Kind of MM - Seattle

smetter04

Hello travel gurus, H and I are heading to Seattle and this August. Does anyone have tips or recommendations as far as what area of town to stay in, whether or not we need to rent a car, is the city pass worth the money, and any must-see or free things to do?

Also, can I just rant that airfare from our midwestern city to Seattle round trip is ridiculous...

P.S. I've been having issues logging into my Nest account and finally got it to work...so apologies in advance if I have the issue again and can't respond.

jtmh2012

I can't comment on most of it as we stayed with family and so had access to their vehicle and because of where they were it was somewhat more necessary.

However, I've had dinner in the space needle twice.  Well worth it.

labro

When H and I vacationed there for an extended weekend we walked everywhere. We took the light rail from the airport to the hotel we stayed in downtown. Don't stay in a hotel btw....talk about $$$$. We booked our hotel stay way too late in the game and didn't realize there was a home game for the Seattle Seahawks while we were there so there weren't a ton of options. There are TONS of Airbnb rentals usually available as long as you're booking in advance.

The neighborhoods we tried to stay in/look in included:

Downtown

South Queen Anne

South Lake Union

Pioneer Square (just south of downtown but still lots of stuff to see down here too)

Obviously if you're in downtown the better off you are. We didn't rent a car while we were there (other than using Uber to get to a wedding). We just walked everywhere and used the light rail from the airport to our hotel.

The Seattle Library is really really cool and obviously free.

Strolling Pike Place Market.

The parks all around the Space Needle are just really fun to view - especially the Chihuly Garden and Glass

I didn't see it but my husband said the Seattle Aquarium is just sad. Do not recommend.

Olympic Sculpture Park

We did one of the Seattle Underground tours. I don't remember tickets being that expensive and the tour was pretty interesting. You got to see quite a bit.

There are tons of great coffee places (in fact, we avoided Starbucks entirely) if you're into that. I think my favorite was Victrola.

I wouldn't rent a car...if you need to get somewhere that you don't want/can't walk to I'd personally call an Uber instead. I didn't notice much for parking and I just feel like trying to navigate a car in a city you aren't comfortable in is not a lot of fun.

csuave

Seattle is great! 

You probably won't need a car; downtown is walkable and surrounding neighborhoods have light rail.

I got some brochures at the airport.  One had a coupon for a free cheesecake bite from this awesome cheesecake place at Pikes Market.  I think it was a Pikes Market brouchure.  It also had a coupon for a beer at the market in a place that was kind of cool.

We had lunch at the space needle.  Good food.  A little expensive but a nice experience and includes admission to go up the needle so worth it IMO.

We stayed with friends in Ballard.  They have free locks and salmon ladder.  If it is salmon season the ladder is supposed to be very cool.  It is a cute neighborhood to stroll around with places to eat and lots of garage sized micro-breweries, great if you like beer.

If you opt for AirBnB but haven't used them/don't have an account get a referral from someone first (like me! or @short+sassy or probably others on the board).  You will both get discount from the referral.

ETA: I should say a lot of parts of downtown are walkable, but to go end to end would probably be too much

cbee817

My mom took me as a teenager and we spent some time on Whidbey Island- we went on a bunch of trails.. it was pretty cool. We went to see the space needle, pike place market, and hit a ton of record stores (keep in mind, it was like 1996 and I loved Pearl Jam). It was a great trip though- hoping to take the girls there when they're teens and can handle a x-country flight. Have a great trip!

smetter04

@labro and @csuave good thought on Airbnb...I've never used it before so I'll check it out and let you know if I need a referral!

Dinner at the Space Needle sounds amazing! And considering it comes with access to the observation deck, it actually sounds somewhat reasonable. I'm definitely considering it now. Thanks all!