The Stranger's World Cup Survival Guide

WORLD CUP SURVIVAL GUIDE

It’s Coming Whether You Like It or Not!

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Game, we’re about to be clobbered over the head with all things soccer, football, fútbol, fußball, and footie, because between June 15 and July 6, Lumen Field will host six of the 104 matches in the 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament.

An estimated 750,000 visitors are expected to file through Seattle for the games and their related festivities, and city officials have been busy preparing the city, all in the name of FIFA.

In May, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson cut the toilet paper ribbon on four new self-cleaning, app-controlled public restrooms in Pioneer Square. (Rumor has it there is a 10-minute time limit, and the door literally swings open when the clock runs out.) King County Metro launched a new waterfront shuttle service, which will run through Labor Day. Sound Transit is increasing light rail service, the Washington State Ferry has boats on standby, and those pressure washers have been going nonstop throughout Downtown Seattle to ensure everything is clean and sparkly for our turn on the world’s stage. (Don’t worry about addressing the wealth disparity that has led to record number homeless-

gonna take more than a few high-tech information stations and glorified porta-potties to prove to visitors how special this city is. That’s why we put together this World Cup Survival Guide for locals and tourists alike. On page 19 we have a list of our favorite sports bars with good food and meathead-free vibes; and page 12 is full of all the things you should know about the World Cup games to have a little fun (and maybe make some money off your friends) while watching. Want to make the most of your time here? Turn to page 29 for our favorite arts, food, and culture attractions (and a tip on where to buy weed close to the stadium).

Are you asking yourself, “Wait, I thought FIFA was evil?” It is! We have more information about that, too, on page 17. And if you’d rather pretend the World Cup doesn’t exist, we have some of your favorite places to run away to on page 35. We’re glad you’re here! And we sincerely hope you find this guide useful. All we ask in return is that you give lots of money to our favorite businesses, and be kind to our transit drivers and bartenders. And for the love of god, keep your fucking e-scooters off the sidewalks.

GETTING AROUND From

Scooters to Free Shuttles, Here’s How to Survive World Cup Traffic

Welcome to Seattle, the land of fairly decent public transportation! Meaning: Please do not drive to the Seattle Stadium (aka Lumen Field) during the World Cup. Traffic is already bad enough when we aren’t hosting a global sporting event, and parking will be either wildly expensive or altogether impossible. Whether you’re visiting from afar or heading to a game from your apartment in West

Seattle, we’re begging you: Do. Not. Drive. Sound Transit, the Seattle Department of Transportation, and King County Metro are increasing public transit to the area to keep things running (hopefully?) smoothly. Not only will light rail trains run every eight minutes, but KCM is introducing new shuttles for the summer, with an extra boost on World Cup game days. Save yourself the headache and jump on a bus, train, ferry, or hell, even a scooter, if you must.

Shuttles

Special for the World Cup, King County Metro will run free shuttles throughout downtown Seattle to alleviate some of the traffic on buses and light rail trains. A Waterfront Shuttle will run between the Seattle Center, Waterfront Park, Pioneer Square, Seattle Stadium, and Chinatown–International District. And on World Cup match days (June 15, June 19, June 24, June 26, July 1, and July 6), an appropriately titled Match Day shuttle will help carry crowds between Seattle Center and Seattle Stadium, via Third Avenue.

Bus

Seattle has an extensive bus system. Pay as you board with exact change— it’s $3 for adults and free for children 18 and under—or use an ORCA card. As of early 2026, you can also tap to pay with credit and debit cards and smartphones or smartwatches. Just like a real city! You can plan transit trips on all the major map apps, of course, but we’d be remiss not to shout out the free app OneBusAway, which is also handy when you need to pull up nearby and real-time bus information that is, in our experience, more accurate than Google and the city’s schedules. Please be nice to our drivers; they put up with a lot of shit.

Light Rail

We now have two light rail lines! And for World Cup match days, Sound Transit will increase train frequency to every eight minutes. 1 Line goes as far north as Lynnwood and all the way down to Federal Way, making a total of 26 stops along the way. That’s the train you want if you’re going to Pike Place Market, the airport, the stadium district—all the major tourist spots and then some. The newer 2 Line crosses Lake Washington. Yes! A train crosses a lake! (And it’s the first train ever to go over a floating bridge!)

2 Line takes you east to Bellevue and Redmond. The train ride is smooth, the views are beautiful, the cars are (mostly) clean—it’s an overall delight to ride. But fair warning about the station signage: IT SUCKS. At any given light rail station, you will see signs that say “Lynnwood” or “Federal Way Downtown.” Not north and south, not any kind of marking that makes things easy for people who don’t know the difference between Kent and Shoreline. We have told them to fix it. For now, don’t be too shy to ask a local to

ensure you get on the right train. We’re nice, and we know the signage is trash.

Rentable Scooters/E-Bikes

There are two major electric ride-share companies in Seattle, Lime and Bird. They’re very popular! (According to Lime, Seattleites took their scooters and bikes on more than 10 million trips just last year.) But in some people’s hands, they’re also a dangerous nuisance. In 2024, Harborview saw more than 160 serious injuries caused by rentable e-scooters and e-bikes. Some riders have died, and some riders have been involved in road rage incidents. Unless you’re experienced with zooming around on two wheels and are traveling with a helmet, you’d be better off walking or taking public transportation. That said, if you do decide to rent a scooter, there are a few rules to consider: Be sober. Stay off sidewalks and ride in bike lanes when possible. Yield to pedestrians. Stay off streets where the speed limit is higher than 25 MPH. When you’re done, do not leave your scooter or bike in the middle of the sidewalk, blocking a crosswalk, or blocking a bike lane. And definitely do not throw it off a bridge. People do that! And you know what? It’s someone’s job to go get that scooter, no matter where it ends up.

Ferries and Water Taxis

There are two ferry terminals in town. At the Seattle Waterfront, you can walk, bike, or drive onto boats headed to Bainbridge Island or Bremerton. From the Fauntleroy terminal in West Seattle, you can access Southworth and Vashon Island. If you’re staying in West Seattle and plan to go to the games, the pedestrian-only West Seattle Water Taxi is your move. It’ll take you from Alki Beach to downtown Seattle in just 15 minutes.

The Monorail

The Seattle Center Monorail is a beloved relic from the 1962 World’s Fair. It’s a two-minute elevated ride between the Seattle Center and Westlake Center in Downtown Seattle, and a lot of people assume it’s a pointless little gimmick. But the monorail is actually very useful! It is the quickest and easiest way to get from the downtown light rail station to the Seattle Center, so it’s often packed before and after games and events at Climate Pledge Arena. It’s

consistently on time. Plus, Elvis rode it in that one movie that one time!

Renting a Car? Read This First.

We don’t recommend driving to the games, but if you’ve decided to ignore our advice and rent a car anyway, there are a few things you should know.

Seattle drivers are psychopathically passive. We all know this. Yes, driving can be scary and is inherently dangerous, but if you’re behind the wheel, you need to be alert to your surroundings and proactive. Please don’t be so deferential and timid that you yourself become the danger and fuck up everyone’s commute with your insecurities.

Here’s how it works. When it’s time to turn your car, you must turn your car. Get into an efficiency mindset. Your job is to turn your car, not to fret about whether it is polite to turn your car. You put your blinker on, and then you turn your car at a reasonable pace.

You don’t slow to a crawl at the green light, just like you don’t randomly slow to a near stop at an uncontrolled intersection with no stop sign, pedestrians, or other cars coming.

Switching lanes should also be done in a prompt manner. Slowly drifting to wherever you’re going is extremely not the move. Find a gap, turn on your blinker, and change lanes.

Do not screech to a halt the moment you see a hint of a pedestrian a few feet from the sidewalk. Yes, pedestrians have the right of way. But if they’re not actively crossing the street, you’re just inviting a rear-end collision.

When faced with a four-way stop, review the rules beforehand so you’re confident enough to make it happen when the time comes. In Washington, the first vehicle to arrive has the rightof-way. If two vehicles arrive simultaneously, the one on the left yields to the one on the right. All drivers must also yield to pedestrians and cyclists. This should all happen fairly quickly. If you blank on the rules and someone is waving you forward, go with it, confidently, and then wave back. This is no time to fret, and no time to get overwhelmed. You’ve got this.

Remember: Fear is the mind-killer. (And public transit is also an option.)

THE STRANGER’S DRIVE-BETTER BOARD

How to Get to SEATT LE STADIUM

( ) aka Lumen Field

FROM NORTH OR SOUTH

Your best option for public transportation when traveling to the stadium from the north or south is our beautiful light rail system. It goes as far north as Lynnwood and as far south as Federal Way. The Stadium stop will also get you there, but it’s closer to T-Mobile Stadium than Lumen (Seattle Stadium), so you’ll end up walking a few extra minutes. For the shortest trek, from the north, hop off at the Pioneer Square stop for the least amount of walking. From the south, the International District–Chinatown station is your closest option.

FROM EAST

Traveling from the east is easier than ever, thanks to Sound Transit’s newly completed 2 Line. Catch it in Redmond, Bellevue, or Mercer Island, then disembark at the International District–Chinatown stop. The stadium is a 12-minute walk from there.

FROM WEST

The prettiest way to reach the stadium district from the west is via the Water Taxi, which sails from Alki Beach to the Seattle Waterfront every 40 minutes. The stadium is just a 15-minute walk from Pier 50, where it docks. You can tap to pay or use an ORCA card, and kids 18 and under ride free.

GAWKER SOCCE R

The Nonfan’s Guide to Seattle’s World Cup Matches

BY STRANGER STAFF

The World Cup is here! Whether you like it or not. So, just like we look up all the rules to curling every four years, it’s time to learn just enough about the Seattle World Cup matches to have a good time watching them.

Belgium vs. Egypt

JUNE 15, NOON

What to know: Egypt’s Mo Salah is the player to watch in this match. He’s arguably been one of the best soccer players in the world for the last decade, and when he’s not playing in the World Cup, he plays for reigning champion Liverpool of the English Premier League. Egypt didn’t make it into the World Cup in 2022, so they’ve got something to prove this year. (Fun fact: The team has been camping out in Spokane, using the Gonzaga fields to practice in the lead-up to this game.) Belgium, on the other hand,

hasn’t lost a qualifying match for a major tournament in 16 years, but they had a harder time getting into the games than usual this year. The Athletic described them as a “dark horse,” even though they’re usually one of the favorites. If you like rooting for an underdog, Belgium might be your team in this one.

USA vs. Australia

JUNE 19, NOON

What to know: So, in 2026, are we rooting for Team USA? If the Winter Olympics are any indication, we still are. But allow me to offer a counterpoint:

The Australian team’s official nickname is the Socceroos. No matter whom you decide to cheer for, Australian fans definitely bring the energy: A Women’s World Cup viewing party at Melbourne’s Federation Square got so rowdy that they temporarily banned the party this year (it’s since been unbanned, but Australian officials had to acknowledge the risk of “a few dickheads”). It’s also been a weird couple of years for the team. In 2024, in the middle of their World Cup qualifying process, their head coach resigned, saying it was a “gut decision.” (It was after a couple rough losses in a row.) Unrelated to any of this, this game will also officially be the Juneteenth game.

Bosnia-Herzegovina vs. Qatar

JUNE 24, NOON

What to know: This is only the second time that either of these teams has qualified for the World Cup. (To be fair, Bosnia-Herzegovina didn’t exist until 1992). When Italy found out their qualifying game would be against Bosnia, they literally cheered. So for Bosnians (and anyone who doesn’t like smug Italians) beating them and making it to the World Cup is a big fucking deal. During the game, pay attention to 18-year-old Kerim Alajbegović, he’s the team’s “one to watch.” Not to be outshone, this is a big one for Qatar, too. It’s the first World Cup they’ve qualified for through the traditional route (in 2022, they got in because they were the host country). For this one, we suggest a drinking game: Take a shot every time an announcer finds another way to pronounce “Qatar.”

Egypt vs. Iran

JUNE 26, 8 PM

What to know: This is a fun one because, as of presstime, we aren’t confident that Iran will actually show up to play. The absurdity started in December when, by absolute luck of the draw, Egypt and Iran, two countries that criminalize homosexuality, were selected to play Seattle’s Pride game. The Egyptian Football Association sent a formal letter to FIFA asking that no gay stuff happen at their game. And then, the US and Israeli governments decided to start a war with Iran, and the Pride game became the least of their issues. So now, they aren’t just trying to decide if they can ignore all the Pride flags; they’re trying to decide if they’re willing to play

in a country that is consistently either bombing or threatening to bomb them. In May, the Iranian soccer federation gave FIFA a list of demands, including visas for players and staff who were former members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the US considers a terrorist organization. They then had a meeting that FIFA described as “excellent” and Iran’s football federation described as “positive and constructive.” As of May, it’s looking promising, but dear reader, if you’re reading this in June, only you know if they stayed the course.

Round of 32

JULY 1, 1 PM

This is Seattle’s only game in the Round of 32. We don’t know who’s playing in this game yet, because we don’t know who’s going to win the earlier games in the tournament. The Round of 32 is the beginning of the knockout stage of the tournament. Every game is “sudden death” (which just means that whichever team loses is out of the tournament for good). And they can’t end in a tie—if they do, it goes to 30 minutes of overtime, and if it’s still tied, a penalty shootout.

Round of 16

JULY 6, 5 PM

You guessed it: just like the Round of 32, this is Seattle’s only Round of 16 game. The same knockout rules apply, with slightly higher stakes. The winners of this round go onto the quarterfinals. But this is Seattle’s last game. The quarterfinals will be in Foxborough, Massachusetts; Inglewood, California; Miami Gardens; and Kansas City, Missouri. The semis are in Arlington, Texas and Atlanta, and the finals are in East Rutherford, New Jersey. HANNAH MURPHY WINTER

HOW TO ENJOY THE WORLD CUP BY WINNING MONEY OFF YOUR FRIENDS

The World Cup is fun in general because soccer is cool and international competition is exciting. But sometimes, as an American, it’s hard to really get excited about all the teams because the US Men’s National Team is dogshit. The best they’ve ever done was nearly 100 years ago, when they won third place during a tournament that only had 13 other teams. These days, it’s a victory if

the US men make it to the Round of 16.

So, unless you’re a diehard soccer fan rooting for individual players on their national teams, it’s hard to get balls-tothe-wall excited about a random match.

I have a solution. It is gambling.

But I’m not talking DraftKings or FanDuel bullshit. I’m talking Calcutta auction.

The Calcutta auction is a beautiful

thing because it’s social. You and a group of friends will bid on each team. The teams you win will be your precious little teams. If they do well in the tournament, then you could win money. There

But Wait, Isn’t FIFA Evil?

The Soccer Federation’s Evil Reputation Feels Right at Home in Seattle

How should one feel about handing over ticket money to an organization as notoriously corrupt and immoral as the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA)? Luckily for Seattleites, making moral compromises with globespanning unaccountable bureaucracies has always been a part of our DNA.

The bribery prosecutions implicating top FIFA warlords a decade ago is the scandal that comes to mind for most. You’ve got to be doing something really egregious for a country as soccerphobic and corrupt as the United States to indict you, but rigging host country bids and awarding broadcast and marketing rights in exchange for literal briefcases full of cash was too much even for even American prosecutors.

Host countries that successfully convince/ bribe FIFA to come to town don’t always understand the kind of monster they’re hauling into the boat. World-renowned whale mural painter Wyland recently had one of his massive art pieces painted over in Dallas by a FIFA advertisement. Not to be outdone, Seattle has whitewashed no fewer than three of Wyland’s orca murals in recent history. Surely the whales dying by the pod across the Salish Sea this year are a coincidence.

(Amazon and Microsoft), and the CEO of an oligarch’s charitable fund currently reviewing its ties to Jeffrey Epstein (Mark Suzman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation).

FIFA officials will feel right at home in such company. The players of the Iranian national team may not. As of press time, Iran is still scheduled to play Egypt in Seattle, despite worries

about the team’s safety playing in a coun try currently at war with their homeland, and visa troubles for players who have previously served in Iranian security forces. That Iran will compete under the shadow of corporations responsible for the bombing of their country is a fact most commentators seem keen to avoid.

are typically payouts for the winner, second place, third place, and the team that experienced the biggest blowout.

Step 1: Hold an Auction

Gather a group of friends. You probably want between 10 and 12, so everyone can really get in on the action. You can have more, too. Or fewer. I don’t know your life.

The unelected local organizing committee that foamed the runway for Seattle’s first World Cup reflects the city fathers well: a disgraced ex-mayor (Jenny Durkan), executives from major defense contractors

The irony of the Iran–Egypt match being the official Seattle LGBTQ Pride Match, however, is lost to no one, as both countries criminalize homosexuality to a degree Washington Republicans can only

dream of. Neither country is thrilled by this coincidence, though Iran has taken a larger hit for it in the press, as we’re currently bombing them. It is, however, worth noting that Egypt’s repressive military government is propped up by the United States— our ruling class is fine propping up a bigoted dictatorship in the most populous country in the Middle East as long as their tanks stay on their side of the border with Israel.

Despite our progressive reputation, it’s hard for Seattle to maintain the moral high ground on human rights, given the community’s long domination by the weapons industry. FIFA is really giving us a run for our money, though, awarding President Trump the inaugural “FIFA Peace Prize” in between bombing campaigns and regime change attempts.

But suppressing cognitive dissonance to make a buck off geopolitical tensions filtering into international sports is a proud Seattle tradition. We partnered with the recently deceased Ted Turner to host the 1990 Goodwill Games, an apolitical rival to the Olympic Games, whose broadcast advertising profits were hamstrung by dueling boycotts by the US and Soviet governments. The Cold War ending the following year may have put a damper on such profiteering, but now the FIFA World Cup has arrived. It’s time for Seattle to remind the world that we’re always willing to look the other way in the interest of international fraternity, friendly competition, and advertising revenue for PepsiCo, Eastman Kodak, and the Church of Scientology. HUNTER PAULI

After you’ve found your friends, get together to auction off all the teams. This year’s World Cup is the biggest ever, with 48 teams participating. Everyone in the auction bids on teams with real money that will go into a prize pot. Go through each team and bid on them until one person wins that team. The bidding starts at $1. Worse teams will go for less money, better teams for more. It can get competitive. (I won Argentina last World Cup, and that was sweet for me. Though it cost me $25. Brazil went for $45! And they lost.)

The teams you end up with are your horses in this race. Their performance is your performance. You now have a rooting interest in this tournament.

Step 2: Enjoy

When you and your friends have teams playing each other, get together to watch. Suddenly, you are Curaçao’s biggest fan, and you wish death upon those fucking New Zealanders. It is good fun!

Step 3: How to Divide Up the Cash

My friends are a stingy bunch, so our prize pot rarely gets to $200. No matter how small, the sum is divided among the winners at the end.

The way my group does it is the champion wins 22.2 percent of the pot, the runner-up wins 15 percent, third place gets 10 percent, fourth place gets 5 percent, and you get 2.5 percent if your team loses in the Round of 16. You’ll get payouts for every team you own that reaches one of those stages. You’ll also earn 2.5 percent of the pot if you have the team that loses the worst. The biggest blowout. This part is easiest if you have a spreadsheet-inclined person in your group. That person is not me.

And those numbers can change depending on what you want to do. Again, it’s your life.

If you win, maybe you just want to treat everyone to a night out. Or, lord your winnings over everyone by buying a new pair of sandals. That’s what I will do if I win again. Lighting can strike twice.

NATHALIE GRAHAM

SCREEN TIME

Official World Cup Watch Parties and Our Favorite Meathead-Free Sports Bars

You won’t have a hard time finding a place to watch the World Cup matches. Hundreds of bars, restaurants, and community centers around town have been sharing watch party info on their socials for months. There are giant flyers all over the city boasting various businesses’ TV screen

sizes, and even organizations that have no business involving themselves in soccer are catering to the anticipated crowds with World Cup-specific programming. For example: There will be a World Cup-themed adult puppet show at Unexpected Productions’ Market Theater on June 13. There really is an audience for everything.

The George and Dragon Pub

FREMONT

Since 1995, Fremont’s the George and Dragon Pub has been the place to watch soccer. It’s like someone ripped up an English soccer pub from the streets of London and plopped it right on North 36th Street. There should be no better place to watch the World Cup. Except, some “technical difficulties” have made it so the George and Dragon temporarily can’t serve alcohol. Hmm. You’re gonna want a cheeky pint when you’re watching a World Cup match. They’re serving NA cocktails and have expanded their food menu while this alcohol thing resolves. Typically, during the World Cup, staffers create a massive beer garden on the bar’s patio. There aren’t many details yet for goings-on during the Cup this year, perhaps because of this serving snafu. I trust they’ll figure it out in time for the festivities.

NATHALIE GRAHAM

Rough & Tumble

BALLARD AND COLUMBIA CITY

Rough & Tumble in Ballard is my favorite place in Seattle to watch sports. And I’m not just saying that because I’m borderline addicted to their fried cheese curds named after hockey legend Hilary Knight. Their spacious, family-friendly dining area is full of TVs at every angle, and they prioritize women’s sports, a passion that is also reflected in the menu. Get a plate of Billie Jean King chicken wings before the Storm game! Snack on Ji So-Yun’s Ji So-YUM’s braised pork belly slider during the Reign match! There’s never a meathead in sight. R&T’s Ballard location was so successful that they opened a second location last fall in Columbia City. Both locations have latenight happy hour menus, and Sativa the Queen hosts drag bingo every Friday in Ballard. Welcome to Seattle, where even our sports bars are totally gay. Trump would hate it here. MEGAN SELING

Pitch the Baby

CAPITOL HILL

This is the sports bar for people who don’t like sports bars. It has sun-soaked bay windows. The booths are emerald green. And not only is the food not all fried, it’s really, really good. (Don’t skip the pozole. Or the totopos.) But the immaculate vibes don’t keep it from being an actual sports bar. There are still multiple TV screens on every wall, and while they will always prioritize women’s sports, they’ll play men’s sports when

something big is happening, like the Super Bowl or the World Cup. The space is small, so show up early, order yourself a World Cup Old Fashioned, and if you’re lucky, the soft serve ice cream machine will be working, too.

HANNAH MURPHY WINTER

The Atlantic Crossing

GREEN LAKE

This year will be the first World Cup held at The Atlantic Crossing’s new(ish) Green Lake digs. The soccer bar used to

Do not sleep on PITCH THE BABY ’s Mexcio-City inspired menu, especially those totopos.

try to cram all of Seattle into its hole-inthe-wall space on Roosevelt. Now, after a move in 2024, they have a way bigger spot right in the heart of Green Lake. Sure, it lacks the dark, dank pub-like trappings of the old spot, but at least there’s plenty of seating and enough TVs so no one has a bad view of the action. You’ll want to order the fish and chips. If there are any morning games (I’m so used to the World Cup being broadcast from afar), there’s nothing like getting a Full English and an Irish coffee ahead of kickoff. NATHALIE GRAHAM

Rhein Haus Seattle

CAPITOL HILL

With Café Presse long dead, Rhein Haus is Capitol Hill’s best place to watch the World Cup. They’ve got a ton of seating—including a whole outdoor patio—with plenty of screens. Seemingly, the whole neighborhood crams in there during World Cup matches. I like to feel my bones vibrate when something good happens and everyone roars (this mostly happens during the women’s World Cup when the US is playing because the

women are actually good, so take this with a grain of salt when the US men piss babies play). Whatever happens in the match, you can trust that the German pretzels will be soft and the beer cheese delectable.

NATHALIE GRAHAM

Prost!

PHINNEY RIDGE AND WEST SEATTLE

At Prost!, which proudly claims to be Seattle’s original German pub, they don’t serve beer; they serve bier, because they are German as fuck. Both the Phinney Ridge and West Seattle locations will be open for all Germany and USA matches throughout the World Cup, and their menu will transport you to Hamburg, with curry wurst with gewürzgurken and schwarzwälder schinken brötchen mit rocket. (To keep your feet in Seattle, they also have a Seattle Bratwurst Sandwich, with cream cheese, of course.) Want to get extra wired for those early games? They have Jägermeister cold brew, which sounds absolutely revolting, but hey, what happens during the World Cup, stays in the World Cup! (That’s how the saying goes, right?) MEGAN SELING

Mural Amphitheatre

SEATTLE CENTER

You can join official watch parties for every World Cup match under the sun at the Seattle Center, on a large screen in the Armory. Now, whether you’ll be able to watch those games under the actual sun was still up in the air at presstime. The Seattle Center promises that select matches will be available to watch outdoors at the Mural Amphitheater, but they haven’t yet released the schedule or announced just how many games will get special treatment. In my opinion, that blows. Let us watch every game on the grass in the shadow of the Space Needle! Don’t shove us inside the non-Euclidean nightmare that is the Armory. But beggars can’t be choosers, and if you’re in need of a guaranteed place to catch all 104 games, the Seattle Center is the spot to watch.

NATHALIE GRAHAM

The Beautiful Game Watch Parties

VARIOUS LOCATIONS

Seattle Parks & Rec is hosting several World Cup watch parties at parks and community centers, June 11 through July 19. See USA take on Paraguay at 6 pm on June 12 at Ravenna Eckstein Community Center; watch the Switzerland/Canada game at the South Park CC on June 24! There will also be outdoor viewings at

Hing Hay Park, Ballard Commons Park, Lake Union Park, Green Lake Park, and Rainier Playfield, to name a few, with 20 games in all. All the events are free and family-friendly to boot. Find the full schedule at seattle.gov/fifa. MEGAN SELING

Pacific Place

DOWNTOWN

This one’s a puzzler. There is, at present, a four-story high-resolution LED screen hanging in the middle of the Pacific Place Mall. The whole building is being rebranded as the Seattle Soccer House, and, come game time, the space will be activated with information booths, access to stadium-bound shuttles, and daily “fan experiences.” Maybe it will be cool? The thing is, it is a mall. There is little to no seating—they have done away with it all to prevent loitering. All that remains are stores and escalators. You cannot watch the game from an escalator! They will likely install some kind of temporary seating—folding chairs or benches or something—but even then, it is a five-story mall with limited sight lines. Indeed, a very strange place to watch a very long soccer game. But if you find yourself wandering around the area, pop into Grungemart and Ghost Gallery. The latter is a witchy art emporium with candles and tarot cards, and the former is a gallery and retail space that celebrates Seattle’s ’90s music scene via photographer Karen Mason Blair. MEGAN SELING

Pier 62

WATERFRONT

Finally, dreams are coming true. We can all watch soccer on a barge. The Lenovo-sponsored Seattle Soccer Celebration’s massive floating venue will have screens, “interactive soccer experiences” (whatever that means), and there will even be a little pitch, which is soccer talk for “field.” The events are hosted by Seattle Reign FC, Seattle Sounders FC, and RAVE Foundation, so soccer lovers know they’re in for a good time. Organizers also promise that the programming will rotate daily and will include food and music. You could spend all 38 days of the World Cup on that barge! I mean, maybe. They haven’t released a schedule or ticketing information yet, so it could be prohibitively expensive. I’ll let you figure that out. NATHALIE GRAHAM

Find even more places to watch the games on our sister site, EverOut! EverOut.com/Seattle

Where to Find Fun

Sports Bars and Official Watch Parties

GAME ON!

Where to See Even More Flying Balls and Falling Wieners

SFC—will be on break during the World Cup, but that doesn’t mean you can’t ca extra live soccer while you’re in town. We have a burgeoning pre-profes sional league! Plus, Rain City Soccer, a recreational queer soccer league, kicks off its Pride Season in June, with matches every Friday night at Cal Ander son Park on Capitol Hill. The games are casual and free to watch, and the park

is surrounded by tons of places to eat. Grab a bag of Dicks and have yourself a picnic! Or get a drink at r favorite bars, like the Gemini Room, the Doctor’s Office, or Linda’s. Life on Mars has great mocktails, too, and they’ll be showing all the World Cup games on the 85-inch screen in their vinyl room. Their whole menu is vegan—get the cauliflower wings! Oh, shit, sorry, this sports section is turning into food recommendations. Can you tell we’re not Anyway, read on for even more ball-flying fun.

Salmon Bay FC and Ballard FC

BALLARD

Salmon Bay FC is one of 27 brand-new teams playing in USL W, a burgeoning pre-professional women’s soccer league now featuring 93 clubs spanning the continental US. Partially owned by Rough & Tumble’s Jen Barnes, as well as Seattle Reign players Lu Barnes, Jess Fishlock, and Olivia Van der Jagt. Salmon Bay is the sibling team to Ballard FC, the men’s club that’s enjoyed a die-hard following since its kickoff in 2022. Both teams are buoyed by fierce neighborhood-level pride, top-tier talent, and silly rituals. The spirits are high and flowing: There’s a tequila zone. You can order a hot dog with lingonberry jam on it. How Svensk. Witness the next generation of hometown stars in wholesome environs before they enter the Lumen Field limelight in a few years. ADAM WILLEMS

Seattle Storm

SEATTLE CENTER

The Seattle SuperSonics left Seattle for Oklahoma City in 2008, and longtime Seattleites are still pissed about it. Rightfully so, if you ask me—it was a dirty, sneaky deal! But real basketball fans know Seattle is still a basketball city. The WNBA founded the Seattle Storm in 2000, and the team has qualified for the playoffs 19 times in its 25 seasons. They’ve won four WNBA championships, the most recent being in 2020. When Storm star Sue Bird retired in 2023, they retired her number (10) and hung her jersey in the rafters of Climate Pledge. And now, these players are finally getting paid their worth. In March, the WNBA and the league’s Players Association avoided a 2026 season strike by agreeing to an impressive new contract. Not only did they increase each team’s salary cap from $1.5 million to $7 million, but the average player’s salary will now be around $600,000, compared to last year’s $120,000. MEGAN SELING

Seattle Mariners

SODO

There are currently 30 baseball teams in the MLB, and 29 of them have made it to the World Series at least once. The one holdout? The Seattle fucking Mariners. And yet, every summer, dedicated fans

flock to T-Mobile Park to see if this year will be our year. Last season, we got close! Closer than ever before, in fact. And yet... Thankfully, the Mariners know their baseball shenanigans won’t always be enough to keep the people entertained, so they’ve taken to hyping up the crowd with especially goofy park promotions, including Bark at the Park (bring your dogs!) and Hot Dogs from Heaven, when hot dogs tied to parachutes rain down on the crowd. They even come with ketchup! You’ll know the wieners are about to fly when Belinda Carlisle’s “Heaven Is a Place on Earth” starts blasting from the speakers. MEGAN SELING

DubSea Fish Sticks WEST SEATTLE

Or you can just forget the Mariners altogether. This summer, you should go to a DubSea Fish Sticks game. Get your ass out to White Center to Mel Olson Stadium inside King County’s Steve Cox Memorial Park and watch the Fish Sticks, a team of collegiate ballplayers staying in shape in their off-season. For the purposes of the Fish Sticks, the stadium is dubbed “The Fryer.” These games are full of kitsch and whimsy. Instead of the first pitch, there’s a first fish (yes, someone throws a fish). In between innings, the Fish Sticks put on weird activities like inflatable mascot races, sing-alongs, and something called “Fish Sticks on the Face.” You better believe team mascot Fin Crispy Jr. is heavily involved. It’s a good, goofy time. And it’s cheap. Tickets cost $14. On certain Thursdays, all concessions are $3. Yes, even the fish sticks. Who needs the Savannah Bananas when we’ve got the DubSea Fish Sticks? Catch them in the Fryer June through the first week of August. NATHALIE GRAHAM

WHILE YOU’RE HERE

Seattle has a lot to offer beyond soccer, and if you’re joining us from some faraway land (Bellevue), we compiled a list of some of our favorite places and things to eat, which are all easily accessible from the Seattle Stadium (aka Lumen Field—they’ve renamed it for the World Cup).

Slurp down fresh oysters at Taylor Shellfish Oyster Bar, which is just a five-minute stroll into Pioneer Square. Or walk about 15 minutes west to hop on a Washington State Ferry and take in spectacular views of the Seattle skyline. If you want to skip the tourist trap crap, you’ll find some real Seattle treasures at Lander Street Vintage, and you can experience virtual reality art that’s actually good throughout the downtown corridor. We even tell you where to buy weed, because it’s legal here! (You must be 21 or older, and you’re not supposed to consume it in public, just FYI.)

FOOD & DRINK

Uwajimaya

CHINATOWN–INTERNATIONAL DISTRICT

Uwajimaya is one of the largest Asian retailers in North America, and the Seattle location is a brisk 15-minute walk from the Seattle Stadium. It’s more than 35,000 square feet, and it will make all your snack cravings come true. There’s a grab-and-go deli department stocked with hot and cold dishes, including sushi, noodle bowls, musubi, banh mi, and some of the best inari you’ll ever have, as well as a food court with a dozen different eateries serving everything from cream puffs to hot pot. My favorite nook in the market, though, is the snack department. It’s stocked with dozens, nay hundreds, of chips, crisps, cookies, chocolates, gummy and chewy candies, and practically every imported KitKat flavor you can imagine. Flavors rotate, but I’ve grabbed Sakura, Melon, Salt Lemon, Pistachio, and Chocolate Daifuku in recent years. MEGAN SELING

Seattle-Style Hot Dogs

VARIOUS LOCATIONS

Seattle Stadium will be surrounded by hot dog vendors during the World Cup matches, and you will see a lot of signs for Seattle-style dogs. Don’t be scared, they’re delicious! The main feature of a Seattle-style dog is the fat scoop of cream cheese, which is usually smeared on the bottom half of the bun or sometimes applied with what looks like a caulking gun. It’s very important that the cream cheese be applied to the bun before the weiner, so the hot dog—whether you get a veggie or meat option—gets the cream cheese all melty. Grilled onions are plopped on top, and from there you can dress it up however you’d like. Some add spice with jalapeños or sriracha, others load it up with sauerkraut. Follow your heart—we don’t have any weird anti-condiment rules, like Chicago. MEGAN SELING

Fuji Bakery

CHINATOWN–INTERNATIONAL DISTRICT

Fuji Bakery is the place where any order is right. The spread at the walk-up storefront on King Street in the Chinatown–Inter-

national District (which is less than a 15-minute walk from the stadium) is dazzling: sugar-dusted malasadas overflowing with sweet gobs of matcha or ube cream, crispy chicken katsu or egg salad sandwiches made with fat slices of fresh-baked milk bread, deep golden croissants, custardy canelés, and more. I found Fuji (or Fuji found me) shortly after moving to Seattle years ago, and in that time, I’ve tried nearly everything without disappointment, but the unassuming milk stick, a plain-looking chewy loaf sliced down the middle and slathered with a pillowy sweet cream filling, has emerged as my favorite.

VIVIAN McCALL

Tai Tung Chinese Restaurant

CHINATOWN–INTERNATIONAL DISTRICT

Before he was an internationally renowned martial arts superstar, Bruce Lee was just a college kid in Seattle, and his favorite dish was the beef in oyster sauce from Tai Tung—today the city’s oldest Chinese restaurant, founded in 1935. Reportedly, Lee was such a devoted regular that he didn’t even

have to order—he’d just sit down at his favorite corner table, and the servers would bring him his food. Pay a visit to the local treasure to dine like the Little Dragon himself. Charismatic third-generation owner Harry Chan will greet you with a smile, and you’ll see that Lee’s entrée of choice is still a banger, swimming in savory-sweet sauce. JULIANNE BELL

Taylor Shellfish Oyster Bar

PIONEER SQUARE

Our humble city happens to be one of the best places in the world to eat oysters, and it would be a shame not to take advantage of that. The “tideto-table” retailer Taylor Shellfish has been in the game for five generations and sources the offerings at its oyster bars directly from its own farms daily for maximum freshness. Bonus: Their Pioneer Square location is a fiveminute walk from the Seattle Stadium. Hit up their weekday happy hour (3–5 p.m.) for the $2.25 “shuck of the day,” and let the resident shuckers explain the finer points of the bivalves while you eat.

JULIANNE BELL

Maneki

CHINATOWN–INTERNATIONAL DISTRICT

Newcomers may not know that, although our city is pretty fucking white, Seattle’s Japanese American community has been in town almost as long as any other group of settlers—the first wave of emigrants arrived from Japan in 1880—and is a crucial part of our culinary psyche. Opening in 1904 and named for the maneki-neko, the beckoning cat figurine that apocryphally brings good luck to its owner, Maneki is the oldest sushi restaurant in the nation, and it’s been a paragon of Japanese cuisine in the US for 120 years. The original building mimicked a Japanese castle; it had private tatami rooms, the servers wore kimonos, and the restaurant could seat 500. But during WWII, when its owners were forcibly interned in camps, the building was vandalized and ransacked. The restaurant reopened half a block away in 1946, with new tatami rooms. Currently owned by former server Jean Nakayama, Maneki’s known by locals as the untouristy spot for world-class sushi (sorry, Shiro). If you ARE a tourist, you can eat geoduck here, a PNW delicacy that’s honestly just a big expensive clam shaped like a dick. But like everything

else on the menu, Maneki styles it expertly, sautéing it with mushrooms, butter, and chili. MEG VAN HUYGEN

ARTS AND CULTURE

Cannonball Arts

DOWNTOWN

Cannonball Arts opened in August 2025 as Seattle’s largest contemporary art space. The 66,000-square-foot building, which used to be a Bed Bath & Beyond, is full of art you can touch, ride, walk through, sit on, and hold. There’s Monster, a virtual reality installation made from an old VR Monster Truck amusement park ride, and “Virginia Park,” an indoor sculpture park and trail. Even the individual bathroom stalls have their own art installations. A highlight of the space—and what you have likely seen photos of from travel bloggers all over Instagram—is Toxic Beauty, a bright-pink rideable plush nudibranch. What’s a nudibranch? Glad you asked! It’s a small marine animal in the same family as sea slugs, and you can find them in local tidepools. The nudibranch at Cannonball, made by fiber artist Stephanie Metz, is 10 feet long, and it swings around and bucks like a mechanical bull. How long can you hold on? MEGAN SELING

Seattle Art Museum

DOWNTOWN

The Seattle Art Museum has two fantastic exhibits worth seenig while you’re in town. The first is Samantha Yun Wall’s What We Leave Behind. The Portland-based artist is a master of rendering images in ink and conté, where layers of shadow intertwine with stark black silhouettes. Wall’s

imagery reflects the artist’s multiethnic background, blending Korean folk stories with elements from Eurocentric mythology to create scenes that seem plucked from an untold fairy tale. What We Leave Behind, which is on display through October 4, features new works haunted by the iconography of the pasqueflower, a motif throughout Korean lore, which Wall has entwined with the memory of a lost grandmother. The other is Monochrome: Calder and Tara Donovan. Tara Donovan is a renowned artist who works a special kind of alchemy: transforming mundane junk objects into the jaw-dropping sublime. Each of her sculptural installations is made from (roughly) hundreds of thousands of individual, tiny things— Styrofoam cups, drinking straws, toothpicks, Slinkys, Mylar, and hot glue—to create masses that undulate like oceans or resemble mountainous biological and geological formations. Donovan’s work at SAM is part of an ongoing series inviting artists to respond to pieces in the museum’s recently acquired Alexander Calder collection. Donovan—ever the monochromist—chose Calder’s use of the color black as her touchpoint, specifically responding to Mountains (1:5 Intermediate Maquette), a hulking geometric landscape made of overlapping black sheet metal plates pierced with holes. Come be blown away by delicacy and scale. AMANDA MANITACH

Forest for the Trees

PIONEER SQUARE

on huge canvases mounted to the exteriors of buildings and alleys across Pioneer Square. It’s an artgoer’s thrill to stumble on these museum-scale paintings in the wild (or treat it like an art scavenger hunt to explore all kinds of nooks and crannies of the city). This year, FFTT has teamed up with Seattle’s FIFA World Cup 2026 to commission 15 new Art Frames throughout the neighborhood, painted by artists repping countries participating in the Seattle games: Mauricio Ramirez (USA), Kwonny (Australia), Caratoes (Belgium), and Sa’rah Sabino (Egypt). A suite of soccer-related paintings by local artists (Al-Baseer Holly, Dana Blume, Devin Liston, and Nicol G) will go up in RailSpur Alley, and a final group of works will be going up on Jackson Street on June 1, each of which features art tied to specific games: Barry Johnson representing the Juneteenth game, Chloe King representing Pride, Chris Duenas representing the Puyallup tribe, and Saina Heshmati representing Iran. Finally, an accompanying group exhibition FFTT World Cup 26 will be on view indoors at RailSpur Studios. That show opens on June 4 for Pioneer Square Art Walk, and will have additional non-soccer art by all of the participating artists from the FFTT & SeaFWC26 collaboration.

AMANDA MANITACH

Future Arts Way: Other Way DOWNTOWN

Among the jaw-dropping art initiatives happening in conjunction with the World Cup, Future Arts Way: Other Way is an ambitious 2.5-mile interactive “Arches to Clock Tower” XR walking path that will wind from Pacific Science Center to King Street Station. Future Arts is a five-year-old, female-led nonprofit—one of the city’s coolest orgs working with artists to make tech-based art experiences in public places. No download needed to experience the 30-plus augmented reality stops along the downtown corridor; just chase the QR code “launch pads” located on the ground along the route. Those will guide viewers through digital stories spun in thin air, opening up an invisible other world of three-dimensional imagery layered over physical buildings and landmarks. The project centers storytelling by Indigenous, Black, diasporic, and non-Western perspectives, with lush flora-and-fauna-laced visuals that highlight our region’s rich biodiversity. Highlights include a large-scale, Find

For the past three summers, Forest for the Trees has brought the art outdoors, inviting artists to paint en plein air

mixed-reality installation with interactive murals at the Third Avenue and Pine Street corner. AMANDA MANITACH

MORE STUFF WE LOVE

Seattle Waterfront

Seattle’s famous Waterfront Park and boardwalk—which were renovated last year—stretch along the coast of Elliott Bay from the Olympic Sculpture Park to T-Mobile Park and Lumen Field (aka Seattle Stadium). It’s gorgeous down there, but it’s also packed. Just down the hill from Pike Place Market, ferries, cruises, water taxis, and the Victoria Clipper all dock here, and it’s also home to the Seattle Aquarium, the Seattle Great Wheel, a vintage carousel, an arcade, outdoor concerts in the summer, and the kind of knickknack and curio shops you’d expect to find on a boardwalk. There are also plenty of spots to stop off for snacks, and Seattle’s seagulls want them. They want your fries, they want your fish. They want whatever is left of your Ivar’s clam chowder bread bowl, and they are not afraid to snatch it right out of your hand. MEGAN SELING

Lander Street Vintage

SODO

My idea of a good time is wandering around a warehouse full of antiques until my legs fall off, and Lander Street is the only mall remaining in the city limits that is large enough to satisfy me. The 32,000-square-foot building is just a five-minute drive from the stadium, and it’s filled to the brim with over 130 vendors peddling vintage and antique clothing, furniture, housewares, records, books, art, and so much more. Last time I got lost in the labyrinth of Lander Street, I walked out of there with an armload of treasures, including a 1940s beaded beret, a gorgeous linen circle skirt, and a porcelain Christmas ornament of Tom Kitten. AUDREY VANN

Dockside Cannabis

SODO

Weed has been legal in Washington State for people 21-and-older since 2012, and Dockside Cannabis in SoDo is a great place for folks buying it for the first time. (Plus, it’s just a threeminute drive south from the Seattle Stadium.) The shop is emblematic of the new direction in pot retailing brought on by legalization: big, open floor plans, lots of light, and classy

decor. Dockside’s got all that, and a cannabis museum to boot. That’s right: An entire corner of their store is devoted to the history and science of cannabis, including selections from the Wirtshafter collection, Ohio cannabis activist Don Wirtshafter’s hoard of vintage cannabis medicine bottles. It sounds bland when I put it that way, but it’s awesome, a fascinating physical reminder that pot used to be both legal and benign.

TOBIAS COUGHLIN-BOGUE

Get on a Boat! Any Boat!

VARIOUS LOCATIONS

It’s not a matter of if you’ll have the opportunity to get on a boat while visiting Seattle, it’s a matter of which kind of boat you’d prefer. We have dozens of different water vessels available to rent, from self-powered paddle boats (Green Lake Boathouse and Coffee Shop) to wooden row boats that will make you feel like Anne of Green Gables (the Center for Wooden Boats) to literal floating hot tubs that you can putter around in on Lake Union for about $450 a pop. Personally, I love the cute little cruisers at the Electric Boat Company. The basic model goes for $139 an hour and seats up to 10 people— that’s just $14 each! It’s outfitted with padded seats and a table with cupholders so you can pack a picnic, and it’s also got a Bluetooth stereo and optional heating for chilly nights. Plus, they’re super easy to drive. Even I, an anxiety-riddled anti-captain, can confidently cruise around at a smooth 6 mph to see a special side of Seattle only visible from the water.

MEGAN SELING

But Definitely the Ferries

VARIOUS LOCATIONS

That said, my favorite view of Seattle is the one you see while standing on the deck of a Washington State Ferry as it pulls away from Colman Dock downtown. Walk, bike, or drive onto a boat headed to Bremerton or Bainbridge Island—both have charming little city centers within walking distance from their respective landings—and grab a spot on the outside deck on the backside. It will be windy, it will probably be cold, but the air is crisp and salty, and the view is incredible. You will see the whole skyline, from the Space Needle to Mount Rainier, stretching out across the horizon. Breathe it in. Then, as the city fades into the distance, warm up inside with a too-hot cup of hot chocolate from a vending machine that looks like it’s been there since the ’80s. (It has.) MEGAN SELING

OOPS, YOU’RE IN SE ATTL E FOR PRIDE!

Seattle’s gay all year, but our Big Pride Weekend just so happens to line up with the World Cup. So whether you’re missing your hometown celebrations to be here, or you’re coming from somewhere that doesn’t show up for Pride, here’s how to do Pride your way in Seattle.

The Gay Bars

To start, let’s get a lay (gay?) of the land. You probably already know that Capitol Hill is Seattle’s historically gay neighborhood—if not by reputation, at least because you’ve seen all of the rainbow sidewalks. Unsurprisingly, the Hill is also where you’ll find our densest block of gay bars. Pony is your favorite gay bar’s favorite gay bar. The sign next to the front door reads: “This is a GAY Bar. A Very Gay Bar. If you aren’t queer, or a respectful ally, do not enter.” I recommend heeding this advice. From the glory hole in the bathroom to the porn on the walls, it’s inescapably, impeccably queer. Just a couple blocks away, Wildrose on 11th and Pike is Seattle’s last remaining lesbian bar, and one of just a few dozen in the country. Massive on Pine and Boylston is, well, massive. It’s three levels of dance floor, and during June, they will be packed.

Queer/Bar and Neighbors also bring the dance-party energy. For a more laidback night, Madison Pub has two pool tables and the coldest kegs in the city. If you’re into leather, Cuff Complex is your bar (just watch out for that urinal). Union is cruisy (complimentary). And the circus-themed Unicorn hosts some of the best drag in the neighborhood. If you want a queer bar off the Hill, you’re in luck there, too. Go to Kremwerk downtown if you’re into electronic music. White Center’s Lumber Yard is worth the trek for bears and their friends. Changes is one of Seattle’s longest-running gay bars, tucked into Wallingford.

Pride Weekend

There are Pride celebrations all month, but if you’re here for the World Cup, chances are you got here just in time for our Big Gay Weekend, June 26–28.

On Friday, you’ll find the Trans Pride festival at Volunteer Park from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. It’s one of the largest trans-specific gatherings in the country, with an all-trans lineup of performers and a huge selection of vendors.

That’s also when we start partying in the street. Wildrose, Queer/Bar, the Unicorn, and Cuff Complex all shut down their surrounding streets and set up outdoor stages for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. The good news: The lineups are consistently pretty great. The bad news: They’re ticketed, and not cheap, so unless you’re planning to drop a lot of cash that weekend, you shouldn’t plan to bounce between the shows. Check out the lineups before you get here and decide which bar you’re married to each night.

Or you can save (some of) your money and bop around the rest of Capitol Hill. The whole neighborhood

is one big party that weekend, and any of the bars (gay or not) will have something to offer. Or just grab a blanket, post up in Cal Anderson Park, and watch the cuties stroll by.

Straight & Feeling Left Out?

If you’re an ally, there’s still a lot of Big Queer Fun to be had. The most obvious is the Pride Parade, which is on Sunday, June 28, starting at 11 a.m. It’s the largest parade in the state, and usually clocks more than a quarter of a million people in the crowd along Fourth Avenue. (Keep an eye out for the Stranger truck!) And on Saturday, June 27, you can catch PrideFest, a street festival on Broadway on Capitol Hill.

Want more? Visit TheStranger.com or find a comprehensive Pride calendar in our June issue, on stands at hundreds of locations throughout the region.

RELEGATION WEEKEND

Where to Run If You Want to

Get Away From It All

As mentioned in the beginning of this guide, Seattle officials are expecting 750,000 soccer fans to descend upon the city this summer. While we’ve done our best within these pages to show visitors a good time, we also know this World Cup madness hits locals differently. Our city’s population could essentially double for a month. That means twice as many people riding buses, ferries, and trains; twice as many people zipping by on those obnoxious Lime scooters; twice as many people lining up for a scoop of Seattle Fog at Hellenika Cultured Creamery at Pike Place Market. (It is worth the wait, for the record.)

So tourists, avert your eyes. This section isn’t for you. This section is for our fellow full-time Seattleites, the people who read the tourism forecast and cringe. This section is all about running away, with a list of places we’ve been that are off the beaten path, but reachable within a few hours or less.

Are you an artist?

THE SOU’WESTER in Seaview offers discounted weekday rates for residencies.

The Sou’wester

SEAVIEW, WA

Enough with sportball; what you really need is tire tracks on the beach, fried oysters, and a half-alligator man named Jake. A short four(ish)-hour trek from the Emerald City, Long Beach, and its petite suburb of Seaview, are comparable to Oregonian coastal meccas, except here the sea is flanked by glorious paved bike paths along wind-whipped sand dunes, you can drive your vehicle to the ocean’s edge, and everything is a bit more salty and less touristy. The best thing about Seaview is Sou’wester Historic Lodge & Vintage Travel Trailer Resort, where you can book dreamy sleeping arrangements in midcentury Airstreams, cozy cabins, or its 1892 namesake lodge. (Hot tip for artists: Sou’wester is an arts nonprofit that offers discounted weekday stays for self-guided artists’ residency.) If van glamping isn’t your thing, there are many other hotels and reasons to get away to

the longest continuously drivable beach in the US: The Shelburne (the longest continuously operating hotel in the state) is definitely haunted and boasts unparalleled Victorian shuffleboard opportunities. Get stoned and hit up the Candy Man for their dark chocolate-covered sea foam and Dylan’s Cottage Bakery for scratch-made donuts before bellying up to the air hockey table at the Funland Family Entertainment Center. If you’re feeling fancy, get the Peruvian mango scallops at the Depot or cocktails at the Pickled Fish (where you can gaze nine glittering miles out to see). If you lean divey, settle in for a well whiskey and pull tabs at Long Beach Tavern. And of course, say hello to Jake at Marsh’s Free Museum. AMANDA MANITACH

Olympic Railway Inn

SEQUIM, WA

If you want to inject your small-town getaway with just the right amount of

kitsch, hop on the Edmonds–Kingston Ferry and head to Sequim, where the Olympic Rainway Inn will make all your weird little weekend dreams come true. The “inn” is actually a small field outfitted with nearly a dozen refurbished cabooses, all decked out inside with their own theme. Lavender Limited is done up in shabby chic lace and ruffles. And it’s Christmastime year-round in the Olympic Mountaineer car, which is filled with snowy mountain scenes and a tub that looks like Santa’s sleigh. There’s a wizard train, a steampunk train, a train for wine lovers. I once stayed in the Orient Express car, which is covered floor to ceiling in black-and-gold Art Deco decor, and boasts a giant jacuzzi tub that you’d think would’ve run out of hot water by the time I filled it all the way up past my shoulders, but it did not! What’s more, the small pond just a few steps away from the train cars was full of baby ducks and tiny frogs, and we spotted an

egg-filled robin’s nest tucked away in the caboose’s wheel well. For those three days, I felt like a train-hopping Disney princess. Choo-choo! MEGAN SELING

Headquarters Tavern’s Meat Raffle

MINERAL, WA

Here’s a twofer. If you want to escape into nature and if you don’t know what to cook for dinner, all you need to do is go to Meat Draw. It’s a little over 81 miles away from Seattle in a stopover town called Mineral. They’re known for their lake, their proximity to Mount Rainier National Park, and, uh, that might be it. There’s one post office, a little market, and one bar. Every Thursday, the bar, Headquarters Tavern, hosts a meat raffle. Pay in, get raffle tickets. The entire pool table is covered in meats from the butcher in the next town over. There are two buckets involved in Meat Draw.

One for the winner, one for the meat. If you win, the bar owner—those who know her call her Purple—will come over with a bucket. First, you’ll be exposed as a “Meat Draw Virgin” since everyone else is a local. They’ll hoot and holler at you. (The swearing if you win over and over is all in good fun… I think.) Then, you’ll draw a number from the bucket. That’s your cut of meat. You can win a chuck roast, a rack of ribs, cow tongue, chicken breasts, beef Wellington, any cut of steak you can imagine, and so on. My mother-in-law doesn’t buy meat anymore, she just goes to Meat Draw and lets fate guide her menu. The best part of Meat Draw is that all the entry fees go toward purchasing next week’s batch of meats. It’s socialism! But, uh, don’t mention that in the bar. Anyway, go to Meat Draw, find a good fridge, and stay for the weekend. You can stay in a yurt, pitch a tent on a property listed on Hipcamp, or find a cabin. Hike around the lake, take the whiskey train on the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad, go fishing, catch a movie in Morton, the nearby major town of between 1,100 to 1,200 people. Then, go home and cook your meat.

NATHALIE GRAHAM

Cape Flattery Trail

NEAH BAY, WA

You’ll feel like you’re standing at the edge of the world when you reach the overlook at the end of the Cape Flattery Trail. And really, you are. Cape Flattery, just outside of Neah Bay, which is part of the Makah Reservation, is the northwesternmost point of the continental United States, and the views are postcard-perfect. Bright blue waves crash into the oversized rocks that dot the horizon, and windblown trees defy gravity by stretching out to the sky from the sides of the surrounding cliffs. From that observation deck, I spotted a family of sea lions splashing in the surf and half a dozen different kinds of seabirds bobbing in the wind, while others have seen whales and porpoises. It’s the kind of scenery that convinces people to leave everything they know behind and move to the Pacific Northwest on a whim. And the smell! The salt, the air, the trees. It’s surprisingly accessible, to boot. Sights as stunning as these are generally reserved for cloud-kissing mountaintops or grueling miles of hiking. Here, you just park at the trailhead (you can buy the required recreation pass for $20 at makah.com), and follow the .75-mile sun-dappled

trail, which is so soft and squishy with moss and layers of pine needles it feels like you’re running around on one of those bouncy-bottomed children’s gyms. MEGAN SELING

Rialto Beach

OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK

Nothing compares to camping on Rialto Beach. The camping area is just off the shores of the Pacific Ocean, where the rocky beach gives way to soft, forested land. The sound of powerful waves will sing you to sleep and wake you up in

the morning. You’ll be able to tidepool near the famous Hole-in-the-Wall cut off. When the tide is right, you can walk through the cut-out. When it’s wrong, best not do that. Rialto Beach camping is like baby backpacking. You can park your car about 1 mile from the overnight camp sites. It’s not a hard trek, but schlepping a bunch of shit always adds up. Still, it’s close enough that you could bring a bunch of fresh groceries, a castiron pot, and make the best meal you’ve had in your life over a fire. Before you do any of that, you’ll need a Wilderness

LONG BEACH is where to go if you want to fly kits and/or say hi to a half-alligator man named Jake.

Honestly, visiting PORTLAND feels like traveling back in time to a better, more affordable Seattle.

Permit to camp overnight. You can pick that up on your way in Port Angeles. They’ll also give you bear canisters to store your food (and anything that might smell like food). The journey out there is fun, too. From Seattle, you’ll take the ferry and trace your way through the Olympic Peninsula. If you want, you can take a detour through vampire country (Forks), too.

NATHALIE GRAHAM

Portland

OREGON

If you’re feeling extra grumpy about the World Cup crowds invading your space, but don’t want to escape to the woods or sleep on the beach, head south to Portland, Oregon, Seattle’s smaller, younger, friendlier, more affordable PacNW BFF. No planning is required, just track down a copy of our sister paper, Portland Mercury, and go do, eat, and see whatever it is they tell you to. Hell, they even have soccer! The MLS team, Portland Timbers, won’t be playing during the World Cup break, but you’ve got several chances in June and July to catch the city’s USL W team, the Portland Cherry Bombs, in their inaugural season. There’s a thriving bar and restaurant industry, a local music scene bursting with artistry and innovation, plus no sales tax! Wait a minute… why do we live in expensive, dusty-ass Seattle? Viva la Portland! MEGAN SELING

The Summer of Soccer is coming to Seattle

Microsoft is proud to help our city show up for it.

As an Official Seattle World Cup 2026 Host City Supporter, Microsoft is backing the people who make match days possible: local small businesses, transit riders, volunteers, and fans of every ability.