seasonal
Bellevue Rainy Day Guide
Bellevue's secret weapon for rainy days is the indoor skybridge system. Use it well and you'll forget there's weather.
In this guide
Bellevue has roughly 150 rainy days a year. Here's how to do them well.
The skybridge plan
The Bellevue Collection connects Bellevue Square, Lincoln Square, and Bellevue Place via covered skybridges. You can shop, eat, watch a movie, bowl, and have cocktails without ever putting up a hood.
Museums & libraries
- BAM for two hours and a coffee in the lobby cafe.
- Bellevue Library main branch — bright, kid-friendly, café upstairs.
- Eastside Heritage Center for the curious.
Bowling, movies, arcade
- Lucky Strike at Lincoln Square — bowling + cocktails.
- Cinemark Lincoln Square for the big screen.
- Punch Bowl Social for darts, ping-pong, food.
Cafes worth a long sit
- Cafe Cesura — proper espresso, marble counter.
- General Porpoise — donuts and a window seat.
- Tea Bar — bring a book.
Real cooking class
Sur La Table Old Bellevue has a real working kitchen and runs hands-on classes most weekends.
Family rainy day
Crossroads food court → Crossroads cinema matinee → Half-Price Books → home. Three hours, $40, zero drama.
The very Pacific Northwest move
Embrace it. Get a Gore-Tex jacket, walk Downtown Park in the rain, then warm up at Belle Pastry with a croissant and a hot chocolate.
For more seasonal ideas, browse our seasonal guides.
Featured in this guide
Places to know
Bellevue Botanical Garden
4.8A free 53-acre public botanical garden in Wilburton with the celebrated Perennial Border, Yao Japanese Garden, Ravine Experience suspension bridge, and the annual Garden d'Lights holiday show.
Wilburton
Meydenbauer Bay Park
4.7Bellevue's downtown waterfront: a swim beach, a pier, and kayak rentals ten minutes below Old Bellevue.
Old Bellevue
Mercer Slough Nature Park
4.7A 320-acre freshwater wetland preserve in the heart of Bellevue with seven miles of trails, boardwalks over open water, a working blueberry farm, and the Environmental Education Center run in partnership with Pacific Science Center.
Newport
Crossroads Park
4.6Neighborhood park with summer concerts and farmers market.
Crossroads
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