Seattle Planning & Tips

Getting There and Around
The Seattle Tacoma International Airport (known locally as Sea-Tac), so named due to its location between Seattle and Tacoma, is not as far out of town as the moniker might suggest, a mere 13 miles from downtown Seattle. Although there are a number of public buses serving the airport, the distance from town does recommend renting a car if you are flying into Seattle -- and although Seattle traffic is notorious and parking can be a challenge, in the end a car will really help you take in the great variety of activities that the Seattle area has to offer.

Seattle has a reputation as a green town, and as such has poured considerable resources into shoring up its public transport system. The project is coming along, particularly in the downtown area, where you can get around for free riding Metro Buses in the aptly named Downtown Ride Free Area, an approximately 30 by 10 block area downtown that reaches from the area around the Seattle Center (home to the Space Needle and the Experience Music Project) and Pioneer Square. Outside of this area the buses cost $1.25-$1.50.

For a quick trip to the Seattle Center from downtown and back, take the kids on the elevated monorail, which runs every 10 minutes from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Round-trip fares are $4.00 for adults, $1.50 for youth ages 5-12, and children 4 and under ride free.
One-way rates are 1/2 of the round-trip price.

Like many of the most livable big cities, Seattle is really a collection of neighborhoods, many worth a visit in their own right.

The Art of Smart Timing
For most families, visiting Seattle is all about summer, and there is a lot of it while it lasts: Seattle's 16-hour summer days are the result of its location at the northernmost latitude of any major US city outside of Alaska (as a point of reference for Easterners, Seattle is about 10 miles north of the northernmost tip of Maine).

On the flip side, Seattle winters can be long, dreary, and wet; but despite the city's very northern latitude, the maritime climate does create the mitigating effect that at least it's not brutally cold. It turns out that Seattle experiences less annual precipitation than Atlanta, Houston, New York, Boston, and Washington -- it's just that it most of it falls between October and March. And even then, the Seattle winter is not a time of drenching rains -- it's more a constant light dousing, like walking around inside a rain cloud.

All that precipitation can have its benefits, as it is just a short drive from the center of town to excellent skiing; a friend recently had an eight-hour layover in Seattle during an international trip, and he actually had time to rent a car, bolt to the slopes for a few hours, and get back to make his next flight.

And there's a reason Seattle was home to the national coffee shop boom; there's nothing so comforting on a grey day as tucking into a warm coffee shop, and there are hundreds such shops in Seattle.

Summer is packed with festivals, starting with the Fremont Fair in the hip Fremont neighborhood; it's called Seattle's Best Annual Street Event for a reason. Within days you are into Seafair season, and for 2009 the month-long annual festival includes a marathon and triathlon, a Wooden Boat festival, a Milk Carton Derby, a torchlight parade, and the Seafair weekend proper (July 31-August 2) featuring hydroplane boat races, fireworks and a concert, and the famous Air Show with the US Navy Blue Angels.

The waning days of summer bring the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival to the Seattle Center and neighboring establishments; what was once a ramshackle assortment of local and regional musicians is now an internationally famous festival featuring hundreds of musicians and artists. If you are up for the bustle and sensory onslaught, the music and arts coming from multiple stages and installations at Bumbershoot can be immensely satisfying, but might be a bit too much if you have very young kids in tow. A folk festival it ain't.

But Bumbershoot is just the biggest and baddest of many music festivals in this music town; you can also choose from the Improvised Music Festival, the Wintergrass Bluegrass Festival, the Olympic Music Festival, Jazz Port Townsend, Brasilfest, the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, and more.

Off the Radar
Archie McPhee's
A serious contender for the title of the wackiest toy store in existence, Archie McPhee's is a "a one stop shop for party supplies, crafts, costumes, miniatures and the weirdest collection of toys and candy that you've ever seen." No kid -- and no one who has been a kid -- will fail to get a kick out of it.

The Kerry Viewpoint
If you have ever seen a Seattle calendar, you have seen the view from Kerry Viewpoint -- the view from the deck is the most photographed vista in all Seattle. It's a perfect place to catch sundown, and has a small playground at the foot of the stairs leading up to the viewing deck.

The Fin Project
A sculpture garden made of submarine fins made to look like a pod of whales, the Fin Project is located in Magnusen Park, which doubles as a favorite place to fly a kite - the park is located at the foot of Sand Point Head, also known as "Kite Hill."

The Sound Garden
The namesake of the 90s Seattle rock band, The Sound Garden is a public art installation of metal tubes that catch the wind in Magnusen Park and convert it into strange and compelling sound art -- hence The Sound Garden. Unfortunately, the site has been under restricted access since 9/11 due to its location on the grounds of the Seattle NOAA outpost. You can still visit the site, however, by stopping at the NOAA grounds gates (photo ID is required), and walking a quarter mile to the installation

The REI Store
Oddly enough, a store ranks among Seattle's top sightseeing attractions -- but REI is no ordinary store -- it's the quintessential Seattle outdoorsperson store. But you don't even have to go outside to enjoy REI; the store has an indoor mountain bike test trail, gear-testing stations, and a 65-foot climbing wall.

All those Playgrounds
I mentioned the gymnastic, outdoorsy playgrounds at the top of the article, and Seattle has dozens upon dozens of playgrounds -- really one in every neighborhood.

Visitor Bureau
Seattle Visitor Bureau