Museums with always free admission in the Puget Sound region (greaterseattleonthecheap.com)

The following list of museums in the greater Seattle-Tacoma metro area offer free general admission during regular museum hours. Before you head out, check their website for holiday closures.

Most museums with free admission will gratefully accept donations. Some of these free museums also offer gift shops or bookstores, classes, and special events with a fee, which help sustain their collections, staffing, and operating costs. Many also have volunteer opportunities.

Free museums are a great choice for a rainy day in the Puget Sound region, an affordable family outing, or visitors who want to minimize travel expenses without sacrificing fun. There’s a little something for everyone, including history, art, culture, nature, boats, cars, trains, and more.

Seattle museums with free admission

(Listed roughly north to south throughout the city)

The Center for Wooden Boats (cwb.org)s on Seattle’s Lake Union. Open daily. The center promotes northwest maritime heritage through hands-on building, maintaining, and using historic small watercraft. It’s always free to walk the docks, explore the Wagner Education Center, and view the exhibits. Other free events include speakers, one-hour pea pod rental, and free monthly public sail.

Gates Discovery Center (discovergates.org) across from Seattle Center. Open Wednesday-Saturday. Located next to the global headquarters of the Gates Foundation in Seattle. The exhibitions seek to inspire visitors to take action on causes that are close to your heart by sharing stories and data about poverty, disease, and inequity around the world. Online reservations for drop-in visitors are not required but can be helpful for the staff. Explore the galleries, join a public tour or scheduled event, or attend a staff chat.

Frye Art Museum (fryemuseum.org) in Seattle’s First Hill neighborhood. Open Wednesday-Sunday. The city’s only free art museum founded by Seattle business leaders and art collectors Charles and Emma Frye. The Frye reflects Seattle’s evolving identity through exhibitions, programs, and community engagement by showcasing local and global artists who explore the issues of our time as well as contemporary scholarship on historical subject matter.

Klondike Gold Rush – National Historical Park (nps.gov) in Seattle’s Pioneer Square neighborhood. Open Wednesday-Sunday. Learn about Seattle’s history during the Gold Rush to the Yukon Territory of Canada. Explore rotating exhibits that feature history, culture, art, and more.

Last Resort Fire Department (lastresortfd.org) in Seattle’s Pioneer Square neighborhood. Open Thursday. Last Resort is now the largest collection of antique motorized fire apparatus in the Pacific Northwest. The rigs can also be seen in parades, car and truck shows, fire station dedications, fire prevention exhibits, static displays and other community events.

Northwest Nikkei Museum | Japanese Cultural & Community Center of Washington (jcccw.org) in Seattle’s Chinatown International District. Open weekdays. JCCCW promotes the heritage of the Pacific Northwest’s Nikkei community through objects, photographs, artwork, and exhibits related to local Japanese American history. Then center also features a Japanese language school and library and resale shop for vintage Japanese and Japanese-inspired items donated by the community.

Coast Guard Museum | Northwest, Seattle, WA (rexmwess.com) in Seattle at Pier 36. Open M-W-F. Explore thousands of Coast Guard related items, including an 1860 clock, uniforms and patches, photographs, books, periodicals, documents, vessel plans, ship wheels, lighthouse lenses, ship models, a piece of HMS BOUNTY, and many more historic items.

The Duwamish Longhouse & Museum | Duwamish Tribe (duwamishtribe.org) in Seattle’s Delridge neighborhood. Open Tuesday-Saturday (exhibit & gift shop). The Longhouse is open for special events and is available for rental. The Duwamish Longhouse overlooks the Duwamish River Valley, near the village called hah-AH-poos—a major archeological site that is on the National Register of Historic Places. The museum exhibits include never before seen artifacts that share the living lifeways of the Duwamish people.

Sea Mar Museum of Chicano/a/Latino/a Culture (squarespace.com) in Seattle’s South Park neighborhood. Open weekdays. The first of its kind in the Pacific Northwest, the museum showcases the history of Chicano/as and Latino/as in Washington state, from post war immigration to present time.

Tacoma area museums with free admission

(Listed roughly north to south throughout South Sound)

Harbor History Museum (harborhistorymuseum.org) in Gig Harbor. Open Wednesday-Saturday. The museum preserves pioneer history, cultural traditions, and events on the Gig Harbor Peninsula from the mid-1800s up to near present-day.

The Karpeles Manuscript Library (karpeles.com) in Tacoma. Open Wednesday-Saturday. There are nine Karpeles museums across the country. Together, they archive more than a million historical documents in the categories of literature, science, religion, political history, exploration, music and art. The collection rotates between museums several times a year.

Museum-quality Auto Display at Griot’s Garage (griotsgarage.com) in Tacoma. Open Monday-Saturday. A car lover’s destination. Rotating selection of vehicles in the museum-quality auto display. You’ll likely see something new every time you visit.

Fife History Museum (fifehistorymuseum.org) in Fife (immediately east of Tacoma). Open We-Th-Fr. Located in the former home of Louis Dacca, a member of the original Fife City Council, the renovated home serves as the history museum, where the exhibits change on a regular basis. The adjacent land once farmed by the Dacca family is now the site of Dacca Park.

Lewis Army Museum (lewisarmymuseum.com) at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (17 mi. south of Tacoma). Open Wednesday-Sunday. The museum is accessible to the public without a visitor’s pass; follow instructions on their website. The museum preserves the heritage of Fort Lewis and the Army in the Pacific Northwest.

Other museums in the Puget Sound region with free admission

(Listed roughly north to south throughout the region)

Langley Whale Center | Orca Network (orcanetwork.org) on Whidbey Island in Langley (13 minutes from the Clinton-Mukilteo ferry terminal). Open Thursday-Sunday. The Whale Center celebrates and shares the lives of orcas, gray whales, humpbacks, and other marine mammals of the Salish Sea.

United States Naval Undersea Museum (navy.mil) on the Kitsap Peninsula in Keyport (between Poulsbo and Bremerton). Open M-W-F-Sa-Su. Although located on Naval Base Kitsap, visiting the museum does not require base access. One of ten museums operated by the U.S. Navy under the direction of the Naval History and Heritage Command and the only official Navy Museum that interprets all of the Navy’s undersea activities. The Keyport museum holds the country’s most comprehensive collection of U.S. Navy artifacts, documents, and reference material related to undersea subjects. They are renowned for several specialty collections, including torpedoes, mines, diving and salvage, submarine technology, and unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs).

Bainbridge Island Museum of Art | BIMA (biartmuseum.org) on Bainbridge Island in Winslow (walking distance from the Bremerton Seattle ferry). BIMA focuses on artists and collections from the Puget Sound region. Exhibits feature recognized masters and emerging artists on thought-provoking themes.

Puget Sound Navy Museum (pugetsoundnavymuseum.org) in Bremerton. Open Wednesdays-Mondays. The Navy Museum shares the naval heritage of the Pacific Northwest for the benefit of the U.S. Navy and general public.

Bug and Reptile Museum (bugmuseum.com) in Bremerton. Open daily. The museum has a collection of snakes, lizards, and insects. The gift shop offers a great selection of STEM based toys.

Historic Snoqualmie Depot – Northwest Railway Museum (trainmuseum.org) in Snoqualmie. Open daily. The Historic Depot is on the National Register of Historic Places and an official landmark in the City of Snoqualmie and King County. The Depot features exhibits on the Seattle, Lake Shore, & Eastern Railway and the impact of the railway to the Snoqualmie Valley. Explore exhibits in the former gentlemen’s waiting room and freight room. The former ladies’ waiting room now houses The Depot Bookstore, a railroad history-themed book, and gift shop. Train rides aboard historic coaches are available for a fee; purchase advance tickets online. The Northwest Railway is the longest continuously operating train depot in the state of Washington.

White River Valley Museum & Mary Olson Farm (wrvmuseum.org) in Auburn. Museum open Wednesday-Sunday. Farm open weekends in summer. The museum shares pioneer history in South King County. The landmark 67-acre Mary Olson Farm was operated primarily as a subsistence farm for approximately 100 years by members of the Olson family. Visitors can tour the restored 1897 barn and 1902 farmhouse, wander through the century-old orchard, learn about the many varieties of apples and cherries cultivated there, and other restored and preserved structures including a garage, weaving shed, chicken coop, outhouse, smokehouse, and 19th century wagon road.