Best Places to See Mount Rainier from Tacoma and Seattle
Mount Rainier stands 14,410 feet tall, roughly 60 miles southeast of Seattle and even closer to Tacoma. On a clear day it fills the horizon like a second sun. On a cloudy one, you'd never know it was there. When the clouds finally lift, you want to know exactly where to go. Here are the best places to see Mount Rainier from Tacoma and Seattle, most of them free and easy to reach.
Best Mount Rainier views in Tacoma
Tacoma is closer to the mountain than Seattle, so Rainier looks noticeably bigger here. Many local favorites line the waterfront along Commencement Bay.
Ruston Way waterfront
This two-mile stretch of shoreline path between downtown and Point Ruston is Tacoma's classic Rainier view. Walk, bike or grab a table at one of the waterfront restaurants and look southeast across the bay. Late afternoon light turns the snowfields pink.
Point Ruston
At the north end of Ruston Way, Point Ruston's promenade gives you the mountain over the water with shops and cafés nearby. It's an easy place to bring visitors who want the view without a hike.
Fireman's Park
This small park at the edge of downtown, near the Murray Morgan Bridge on A Street, overlooks the Thea Foss Waterway and the Port of Tacoma, with Rainier rising behind the cranes. It's a favorite for photographers who like a working-harbor foreground.
Cliff House overlook, Northeast Tacoma
Up on the bluff in Northeast Tacoma, the parking lot near the Cliff House restaurant looks back across Commencement Bay toward the city and the mountain. It's one of the easiest drive-up views in the area.
Best Mount Rainier views in Seattle
Kerry Park, Queen Anne
The postcard shot. From this small park on Queen Anne Hill you get downtown, the Space Needle and Elliott Bay, with Rainier centered behind the skyline. Go at sunrise or right after a storm clears, and expect company on clear evenings.
Rainier Vista, University of Washington
The UW campus was laid out so its main promenade points straight at the mountain. Stand at the top of the stairs on the south edge of Red Square and look down the line of the Drumheller Fountain toward Rainier.
Seward Park
This wooded peninsula on Lake Washington is the place for Rainier reflected in calm water. Walk the shoreline loop on a still morning, when the lake can mirror the mountain.
Magnolia and Discovery Park
Magnolia Boulevard's overlooks and the open bluffs in Discovery Park face south and west over Puget Sound. On clear evenings you can catch Rainier from here as well as the Olympics.
Washington State Ferries
A ferry ride from downtown Seattle is one of the cheapest scenic tours in the state. On a clear day, look south from the deck for Rainier rising above the water.
When is the best time to see the mountain?
Summer and early fall give you the best odds, with long stretches of dry, clear weather. The crispest views often come in winter and spring, right after a storm moves through and washes the haze out of the air. Mornings tend to be clearer than afternoons, and sunset can light the glaciers pink and orange, a glow locals call alpenglow.
It's visible more often than its reputation suggests. A Seattle photographer who snapped the view from Kerry Park every day of 2012 counted at least 83 days when the mountain showed, or about one day in four or five. That still makes every sighting feel like an event.