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Seattle has long been rated as one of the top US cities to visit, offering fantastic tourist attractions such as Pike Place Market and the Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture.

Pike Place Market

One of the oldest continuously-operated farmer's markets in the US, Pike Place presides over a nine acre historic district in the heart of downtown Seattle.

The market features fresh fish and produce stands, arts and crafts, ethnic groceries and gift stores, vintage clothing, antiques and collectibles, international restaurants, cafes and food bars.

Street musicians entertain at designated locales throughout the market.

The Pike Place Market is located between First & Western Avenues bound by Union & Stewart Streets.

It is free and open daily, 10am to 6pm Monday through Saturday, and 11am to 5pm on Sunday.

However, during the summer farming season, many produce and fish markets open around 8am or earlier.

For more information, phone (206) 682-7453 or visit www.pikeplacemarket.org.

Pioneer Square

Seattle's historic district, located on the southern fringe of the downtown business core, features some 20 square blocks of Victorian Romanesque architecture, museums, the city's highest concentration of art galleries, many restaurants and a rip-roaring nightlife.

But then, Pioneer Square's history offers many a wild tale. As a young lumber town in the 1800's, logs skidded down its streets to harbor side sawmills. The town's brisk growth was suddenly halted by a great fire in 1889 that destroyed many of its wooden structures.

The town was quickly rebuilt with brick and mortar atop the rubble and Seattle boomed again as a primary staging area for the Klondike Gold Rush in the 1890's when more than 70,000 prospectors passed through town.

Today, visitors are still drawn to Pioneer Square. The Underground Tour offers a look at the remnants of the old town below street level.

The Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park interprets Seattle's role critical role in the gold rush. And antique-hunters, gallery-walkers and bar-hoppers keep the neighborhood bustling.

Visit www.pioneersquare.org for more information.

The Seattle Center

The legacy of the 1962 Seattle World's Fair, Seattle Center is a 74-acre urban park and home to the landmark Space Needle, Pacific Science Center, Experience Music Project, Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, Seattle Opera, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Intiman Theatre, Seattle Children's Theatre, Seattle Children's Museum and many other attractions.

The Seattle Center also hosts many of the city's largest festivals, including Bumbershoot (the Seattle Arts Festival), Folklife folk art festival, the Seattle International Children's Festival, the Bite of Seattle and many other community events.

The Seattle Center is located just north of downtown Seattle in the Lower Queen Anne neighborhood at 305 Harrison Street.

From downtown Seattle, visitors can take the Seattle Center Monorail from Westlake Station at Fifth Avenue and Pine Street in downtown Seattle or take a five-minute taxi ride.

For more information, call (206) 441-7200 or visit www.seattlecenter.com.

The Seattle Waterfront

Seattle's natural deep-water harbor, Elliott Bay, teems with trade, ferry boats, luxury cruise liners, sightseeing tour boats and myriad pleasure craft.

Prime harbor views can be found on the city's central waterfront, stretching along Alaskan Way from Pier 70 on the north to Pier 48 on the south. Midway, built atop Pier 59, are the Seattle Aquarium and Seattle IMAX Omnidome Theater.

The Odyssey Maritime Discovery Center at Pier 66 explores the busy bay beyond its doors. The pier is also home to the Bell Street Cruise Terminal, homeport for luxury cruise liners bound for Alaska's Inside Passage.

At Pier 55 and 56, Argosy Cruises features decidedly smaller vessels for sightseeing trips and evening dinner cruises. Also departing from Pier 55, Tillicum Village offers a scenic boat trip to nearby Blake Island for a Northwest Coast Native American stage show.

The Seattle Waterfront also features souvenir and gift shops and an array of Northwest seafood dining. A vintage trolley system connects the waterfront with Pioneer Square and the Chinatown-International District.

Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture

One of the foremost natural history museums in the region, The Burke features both natural and cultural artifacts from the Pacific Northwest and the Pacific Rim ranging from Native American totem poles and hand-carved cedar canoes to dinosaur skeletons, fossils, gems, minerals.

For more information and opening times, visit www.burkemuseum.org.

The Children's Museum

The Children's Museum offers a fun, interactive learning environment for kids and families with exhibits such as a Global Village, Mountain Forest, Imagination Station, Discovery Bay for toddlers and a traveling exhibit gallery.

For more information and opening times, visit www.thechildrensmuseum.org.

Henry Art Gallery

"The Henry" is the art museum of the University of Washington, located in a striking Charles Gwathmey-designed glass and textured steel building on the west side of the campus.

One of the Pacific Northwest's premier modern and contemporary art museums, the Henry Art Museum showcases exhibitions and their related programs which invite dialogue about contemporary culture, politics, aesthetics and the traditions of visual art and design of the last two centuries.

For more information and opening times, visit www.henryart.org.

Museum of Flight

From the Wright brothers to outer space, the wonder of flight comes alive at one of the world's largest air and space museums.

With more than 85 historic aircraft on display, interactive exhibits and activities for the whole family, The Museum of Flight offers an unforgettable experience for the aviation enthusiast and general visitor alike.

Recent additions to the museum include a retired British Airways Concorde jetliner and the new 88,000 square foot Personal Courage Wing showcasing 28 rare and restored World War I and II fighter aircraft.

For more information and opening times, visit www.museumofflight.org.