We are visiting Vancouver, Whistler, and Seattle for 12 days at the end of July. I would LOVE any recommendations. I think 5 days in Vancouver, 4 in Seattle and 3 in whistler. We have 2 girls (14,12) who are very sporty and outdoorsy. My husband and I love nice dinners, shopping, and sporty activities. Current plans include Vancouver-whitecaps game, suspension bridge, grouse grind. Whistler??? Stand up paddleboarding and/or zip lining? Seattle—we have no plans. We will stay in air bnbs and are still looking for them. I would love any recommendations of things to do and restaurants to check out. Thank you!
We dont have any kind of ziplining close to the Seattle area (within a 30 min drive of the city) as far as I am aware.
I mean there are a TON of touristy things to do. The Underground, MoPop, SpaceNeedle, Aquarium, Woodland Park Zoo, the Wheel all downtown. There is TONS to do outside of Seattle, but if you are staying in the city sometimes getting out can be a bit of a hassle.
Snoqualmie area is fun for hikes etc and seeing Snoqualmie Falls. Lots of historical stuff all over. I mean there is a LOT. Depending on what you want to see. End of July you are pretty sure to get good weather, but you can NEVER rule out rain in Seattle.
ETA: disregard my comment about Ziplining. I thought you were looking for ZL recs in Seattle lol
We dont have any kind of ziplining close to the Seattle area (within a 30 min drive of the city) as far as I am aware.
I mean there are a TON of touristy things to do. The Underground, MoPop, SpaceNeedle, Aquarium, Woodland Park Zoo, the Wheel all downtown. There is TONS to do outside of Seattle, but if you are staying in the city sometimes getting out can be a bit of a hassle.
Snoqualmie area is fun for hikes etc and seeing Snoqualmie Falls. Lots of historical stuff all over. I mean there is a LOT. Depending on what you want to see. End of July you are pretty sure to get good weather, but you can NEVER rule out rain in Seattle.
ETA: disregard my comment about Ziplining. I thought you were looking for ZL recs in Seattle lol
We dont have any kind of ziplining close to the Seattle area (within a 30 min drive of the city) as far as I am aware.
I mean there are a TON of touristy things to do. The Underground, MoPop, SpaceNeedle, Aquarium, Woodland Park Zoo, the Wheel all downtown. There is TONS to do outside of Seattle, but if you are staying in the city sometimes getting out can be a bit of a hassle.
Snoqualmie area is fun for hikes etc and seeing Snoqualmie Falls. Lots of historical stuff all over. I mean there is a LOT. Depending on what you want to see. End of July you are pretty sure to get good weather, but you can NEVER rule out rain in Seattle.
ETA: disregard my comment about Ziplining. I thought you were looking for ZL recs in Seattle lol
Thank you so much! Any restaurants you recommend?
I am not the person to ask. I am so not a foody. What I enjoy is not what people enjoy. I would say a TRUE Seattle staple is Ivars (either the dine in restaurant or the fish bar) and Dick's.
We dont have any kind of ziplining close to the Seattle area (within a 30 min drive of the city) as far as I am aware.
I mean there are a TON of touristy things to do. The Underground, MoPop, SpaceNeedle, Aquarium, Woodland Park Zoo, the Wheel all downtown. There is TONS to do outside of Seattle, but if you are staying in the city sometimes getting out can be a bit of a hassle.
Snoqualmie area is fun for hikes etc and seeing Snoqualmie Falls. Lots of historical stuff all over. I mean there is a LOT. Depending on what you want to see. End of July you are pretty sure to get good weather, but you can NEVER rule out rain in Seattle.
ETA: disregard my comment about Ziplining. I thought you were looking for ZL recs in Seattle lol
Thank you so much! Any restaurants you recommend?
What do you like? Asian, American, French...
Anything by Tom Douglas is usually a hit in this area (he owns half the restaurants in Seattle anyway, haha), so I recommend any of his restaurants wholeheartedly. They have amazing service, great consistent food, and many different styles to choose from depending on what you want. My favorites of his: Lola, Serious Pie, Seatown, Etta's, just to name a few.
Cantina Lena is one of my other favorites - OMG the nachos.
ETA2 (LOL): Other favorites of mine and DH - RN74 (French inspired), Capital Grill (steakhouse), Purple (American/wine heavy), Shuckers (seafood heavy - in the Fairmont Olympic Hotel - a must-see while in the city).
I am not the person to ask. I am so not a foody. What I enjoy is not what people enjoy. I would say a TRUE Seattle staple is Ivars (either the dine in restaurant or the fish bar) and Dick's.
Anything by Tom Douglas is usually a hit in this area (he owns half the restaurants in Seattle anyway, haha), so I recommend any of his restaurants wholeheartedly. They have amazing service, great consistent food, and many different styles to choose from depending on what you want. My favorites of his: Lola, Serious Pie, Seatown, Etta's, just to name a few.
I’m a ferry ride away from Vancouver and manage to get over pretty often.
My favourite restaurants are French, Les Faux Bourgeois and Le Crocodile are both amazing. Blue Water Cafe has really good seafood. I found Earls, the one on Hornby St, surprisingly good. Flying Pig Gastown is another one of my favs. Literally any bakery, deli, cafe, restaurant on Granville Island. There’s too many to list but I could easily spend the rest of my life eating there and always be happy with the food.
Your kids might be interested in Science World and the PNE. Both are fun for adults too. I mentioned Granville Island which besides the food is a beautiful place to wander around. Stanley Park has bikes you can rent. I’ve never been but have heard good things about Van Dusen Gardens
Post by InBetweenDays on Jan 16, 2020 19:42:53 GMT -5
In Seattle, a few unique things to do (beyond what has been suggested) are
Rent a boat on Lake Union (which is the lake at the north end of downtown Seattle). You can rent through Electric Boat Company - you can bring food and drinks on board and just putter around. Or you can rent a Hot Tub Boat. We've never done the hot tub boat, but we've done the electric boats and they're a lot of fun.
Go to the Chittenden Locks in Ballard, grab a sandwich at nearby Un Bien and then head to Golden Gardens beach. Try to go at low tide to check out tide pools. You can also rent paddle boards at Ballard Surf which is right next to Un Bien.
Hike Mt. Si which is about 30 miles east of Seattle. It's a busy/popular hike but it's a great workout with amazing views from the top.
Drive to Crystal Mountain Resort to do some hiking and grab lunch at the Summit House Restaurant. Has amazing views of Mt. Rainier.
Some of our favorite restaurants are Sawyer (in Ballard), Rock Creek (great seafood in Fremont), Wild Ginger in downtown Seattle (AMAZING Southeast Asian food), and Aqua by El Gaucho (really good Seafood and right on the water).
For Whistler:
Rent mountain bikes and explore trails around Lost Lake. You can also do the downhill mountain bike park, but unless you're hardcore downhill mountain bikers I think the trails around Lost Lake are more fun.
Take the Whistler gondola up and hike around. Our favorite is the High Note Trail but there are a ton of options.
Swim in Lost Lake or paddle the River of Golden Dreams
Definitely zipline! I've only done the Bear Tour because we went with our kids (who were I think 6 and 9 at the time) but it was very fun. But H has done the Sasquatch and said it was SCARY and incredible. But it's just one line.
At the base of Blackcomb they have a Family Adventure Zone. Many of the activities are meant for younger kids, but your girls may like some of them.
We tend to stick with the same restaurants in Whistler. Our favorites by far are Sushi Village and The Mexican Table.
Ferry ride from Seattle to any of the Islands. Whidbey (has an old military base that's fun to explore- Ft Casey), any of the San Juans etc.
Vashon Island is really cute and might be a nice short day trip. You could even do it In half of a day. Take the water taxi from downtown to west Seattle and then i think you can take the water taxi shuttle to the Vashon island ferry.
I agree with the rec to take a ferry ride. Such a fantastic views and a cool experience if you’ve never done a ferry. The San Juan Islands look gorgeous and we would have done that if we’d had time our last visit. My sister lives in the Seattle area so we spend much of our visits in her suburb. Also Kerry Park has great city views and is a quick stop if you’re in the city. My kids also had fun spending the day at Lake Washington, but that’s kind of far out in Kirkland if you won’t otherwise be in the area.
The Uwajimaya market is fun to visit and your kids might enjoy all the fun Japanese candies and cutesy trinkets they sell. We also ate at a dumpling restaurant that was tasty and a fun experience, but I’m forgetting the name. Have fun! I think the only drawback of that area is that there’s SO many gorgeous and neat things to see and do that it becomes hard to narrow them down!
I agree with the rec to take a ferry ride. Such a fantastic views and a cool experience if you’ve never done a ferry. The San Juan Islands look gorgeous and we would have done that if we’d had time our last visit. My sister lives in the Seattle area so we spend much of our visits in her suburb. Also Kerry Park has great city views and is a quick stop if you’re in the city. My kids also had fun spending the day at Lake Washington, but that’s kind of far out in Kirkland if you won’t otherwise be in the area.
The Uwajimaya market is fun to visit and your kids might enjoy all the fun Japanese candies and cutesy trinkets they sell. We also ate at a dumpling restaurant that was tasty and a fun experience, but I’m forgetting the name. Have fun! I think the only drawback of that area is that there’s SO many gorgeous and neat things to see and do that it becomes hard to narrow them down!
This is a little know park just down the way from Kerry park. The views are amazing!
I’m a ferry ride away from Vancouver and manage to get over pretty often.
My favourite restaurants are French, Les Faux Bourgeois and Le Crocodile are both amazing. Blue Water Cafe has really good seafood. I found Earls, the one on Hornby St, surprisingly good. Flying Pig Gastown is another one of my favs. Literally any bakery, deli, cafe, restaurant on Granville Island. There’s too many to list but I could easily spend the rest of my life eating there and always be happy with the food.
Your kids might be interested in Science World and the PNE. Both are fun for adults too. I mentioned Granville Island which besides the food is a beautiful place to wander around. Stanley Park has bikes you can rent. I’ve never been but have heard good things about Van Dusen Gardens
Have fun!
Awesome advice! I’ve added all those restaurants to my list!
I agree with the rec to take a ferry ride. Such a fantastic views and a cool experience if you’ve never done a ferry. The San Juan Islands look gorgeous and we would have done that if we’d had time our last visit. My sister lives in the Seattle area so we spend much of our visits in her suburb. Also Kerry Park has great city views and is a quick stop if you’re in the city. My kids also had fun spending the day at Lake Washington, but that’s kind of far out in Kirkland if you won’t otherwise be in the area.
The Uwajimaya market is fun to visit and your kids might enjoy all the fun Japanese candies and cutesy trinkets they sell. We also ate at a dumpling restaurant that was tasty and a fun experience, but I’m forgetting the name. Have fun! I think the only drawback of that area is that there’s SO many gorgeous and neat things to see and do that it becomes hard to narrow them down!
This is a little know park just down the way from Kerry park. The views are amazing!
I agree with the rec to take a ferry ride. Such a fantastic views and a cool experience if you’ve never done a ferry. The San Juan Islands look gorgeous and we would have done that if we’d had time our last visit. My sister lives in the Seattle area so we spend much of our visits in her suburb. Also Kerry Park has great city views and is a quick stop if you’re in the city. My kids also had fun spending the day at Lake Washington, but that’s kind of far out in Kirkland if you won’t otherwise be in the area.
The Uwajimaya market is fun to visit and your kids might enjoy all the fun Japanese candies and cutesy trinkets they sell. We also ate at a dumpling restaurant that was tasty and a fun experience, but I’m forgetting the name. Have fun! I think the only drawback of that area is that there’s SO many gorgeous and neat things to see and do that it becomes hard to narrow them down!
Looks cool-I need to investigate the San Juan islands!
We stayed on Whidbey for a week last summer. If you decide to take the ferry over there, make an appointment for your girls to do glass blowing. They will ship it home if you can’t come back to pick it up the next day. I can look up what it’s called if you need it.
In a Seattle, our favorite things were a day spent at the Space Needle, Chihuly Museum, and Pike Place Market. We also spent a lot of time at the playground in the middle of all that but you could visit MoPOP instead, which looked really fun. We also spent a full day at the Museum of Flight. None of us are actually particularly into flight and we thought we’d spend a max of 3 hours there but it’s enormous and really neat. We liked walking through so many different planes.
In Seattle, a few unique things to do (beyond what has been suggested) are
Rent a boat on Lake Union (which is the lake at the north end of downtown Seattle). You can rent through Electric Boat Company - you can bring food and drinks on board and just putter around. Or you can rent a Hot Tub Boat. We've never done the hot tub boat, but we've done the electric boats and they're a lot of fun.
Go to the Chittenden Locks in Ballard, grab a sandwich at nearby Un Bien and then head to Golden Gardens beach. Try to go at low tide to check out tide pools. You can also rent paddle boards at Ballard Surf which is right next to Un Bien.
Hike Mt. Si which is about 30 miles east of Seattle. It's a busy/popular hike but it's a great workout with amazing views from the top.
Drive to Crystal Mountain Resort to do some hiking and grab lunch at the Summit House Restaurant. Has amazing views of Mt. Rainier.
Some of our favorite restaurants are Sawyer (in Ballard), Rock Creek (great seafood in Fremont), Wild Ginger in downtown Seattle (AMAZING Southeast Asian food), and Aqua by El Gaucho (really good Seafood and right on the water).
For Whistler:
Rent mountain bikes and explore trails around Lost Lake. You can also do the downhill mountain bike park, but unless you're hardcore downhill mountain bikers I think the trails around Lost Lake are more fun.
Take the Whistler gondola up and hike around. Our favorite is the High Note Trail but there are a ton of options.
Swim in Lost Lake or paddle the River of Golden Dreams
Definitely zipline! I've only done the Bear Tour because we went with our kids (who were I think 6 and 9 at the time) but it was very fun. But H has done the Sasquatch and said it was SCARY and incredible. But it's just one line.
At the base of Blackcomb they have a Family Adventure Zone. Many of the activities are meant for younger kids, but your girls may like some of them.
We tend to stick with the same restaurants in Whistler. Our favorites by far are Sushi Village and The Mexican Table.
This is so helpful!! Renting the electric boats will be something we will all love. I need to look into the one with the hot tub. My kids will love that!
Post by letsgetweird on Jan 16, 2020 22:38:26 GMT -5
Pike place recs: Beechers- known for mac & cheese Piroshky piroshky
Other seattle restaurants: June baby Shaker + spear
Will you have a car? Snoqualmie Falls is only about 40 minutes away. A couple miles from there...a man owns kangaroos and wallabies and will give you a tour.
I agree with the rec to take a ferry ride. Such a fantastic views and a cool experience if you’ve never done a ferry. The San Juan Islands look gorgeous and we would have done that if we’d had time our last visit. My sister lives in the Seattle area so we spend much of our visits in her suburb. Also Kerry Park has great city views and is a quick stop if you’re in the city. My kids also had fun spending the day at Lake Washington, but that’s kind of far out in Kirkland if you won’t otherwise be in the area.
The Uwajimaya market is fun to visit and your kids might enjoy all the fun Japanese candies and cutesy trinkets they sell. We also ate at a dumpling restaurant that was tasty and a fun experience, but I’m forgetting the name. Have fun! I think the only drawback of that area is that there’s SO many gorgeous and neat things to see and do that it becomes hard to narrow them down!
This is a little know park just down the way from Kerry park. The views are amazing!
Pike place recs: Beechers- known for mac & cheese Piroshky piroshky
Other seattle restaurants: June baby Shaker + spear
Will you have a car? Snoqualmke Falls is only about 40 minutes away. A couple miles from there...a man owns kangaroos and wallabies and will give you a tour.
We just saw a kangaroo in a stroller at Safeway this week 🙂
Snoqualmie Falls is beautiful, the Salish lodge has a great spa and yummy breakfast. Lots of hiking in the area. (Mt Si mentioned above). If you were ever into Twin Peaks Northbend is right down the road.
Dough Zone is an amazing dumplings restaurant. SO good! It's a chain and there's two in Seattle itself apparently.
This was the dumpling restaurant we went to that I couldn’t recall the name of! My kids loved filling out the cards and ordering more rounds of dumplings.
I loved Pike Place Market in Seattle but didn't explore much else. I was more on the islands and loved the ferry ride to Whidbey and just drove around. I ended stopping at the first small town and walking the water front, ducked into a great chocolate shop, stopped at a winery for lunch that did farm to table, took the ferry to Port Townsend, and checked out the old military bases.
If you like the movie Practical Magic, Coupville, WA on Whidbey Island is where it was filmed. The town is great and the shop that was used as an apothecary is now a coffee shop/bakery.
Point Defiance Pass is great view to stop at if you do the loop drive of the ferry from Seattle to Whidbey and drive around the tops.
Seattle recs: Bainbridge Island is also a good ferry ride. Half hour ride that leaves from downtown Seattle. There’s a cute downtown with shops and restaurants just up from the ferry so you don’t need to bring a car, but if you have one you can explore further. There’s also a walking path along the water that you can pickup from the ferry area. If you do the San Juan’s, you’ll want ferry reservations in July. They go on sale months in advance, then more are released 2 weeks in advance. You can go w/o reservations, but you might be waiting awhile. Best chance is to go early in the morning. Electric Boat co is usually on Groupon.
Pike place recs: Beechers- known for mac & cheese Piroshky piroshky
Other seattle restaurants: June baby Shaker + spear
Will you have a car? Snoqualmie Falls is only about 40 minutes away. A couple miles from there...a man owns kangaroos and wallabies and will give you a tour.
My BF loves stopping here for their seseme buns when we go to Pike Place
Pike place recs: Beechers- known for mac & cheese Piroshky piroshky
Other seattle restaurants: June baby Shaker + spear
Will you have a car? Snoqualmie Falls is only about 40 minutes away. A couple miles from there...a man owns kangaroos and wallabies and will give you a tour.
We will have a car and I really want to do this!! Thank you so,so much.