|
|
Post by mom2jnk on Jun 20, 2019 3:18:45 GMT
DH, DD18 and I are planning a trip to Seattle in mid August. We will be flying into SEA, spending three or four days on land and three days on the water. I could use some help planning the land portion of our stay. I've been searching old threads and stalking TripAdvisor for ideas. So far, we have Pike Place Market with Savor Seattle and Seattle Underground Tours, Chihuly Gardens, the Museum of Flight, the Olympic Sculpture Park, and a Snoqualmie Falls and Seattle City Tour on our list of potential to-dos.
What else might you recommend? We are all able bodied and fit, so walking is not a problem. We are competent with mass transit of most any type. We especially enjoy the outdoors and the water. When we travel, we like to take the opportunity to learn about local history and cuisine (our very favorite London adventure a few years ago was a food/walking tour called "Eating London."). DH is a history buff. DD and I are knitters and avid bakers. I guess you could consider us "foodies." Best seafood restaurants that no one but locals know about?
We are thinking about an AirBnb or VRBO for the first three nights on land because we enjoy them more than chain hotels. How are Queen Anne, Fremont, Wallingford areas? Other areas I should be looking at? Is one location easier to use as our home base?
How easy is mass transit in Seattle? Can we make this portion of the trip happen without a rental car? Can we Uber affordably from SEA to a VRBO in the above areas? Are Uber and mass transit preferable to navigating traffic and parking in a rental car? Thank you for your help Peas!
|
|
pancakes
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,002 
|
Post by pancakes on Jun 20, 2019 3:30:28 GMT
DH, DD18 and I are planning a trip to Seattle in mid August. We will be flying into SEA, spending three or four days on land and three days on the water. I could use some help planning the land portion of our stay. I've been searching old threads and stalking TripAdvisor for ideas. So far, we have Pike Place Market with Savor Seattle and Seattle Underground Tours, Chihuly Gardens, the Museum of Flight, the Olympic Sculpture Park, and a Snoqualmie Falls and Seattle City Tour on our list of potential to-dos. What else might you recommend? We are all able bodied and fit, so walking is not a problem. We are competent with mass transit of most any type. We especially enjoy the outdoors and the water. When we travel, we like to take the opportunity to learn about local history and cuisine (our very favorite London adventure a few years ago was a food/walking tour called "Eating London."). DH is a history buff. DD and I are knitters and avid bakers. I guess you could consider us "foodies." Best seafood restaurants that no one but locals know about? We are thinking about an AirBnb or VRBO for the first three nights on land because we enjoy them more than chain hotels. How are Queen Anne, Fremont, Wallingford areas? Other areas I should be looking at? Is one location easier to use as our home base? How easy is mass transit in Seattle? Can we make this portion of the trip happen without a rental car? Can we Uber affordably from SEA to a VRBO in the above areas? Are Uber and mass transit preferable to navigating traffic and parking in a rental car? Thank you for your help Peas! Queen Anne is a nice, centralized location and close to everything and the ferry. You could do half of the time in the city and the other half on one of the islands or the peninsula, if you want to be closer to more nature or cute/quainter towns like Poulsbo. I would personally get a rental car if you’re going to Snoqualmie or doing anything nature-y outside of the core tourist stops. You could possibly stack your days so you only get a rental car for half the time. The Ballard Locks are pretty cool — you can see ships using them and salmon swimming. If you like breweries, there are many good ones. Redhook is always a good time, if not commercialized. Bainbridge Brewing is also solid on Bainbridge Island. Hale’s Ales is great on Bremerton. |
|
|
|
Post by ntsf on Jun 20, 2019 3:39:27 GMT
the transit in seattle is easy and very good. any of those neighborhoods are good. I would take the light rail out of the airport to the station nearest to where you are going and then take an uber/lyft. the traffice through downtown can be horrible. the weather should be sunny.. with a few day of rain possible. take a ferry to bremerton and explore a bit. you could even take transit (with a few transfers) to the clinton/mulketio ferry.. then get on the free bus on whidbey island and go up to coupeville or to fort casey. very historic from 1850's. National preserved landscape.. nice walking trails. there are even old block houses from the indian wars there.. nice day trip. bus back to ferry.
I would rent a car and go up to the cascades..snoqualmie pass..(check out the northwest ski museum at summit). or stevens pass. and hike a bit of the pacific crest trail)--visit leavenworth over the pass or go up to the north cascades.
have a great time
|
|
|
|
Post by mom2jnk on Jun 20, 2019 3:43:32 GMT
Ooh, didn't even think of breweries, but that would make DH very happy indeed! Thanks for those recommendations. We will spend the second half of our trip on the water, so we will hopefully get to see areas like Bainbridge Island and a couple harbors in the San Juan Islands during that time. Someone else will be in charge of executing that portion  . |
|
|
|
Post by MichyM on Jun 20, 2019 4:00:00 GMT
Snoqualmie Falls in mid August will be a trickle. Just a FYI. I'd opt for a ferry ride over to Bainbridge Island or another activity that takes several hours instead.
Queen Anne is a great neighborhood to stay in and I can recommend small local restaurants if you stay up on the hill. It is the most centrally located of the 3 neighborhoods you mentioned. You can walk downtown, to the Seattle Center, to the Olympic Sculpture park, Pike Place Market, and other activities. The hill is a bear to walk up, especially at the end of the day, but there are plenty of buses, and Lyfts/Ubers are plentifull.
One place to consider for seafood is Taylor Shellfish Farms. There's one near Chihuly (lower Queen Anne). The very freshest oysters and shellfish. I was in a couple of weeks ago and they also had freshly caught cracked crab (which they don't have often), it was amazing.
IIRC my last trip to the airport was $35 in a Lyft. If you come in and/or depart at rush hour, it could be considerably more. I can recommend a car service which would be more affordable than a rush hour Lyft if you'd like. Alternately, you could take light rail from the airport to downtown (about a 25 minute ride), then transfer to a bus the rest of the way to your accomidations.
Hope this helps a bit.
|
|
|
|
Post by MichyM on Jun 20, 2019 4:02:35 GMT
Re breweries, the Ballard and Fremont neighborhoods in Seattle are full of them. There are at least a few dozen.
|
|
|
|
Post by Crack-a-lackin on Jun 20, 2019 4:03:42 GMT
Where are you going on your three water days? The neighborhoods you’ve listed are all nice. Depending on where in those areas you’ll be, but most likely you’ll find Wallingford to be the quietest, followed by Fremont, then Queen Anne which has the most going on. I would probably choose QA. A lot of pretty, old Seattle there, and it’s very close to several items on your list.
If you’re in Fremont you can see the troll under the bridge, take a tour of Theo’s chocolate, have the best cake of your life at Simply Desserts - served by the slice, a sandwich at Paseo, or a burger at Uneeda Burger, then watch the boats go by near the Fremont bridge.
Just up the road is Wallingford which is quieter but has a fun novelty store called Archie McPhee. I usually eat at Olympia Pizza or Tutta Bella Pizza, or Dick’s drive-in which is a greasy, cheap burger place that’s a Seattle tradition (because we all remember heading there after a night of drinking).
Queen Anne is just beautiful. You’re closest to downtown here, so it can be a little sketchy but overall very safe. So much to do here...Space Needle, etc. My favorite places to eat are Toulouse Petit or 5 Spot, and Dick’s of course.
I’d also add MOHAI to your list. It’s my favorite Seattle museum.
|
|
|
|
Post by mom2jnk on Jun 20, 2019 11:49:26 GMT
Snoqualmie Falls in mid August will be a trickle. Just a FYI. I'd opt for a ferry ride over to Bainbridge Island or another activity that takes several hours instead. Queen Anne is a great neighborhood to stay in and I can recommend small local restaurants if you stay up on the hill. It is the most centrally located of the 3 neighborhoods you mentioned. You can walk downtown, to the Seattle Center, to the Olympic Sculpture park, Pike Place Market, and other activities. The hill is a bear to walk up, especially at the end of the day, but there are plenty of buses, and Lyfts/Ubers are plentifull. One place to consider for seafood is Taylor Shellfish Farms. There's one near Chihuly (lower Queen Anne). The very freshest oysters and shellfish. I was in a couple of weeks ago and they also had freshly caught cracked crab (which they don't have often), it was amazing. IIRC my last trip to the airport was $35 in a Lyft. If you come in and/or depart at rush hour, it could be considerably more. I can recommend a car service which would be more affordable than a rush hour Lyft if you'd like. Alternately, you could take light rail from the airport to downtown (about a 25 minute ride), then transfer to a bus the rest of the way to your accomidations. Hope this helps a bit. Thank you! This helps more than just a bit and I so appreciate all the recommendations that all of you have chimed in with. When you say that Snoqualmie Falls will be a trickle, do you mean that there won't be much flow in the river so less spectacular falls? Just wanted to clarify that. One other Pea suggested Ballard Locks, which sounds neat (we are all scientists, so nature nerds  Will there be a similar low flow there? I will add Taylor Shellfish Farms to our list! And, yes, please on the recommendations for other restaurants in Queen Anne. It sounds like the peas are in favor of that location, so I am going to pursue that. We are arriving on a Tuesday evening around 8pm, so we will miss rush hour on the way in, but I would welcome the recommendation of the car service for our departure which is on a Monday morning. And, again, thank you!! |
|
|
|
Post by mom2jnk on Jun 20, 2019 11:58:24 GMT
Where are you going on your three water days? The neighborhoods you’ve listed are all nice. Depending on where in those areas you’ll be, but most likely you’ll find Wallingford to be the quietest, followed by Fremont, then Queen Anne which has the most going on. I would probably choose QA. A lot of pretty, old Seattle there, and it’s very close to several items on your list. If you’re in Fremont you can see the troll under the bridge, take a tour of Theo’s chocolate, have the best cake of your life at Simply Desserts - served by the slice, a sandwich at Paseo, or a burger at Uneeda Burger, then watch the boats go by near the Fremont bridge. Just up the road is Wallingford which is quieter but has a fun novelty store called Archie McPhee. I usually eat at Olympia Pizza or Tutta Bella Pizza, or Dick’s drive-in which is a greasy, cheap burger place that’s a Seattle tradition (because we all remember heading there after a night of drinking). Queen Anne is just beautiful. You’re closest to downtown here, so it can be a little sketchy but overall very safe. So much to do here...Space Needle, etc. My favorite places to eat are Toulouse Petit or 5 Spot, and Dick’s of course. I’d also add MOHAI to your list. It’s my favorite Seattle museum. Oh, my gosh! a tour of Theo's Chocolate and the best cake of my life? You are speaking my language!!! I'm in! It sounds like a half day in Fremont is in my future. Thank you for these wonderful recommendations! This is just what I had hoped to learn about when I posted. I don't know yet where we will be on the water. We are joining friends on their boat for a couple of days. They have been in the area quite extensively last summer and this, so they are open to us choosing places to visit or will just take us to some of their favorite spots. Some suggestions have been Bainbridge Island and Friday and Roche Harbors on San Juan. We have been to Victoria and Buchart Gardens in the past and loved it, but would like to see new things as our time is limited. Thank you again for your help. |
|
|
|
Post by mom2jnk on Jun 20, 2019 12:00:14 GMT
the transit in seattle is easy and very good. any of those neighborhoods are good. I would take the light rail out of the airport to the station nearest to where you are going and then take an uber/lyft. the traffice through downtown can be horrible. the weather should be sunny.. with a few day of rain possible. take a ferry to bremerton and explore a bit. you could even take transit (with a few transfers) to the clinton/mulketio ferry.. then get on the free bus on whidbey island and go up to coupeville or to fort casey. very historic from 1850's. National preserved landscape.. nice walking trails. there are even old block houses from the indian wars there.. nice day trip. bus back to ferry. I would rent a car and go up to the cascades..snoqualmie pass..(check out the northwest ski museum at summit). or stevens pass. and hike a bit of the pacific crest trail)--visit leavenworth over the pass or go up to the north cascades. have a great time This sounds so lovely! I am off to Google Whidbey Island. DH is a history buff so I know that he would enjoy this. Thank you! |
|
|
|
Post by Skellinton on Jun 20, 2019 12:36:59 GMT
If you are a chocolate person be sure to visit Dilettantes and at least buy a bottle of ephemere sauce. It is like manna from heaven.
I can’t remember the name, but Tom Douglas has a wonderful tiny little restaurant in PPM, at the end close to where you are pretty much out of the market area that is my favorite for lunch. Really good lunch food and none of the crazy lines that the Chowder, Pieroggi and other places have. I also make sure to buy a couple of jars of his rub when I am there, the one I like best I cannot find locally. It is a 12 spice Chinese rub that I use a lot on chicken.
You absolutely have to try Dick’s. Probably best stumbling down the street at 1:30 am, but a Seattle tradition in any event.
|
|
|
|
Post by MichyM on Jun 20, 2019 14:01:17 GMT
Snoqualmie Falls in mid August will be a trickle. Just a FYI. I'd opt for a ferry ride over to Bainbridge Island or another activity that takes several hours instead. Queen Anne is a great neighborhood to stay in and I can recommend small local restaurants if you stay up on the hill. It is the most centrally located of the 3 neighborhoods you mentioned. You can walk downtown, to the Seattle Center, to the Olympic Sculpture park, Pike Place Market, and other activities. The hill is a bear to walk up, especially at the end of the day, but there are plenty of buses, and Lyfts/Ubers are plentifull. One place to consider for seafood is Taylor Shellfish Farms. There's one near Chihuly (lower Queen Anne). The very freshest oysters and shellfish. I was in a couple of weeks ago and they also had freshly caught cracked crab (which they don't have often), it was amazing. IIRC my last trip to the airport was $35 in a Lyft. If you come in and/or depart at rush hour, it could be considerably more. I can recommend a car service which would be more affordable than a rush hour Lyft if you'd like. Alternately, you could take light rail from the airport to downtown (about a 25 minute ride), then transfer to a bus the rest of the way to your accomidations. Hope this helps a bit. Thank you! This helps more than just a bit and I so appreciate all the recommendations that all of you have chimed in with. When you say that Snoqualmie Falls will be a trickle, do you mean that there won't be much flow in the river so less spectacular falls? Just wanted to clarify that. One other Pea suggested Ballard Locks, which sounds neat (we are all scientists, so nature nerds Will there be a similar low flow there? I will add Taylor Shellfish Farms to our list! And, yes, please on the recommendations for other restaurants in Queen Anne. It sounds like the peas are in favor of that location, so I am going to pursue that. We are arriving on a Tuesday evening around 8pm, so we will miss rush hour on the way in, but I would welcome the recommendation of the car service for our departure which is on a Monday morning. And, again, thank you!! The town car service I use is A Plus Towncar Service. It has been $50 from the airport to Queen Anne plus tip. My favorite restaurants on the top of the hill: How To Cook a Wolf Eden Hill Both are very small neighborhood restaurants. You will need reservations for either unless for some reason you really luck out. A couple of other restaurants I like and return to in the hill are: Betty Grappa I’m less familiar with those in Lower Queen Anne/Uptown. Regarding Snoqualmie Falls. By mid August all the snow has melted, so the falls will be a trickle. If you want to go up there for a little hike, or a meal at the Lodge up there, that’s great. But if you’re going specifically for the falls they won’t be very impressive. The locks are a totally different thing. They’re the same year round. There is no “flow.” However if you’re going specifically for the fish ladder, I’d google for more info about August. I’m not sure what time of year is best for that. Lastly, I think I saw a couple of people mention “sketchy” when describing Queen Anne. That’s simply not the case. QA is multi million $$ old historic view homes. It has one of the lowest crime rates in the city. What crime there is is typically committed by our (very large) homeless population. Those crimes are car break ins and package thefts, which happen through the city. Crimes against people on Queen Anne are extremely rare. Let me know if I can help with more specifics. I’m also happy to give input as to the location of the AirBnB(s) you’re looking at. |
|
|
|
Post by MichyM on Jun 20, 2019 14:07:29 GMT
If you are a chocolate person be sure to visit Dilettantes and at least buy a bottle of ephemere sauce. It is like manna from heaven. I can’t remember the name, but Tom Douglas has a wonderful tiny little restaurant in PPM, at the end close to where you are pretty much out of the market area that is my favorite for lunch. Really good lunch food and none of the crazy lines that the Chowder, Pieroggi and other places have. I also make sure to buy a couple of jars of his rub when I am there, the one I like best I cannot find locally. It is a 12 spice Chinese rub that I use a lot on chicken. You absolutely have to try Dick’s. Probably best stumbling down the street at 1:30 am, but a Seattle tradition in any event. Etta’s. His first restaurant . It’s between Virginia and Lenora Streets on Western Ave. Brunch there is lovely too. |
|
basketdiva
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,699
|
Post by basketdiva on Jun 20, 2019 15:05:54 GMT
This is something I want to do next time I visit Seattle: Chocolate Tour |
|
Deleted
Posts: 0
Aug 18, 2025 20:01:21 GMT
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 20, 2019 15:16:16 GMT
Please remember to include real drive time in your travel plans.
|
|
|
|
Post by Skellinton on Jun 20, 2019 15:32:38 GMT
If you are a chocolate person be sure to visit Dilettantes and at least buy a bottle of ephemere sauce. It is like manna from heaven. I can’t remember the name, but Tom Douglas has a wonderful tiny little restaurant in PPM, at the end close to where you are pretty much out of the market area that is my favorite for lunch. Really good lunch food and none of the crazy lines that the Chowder, Pieroggi and other places have. I also make sure to buy a couple of jars of his rub when I am there, the one I like best I cannot find locally. It is a 12 spice Chinese rub that I use a lot on chicken. You absolutely have to try Dick’s. Probably best stumbling down the street at 1:30 am, but a Seattle tradition in any event. Etta’s. His first restaurant . It’s between Virginia and Lenora Streets on Western Ave. Brunch there is lovely too. Yes, thank you! I was laughing about someone saying Queen Anne was sketchy too, when I went to school in Seattle that is where we said, “the pretty people lived”. It was always the swanky neighborhood. |
|
Belle
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,309
|
Post by Belle on Jun 20, 2019 16:45:48 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by mom2jnk on Jun 20, 2019 19:25:25 GMT
This is something I want to do next time I visit Seattle: Chocolate TourThis takes me back to this post. Whoops. Can you provide any more specifics? I am deeply in favor of any type of chocolate tour! |
|
|
|
Post by AnastasiaBeaverhausn on Jun 20, 2019 19:37:04 GMT
My parents and my dh and I stayed here through AirBnB in July 2 years ago. 1400 Hubbell Place #1307, Seattle, WA 98101
I'm literally sitting in a hotel in Bellevue right now waiting on dh to finish a meeting before we fly home!
We also had dinner at Salty's in Alhi that have us great photos and a pretty place to eat!
|
|
|
|
Post by honeyb on Jun 20, 2019 22:56:04 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by blueeyedpups on Jun 21, 2019 18:10:39 GMT
You've gotten a lot of good ideas, so i won't list anymore, but I am a member at the Museum of Flight and have some free tickets I can give you if you're interested. |
|
|
|
Post by mom2jnk on Jun 21, 2019 19:20:18 GMT
You've gotten a lot of good ideas, so i won't list anymore, but I am a member at the Museum of Flight and have some free tickets I can give you if you're interested. Blueeyedpups, I would love that!! My husband is a huge history buff and when I presented our family with a potential to-do list for our trip, that was the first thing that he spotted and put on top of his list. Thank you so very much!! I can PM you with our trip dates to see if you have anything available for those dates. |
|
|
|
Post by mom2jnk on Jun 21, 2019 19:23:34 GMT
Yum!! We already have the Early Access Savor Seattle at the Market tour on our short list, so I am glad to see recommendations for the company. Is it too much to go on two food tours in three days? Ahem, asking for a friend  |
|
|
|
Post by blueeyedpups on Jun 21, 2019 19:33:23 GMT
You've gotten a lot of good ideas, so i won't list anymore, but I am a member at the Museum of Flight and have some free tickets I can give you if you're interested. Blueeyedpups, I would love that!! My husband is a huge history buff and when I presented our family with a potential to-do list for our trip, that was the first thing that he spotted and put on top of his list. Thank you so very much!! I can PM you with our trip dates to see if you have anything available for those dates. The tickets have no expiration and can be used any time. If you PM me your address I can throw them in the mail for you. How many do you need? |
|
|
|
Post by mom2jnk on Jun 21, 2019 19:39:56 GMT
Blueeyedpups, I would love that!! My husband is a huge history buff and when I presented our family with a potential to-do list for our trip, that was the first thing that he spotted and put on top of his list. Thank you so very much!! I can PM you with our trip dates to see if you have anything available for those dates. The tickets have no expiration and can be used any time. If you PM me your address I can throw them in the mail for you. How many do you need? Blueeyedpups, I sent you a PM. THANK YOU!! |
|
. 
Will there be a similar low flow there?
