edpaffjr.comHas anyone been to Seattle before? I never have and neither has Kim, but that will change come the end of this month. We’ll be staying in Seattle for two nights before heading off to the Gorge and I need some advice. The most important thing is figuring out where to stay. I’ll probably use priceline to book the trip and therefore I’m betting that we’ll want to be in the downtown zone, but let me know if there are other places to consider. We also need to decide on what we should do while there, taking into account that we only have one full day there. Is the Space Needle worth going up? What about Pike Place Market? Someone help!
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i have been to seattle once and i was not impressed. i didn’t go up in the space needle so i can’t comment. i did drive by the pike place market but i didn’t get out of the car because it was raining, imagine that. i was there during the ncaa final four and i drove downtown to find a sports bar. i asked several people where a good sports bar was but no one could tell me. so either they don’t have any or the people who live there call them something else. i was by myself so that probably didn’t help my experience. anyway, i’m sure you will have a great time, you always do :)
I hope it doesn’t rain on us the whole time we are there. I know Seattle has a reputation for being a pretty rainy place. I’m now debating if we should stay downtown or just stay out by the airport (cheaper hotels) and drive into town for the one day we have to spend in the city.
if you have time, you should try and take a tour of boeing, that is pretty cool. i believe the plant is north of the city in everet washington…
* pike place market is kind of neat … might be worth stopping by. i believe it’s one of the oldest markets in the country and they have those guys there who throw fish all over the place.
* don’t take the underground tour … i thought it was pretty boring.
* definitely EMP (experience music project)HOW could you forget this one?!?! it’s a bit pricey but i thought it was definitely worth it.
* i aboslutely loved the aquarium. they have this aquarium/argosy harbor cruise package that was like $24 – i’d consider it for sure and there’s a pretty wide range of times you can boat it up … instead of just one morning and one evening cruise, they depart pretty often.
* ballard district is fun. tons of pubs, shops and great local places to eat.
* wine tasting at city cellars.
Seeing the fish throwers is about all I’d want to do at the market. It seems like one of those places you just stop by for a second.
I forgot about EMP. Perhaps we’ll do that or the aquarium. I doubt we’ll want to be inside all day, unless we do have one of those rainy days.
Thanks Swoothie, do you have hotel suggestions?
i emailed you a few sites/numbers. as far as hotels, i’d almost opt to stay near the airport simply because even if you find something somewhat decent IN the city, you’re going to pay an arm and a leg for parking ($21-36/night) seems like all the airport properties are 10-12 miles away which isn’t TOO bad. i’ll keep an eye out :)
The Martins and Scottens went up there a couple of years ago. As I remember the Martins were not very impressed by the city itself but enjoyed some island near by. You might ask one of them if you see them.
I vote for staying downtown. I want to be able to walk out of our hotel, walk down to a bar or restaurant on the waterfront wharf and sit there watching the street entertainers, etc. And then in the morning I want to be able to have coffee right on the water. No driving involved.
Well I guess that settles it. My latest thought is to do the first night near the airport since we arrive late, and then do the second night downtown. This could also help to save money on a car rental. We’ll figure it out this weekend. Thanks everyone! I’ll keep all the suggestions of things to do in mind. Keep them coming if you have more.
If it’s not too late:
*I absolutely love the market. It’s like the Plaza, Westport and the City Market rolled up in one place.
*I used Priceline for my most recent visit to Seattle. If memory serves, I paid $61 for a 3-star hotel downtown.
*The Needle is the kind of thing you need to do just to say you’ve done it.
*I wish I had good things to say about EMP.
It’s not too late at all, thanks for giving some input! I am definitely leaning towards a two night stay near the market now. Surprisingly priceline hasn’t been very nice to us so far, but I am going to continue bidding tonight. We are already up to $80 a night for 3 star downtown (and actually just as high with 2.5 star).
If anyone still cares, I finally had some luck on priceline today. Well I’m not sure I’d call it luck, looking at the price I paid. But we’ll be at the Holiday Inn Downtown for two nights starting on Wendesday, August 30th.
One thing down, many more to go…