--- title: "Seward Park" url: "https://www.pnwsights.com/place/seward-park-seattle/" site: "PNWSights" category: "Parks & Wilderness" city: "Seattle" state: "WA" latitude: 47.5498 longitude: -122.252 photogenic_score: 0.24 updated: "2026-04-29" --- # Seward Park Seattle, WA · Parks & Wilderness · Scenic score 24/100 A 300-acre park on a peninsula jutting into Lake Washington containing one of the last remaining old-growth forests within Seattle city limits. The 2.4-mile loop trail around the peninsula offers views of Mount Rainier, Mercer Island, and the Cascade Range. The interior forest contains Douglas fir trees estimated to be over 250 years old. ## Photography guide - Best time of day: morning - Crowds: moderate - Best seasons: spring, summer, fall, winter - Shot types: wide, landscape, detail - Tags: old growth, lake washington, peninsula, mount rainier, eagles **Practical tips.** The perimeter loop trail is paved and mostly flat. Bald eagles nest in the park and are most easily spotted in winter and early spring along the western shoreline. ## Author's comments *Most people walk the perimeter loop and call it done. The paved path is pleasant, the Rainier view from the southern tip on a clear winter morning is genuinely something, and the eagles along the western shore in February will reward anyone willing to stand still long enough. I have made that walk many times and I do not regret any of them. But the park I keep returning to is the interior. There is a stand of Douglas fir at the heart of the peninsula that has been growing since before the city existed, and on a wet morning in November the light comes down through the canopy in slow vertical columns and the forest floor goes the color of damp moss and bark. It is quiet in a way that surprises me every time, given that I am still inside Seattle. The trails through the middle are unpaved and less walked, and they ask for a different kind of attention than the loop does. Come early. The morning fog off Lake Washington works its way into the trees and softens everything, and the contrast between the open shoreline and the deep interior is the whole reason to be here. A wide lens for the lake. A longer one for the trees, where the compression makes the trunks read as the cathedral they actually are.* ## Photos - ![Black-and-white scene of several people riding in a small sailboat on calm Lake Washington, with the dark sail filling the right side of the frame. A wooden dock with a few seated figures sits to the left, while hazy shoreline and open water stretch into the background.](https://pnwsights.localzen.org/places/seward-park-seattle/0.webp) (Seattle Municipal Archives from Seattle, WA / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0) - ![A dark brown, cottage-style community clubhouse sits at a leafy street corner, framed by tall evergreens and neatly trimmed shrubs, with a green street sign for S Angeline St and 50th Ave S in the foreground. A small sign by the entrance reads “Stay Home Save Lives,” and the overcast morning light gives the scene a soft, damp look.](https://pnwsights.localzen.org/places/seward-park-seattle/1.webp) (Joe Mabel / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0) - ![Lake Washington fills the foreground under a bright, cloudy morning sky, with Seward Park’s dark, tree-covered peninsula stretching across the horizon. A small dock and boat sit at the left edge, adding scale to the broad water view.](https://pnwsights.localzen.org/places/seward-park-seattle/2.webp) (Joe Mabel / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.0) - ![Morning light warms the wooded shoreline of Seward Park, with bare and evergreen trees lining the curved edge of Lake Washington. The calm water reflects a pale blue sky, while a small picnic shelter and parked cars sit back from the rocky shore.](https://pnwsights.localzen.org/places/seward-park-seattle/3.webp) (Joe Mabel / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0) - ![Three men in suits and hats stand on a narrow plank bridge over a log boom at Seward Park, with calm water in the foreground and a wooded shoreline behind them. The black-and-white scene has an early 20th-century look, with old-growth trees and a few small structures visible along the bank.](https://pnwsights.localzen.org/places/seward-park-seattle/4.webp) (Seattle Municipal Archives from Seattle, WA / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0) - ![Mount Rainier rises in silhouette across Lake Washington at sunrise, with a glowing orange horizon beneath streaked gray-blue clouds. Dark evergreen shoreline on the left frames the calm water and the distant mountain range.](https://pnwsights.localzen.org/places/seward-park-seattle/5.webp) (Carrick from Seattle / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0) - ![A color map highlights Seward Park as a long, narrow peninsula jutting into Lake Washington, outlined in blue and shaded yellow, with nearby street grids and labels visible around the park. The map also shows the separate green interior of the park and surrounding neighborhoods to the west.](https://pnwsights.localzen.org/places/seward-park-seattle/6.webp) (Office of the Seattle City Clerk / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain) - ![An aerial view shows Seward Park’s forested peninsula jutting into dark blue Lake Washington, with a few small boats nearby. Dense neighborhood streets fill the foreground, and the opposite shoreline forms a hazy band across the water under soft morning light.](https://pnwsights.localzen.org/places/seward-park-seattle/7.webp) (Dcoetzee / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain) - ![A winding dirt road curves along the edge of Lake Washington toward Seward Park, with dark trees framing the left side and a small pier and pavilion across the water. Mount Rainier rises faintly in the distance under a bright, cloud-streaked morning sky.](https://pnwsights.localzen.org/places/seward-park-seattle/8.webp) (Asahel Curtis / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain) - ![A quiet park path curves past a weathered wooden bench beneath dense evergreens and tall old-growth trunks, with a soft morning feel and scattered leaves on the grass. The scene is calm and green, with a gravel trail leading deeper into the wooded park.](https://pnwsights.localzen.org/places/seward-park-seattle/9.webp) (Josh Hild / Pexels) ## Location 47.5498, -122.252 · [Open in Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=47.5498,-122.252) ## Nearby places - [Seattle-Bainbridge Island Ferry](https://www.pnwsights.com/place/seattle-bainbridge-island-ferry-seattle.md) (Seattle, WA) - The 35-minute Washington State Ferries crossing between Seattle's Coleman Dock and Bainbridge Island offers moving panoramic views of the Seattle skyline, Mount Rainier, and the Olympic Mountains. - [Pike Place Market](https://www.pnwsights.com/place/pike-place-market-seattle.md) (Seattle, WA) - One of the oldest continuously operated public farmers' markets in the United States, established in 1907 on Seattle's downtown waterfront. - [Chihuly Garden and Glass](https://www.pnwsights.com/place/chihuly-garden-and-glass-seattle.md) (Seattle, WA) - An exhibition at Seattle Center showcasing the glass artwork of Tacoma-born artist Dale Chihuly in interior galleries and an outdoor garden. - [Gas Works Park](https://www.pnwsights.com/place/gas-works-park-seattle.md) (Seattle, WA) - A 19.1-acre public park on the north shore of Lake Union built on the site of the former Seattle Gas Light Company gasification plant. - [Kerry Park](https://www.pnwsights.com/place/kerry-park-seattle.md) (Seattle, WA) - A small hilltop park on Queen Anne Hill offering an iconic panoramic view of the Seattle skyline, Mount Rainier, and Elliott Bay. --- Page: https://www.pnwsights.com/place/seward-park-seattle/ · [All parks & wilderness in the Pacific Northwest](https://www.pnwsights.com/parks.md) · [PNWSights home](https://www.pnwsights.com/index.md)