United States observation tower
Space Needle
You can see 135 km from here, looking north.
Calculating the panorama…
Drag to turn around. The relief is drawn 2.2 times taller so the ridges can be read; far ridges are paler, as in the real air.
The view
Up to 135 km away.
Calculated on the relief one degree at a time, up to 250 km, with the curvature of the Earth and the refraction of the air: what stands above the horizon from here.
Our own rating, from the relief and the climate only: open horizon (35 points), how far you see (25), sea and named peaks in view (20) and clear months (20).
- 135 kmFarthest ridgelooking north
- 98%Open horizonof the circle where the horizon is below your eyes
- 193Peaks in viewnamed summits that rise above the relief in front
- 42 mAltitudeabove the sea, at the highest point of the viewpoint
The 193 peaks you can name from here
From west to east as you turn around: height, distance and direction. Each one links to its guide on Peakyas, our mountain atlas.
From the relief only: buildings, trees and haze are not in the model. On a hazy day you see much less; 250 km is the limit of our calculation.
The sun
The best sunsets are from July to August.
When the sun really disappears from this viewpoint — behind the relief or into the sea — and in which direction, on the 15th of each month, in local time.
- Jansouth-west6 min before the sea-level sunset20%
- Febwest8 min before the sea-level sunset26%
- Marwest10 min before the sea-level sunset21%
- Aprwest12 min before the sea-level sunset25%
- Maynorth-west16 min before the sea-level sunset30%
- Junnorth-west12 min before the sea-level sunset32%
- Julnorth-west10 min before the sea-level sunset54%
- Augwest14 min before the sea-level sunset52%
- Sepwest12 min before the sea-level sunset46%
- Octwest8 min before the sea-level sunset32%
- Novsouth-west6 min before the sea-level sunset23%
- Decsouth-west6 min before the sea-level sunset21%
- Time: when the sun goes behind the horizon you see from here.
- Minutes: how much earlier the relief hides the sun.
- %: share of clear sky that month (NASA, 2001–2020).
The highlighted months are the clearest. Golden hour starts about an hour before.
The place
Space Needle.
Observation tower in Seattle, Washington, United States
Space Needle is an observation tower in United States, 42 m above the sea.
On a clear day the farthest ridge you can see is 135 km away, looking north.
193 named peaks rise above the relief in front; the most prominent is Mount Rainier (4,389 m), 96 km away.
The horizon is open, below your eyes, over 98% of the circle.
The skies are clearest from July to August.
Get there and stay
- Going upHours in OpenStreetMap: Mo-Th 09:00-22:00; Fr-Su 08:00-00:00 · ticket requiredOfficial site↗
- Blake Island Marine State Park Campgroundcampsite · 13 km · 1 within 10 km
- Belltown Innplace to stay · 0.7 km · 123 within 10 km
- Seattlenearest town · 2.0 km in a straight linePlaces to stay in SeattleBooking.com · sponsored link↗
- King County International Airport - Boeing Field (BFI)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 11 km in a straight lineCar hire at SEA airport (Seattle)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
A guided tour, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
From above
The viewpoint and its surroundings.
The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the viewpoint, with what OpenStreetMap shows nearby.
Around, in OpenStreetMap
- 63other viewpoints within 5 kmAdmiral Way Viewpoint, Ella Bailey Overlook, Elliott Bay Overlook and 60 more
- 6named peaks within 5 kmQueen Anne Hill, Capitol Hill, Magnolia Bluff and 3 more
- 6marked trails within 3 kmCheshiahud Lake Union Loop, Burke-Gilman Trail, Market to Mohai and 3 more
- 125shelters and huts within 5 km
- 882car parks within 3 km
- 12visitor centres within 5 kmUniversity of Washington Visitors Information Center, Metro Transit Information Office, Seattle Visitor Center and 9 more
- 962restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- 1campsites within 10 kmBlake Island Marine State Park Campground
- 123places to stay within 10 kmBelltown Inn, Moore Hotel, Staybridge Suites - South Lake Union and 120 more
- cable car and funicular stations within 5 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
In our other atlases
What you see from Space Needle, and what is near.
Everything around this viewpoint — mountains, water, forests, birds, caves and the night sky — in the family's atlases.
Peakyas10 mountains within 25 km
Forestyas6 forests and trees within 15 km
Darkskyas1 dark-sky places within 30 kmFigures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap, GBIF). Links open when each site is online.
Photographs
The view, as people saw it.
Other viewpoints nearby.
Space Needle
United States
- 74Viewyas Score
- 135 kmFarthest ridge
- 193Peaks in view
- 42 mAltitude
Kerry Park
United States · 1 km
- 76Viewyas Score
- 160 kmFarthest ridge
- 102Peaks in view
- 115 mAltitude
Seattle Great Wheel
United States · 2 km
- 68Viewyas Score
- 98 kmFarthest ridge
- 100Peaks in view
- 0 mAltitude
Mount Rainier
United States · 96 km
- 85Viewyas Score
- 249 kmFarthest ridge
- 94Peaks in view
- 4,387 mAltitude
Where these figures come from
| Name and type | Wikidata (Q5317) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Sun | J. Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms |
| Peaks in view | Peakyas (Wikidata, CC0) |
| Panorama and altitude | Copernicus DEM GLO-90 / GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Clouds | NASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2) |
| What is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Sister atlases | Peakyas, Lakeyas, Forestyas, Darkskyas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.
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Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit 
lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit 
caves
Every cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit dark skies
Where the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit 
viewpoints
Every viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.You are here
birdwatching
Every bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Visit forests
Every forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Visit