Traveling to Seattle
mod
I know a bunch of you guys are up there, we're thinking about doing our honeymoon thing in Seattle. So i just want to get some opinions on some things:
1. Time of year to go, terribly hot in summer? Cold spring/fall?
2. Olympic National park, how hard is it to get there, have any of you guys been? We're looking to do some light-ish hiking, no crazy mountain climbing or anything. Tips on what areas of the park to go to, as it seems pretty huge.
3. Cool stuff to do in the city, where to stay(hotel wise). We were going to try to find a location near Pike Place Market, or possibly Washington Park Arboretum.
4. Public transit, how far can you get with it away from down town?
5. Ferries, taking them to Olympic park, or any other cool places?
6. Vancouver, realistically able to visit it on a 4-5 day trip? Buses/Ferries/boats to get there?
7. Which parts of the city to AVOID?
We want to try and do everything without renting a car, but figure it will be a must to get to ONP.
1. Time of year to go, terribly hot in summer? Cold spring/fall?
2. Olympic National park, how hard is it to get there, have any of you guys been? We're looking to do some light-ish hiking, no crazy mountain climbing or anything. Tips on what areas of the park to go to, as it seems pretty huge.
3. Cool stuff to do in the city, where to stay(hotel wise). We were going to try to find a location near Pike Place Market, or possibly Washington Park Arboretum.
4. Public transit, how far can you get with it away from down town?
5. Ferries, taking them to Olympic park, or any other cool places?
6. Vancouver, realistically able to visit it on a 4-5 day trip? Buses/Ferries/boats to get there?
7. Which parts of the city to AVOID?
We want to try and do everything without renting a car, but figure it will be a must to get to ONP.
Replies
2. - I grew up on the olympic peninsula... if you dont mind camping or renting a cabin and want to do some mild hiking, you really outta check out the Hoh Rain Forest. It's one of the only temperate rain forests in the world and is absolutely incredible. You'll definitely need a car to get there.
3. - All kinds of places to stay... If you're doing the honeymoon, I recommend you look into staying at a bed and breakfast in the San Juan Islands. Beautiful area, great little port towns. You can rent kayaks and tool around between all the little islands, explore parks and little hikes, bike, etc... great place to spend a few days with a significant other.
4. - in the city transit is OK. Outside the city it sucks. We don't really have a rail system... seattle's public transit, aside from the buses, is probably one of the worst in the country.
5. - yes, do that. I take back what I said about our public transit, because the ferries are great. Getting around on the peninsula without a car is another story, though the ferry terminal towns are alright to putz around in.
6. - If you hit the olympic peninsula, you can take a ferry to victoria, which is a cool city in itself. From there I think there are a lot of ways to hop over to vancouver... I think.
7. - Belltown, unless you like the coked-out club scene. Yeah.
On your way North from where the ferry drops you off(either Bainbridge Island or Bremerton) there's a ton of really pretty areas and a town founded by Nordic settlers with a fairly cool downtown called Poulsbo. If anything it's just a good place to stop and get a bite to eat or walk around for a bit.
Cougar Mountain is a little closer to Seattle (20min drive) a few trails to choose from.
- Fort Casey on whidbey island might be a good stop on your way up north. The port townsend/keystone ferry docks pretty close to the fort (about a mile). You can stay at the Fort Casey Inn which each unit is a cottage (officers quarters). Kind of nice having your own little house. The fort is pretty cool, the light house is great and the views are pretty cool.
In the summer I used to bike around the San Juan islands and camp, it was awesome.
The Victoria Clipper is a pretty good way to get from Seattle to Victoria, some good package deals sometimes too.
http://www.visitkalaloch.com/dailyrates.cfm?gclid=COT8uOb-pJ8CFQxbagodt0u5aQ
Short drive from Kalaloch to the Hoh Rain Forest, which I also second (or third or whatevs).
Deception Pass up near Whidbey is great for a daytrip and some nice light hiking along the water.
Definitely come in the summer. Weather is usually very very good. Clear skies, warm temps, etc etc.
And bring an appetite. We have a ton of great places to eat at up here.
1. Early Summer. Not Late June-July/August. Or Early fall Late September-Mid October (all the fruits Washington is known for come into season. Plus lots of reds and golds).
4. Pretty far. But the further you go, the harder it gets. Eastside, expect an hour bus ride. South or north 10-20 miles. Hour 1/2- 2 1/2 hours not including stopovers. We do have a train that goes south, but its hours are limited. The new light rail from the Airport to downtown is Great (assume Ferg hasn't gotten to try it yet). Use that to get downtown when you get here unless you will have a buttload of baggage.
7. Aurora Avenue itself. And contrary to another poster. Capital Hill is one of the places you want to go.
Edit: And you better reserve and evening to meet us all!!!
5. Victoria is boring. There's a wax museum, a history museum and the parliament buildings. I wouldn't really recommend it. But it might be exciting to people who have never been there before.
6. It's a 3-4 hour drive depending on how fast you go and how busy the borders are. There are buses. It would be more worth it to stay in Vancouver for a couple days instead of trying to go there and back.
It is a short ferry ride from P.A. to Victoria too, which is always entertaining.
I like camping in Mora, close to rialto beach , and crazy shiney vampires (Forks).
Lake Crescent is one of my favs as well
You could literally spend weeks up in the Penn and not see everything. The Lavender farms are interesting as well. The feastaval on the other hand was pretty lame.
Vancouver is a much faster trip than the Peninsula. Usually traveling to the Penn takes about 4 hours at least depending on traffic. 2 hours to get to yes. Another two to get to the place your going.
Vancouver is about 2 hours away, very easy to get to. We went two weeks ago. You can do it in a day, no problem.
I live in Capital hill for about 4 years, honestly I never felt unsafe there. (never herd of the samurai thingy till now)
Golden gardens, and the Locks are always a fun touristy thing to do.
I agree you should look Seattle Polycounters up when you get here
We can at least meet up fpr drinks somewhere
So we'de really like to go to the Hoh, but its a pretty long drive after what will be a pretty long flight. We're thinking about driving into Quinault Lake area, staying the night and then spending the day in the rain forest area there. It seems like there is some really cool stuff there, awesome huge tress etc. Its about a 2-ish hour drive apposed to the 5ish hour drive to Hoh, which would just be exhausting after everything else i think. Then head back into seattle and probably spend the rest of the time around downtown or wherever the cool stuff is happening.
Now as far as meeting up, no offense to you guys but this is our honeymoon, so that is sort of out of the question for obvious reason.
1) The time to go? If you prefer rainy grayness, that's mid-september thru april, may thru early Sep is usually nice, sunny and humid, but we only get maybe a week or two of 90+ degree weather.
2) have not been yet, but friends have, it's a decent drive but looks like a fun day trip
3) Cool stuff to do; check out the science center's imax theater, the zoo, the aquarium, the pike place market obviously, EMP, in the summer you can 'Ride the Duck' (tours on WW2 amphibious buses), check out a show or concert, check out a Mariner's game (they suck but it's fun and the stadium is swanky), enjoy the night life. Where to stay? I recommend Alki beach in West Seattle, not sure if they have many hotels there but its 5 minutes from downtown and during the summer its a nice strip of beach, bars and restaurants.
4) out of the main areas of seattle, buses aren't that great, expect a lot of transfers.
5) Ferries are fun! Take them wherever! Bainbridge island is a childhood favorite of mine.
6) Vancouver is close, if Mr Brome can make it down from there to attend a PC meetup, I'm sure a daytrip there is realistic.
7) Beacon Hill is shitty at night, just South of Capitol Hill, but you really have no reason to go there.
2. Never been. Lots of good multi-mile hiking parks are within the city of Seattle itself. Discovery Park in the Magnolia neighborhood is great. Carkeek in north Seattle is outstanding as well. If you want a quick day hike to break up the urban experience, these are good options.
3. Seattle is comprised of numerous great neighborhoods. After you've done the downtown/Pike market thing, get out to the neighborhoods. Go to Alki beach in West Seattle. Go browse some used clothing stores in Capital Hill. Hit some nice pubs and shops, the boat locks, and Golden Gardens beach in Ballard. (Yes I'm biased) See an art show and some rock and roll down in Georgetown. Hit up local microbreweries which are everywhere.
4. Busses connect to all of the neighborhoods, but check the maps. Lightrail now connects to the airport. Overall, public transit is decent, but not stellar.
5. A quick ferry from downtown to Bainbridge in late afternoon can be nice. Grab a dinner there at one of the numerous nice little restaurants, and head back a bit before sunset for some stellar views.
6. Probably not worth the majority of the day that you'll lose for a five day vacation. Victoria clipper is a high speed (but expensive) option if you decide to go though.
7. Pioneer Square after the bars close. Raineer area. Most of the south end near the airport is not worth going to.
Contrary to popular myth, it does not rain all the time--mostly in the winter, late fall, early spring, and the non-winter rain is like walking through the veggie mister at the supermarket.
2. Olympic National park is on the other side of the bay, so you have to take the ferries or drive around the bottom of the peninsula which is a pain in the butt. I have not been, but I'm told the Hoh Rainforest is pretty awesome. It is a bit far though.
3. Cool stuff to do in the city, where to stay(hotel wise). We were going to try to find a location near Pike Place Market, or possibly Washington Park Arboretum.
It is easier to find hotels downtown than near the arboretum. (Which is on the other side of Cap Hill.) A lot of the downtown hotels are perfectly fine, and average about 78-119 per night. The Hotel Max, The Red Lion, The Westin and The Homestead Suites are all all decentish, and there's also some cheaper lodging to be had. Just be careful to Google your hotel's address though--my BF's aunt came for a visit and her hotel website implied they were a hop, skip and a jump from downtown, but they were actually out by the airport. (Which now has a nifty lightrail extension to downtown.) The Westin (for example) is close to Pike's Place--it's about a five block walk away.
Stuff to do in the city/area:
- Seattle Underground Tour (you get to see the underground bits of old seattle)
- Space Needle (if you make reservations to eat at SkyCity, the elevator ride is supposed to be free...Sky City is the rotating restaurant. It makes me a little queasy for the first five mins, but that passes. Food is spendy but still good.)
- Argosy boat tours from the dock. I've done the Locks-to-Lake Union tour, and it was good, but I got to do it for free too.
- PacSci - science museum
- Pay your respects at Brandon Lee's grave or Kurt Cobain's memorial bench
4. Public transit, how far can you get with it away from down town?
Depends. The buses go nearly everywhere, but light rail is limited. The airport line just opened though.
5. Ferries, taking them to Olympic park, or any other cool places?
You can drive your car onto the ferries. So yes. Bainbridge is fun in the summer. There's a good ice cream shop called Mora's (I think)
6. Vancouver, realistically able to visit it on a 4-5 day trip? Buses/Ferries/boats to get there?
No ferry needed. Just drive up the 5. You WILL need a passport. No more popping over the border with just a driver's license. Van is about 2.5 hours north of Seattle, depending on traffic and how quickly you drive.
7. Which parts of the city to AVOID?
Um, dunno. Depends on what your tastes are. (I see at least one person doesn't like Capitol Hill, which I LOVE, and which had awesome restaurants.)
Handy guide to neighbourhoods that I know and some restaurant
- Capitol Hill = Just westish of downtown, on the other side fo the 5. In theory, you can walk there, but as a tourist, you may just want to cab as it is uphill. Lots of delish restaurants including Poppy (funky fusion diing with price fixe menu and excellent dessert), Deluxe Bar and Grill (awesome burgers, great atmosphere) Byzantion (great Greek) Gallerias (Spanish-Mexican) Olivar (Spanish-French--totally cute and classy), Cafe Septieme (yummy sandwiches, lots of cake)
- Downtown = Pike's Place is the main attraction here. Lots of fresh produce. Be sure to try Piroshki Piroshki (featured on Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations) and Beecher's Cheeses. The Pan-African Market has decent Ethiopian. Elsewhere downtown is Serious Pie (gourmet flatbread pizza). However, a lot of stuff seems to close around 10ish. In case, you get late night munchies, some chains that will be open later are Elephant and Castle (English pub chain) in the base of the Red Lion and PF Changs. (AVOID the Cheesecake Factory. Mediocre!)
- Belltown. True, it is full of yuppies and overpriced bars, but you can also find some funky art galleries here including Roc La Rue which often features the work of Brian Despain (that guy who paints robotos).
- Queen Anne (the bottom part of Queen Anne touches the theatre district) - You can always check out Teatro Zinzanni's spiegeltent for some interesting dinner theater. (I went in San Fran, the only other Teatro Zinzanni location.) The restaurant How To Cook A Wolf is also notable.
- Fremont - Not up on Fremont's restaurant scene, but they have the Troll. The troll is worth a look see and is a fun photo op.
Well, at first we wanted to spend some time on a beach in warm water, but really do not want to go anywhere near florida, and flights to hawaii/bahamas/etc are quite a bit more than to Seattle. My wife isnt big on flying either so staying within the continental US is a good thing for us. Seattle seems like a wonderful place to be as far as a moderate climate, great wilderness and also really good, "hip" downtown culture. Plus, we would rather hike through a rain forest than sit on a beach and do nothing all day. We really like to get out and do things, especially when traveling, so the lounging around scene isnt very attractive.
HEY! I live there you know. Its not shitty. Its BORING. Almost as boring as living on the eastside (see how I turned that around?
Oh, do the underground/underworld tour while here. Takes you under Seattle to the older remnants left behind.
http://www.undergroundtour.com/underworld/index.html
Mazatlan!
If you do still consider the beach, the Outer Banks of North Carolina are my favorite beaches in the US. You can rent almost any size house you want for a week very easily, and the weather is almost always amazing in the summer.
if you do feel like coming to Vancouver, take the train. Hardly anybody knows about it or takes it so you have like almost an entire car to yourself. it costs 26bucks CAD (one way) so its eons cheaper than driving, plus no traffic. Also you wont have the great unknown time void border to deal with.
Generally though, Seattle will be same or better in terms of touristing around I think, so unless you really know what you are going to do in Vancouver, skip it, its easy to be disappointed by Vancouver.
my answers in green.