Part of our Washington guide.
This Tacoma Travel Guide gathers three articles from our coverage: eight natural wonders, six cozy coffee shops, and seven iconic landmarks. Each section below gives the specific places and details you need to plan your visit.
Related travel guides: Federal Way Travel Guide, Lacey Travel Guide, and Olympia Travel Guide.
8 Stunning Natural Wonders In Tacoma, Washington
Point Defiance Park offers old-growth forest trails, a zoo, and waterfront views. The Chihuly Bridge of Glass connects the downtown museum district to the Thea Foss Waterway with glass art overhead. Commencement Bay provides a working waterfront and views of Mount Rainier on clear days. The Tacoma Narrows Bridge, with its pedestrian walkway, gives a vantage point over the Puget Sound. Owen Beach inside Point Defiance Park is a sandy shoreline for kayak launches and picnics. The Wapato Park lake loop trail is a flat, family-friendly walk. Swan Creek Park has wooded ravines and salmon-bearing streams. The Puyallup Riverwalk Trail follows the river through the city and into the Puyallup Valley.
6 Cozy Coffee Shops To Discover In Tacoma, Washington
Bluebeard Coffee Roasters on Broadway roasts its own beans and serves pour-overs in a minimalist space. Valhalla Coffee on Sixth Avenue has been a local staple since 1994, with a dark-wood interior and a menu of espresso drinks and pastries. Cosmonaut Coffee on South 11th Street is a small-batch roastery with a garage-door front that opens in warm weather. Manifesto Coffee on Pacific Avenue offers a rotating single-origin menu and a quiet upstairs seating area. Campfire Coffee on South Proctor Street, run by a husband-and-wife team, serves drip coffee and cold brew from a repurposed trailer. The Red Elm Cafe on South 56th Street combines a coffee bar with a used-book shop, with seating among shelves of fiction and nonfiction.
7 Iconic Landmarks To See In Tacoma, Washington
The Museum of Glass on the Thea Foss Waterway features a hot-shop where artists blow glass daily, plus a permanent collection of contemporary glass art. The Washington State History Museum, adjacent to the glass museum, covers the state’s past with interactive exhibits and a full-scale replica of a 19th-century steamboat. Union Station, the 1911 Beaux-Arts train station, now houses a federal courthouse and is open to the public for its marble rotunda and Tiffany-style chandeliers. The LeMay – America’s Car Museum on East 25th Street displays over 350 cars, trucks, and motorcycles in a four-story glass building. The Tacoma Dome, with its distinctive wooden dome roof, hosts concerts and sports events. The Stadium District, centered on North Stadium Way, is a historic neighborhood with early-20th-century homes and the 1910 Stadium High School, which appears in the film 10 Things I Hate About You. The Wright Park Arboretum on South G Street contains over 500 species of trees and a Victorian-era conservatory.
