Seattle Underground Tour

The Seattle Underground Tour is a guided walk beneath the sidewalks of Pioneer Square, starting from Doc Maynard's Public House at 614 First Avenue in Seattle, Washington. The tour explains how the city's original street level was rebuilt after the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, when merchants raised the streets one to two storeys above the old ground and left a network of buried storefronts and passageways. Guides lead visitors through several blocks of these underground corridors, describing early Seattle life with humour, covering topics such as the city's flawed early plumbing, the Yesler sawmill, the Klondike Gold Rush boom and the city's frontier-era characters. Visitors see skylights of purple glass set into the sidewalks, old shopfronts and collapsed storefronts. The tour lasts about 75 minutes and includes some walking up and down stairs. Tours run daily at set times, and departures fill up during summer, so booking ahead is useful. Midday tours are often the best choice, as daylight comes through the sidewalk prisms. The neighbourhood above ground is Seattle's oldest district, with Romanesque brick buildings, Occidental Park and several galleries, and it is a short walk from the Link light rail Pioneer Square Station and the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. Crowds are lightest on weekday off-peak hours. The tour has a mix of history and comedy, so it suits adults and older children better than very young ones. The underground passages are dim, with uneven surfaces and low ceilings in places. Photography is generally allowed, though low light limits shots. Tickets cost roughly $26 to $29 (USD) for adults.