Seattle is the only city I’ve visited in the US so far, soaking up the sights from the Space Needle and the sounds from Belltown. When I put the word out, fellow travel blogger Annie Bettis jumped at the chance to write about her 48 hours in Seattle.Â
When Justin first asked me to write a post for him, I was beyond excited to get started. I was at the time, still in Seattle, with all of these fantastic ideas on how I was going to be Seattle’s big social journalist for the summer. Then I realized that Seattle already had a social journalist, many of them in fact. Then my high hopes fizzled a bit more when I realized that even living in the city for five years (all of which I was trapped inside the University bubble) I knew literally nothing about it. So, I set off to do the research.
Things to See and Do
As in any major city there are some must-see attractions that are native to Seattle alone. The most obvious being taking the elevator ride up to the top of the famous Space Needle.
Space Needle
Seattle has one of the most beautiful and most unique skylines in the country (and maybe the world), and the opportunity to be a part of it is something that cannot be passed up. The ticket to the top costs $18, or you can purchase a 24-hour pass for $24 which will get you in twice within a 24-hour period, giving you a chance to experience both day and night overlooking this beautiful city. Another easy option is booking a table at the Needle’s famous revolving restaurant or grabbing a fancy cocktail at its bar. The former of the two options may be out of budget for most travelers, unless it calls for a special occasion. A 24-hour ticket is included in the Seattle CityPass, which may be something to consider if you have a few days to explore.
Pike Place Market
Alongside the Space Needle in importance is Pike Place Market. No matter how many times you visit there is always something new to see. Just walk through it admiring the hand-made crafts and foods or taste-testing the perfect produce. Even if you don’t buy anything, the photo opportunities alone are worth it. Of course, you must stop at the Pike Place Fish Market and watch the show as the men behind the counter make a big ordeal about packing customers fish before eventually, inevitably, throwing one into the crowd.
Fremont
Fremont is one of Seattle’s most famous neighborhoods for a few good reasons. With the most sights to be seen it becomes a sort of treasure hunt to spot all of the strange additions to this Lake Union neighborhood. The most famous of these would have to be the troll who for years has held his ground under the Aurora Bridge. He is located on North 36th Street and Troll Avenue. The troll probably gained most of his fame for being featured in the hit 90s-teen-movie Ten Things I Hate About You but just as Seattle is famous for, he is actually a piece of quirky public art.
To catch the most famous view in Seattle take the hike up Queen Anne Hill to Kerry Park. The park has a perfect outlook back over the city and it is bound to be one of the highlights or your time in Seattle. While you’re there, take a stroll around Queen Anne, although it may not have much to offer by means of attractions, it is Seattle’s oldest and one of its most popular neighborhoods.
Gasworks Park
Enjoy a picnic and the view from Gasworks Park. Looking out over the smaller of Seattle’s lakes, Lake Union, this is the perfect spot to admire the city. From here you can see the city straight across the lake and watch as the Ride the Ducks passengers travel across the water on their questionable tin boat. To your right is the Fremont Bridge making Gasworks Park and Fremont easy to combine as a one day activity. The old gas pipes that dominate the park are nothing more than a friendly contrast to the deep green grass of the rainy city.
Food and Drink
Seattle is famous for its abundance of Happy Hours. When you are on a travellers budget, this can truly be a lifesaver. Many of these offer discount priced food rather than drinks but when you substitute a few appetizer-sized plates for dinner you will find that you are still saving money.
If you are looking for a trendy bar to have drinks and meals then head to the Belltown neighbourhood, along 1st Avenue alone there are at least four or five great bars and restaurants.
Elliot’s Oyster House
One of the best Happy Hours in the city is at Elliot’s Oyster House which sits on Pier 56 along Alaskan Way. Elliot’s features a progressive happy hour starting at three o’clock with fifty cent oysters, with prices raising fifteen cents every half hour. Their Happy Hour menu includes discounted local ales and other specials.
Ivar’s
If you only eat at one place in Seattle, make it Ivar’s. I know greasy fish and chips feels like a must-do in England but give this place a shot as well. If you visit the original location on Pier 54 you will even have the company of some of the world’s fattest seagulls. These birds were friends of founder Ivar Haglund and he never let anyone chase them away. Therefore, even 73 years later, they are still around. Ivar encouraged patrons to feed the hungry gulls and today they are so overfed that they won’t even dive for your offerings, only taking the ones that are thrown to their mouth level.
Being as these places are located on the waterfront, both are an easy take-off to explore the rest of the very touristy pier, the aquarium or if you continue on further, the beautiful water’s edge Myrtle Edwards Park.
How to get there
If you are arriving in Seattle via airplane then you’ll be landing at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, which is located in SeaTac in South Seattle. In recent years, the Sound Transit has finally finished work on the very convenient LightRail. Taking the Central Link will get you into the center of Downtown Seattle with the last stop being Westlake Shopping Center.
A bit of orientation
The main center of Seattle sits between the gigantic Lake Washington and tremendously smaller Lake Union and spreads around Lake Union with Fremont and GasWorks Park on the north end of the Lake and the city spreading along the East shores and around. If you’re short on time you’ll want to stay in this vicinity and see all that the quirky city has to offer.
If you want a bit more you can head east of the I-5 Bridge (or take I-5 North) and check out the University District. Heading south will take you to Southern Seattle, Boeing and SeaTac International Airport and North will take you to suburbs like Northgate and Everett before winding further up I-5 to Bellingham and eventually Vancouver, B.C., which is approximately a three hour drive (140 miles/230 km) north of Seattle.
Here’s a handy map laying out all the sights mentioned above to give you an idea of where things are in Seattle.
Click on the markers to see the sight listed and zoom and pan around to see more of the map.
View 48 hours in Seattle in a larger map
Get around in Seattle
Seattle has a huge public transport system that, unfortunately, is not very user-friendly. The good news is that Google Maps has it down to a science. You just google point A to point B and it tells you what bus to catch where. Tickets on King Country Metro are $2.25 in non-peak hours and $2.50 in peak hours for a transfer lasting up to 90 minutes. Sound Transit runs slightly different but is more of a commuter system and should not need to be used if you plan on staying in the main city areas.
Where to stay
If you want to be centrally located, then I would choose accommodation in Belltown or the Seattle Center near the Space Needle. Seattle is home to two very highly-recommended hostels; The Green Tortoise, located directly across from Pike Place Market on Pike Street and City Hostel in Belltown on 2nd Avenue.
Budget
Seattle is one of the cheaper of the US’s big cities. As with anywhere you can generally always find ways to cut costs, and great Happy Hours help the cause. If you want to dine at some of Seattle’s finest restaurants then prices may be high but most of the bars and small places in the city have very affordable choices.
If you plan to stay in the city center you can save money by walking or remembering to always ask your bus driver for a transfer and planning your sightseeing strategically around the 90-minute bus period. If you want to visit Seattle’s suburbs then you’ll have to foot the bill for public transport and taxis because Seattle’s lakes and inclusion of nature into all things have resulted in a spread out city.
Conclusion
Seattle is a small big city but in my, unintentionally biased, opinion it deserves just as much attention. It has all the culture and art of New York, the food and diversity of San Francisco and the beautiful nature and sparkling water of San Diego. And don’t let the rumors fool you, although it may be a bit more grey than other cities, it does not rain nearly as much as many other cities in the U.S. In fact, the average rainfall per year in Seattle falls is at approximately 42 inches per year, while the average rainfall per year in Miami is nearly 60 inches!
Don’t pass up Seattle for more popular cities, plus it is an easy gateway to the cultural meccas of Vancouver and Portland.
Thanks so much for allowing me to be one of Seattle’s local experts for a day! I love the city and am happy to share it with everyone!
Metro is $2.25 off-peak and $2.50 on peak one zone and $3.00 peak two zones (outside Seattle proper) and transfers are 2 hrs. Anyone coming to Seattle should download the OneBusAway (OBA) app before stepping foot in the city. OBA knows where you are and will show you on a map where the nearest bus stop is, which routes stop there and when they’re arriving (real time, not scheduled time). It’s a godsend for Seattle transit.
What Annie has outlined just scratches the surface of Seattle. There are many many more things to see.
Most downtown Hotels are aimed at business travelers and are either dives or expensive but there’s a decent hostel in Chinatown (we lost our hostel by Pike Place) which is central to the Light Rail system and most buses.
I would agree with Annie too in that Seattle is a great way to see the rest of the Pacific Northwest. With cheap Amtrak Cascades tickets to Portland and Vancouver BC and cheaper flights than Portland it’s a good base for the area. Although you can ride public transit all the way to either city it’s a lot easier to take the train.
I really want to catch a fish at Pikes Place Market! Seattle looks like an amazing city and I can’t wait to get there one day!
@Grant, thanks for the correction on the Metro info. I think I mixed the transfer time with another city but the zones I wasn’t aware of!
There was so much information I wanted to include in this article but since it’s meant to only be 48 hours I felt like I had to include some of the major attractions, plus some of the things that may be missed. I would have a whole different set of activities for someone planning to stay a week or more!
Thanks for the awesome additions to the article!
@Annette, you know I was there twice this summer and both times happened to look away right when the fish was thrown! Thankfully I’d seen it before and thankfully my boyfriend (who I was really there for) saw it both times!
Seattle is beautiful, I really can’t say enough good things about it!
If someone has more than 48 hrs here’s my list.
International District (Chinatown). Read the book On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet first
Pioneer Square
The Underground Tour
Go to the top of Smith Tower
The Waterfront – Argosy cruise maybe or walk onto a ferry to Bainbridge and back. For $5 you get to ride a boat and get unparalleled views of the city.
Alki Beach in West Seattle (beach, rollerblading, California feel, great views of the city)
Westlake Plaza – ride the monorail
Seattle Center – Space Needle
Ride the Duck (Kind of expensive and touristy but if you have limited time you can see a lot in a small amount of time, this is our version of a tourist bus but it floats)
The districts
Queen Anne (where Kerry park is)
Capital Hill – the capitol that never was, climb the water tower it’s free and provides the same height view as the Space Needle
Fremont – the Center of the Universe – yes it’s that strange
Ballard – go to Golden Gardens beach or the Ship Canal Locks, plenty of eateries and Nordic heritage
Wallingford – good for eating
University District – Where the U of W is. Great ethnic restaurants and college vibe.
Green Lake – rent skates or just walk around it
There’s more but it would take more time. If someone came for two weeks they’d be busy every day with the list above.
Seattle is a blast. You might also add the Red Hook Breweries on your list of stops. They used to have one in Fremont called the Trolleyman, but I think that one is closed. the others are a good time, too. Nice post.
The main Red Hook is in Woodenville which might be difficult for people to get to if they’re from out of town. You can take the 255 bus (1 hr 20) from downtown and then walk 1.4 miles to it. It is possible but it might be better if you knew someone local who could drive it.
Red Hook was bought out by but so far I think what they’re doing has stayed the same.
I totally agree with Red Hook, if you have friend with a car, a rental or even if you are up for a long bike ride (my brother did it, anyone can). Do not neglect the local brews! Some of the best beers come from the Pacific Northwest in my opinion.
Agreed. And the 255 bus does work well it’s just not too fast. The walk after you’re in Woodenville is probably 30 minutes. It’s pretty out there and a bit country which may be interesting to travelers.
I’ve been to the brewery in Woodinville and they give you a tour of the production facilities and you get to try all the different beers. A nice 30 minute walk might be good after all that! There’s also 8 – 10 wineries in the area near the brewery so that might be an added plus if people are into wine. Willows Lodge and Barking Frog are just around the corner if people want a place to stay to do some wine tourism and decent food. It really wouldn’t be a bad trip if someone took the 255 to Woodinville then hiked it down to Willows Lodge, spent the night and walked to all the wineries. The walk to that area (The tourist district) is a very nice walk along residential streets then a country road. It’s very pretty but sometimes the shoulder gets a bit slim.
Great post! I’m planning a vacation to Seattle next year and I was wondering what you think the best months are to visit. Will it be too rainy and cold in February and March to do a lot of sightseeing?
Nice and Informative post. Thanks a lot for this. Seattle is a very nice place to visit and is known as cheaper city in USA. In Seattle there are other attractive places in Seattle.
It always rains in Seattle, so be ready to duck under shelters if you have absented mindedly left your umbrella at the hotel.