Top 17 art & nature playgrounds

See art and artful nature in the urban wild

Sculpture on the water: Seattle, WA

The West’s greatest sculpture gallery without walls is Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Park on downtown’s waterfront. There are a whopping 21 sculptures, including an enormous typewriter eraser and rusted-steel waves. seattleartmuseum.org

Best time to go: Summer, for food trucks, free yoga, live music, and dance performances.

Stay: The Inn at the Market is a short stroll from Pike Place, with 360° views of Puget Sound from the fifth-floor observation deck. From $269; innatthemarket.com