Tacoma offers world-class museums, beautiful parks, and a scenic waterfront. You can enjoy all of these things while visiting these popular Tacoma attractions.
1. Washington State History Museum
The Washington State History Museum, located on the waterfront in downtown Tacoma, displays a fascinating collection of artifacts from the state's history. You'll find exhibits that feature Native American art and people, early European settlement, state industry and labor, and geology. In addition to the permanent collection, the WSHS always offers a variety of special exhibitions on subjects ranging from Lewis and Clark in the Northwest to the photography of Edward S. Curtis.2. Tacoma Art Museum
The new and improved Tacoma Art Museum almost doubles the amount of exhibition space found at the previous museum facility. As visitors meander through the galleries, they will move upward from street level to the second floor. If you are fan of Chihuly glass art, the Tacoma Art Museum features a more extensive collection than you will find inside the Museum of Glass.3. Museum of Glass
Museum of Glass in Tacoma Washington (Tacoma Regional Convention & Visitor Bureau)
The Museum of Glass: International Center for Contemporary Art in Tacoma is the only American museum that features contemporary glass art; there are just three in the world with such a focus. You can watch glass artists at work in the hot shop amphitheater located in the metal-clad cone attached to the museum. The Chihuly Bridge of Glass links the waterfront Museum of Glass to the museums on the south side of I-705, including the Washington State History Museum and the Tacoma Art Museum.
4. Pt. Defiance Zoo & Aquarium
Tacoma's Pt. Defiance Zoo & Aquarium features animals from the Pacific Northwest and around the world. Their Rocky Shores exhibit includes adorable sea otters, tufted puffins, and clever Beluga Whales. In the Asia Forest Sanctuary, you can view Sumatran tigers, white-cheeked gibbons, and Asian elephants. In other exhibits, you'll see sharks, sea horses, jelly fish, and octupi. The zoo and aquarium reside within Pt. Defiance Park, where you'll find gorgeous gardens and other amusements.5. Fort Nisqually Living History Museum
Fort Nisqually was a Hudson's Bay Company outpost built in 1833, the first European settlement on Puget Sound. The Fort is now a living history museum, where you can experience life in Washington Territory during the fur trade era.6. Union Station
Union Station (Tacoma Regional Convention & Visitor Bureau)
Tacoma's historic railroad station was once the western terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad. It served as a train station into the 1980s. Union Station, a marvelous example of Beaux Arts architecture is now the lobby of a Federal Courthouse. The building is worth a view any time; the lobby, filled with installations of Chihuly glass art, can be viewed Monday through Friday during business hours.
