Tacoma's cultural scene punches above its weight, anchored by a cluster of museums on the waterfront and a lively gallery district downtown. The city's connection to glass art — courtesy of native son Dale Chihuly — runs deep, but there is plenty beyond blown glass to keep you occupied.
The Museum of Glass is the flagship, with its working Hot Shop and major Chihuly installations. The Bridge of Glass connects it to Tacoma Union Station, another Chihuly site inside a Beaux-Arts federal courthouse. The Tacoma Art Museum and Washington State History Museum complete the downtown cultural district.
Further afield, Point Defiance Park is one of the country's great urban parks — old-growth forest, zoo, historic fort, and Puget Sound waterfront in a single 700-acre peninsula. The Dune Peninsula nearby is a remarkable environmental reclamation story. The Tacoma Narrows Bridge is visible from Point Defiance and carries the story of the original 1940 collapse — one of the most consequential structural failures in engineering history.