The city’s heart and place to start is the Pike Place Market, a warren of food stalls, funky galleries, restaurants and trinket stalls at the foot of Pike, just above the waterfront. Buy a latte, browse the world’s papers at the Read All About It newsstand and lose yourself on the multiple levels smelling of salt and salmon. Head down far enough, and you’ll come out on the city’s waterfront of piers, with the Aquarium nearby. Go uphill on Pike to the retail center of downtown, centered around Westlake Square.

At Westlake Center, a boutique shopping mall, go up to the second floor and hop on the monorail to Seattle Center. You could easily spend a day at the museums and cultural performances here, but if time is limited, ride the elevator to the Space Needle observation deck. (The Needle’s fun, but the touristy revolving restaurant has better scenery than food.)

Next door are the city’s newest and most unusual museums, Paul Allen’s Experience Music Project and the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, at 325 Fifth Ave. N. (206-724-3428). Pricey but fun, these allow you to play rock star, meet Darth Vader and the Alien Queen, or see classic guitars and sci-fi book and magazine covers.

More out of the way, but worth the taxi or car ride, is the light-drenched Museum of Flight at Boeing Field, about seven miles south of downtown at 9404 East Marginal Way S. (206-764-5700). The collection of vintage planes, including a brand-new exhibit of 21 World War I and World War II fighters, is the best this side of the Smithsonian. You can sit inside a cockpit, visit the Concorde and tour the “Red Barn” where the Boeing company got started.

Okay, time to see Seattle’s drama from afar, appreciating its natural setting. The best and cheapest way is as a walk-on passenger on the Washington State Ferry from downtown Seattle at Pier 52, at the foot of Cherry Street. For less than $6 round-trip to Bainbridge Island or Bremerton, passengers get terrific views of downtown, Puget Sound and the surrounding mountains.

Those with a car who approach Seattle from the other direction will gain an equal understanding of why we love the place. Interstate 90 descends from the ski areas of Snoqualmie Pass, an hour east of the city, to 20-mile-long Lake Washington. Cross the lake at a glorious sunset, downtown’s molten towers poking above forested hills, and you may wind up dialing a real estate office about lakeshore homes. Prepare for sticker shock.

Along the way, visit Snoqualmie Falls, which thunders nearly 300 feet into a canyon some 30 miles east of Seattle. From Interstate 90, take Exit 25 if driving east, or Exit 31 if driving west, and angle north to the town of Snoqualmie and the Salish Lodge at the falls, which has a good restaurant.