What to do in Seattle

[Roc A Bee]

Myself and 2 girlfriends are planning on going to Seattle this summer, probably early August. We will be flying in from LA and plan on spending 4-5 days (is that enough time?)

We are three single 30 year olds. Where should we stay? Do we need a car? What are the must sees? We generally like to eat and drink

also budget-wise, this is MM so we don't need 5 star anything, but we want to stay somewhere conveniently located and nice.

[monsterz]

You can do Seattle without a car, lots of great places to eat and drink that are bus accessible. If you stay downtown most hotels charge about $25 a night for parking.

For food and drinks:
Tom Douglas restaurants
Fremont and Ballard breweries
Brouwers in Fremont
Elysian bar
Piroshky prioshky
Beecher's cheese
Salumi

[LoveTrains]

jenny1980

[PandaPear]

A long weekend is perfect amount of time! I'd stay in general downtown area - W, Westin, Hyatt, Sheraton are all decent and conveniently located. Inn at El Gaucho, Inn at the Market, and Hotel Monaco are some smaller places that are also cool.

For activities, I would do the following:
-Something on the water (Ferry ride, ride the ducks, kayaking/paddleboarding, etc.)
-Wine tasting (in Woodinville, but easily get out there) or beer tasting (lots of breweries in Ballard)
-Something sporty (Mariners or Sounders game)
-Visit a park (UW arboretum, Seattle Chinese Garden, Kerry Park, Greenlake, etc.)
-Farmer's market - either Pike Place Marker or out in a neighborhood (Ballard and West Seattle are great)

Restaurants - Anything by Tom Douglas (Tanaksan is fave) or Ethan Stowell (Staple & Fancy, How to Cook a Wolf, Tavolata are my faves), Cafe Presse/Le Pichet for French food, Lark, Restaurant Zoe, Spinasse. For causal eats - Paseo, La Carta De Oaxaca, Skillet, Marination MaKai

[mbcdefg]

We stayed at the Hyatt and liked it a lot.

The food walking tour was neat. Taste of Seattle, I think?

ETA: Savor Seattle, excuse me. We did the Gourmet Seattle tour: www.savorseattletours.com/tours/gourmetseattle/ 

Included yummy things at Serious Pie, Cutters Crab House, Steelhead Diner, etc.

Definitely walk through Pike Place Market and take your time looking around. Gorgeous flowers. I bought a cute print for $5. 

We took the ferry out to Bainbridge Island, but the ferry was running late and it got to the island too late to get out and look around, so we just rode the ferry right back. Nice skyline views if you have a good camera. 

We didn't have a car and we were fine, but we were only there two nights. 

[Pibs]

Eat at Sweet Iron Waffles. <3 It's my only requirement when I go to Seattle. Other than that, I just hang out with some fabulous girlfriends who live in the area and we eat, drink, and talk.

[Deleted]

The underground tour in Pioneer Square is pretty neat.

[Deleted]

Posting to save this thread.

Also, I posted a thread about this recently and got some great recs. I am on the app so idk how to link it, but if you search my recent threads it should be easy to find!

[mich1]

I would not suggest having a car in downtown Seattle. Parking is expensive, both at the hotel and just about where ever you drive to. If you're going to be in the middle of things, you really don't need one. If you do decide to take a day trip, you can rent a car for a day and dump it when you're done with it.

If you really want to splurge, I'd suggest a meal at The Herb Farm in Woodinville. Not inexpensive, but an awesome meal.

[winnied]

My BFF and I went to Seattle for a girl's weekend in late February and had a great time!

We stayed here and LOVED it. Great location, we walked to a lot or took Uber. 

We just meandered around Capitol Hill the first day and enjoyed happy hour and dinner. Everything we ate and drank was delicious. 

The second day we went to breakfast at Glo's (recommend the California Eggs Benedict), followed by the Space Needle, Chihuly glass museum, and Pike Market. There's a restaurant inside the market that has amazing bloody marys - I got the salmon one.

The last full day we went to breakfast at Cafe Campagne near the market and then headed off to Bainbridge Island for the day. 

We had so much fun! I wish we had one more day to go hiking. 

[niq]

Hmmm what is on my (you MUST) go there. If you like nice food I recommend Joule, but it's not MM.
Baguette Box is my favorite casual eats. Skillet is a mainstay.

If you like seeing rock music in small venues, there are a ton of those and you can usually find something that's decent and cheap. Check out The Stranger's listings, sample stuff on Spotify, etc. "All Ages" shows may or may not sell booze, it depends.

I am old and a parent, so I have no idea what the hip places are that the kids go to these days for drinking/dancing/general carrying on.

[1confused1]

Take the ferry to Bainbridge Island for wine tasting and lunch.

[aurora]

Can I piggy back into this thread and ask about the Link Light Rain for getting to downtown from the airport? As in, any reason I shouldn't take it for my conference this summer? I can't figure out why the conference web site doesn't list it.

FWIW I am arriving midmorning on a Sunday and leaving mid-evening on Wednesday.

[InBetweenDays]

Go kayaking and have some margaritas at Aqua Verde Paddle Club.
If it's open, get lunch at Paseo's near Shilshole and rent paddle boards next door at Surf Ballard.

aurora - I don't see any reason not to use the Link Light Rail. I have no experience with it because I'd have to take a bus to the light rail station and the entire trip would take at least twice as long as driving to the airport, but I haven't heard any reason NOT to take it if you're just going between the airport and downtown.

[PandaPear]

May 20, 2015 16:27:12 GMT -5 aurora said:

Can I piggy back into this thread and ask about the Link Light Rain for getting to downtown from the airport? As in, any reason I shouldn't take it for my conference this summer? I can't figure out why the conference web site doesn't list it.

FWIW I am arriving midmorning on a Sunday and leaving mid-evening on Wednesday.

The Link light rail takes you to right to Westlake/Nordstrom area downtown, and they come pretty frequently, are clean, easy to figure out, etc. 

I'd see how close that is to your destination (I'm lazy and hate to lug my work travel stuff for several blocks, tho). Since you're not traveling during rush hour, the light rail will save you $$$ but probably not time. 

[OG Jo]

Following! My husband and I have just started talking about going in September for our anniversary.

[winnied]

OH also, go to Unicorn bar and make sure you wear the unicorn hat/helmet.

[aurora]

May 20, 2015 20:57:49 GMT -5 PandaPear said:

May 20, 2015 16:27:12 GMT -5 aurora said:

Can I piggy back into this thread and ask about the Link Light Rain for getting to downtown from the airport? As in, any reason I shouldn't take it for my conference this summer? I can't figure out why the conference web site doesn't list it.

FWIW I am arriving midmorning on a Sunday and leaving mid-evening on Wednesday.

The Link light rail takes you to right to Westlake/Nordstrom area downtown, and they come pretty frequently, are clean, easy to figure out, etc. 

I'd see how close that is to your destination (I'm lazy and hate to lug my work travel stuff for several blocks, tho). Since you're not traveling during rush hour, the light rail will save you $$$ but probably not time. 

Thanks! I'll be traveling light (just a backpack and laptop bag) and it looks like the Westlake stop is 4 blocks from my hotel, so I'm willing to lug my stuff that far. Maybe luggage is the reason Link wasn't on the conference web site - that would make sense.

[egishere]

We went in Nov 2014 and stayed at the Alexis Hotel which is a Kimpton property. Loved it - our room was huge.

Did the Underground Tour, Ride the Ducks which was cheesy but I really wanted to see the floating houses, and a Savor Seattle Booze and Bites tour. That was super fun! Went to the market - you have to get donuts at Daily Donut- I think that is the name. Yum! Had great brunch at Dahlia Lounge and dinner at Cutters Crabhouse. Also we did ride the Link rail from airport to downtown and that was very easy and cheap. Have fun!!

[Deleted]

We stayed here: www.hotelfiveseattle.com/ when we were there a couple years ago. It was great, recently remodeled and the staff was so friendly and helpful.

It was walking distance to Pike Place Market, The Space Needle and most other 'touristy' things we wanted to do. Plus they had bikes you could use so no need for a car!.