcoming events in May)

• Volunteer Park in Capitol Hill is another huge green space you can stroll through or have a picnic lunch. Don’t forget to climb up to the top of the water tower for free views of the neighborhood. At the park you can see a variety of plants and flowers at the Volunteer Park Conservatory — a botanical garden you can visit for only $6/$4 for students (admission is free first Thursday/Saturday of the month). Or check out the exceptional Seattle Asian Art Museum, one of my favorite art museums in the city — admission is just $14.99/$9.99 for students if you buy your tickets in advance online (prices increase $3 if you wait until the day of your visit to purchase).