Seattle families know that summer in the Pacific Northwest is short — sometimes only lasting a month — but oh, is it ever sweet! When the summer sun is shining in Seattle and your family is itching to put their toes in the sand, these five family-friendly Seattle beaches are guaranteed to keep you cool! Don’t forget that these beaches can also be explored on Seattle’s grey days — just switch out bathing suits and flipflops for raincoats and boots!
Alki Beach
Seattleite or visitor, Alki Beach is no doubt on your beach radar! On a sunny day at Alki, it’s likely that you’ll look around and be convinced that you’re actually on a sandy beach in Southern California, rather than the Pacific Northwest! For a day at Alki Beach, grab the first parking spot you can find after passing Salty’s Seafood Grill (great for dinner on the patio later, by the way!) and set up camp on that side of the volleyball nets — it will be away from the crowds a bit, but still close enough to the restrooms. Hopefully you’ll catch a day when the tide is out at Alki so that you can search for sea creatures while you splash in the water.
Website: Alki Beach
Located: In West Seattle — from I-5, take the West Seattle Bridge and then take the exit to Alki Avenue SW. Take a right at the stoplight and follow along the waterfront, where you’ll eventually arrive at the beach.
Madison Park
If the weather in Seattle is hot hot hot, then the beach at Madison Park is hot hot hot too! A couple of things that we particularly love about this family-friendly beach is that there is soft, clean grass above the sandy beach so that you can bring the littest ones to play without having to worry about them eating handfuls of sand. Also, there is a fantastic playground across the street from the beach and tons of family-friendly restaurants to walk to (yes, a Starbucks too!) for when your picnic basket runs dry!
Website: Madison Park
Location: At the end of E. Madison Street where it runs into Lake Washington
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