Spokane Falls
Downtown Spokane
Spokane, WA
A genuine waterfall thundering through the middle of a downtown, the heart of Spokane long before it was a city and the reason the city stands here at all.
Spokane Falls is that rare thing, a real, powerful waterfall crashing through the middle of a major downtown. Where most cities pave over their rivers, Spokane grew up around a series of falls that tumble through a basalt gorge right beside its high-rises, and the sound of whitewater is part of the city's daily life.
The falls are not just scenery; they are the reason Spokane exists. For thousands of years they were a gathering and fishing place at the center of the Spokane people's world, then the power that drove the mills and city that rose on the banks. To stand on a bridge over the falls is to look straight at the origin of the place.
What Guests Love
- A powerful waterfall you can watch from bridges in the middle of a city
- Riding the SkyRide gondola out over the lower falls
- The full spring roar when snowmelt fills the river
- Standing where the Spokane people fished for salmon for countless generations
Worth Knowing
- Flow varies a lot by season; spring runoff is dramatic while late summer can be much quieter
- The best viewpoints are the Riverfront Park bridges and the gondola; the gondola charges a fare
- Downtown parking is easy, but the mist near the falls can be cold, so bring a layer
- The salmon that once ran to the falls were blocked by downstream dams, so the historic runs are gone
Details
Spokane, WA
Learn about Spokane Falls
Heart of the Spokane people
Long before the city, the falls were the center of life for the Spokane people, whose name for themselves is often translated as Children of the Sun. The river's great runs of salmon returned each year to the falls, and the people gathered here to fish, trade, and meet, drying salmon that fed them through the year and connected them to neighboring tribes across the Plateau.
That relationship to the river remains part of the Spokane Tribe's identity today. The loss of the salmon runs, blocked in the twentieth century by dams downstream on the Columbia and Spokane rivers, was a profound blow to their way of life, and it is an honest and important part of the falls' story, not a footnote.
The falls that built a city
When newcomers arrived, they saw in the falls a source of power. Mills sprang up on the banks in the 1870s and 1880s, using the drop of the river to grind grain and cut timber, and the settlement that grew around them became the city of Spokane, its name taken from the falls and the people.
For a time the industry crowded the river out of sight behind railyards and warehouses. It was not until the city cleared that ground for the 1974 World's Fair that the falls were opened back up to the public, and the gorge became the centerpiece of a downtown park rather than a hidden industrial engine.
Seeing the falls today
The falls come in an upper and a lower section, split by islands and spanned by the footbridges of Riverfront Park, so you can walk out into the middle of the river and feel the spray. The upper falls slide over broad ledges; the lower falls drop harder into a churning basalt bowl.
For the most dramatic angle, the Spokane Falls SkyRide gondola swings out over the lower falls and back, giving a bird's-eye view straight down into the whitewater and the gorge. The show depends on the season: spring snowmelt sends the whole river thundering, while by late summer the flow can drop as water is diverted for hydropower upstream.
A downtown built around water
Because the falls sit right in the city, seeing them folds naturally into a day in downtown Spokane. Riverfront Park wraps around the gorge with its lawns, gardens, and the beloved 1909 Looff Carrousel, and the Centennial Trail follows the river out of town in both directions.
Just beyond the park, the historic Davenport hotels, the city's restaurants and breweries, and the regional museum in Browne's Addition are all close at hand, making the falls the natural first stop and orientation point for a visit to the largest city of the Inland Northwest.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Spokane
Riverfront Park
Surrounding the falls
The 100-acre downtown park created from the 1974 World's Fair, home to the hand-carved 1909 Looff Carrousel and the glowing Pavilion.
Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture
About 1 mile southwest
Spokane's regional museum, with deep collections on the Plateau tribes and the history and art of the Inland Northwest.
Manito Park
About 3 miles south
A grand old city park on the South Hill with formal gardens, a conservatory, a duck pond, and a renowned Japanese garden.