Alki Playground and Whale Tail Park

Alki Beach in West Seattle is Seattle's answer to a SoCal beach town — a long, sandy Puget Sound shoreline with a paved walkway, restaurants, volleyball nets, and an unmistakable Pacific Northwest quality of light. For families, Alki Playground and Whale Tail Park is the kid focal point on a beach strip that works for all ages.

The Whale Tail Park playground features a large whale tail sculpture that rises from the ground and immediately becomes the climbing and photo target for every child who arrives. It's an evocative design — the tail emerging from the pavement as if a whale is diving below the city — and it produces the kind of delighted reaction that generic playground equipment doesn't.

The playground has standard equipment alongside the sculpture, but the real draw is the beach access steps away. Alki's sandy beach is genuinely kid-friendly for building, digging, running, and splashing. Puget Sound water temperature reality: it's cold — even in August, air-temperature ranges 65-75°F but water runs 55-60°F.

Kids who want to swim need wetsuits or a high tolerance for cold. Kids who want to wade up to their knees in waves are perfectly happy.

On clear days, the views across Puget Sound to the Olympic Mountains from Alki are as good as anywhere in the Seattle area. The skyline on the return view is equally dramatic.

Logistics worth knowing: the King County Water Taxi from Pier 50 in downtown Seattle to Alki runs seasonally for about $6/adult each way (kids under 5 free). It deposits you at the top of the beach strip, the boat ride is a genuine kid adventure, and it completely eliminates the parking problem. Highly recommended over driving on summer weekends.