Two Moods, One Neighborhood
Broadway is the commercial spine, and the Pike-Pine corridor between Boren Avenue and 15th is packed with coffee shops, bars, restaurants and music venues. Stroll long stretches of Pike, Pine, Broadway, 15th Avenue and E. Olive Way and you will pass street-level shops almost the whole way.
Head north toward Volunteer Park and the mood turns quieter. Fourteenth Avenue E. south of the park earned the nickname Millionaire's Row for its family homes on leafy streets, and the Harvard-Belmont Landmark District holds some of the city's grandest houses. Here, modest studio buildings and historic mansions often stand side by side.
Choosing Your Capitol Hill Hotel: Practical Tradeoffs
As you compare places to stay, decide how close you want to be to the bar and music scene. The Pike-Pine corridor and Broadway are the heart of the action after dark, so light sleepers may rest easier a few blocks away from those streets, while night owls will likely want to land right in the middle of it.
Think about the terrain, too. This is one of Seattle's hilliest areas, and the eastern slope includes the city's steepest paved street, a 21 percent grade on E. Roy Street between 25th and 26th Avenues E. If you are rolling luggage or have mobility concerns, a room near a transit stop saves real effort.
Timing Your Trip
Two annual events bring big crowds. Every June, Pride celebrations fill the city, and Capitol Hill is the center of Seattle's LGBTQ community. In late July, the Capitol Hill Block Party, an outdoor music festival held since 1997, takes over Pike Street between Broadway and 12th. Expect rooms to be in higher demand around those dates, and check official event pages for current schedules.
Getting Around Without a Car
Transit is where the Hill truly earns its keep for budget travelers. Hop on the Link light rail 1 Line at Capitol Hill station, on Broadway south of John Street and Olive Way, and ride south to downtown or north to the University of Washington campus.
- First Hill Streetcar: Catch it where the line ends on Broadway at Denny Way, just south of the light rail station, to connect the Hill with First Hill and beyond.
- RapidRide G: This King County Metro line runs along Madison Street from downtown through First Hill and Capitol Hill to Madison Valley and Madison Park, with buses about every six minutes at peak times.
- Trolleybuses: Metro routes 10, 12, 43 and 49 serve the neighborhood on the city's electric trolleybus network.
Fares and schedules change, so check King County Metro and Sound Transit for current details before you ride.
Free and Low-Cost Ways to Spend Your Days
Some of the neighborhood's best experiences cost nothing at all. Spend a morning in Volunteer Park, about 50 acres of trees and paths designed by the Olmsted Brothers, with an amphitheater and the highest point on the Hill at 444 feet above sea level. The Seattle Asian Art Museum is here too, along with the glass-paneled Volunteer Park Conservatory.
Cal Anderson Park, named for Washington's first openly gay legislator, offers open lawns and reflecting pools. Walk the AIDS Memorial Pathway, a colorful and moving public art installation, and see what community or citywide gathering might be on during your stay. For more green space across the city, browse our guide to Seattle parks.
Window Shopping and Browsing
Capitol Hill has more small businesses than any other Seattle neighborhood, so a simple walk becomes entertainment. Wander Broadway and the Pike-Pine corridor, where recent street improvements added more visible crosswalks, wider sidewalks, extra greenery and protected bike lanes.
Lose an afternoon at Elliott Bay Book Company, one of the largest independent booksellers in the country. For an inexpensive evening, look in at Phoenix Comics and Games, which hosts game nights and community events through the week.
Film, Music and Nights Out
The Hill has long been tied to Seattle's music culture and is the neighborhood most associated with early 1990s grunge. Today you can catch everything from punk and folk to salsa, hip hop and electronic music, since many bars host live shows, and Neumos is one of the best-known clubs.
Movie lovers have strong choices. Settle in at the Egyptian Theatre, set in a former Masonic lodge, or head to the Northwest Film Forum, Seattle's only cinematheque, which screens films and teaches filmmaking classes. The Broadway Performance Hall at Seattle Central College hosts lectures, performances and films, and all of these venues take part in the Seattle International Film Festival.
LGBTQ Nightlife
Seattle's LGBTQ social life settled on Capitol Hill in the 1970s and has stayed ever since. Spots such as Queer/Bar and the Cuff Complex belong to a wide circle of bars that make the neighborhood a destination year-round, not only during Pride.
A Little History Behind the Streets
Early in the 1900s, this was Broadway Hill. Developer James A. Moore is credited with the current name, perhaps hoping the state capitol would move from Olympia, or perhaps honoring his wife's hometown neighborhood in Denver.
Around 1911, Pike, Pine and Broadway formed an auto row that held most of Seattle's car dealerships. Many of those old buildings were preserved as landmarks or folded into new projects, and their spaces later drew artists and the LGBTQ community. Dig deeper into the city's past with our Seattle landmarks guide, or compare areas in our overview of Seattle neighborhoods. For ideas beyond the Hill, explore things to do in Seattle.
