Questions for Those Familiar with Seattle

[queenoftheskies]

Can you recommend a good hotel at the airport?

Can you recommend a good hotel near King's Street Station?

Also, what sights would you recommend to fill one day?

Thanks!

Comments

I don't know, but I can quote myself...

[msstacy13.livejournal.com]

Seattle's King Street Station was built in 1906 by two railroads, The Great Northern and the Northern Pacific, both of which had been eclipsed by the famously transcontinental conjunction of the Western Pacific and the Union Pacific, which was, and still is, headquartered in Omaha. Seattle itself had been left off the railroad map until late in the 1890s. A beautifully utilitarian red brick structure, King Street Station, with its majestically simple campanile that towers above the surrounding buildings and stands out among them, is a lasting monument to the ménage a trois that made Seattle the premier port connecting America with the largest, most populous, continent on earth... Omaha's Union Station, which is probably the most beautiful railroad passenger terminal ever built in the United States, is now a museum. This is the only real difference between Omaha and Seattle.

[jazzfish]

I believe the one time we went down the night before for an early-morning flight, we stayed in the Sea-Tac Crest Motor Inn, which was cheap and right by the airport. I remember nothing else about it: we got in shortly before midnight and had to be up and at the airport by six-thirty. We were able to sleep there, which is something.

Pike Place Market is worth visiting if you like wandering around shopping-type areas, and it can conceivably take an entire day by itself. The Science Fiction Museum is not really worth the time or money, sadly. ...and I think those are the only touristy things I've done in Seattle.

I'm a little sad that we're coming down Tuesday evening instead of morning... but it /is/ way easier on our end.

[ursula]

The immediate vicinity of King's Street Station is a wasteland of stadiums. After that you end up in Pioneer Square or in the International District. On the other hand, light rail is very convenient to King's Street Station, so you can expand the hotel search to at least all of downtown.

A classic tour of Seattle would be something like Pike Place Market and then maybe the sculpture garden, or another excuse to look at the view. (Only tourists visit the Space Needle, but I'm sure it's gorgeous at the top. I never did the Seattle Underground tour in Pioneer Square, but I hear better reports about its value-to-price ratio, as tourist activities go.) Then find a way to get to Fremont (bus? taxi? friend with car?) and check out Lenin and the troll. For Fremont you could substitute something like the Asian Art Museum and Capitol Hill, or the U. District if the weather's nice, or these days there's probably some cool stuff south of downtown accessible by light rail: Seattle's a very neighborhood-oriented city, and it's hard to recommend activities without venturing into a neighborhood.

*blnk*

[msstacy13.livejournal.com]

The immediate vicinity of King's Street Station is a wasteland of stadiums.

I wish I'd thought of that line...

I asked a friend in Seattle. She said--

[msstacy13.livejournal.com]

1. No, but Marriott tends to do well by me. 2. Don't think there's anything super close, but see #1 3. Pike Place Market, Seattle Center, waterfront.

[msstacy13.livejournal.com]

Someone else said the underground tour at Pioneer Square is pretty cool.

[greatsword.livejournal.com]

I've done the underground tour a couple times with different visiting family and friends. It's kind of interesting once. Smith Tower is also cool, and a more affordable and less crowded way to see Seattle from the top.

We've used a couple hotels near the airport for trips out, but it depends on timing and budget.

When are you going to be in the area?

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

I'm going to arrive before noon on February 24, and I'm alone until 10:00 that night, when a roommate arrives from Vancouver. I can't even check into the hotel until 3:00, so I'm looking for things to do. :)

I'm coming back through on March 1 and spending the night at the airport, flying out around 10:00, I think it was on March 2.

[greatsword.livejournal.com]

(Sorry, anonymous comment was me.)

Hope your trip up here is fun.