Top Rated Attractions in Tacoma

Explore the history of flight from the Wright Brothers to space travel. Collections at Museum of Flight include commercial, military and civilian crafts. See a 1929 Boeing 80A-1, the sole survivor of its type. The 1926 Swallow was used as the nation's first contracted airmail service starting in April 1926. For those interested in more modern aircraft, there are the dynamic M-21 Blackbird, the fastest and highest-flying aircraft ever built, and the VC-137B Air Force One, which flew President Dwight D. Eisenhower on a historic visit to meet with Germany's Chancellor Konrad Adenauer in 1959. Take a walk through the “Red Barn,” a museum in its own right, where the Boeing Company manufactured its first aircraft. There is also a library with an extensive selection of aviation information, as well as a museum store and a cafe on the premises.

Here, where the streets of downtown's business district angle down around Elliott Bay to the south, are the flatlands where Seattle was first built. Nightclubs, art galleries, tourist shops, design firms and restaurants dominate Pioneer Square. The area's First Thursday art walk draws huge crowds to the studios, galleries and street performers, and the nightclubs keep the neighbourhood buzzing with activity till wee hours of the morn'. The kitschy Underground Tour explaining Seattle's early history is a perennial tourist favorite, as is the more sober Klondike Gold Rush Museum, which details the Yukon gold fever that made Seattle richer. Yesler Way, which slices the neighbourhood in half, has a footnote in history as the original "skid row". There are also several small parks in the area, including the quiet Waterfall Park, the shady cobblestones of Occidental Park, and the totem-pole decorated triangle at First and Yesler, Pioneer Place Park. The neighbourhood also marks the popular shopping destination of the city, famous for all kinds of knickknacks such as tapestries, rare artworks, books and what-nots!

The six-acre Tacoma Dome Entertainment Complex is unparalleled as far as its technology and design are concerned. The in-house restaurant, McKinley's, brews and serves most delicious and tangy Redhook Ales. The Shanaman Sports Museum, located in the Dome, is where Pierce County's sporting paraphernalia is preserved for your perusing pleasure. Live entertainment events take place here at various intervals, so check their website for more information.

Located close to the airport, this SeaTac casino and restaurant is all about convenience. The attached restaurant (open 24/7) serves up standard dishes like burgers and sandwiches — the fried rice is a common favorite — and the bar mixes up drinks just the way you like them. Whether you're heading out of or back into town, Silver Dollar Casino SeaTac makes it easy for you to get in your gaming fix before you head to your ultimate destination.

With numerous fun-but-tacky tourist shops and the Alaskan Way Viaduct thundering overhead, the Seattle Waterfront should instead be visited for the spectacular views. Also bringing people here is the Bainbridge Island ferry that leaves from Colman Dock, and the popular Summer Nights at the Pier concerts play at sublime Pier 62/63. The Seattle Aquarium and the Odyssey Maritime Discovery Center are also here. The old streetcar clangs along the length of the waterfront, and the green spaces of Myrtle Edwards Park take over from the concrete mayhem at the northern end.