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What should I do in Seattle?
Lux
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm going to Seattle for the first time with friends. December 28 to January 3.
Aside from Starbucks & Space Needle, what can we do to enjoy this fine northwestern city? Any suggestions on places to go, places to eat, things to see?
Aside from Starbucks & Space Needle, what can we do to enjoy this fine northwestern city? Any suggestions on places to go, places to eat, things to see?
Lux on
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Second, stay an extra 9 months and go to pax. Really.
Third, I forget where it is, I think off denny(yeah, huge help), there's an awesome pizza/pasta place called romeo's. Eat there, it was a godsend after days of subway.
3ds friend code: 2981-6032-4118
Don't go to Romio's. Go to Hot Mama's on Capitol Hill.
Check out the Cinerama. If the movie is anything you'd be remotely interested in, see it. It is a the best theatre experience around.
I should also note that not everyone in our travelling band is 21 years old yet.
I went last night and got a job lead with an HR directer and made new friends and a possible future gf.
The Space Needle is pretty expensive, and there's not much else to do right around there. If you want to do it, I'd recommend taking the monorail from downtown. It's cheap and a fun ride. The sci-fi museum and EMP are by the Needle, but not worth it, in my opinion. EDIT: I hear going to the top of the Bank of America Tower is much cheaper than the Needle and a better view, but I've never done it myself. Weekdays only.
The waterfront has the Public Market, which is worth a trip (Golden Age Collectibles on the lower level is neat for comics and geek kitsch), as well as a pretty cute aquarium that's not too expensive. If you go to the aquarium, make sure you're by the otters and stuff for feeding time (usually 2-3 in the afternoon). The Woodland Park Zoo is also pretty cool, but it's a bit further from downtown.
If you can, get over to West Seattle for an excellent view of the skyline and a pretty good fresh seafood place (Alki Seafood something or other).
The weather probably won't be very good for it, but the boat tours are actually pretty good, though pricey. Taking a ferry, like Doc suggested, is a good, cheaper alternative.
Slightly further afield, the Museum of Flight is actually very good, and on the Eastside there's a couple of wineries (Ste. Michelle and Columbia) and the Red Hook Brewery all next to each other with cheap tastings and tours, if that's your thing. If you want to see some of our forestland, there's tons of hikes (snowshoeing this time of year), or you can hop in a car and take the 30-40 minute drive to Snoqualmie Falls, which is easily accessible with no hiking. There's also decent skiing at Crystal Mountain, Steven's Pass, or even Snoqualmie.
For a nice, expensive dinner, I'd recommend Palisade by the Eliott Bay Marina. Great seafood, salads, and drinks, and a great view. It's an "occasion" restaurant. For things closer to downtown, I'm a fan of Tulio's (right by the public library, which, as someone said, is...interesting) or the Brooklyn. Etta's by Pike's Market has great clam chowder and crab cakes, and Anthony's on the waterfront is also good. Cheaper dining is everywhere, particularly some good spots around the Market.
There's some other stuff, but that's off the top of my head, and I've tried to focus on stuff near downtown. Seattle is a small city, so, independent of weather, a lot of stuff is within walking distance of the city center if you're up for it.
pleasepaypreacher.net
I've been to both Mars Bar/Cafe Venus (just a few blocks from work) and Kells (friend's a regular) and I'm not overly impressed with Mars. Kells isn't bad and seems to be one of the places to see people (not quite Cheers, but not too far from it if you ask me - say hi to Rory.). But if you're looking for Irish pubs you can't spit without hitting one out here. There's Fado's (sp?), Owl and Thistle - they play 40K here on Mondays!!! - or used to anyway, Old Pequiliar in Ballard, Conor Byrne (sp?) also in Ballard, and the George and Dragon I think in Fremont. I'm sure there's tons more I'm forgetting. Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of bars here. I mean freakin lots. It's dark and cloudy and wet most of the winter so most people drink coffee during the day and liquor by night.
They also have shopping and a Gameworks downtown too.
What about places to spend money? Are there any good local specialty shops? For example, someone in our travelling band made note of "Sonic Boom Records." Anything else we should check out?
Its called the George and Dragon FFS.
Bruce and Brandon Lee are both buried in Seattle in a graveyard next to volunteer park, which houses the Seattle Asian Art Museum. Volunteer Park also has a water tower with a pretty good view.
I don't know if I would make a special trip or not, but if you are in the Capital Hill area you might want to stop by.
For buying stuff there is a novelty shop in Ballard called Archie McPhee's. It's easier just to let the website explain.
http://www.mcphee.com/
Gasworks park is also kind of cool.
I will also add the Boeing tour, mainly because most of the above posters have hit the main tourist spots. It is far away from downtown Seattle (25 miles), but they do have the largest building in the world by volume, and a pretty impressive museum of flight.
http://www.boeing.com/companyoffices/aboutus/tours/
I think the main question is what are your interests?
I'm going to Seattle in January, but I'll only have one day to do touristy stuff. I've read the thread, but since I don't really have much time, what are the essential touristy things to do?
I have a friend coming into town on the 29th, and it sounds like something he might like.
I took this with my phone, not great, but it's all I got.
http://www.undergroundtour.com/
It's good stuff.
Give us an address, time, age limit, etc.
The Mars Bar - 609 Eastlake Ave E (map) Notable bus routes there from Downtown are the 66, 72 and 17--the 66 drops off right outside the door, while the 72 and 17 stop about a half a mile away. Check Metro's Regional Trip Planner for your best route.
The time is 9:00PM. That is music time--there's another band playing before us, 1-2-1-2, who sound fairly interesting but they only have the one song on their page and it takes seven minutes before it starts to pick up steam. The real meat is the Upperhand at 10:00ish, and then Good Touching after that--those guys are fucking fantastic. As always with these things, times are not exact but if you're there by nine you'll won't miss anything.
The venue is a 21+ establishment. There's a $6 cover, which can likely be offset by showing up a couple of hours early and just hanging out, or by giving me a ring ahead of time and seeing if there's room on the guest list. Typically, though, these places give one guest per band member, so I won't be able to get everyone through the door.
Those are all the pertinent details.