Free Things to Do in Seattle, Washington

• Visit the Fremont troll under the Aurora (Highway 99) Bridge in the Fremont Neighborhood. Great for taking pictures!

• Check out the Army Corps of Engineers locks in the Ballard neighborhood. Watch the amazing variety of boats being transferred from the Ship Canal to Elliott Bay. At certain times of year, you can also see populations of migrating salmon. Amazing!

• See some of Seattle's architectural landmarks. The Rem Koolhaus Central Library downtown offers free tours of one of the most striking buildings to join the Seattle landscape in recent years. The Experience Music Project building in Seattle Center is Seattle's only Frank Gehry building, and although they charge for the exhibits, it's free to walk around outside or go into the lobby. Older highlights include the Smith Tower, Seattle's first skyscraper and (at one time) the tallest building west of the Mississippi, and the Arctic Building, decorated with terra cotta walruses. Or go back in time to the oldest part of Seattle with a stroll around Pioneer Square.

• There's free music all over town, especially during Seattle's brief summer. The City of Seattle sponsors free concerts in the parks (check the City of Seattle website for details). The newly renovated First Methodist Church (now a performance space) has a free lunchtime music series, often featuring the pipe organ.

• There are free outdoor movies, too! One particularly famous series is Movies at the Mural near the base of the Space Needle, but many of the local communities have them.

• Go for a walk! Seattle is all about its neighborhoods, and Ballard, Queen Anne, Fremont, Wallingford, and Capitol Hill all have beautiful little parks, interesting gardens, quirky shops, and plenty of interesting passersby to watch. And of course Pike Place Market downtown can provide entertainment for hours.

• Kubota Gardens in south Seattle is a free, city-owned gem. Created by a private citizen and later added to the city parks system, Kubota Gardens is a Japanese-style garden perfect for strolling, picnics, or photography. Kids love all the interesting nooks and crannies to investigate. There's also the Washington Park Arboretum, a joint project of the University of Washington and the City of Seattle. For an unparalleled view of the Seattle cityscape, visit Kerry Park in Queen Anne...a favorite place for photographers.

• Visit the tiniest National Park in America! (Well, actually, this part is tiny-its other sections, in Alaska and Canada, are very large!) The Klondike Gold Rush International Historic Park has multiple parts, but its Seattle presence in Pioneer Square is a fascinating, free mini-museum on a part of United States history that was very important to the growth of the Pacific Northwest and now is mostly forgotten.