Things to Do in Des Moines, WA
Des Moines' attractions center on real, hands-on Puget Sound access -- an aquarium built around a working marine-science program, the state's only underwater artificial reef inside a state park, and a genuinely layered historic waterfront park -- rather than manufactured tourist amenities.
The MaST Center Aquarium
The MaST Center Aquarium, on the Redondo waterfront, is Highline College's Marine Science and Technology Center -- a real, functioning marine-science teaching facility with a public aquarium component, home to more than 250 native Puget Sound species, a 38-foot gray whale skeleton, and a resident giant Pacific red octopus, Hank, in a touch tank. It hosts a monthly speaker series alongside its regular public hours, making it a genuine educational destination rather than a purely entertainment-oriented aquarium.
This page does not have confirmed current hours, admission cost, or the current speaker series schedule and recommends checking directly with Highline College's MaST Center before planning a visit, since program details and hours can change.
Saltwater State Park's Underwater Artificial Reef
Saltwater State Park, within Des Moines city limits, is a 137-acre park with 1,445 feet of Puget Sound shoreline, offering a sandy swimming beach, rocky tideflats, hiking trails, tidepool exploration, and a 15-site campground. Its standout feature: Washington's only state-park underwater artificial reef, a genuine scuba-diving destination that has developed into a thriving marine habitat supporting sea stars, urchins, anemones, scallops, rockfish, and ling cod reported to grow past five feet -- fishing and harvesting are prohibited within the reef area specifically, since it's managed as protected marine habitat rather than a fishery.
The park also supports kayaking and paddleboarding in its calmer nearshore waters. Confirm current campground availability and any seasonal closures directly with Washington State Parks before planning a camping trip specifically.
Des Moines Beach Park: A Genuinely Layered Historic Site
Des Moines Beach Park, just north of the marina, carries a real, multi-era history worth knowing before visiting: originally a Native American shellfish and salmon harvesting site, then an 1880s-90s logging camp, then, from 1896 into the early 1900s, the grounds for a Chautauqua assembly -- a traveling adult-education and lecture movement, with a hall reportedly holding 3,000 people and hosting speakers including Senators Robert La Follette and Jonathan Dolliver and Booker T. Washington. The North Pacific Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church of America bought the site in 1931 and ran it as a church camp until 1986, after which it became the public park it is today.
Visiting the park today means walking through a site that has genuinely served logging, education, and religious-community purposes across more than a century before becoming public parkland -- a real, layered history rather than a generic waterfront park.
The Marina, the Fishing Pier, and the New Marina Steps
The City of Des Moines Marina and its 670-foot public fishing pier are themselves a genuine destination for a waterfront walk, watching working boat traffic, and fishing -- the marina is specifically named as one of Washington Marine Area 11's year-round salmon fishing piers, covered in full on this site's Fishing Guide page. Just uphill, the roughly $10 million Marina Steps project -- a public plaza and switchback stairway connecting Overlook I Park down a 36-foot elevation change to the marina, with ADA-accessible walkways, seating, a children's play area, and a splash pad -- broke ground December 16, 2025 and, once complete, will add a genuinely new public amenity connecting the town's uphill core to its waterfront.
As of this research pass, the Marina Steps project remains under construction -- treat any description of the finished amenity as forward-looking rather than currently available, and check current construction status before planning a visit specifically around it.
The Redondo Boardwalk
Redondo's 1.1-mile boardwalk, at Des Moines' southern edge, offers a genuinely scenic Puget Sound walking and jogging route, its own separate public fishing pier, and regular wildlife sightings -- seals, sea lions, and river otters are commonly reported around the pier. The water directly off Redondo Beach is a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife-managed marine protected area, an octopus preserve, adding a real conservation dimension to the area beyond its recreational value.
Combined with the MaST Center Aquarium at the same location, Redondo functions as a genuine half-day or full-day destination within Des Moines, distinct in character from the marina/downtown core a short distance north.
Nearby: Highline College and the New Light Rail Station
Highline College, physically located in Des Moines, offers occasional public events, continuing-education classes, and the MaST Center itself as a community resource beyond its role as a two-year college. The Kent Des Moines light rail station, which opened December 6, 2025, now makes day trips into downtown Seattle from Des Moines a genuinely straightforward, car-free option -- worth mentioning here as a practical addition to 'things to do' in the sense of easy access to Seattle's own much larger array of museums, waterfront attractions, and events.
This page does not have a confirmed current schedule of specific Highline College public events and recommends checking the college's own website for current offerings.
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Get a Free Agent Referral →Independent research. No ads. No sponsored listings. Data sourced from: TheWhaleTrail.org and Seattle Southside for the MaST Center Aquarium's species count, gray whale skeleton, and octopus resident; Washington State Parks (parks.wa.gov) for Saltwater State Park's acreage, shoreline, artificial reef, and campground; the Seattle Southside tourism site, KOMO News, and Wikipedia's Chautauqua Park Historic District page for Des Moines Beach Park's layered history; the Des Moines Marina's own website (desmoinesmarina.com) for marina and pier details; the Des Moines Marina Steps project's own site (desmoinesmarinasteps.com) and the Waterland Blog for the December 2025 groundbreaking and project scope; the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife for the Redondo Beach octopus preserve; and Sound Transit's own materials for the December 6, 2025 Kent Des Moines light rail station opening. Facts not independently confirmed and not invented here include: current MaST Center hours, admission cost, and speaker series schedule; current Saltwater State Park campground availability; and a current Highline College public events schedule. Confirm current hours, admission, and availability directly with each attraction before planning a visit.