| Product: |
Seattle |
| Date: |
07/04/01 (173 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Hip city with fabulous surroundings
Disadvantages: None
I visited Seattle in 1994, as it was the cheapest way to get to Victoria, BC for the Commonwealth Games. In just 36 hours on the way out and 48 hours on the way back from Victoria, it has left an indelible memory and ranks as my favourite US city (so far!)
Seattle, in Washington state, is in the far north west corner of mainland USA (ignoring Alaska, of course, which is stuck on the edge of Canada, detached from the remainder of the USA). The only direct service to Seattle from the UK is with British Airways - it takes 9 hours 40 minutes from London Heathrow. The next fastest routing is usually through a northern European hub, for example with KLM (via Amsterdam - 12h20m) or SAS (via Copenhaven - 12h40m). If you prefer US carriers, you're best going with those that have hubs close to the northern US border with Canada, such as Delta (Boston), NorthWest (Detroit) or any that fly into New York. Even then, connection delays can add 4 hours or more to your total travelling time.
You approach Seattle/Tacoma airport by flying over Boeing Field, home of the aircraft builder. Even if you don't like looking out of airplane windows, you have to take in the view of what looks like a giant 'car park' full of Jumbos - in fact, that's just what it is!
Seattle is a major city, with a huge variety of accommodation in and around it. Downtown hotels range start with many under £50, to 5-star porperties like the W Seattle and the Four Seasons Olympic, at well over £200. We chose a mid-price downtown hotel, the Holiday Inn, which was comfortable enough for our needs and very affordable. Now it's the Holiday Inn Express, a 2-star hotel with an indoor pool, cable TV with movies and air conditioning in every room. A standard room is about £80 per night, and there's even a King Suite with a jaccuzi for about £100. It's a short walk to the main shopping areas, including Pike Place Market, where Tom Hanks' Sleepless cha
racter first realised he'd have to learn what Tiramisu was if he was going to date ever again! If you're hiring a car, however, find another hotel since there's no car park.
Other places to visit include:
Pioneer Square, an area of 30 blocks where much of early Seattle is preserved (some of it underneath the modern city)
Seattle Centre, site of the 1962 World's Fair that left a legacy of culture, science and technology and is home to the ...
Space Needle, 3,700 tons of steel rising to 184 metres, with a restaurant and viewing galleries at the top that provide spectaular views of Puget Sound and the city
The Waterfront and Port, with a plethora of wonderful seafood restaurants (try the clam chowder - it's to die for)
The port should also be your starting point for some the best possible views of the city and surrounding coastline - from the water. You can take short trips of an hour or so around the harbour, allowing you the most spectacular views of this amazing Cityscape. Spend half a day or longer sailing around and stopping off at some of the hundreds of islands that form a wildlife conservation area, complete with bears! Take a ferry to Victoria Island, a bit of Canada that really looks like a UK south coast resort, but with sunshine! The ferry takes about 3 hours, so book a hotel for a night or two to explore. Also from Seattle port, book a whale watching day trip, fishing trips and even Arctic iceberg cruises!
We didn't have time for the rest of what the area has to offer. We'll be back for another visit, when we plan to spend more time shopping in the city, exploring around the coast, walking in the Olympic Mouintains, maybe combining a visit to Vancouver just a few hours drive north, and a hundred other things waiting to be enjoyed.
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Last comments:
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- 11/04/01 Seattle is home to many young but successful .com's (besides MS!) and other high tech cutting edge industries like Boeing, so a high proportion of the population are bright and young and vibrant. There's been a thriving cutting edge music movement there for many years, having been home to Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana and the whole Grunge movement, and REM, to name a few. I didn't have time to sample the clubs, anyway I was too young for Hendrix and too old for Nirvana (!) but it has a good reputation. I guess the best way to describe the 'feel' of the city is to say it's as cool as San Francisco but with a real energy. I know that seems like a contradiction - I suppose you have to experience it.
Don't get me wrong, I love NY too and, like you, plan to go back for longer. But they're as different as can be and not really comparable. |
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- 11/04/01 For some reason I always though Seattle sounded uninteresting, but if you rate it higher than New York it must be worth a visit! What exactly was hip about it? |
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- 11/04/01 Interesting question - do you want to fly there and stay a week or two with meals, entries to main attractions, souveniers and tours? Do you want to move there, and need to know about housing types and costs, living expenses, local taxes, season tickets to commute from the suburbs, and so on? Or do you want to buy the entire city?
OK, just kidding :-) My visit was six years ago and I stayed a total of three nights en route to and from Victoria, BC. I'd guess you want to spend a holiday there, if which case you'll find flights are about the most expensive of any continental USA destination on account of it's about as far from the UK you can get and it isn't so popular that there's lots of cheap offers - my guess is bank on £600 each. On the other hand if you want to visit Vancouver or other parts of BC, it's cheaper to go vis Seattle/Tacoma and drive a couple of hours north or take the ferry across to Vistoria. Once you're in Seattle hotels are much the same price as other US cities, ranging from £30 for a room in a modest hotel to a couple of hundred for a suite at the best, averaging £50-£60 for the equivalent of our 3 star. Again like most US cities, food ranges from a couple of dollars for Burger King to £60+ a head at the top places but, on average, are about 30-50% cheaper than London. |
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