Everything YOU need to know before you travel to Seattle Washington. With a population of 750,000, Seattle is located in the Pacific Northwest. Surrounded by water, evergreen forests, and mountains. The official nickname for Seattle is Emerald City, for all the trees. Also known as the Gateway to Alaska because it’s the closest big US city to Alaska. A major departure point for Alaska cruises. Seattle is home to major US companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Costco, and Formerly Boeing. Seattle is the birthplace of many iconic music acts like Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, and Pearl Jam. Seattleites have a rep for being cold and standoffish. It’s known as the Seattle Freeze.
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2 – Weather
150 days of rain a year, with an average rainfall of 37 inches. It’s generally not a huge downpour, but more of a steady drizzle. Make sure to bring a raincoat and umbrella.. Although you generally wont see the locals using an umbrella, just a raincoat. And if it’s not raining, it’s usually cloudy. Don’t expect blue skies and sun here. Cloudy 201 days out of the year and partly cloudy 93 days. Winter is quite cold. Averages about 5 inches of snow per year.. If its snowing, don’t plan on going much of anywhere. The city mostly shuts down.
3 – Getting in
Flying in you’ll likely land at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SeaTac for short)
Home to Alaska Airlines
Take the light rail in to downtown. Takes approximately 40 minutes from the airport to downtown.
Amtrak trains
Coast Starlight from LA via Portland
Cascades runs from Vancouver, through Seattle, to Eugene Oregon
Empire Builder comes in all the way from Chicago
Driving in, it’s about 3 hours from Portland or Vancouver
4 – Getting around
Lots of water around. Which makes getting around slow.
Seattle traffic is awful.. I personally still get a rental car.
Don’t want to rent one for the whole trip? Use Car2Go.
Seattle has one light rail line. Trains arrive every 6 to 15 minutes.
2 street car lines. Fares are $2.50 for adults.
1 Monorail line, from Westlake Center to Seattle Center. It’s a 2 minute ride for $2.50
Lots of bus lines too.
Oh and I mentioned water.. There’s also water taxis, and ferries.
Uber and Lyft are plentiful
Walking is the best way to get around.. but it’s quite hilly. Maybe even more so than San Francisco. So bring your hill climbing shoes.
5 – Food
Just like NYC, Seattle has lots of very good restaurants, but they are expensive. Known for seafood. Locally caught Salmon and Crab. Shellfish, oysters.
Eat a Geoduck (gooey-duck) Clam, native to Washington. Popular in Asian cuisine.. 50% of all geoducks get exported to China. somewhere between “chewy clam and a tender abalone, though crisper in texture than either”
Seattle hot dog.. with grilled onions Cream Cheese
Fast food of choice is Teriyaki
Adding to Seattle’s well-known hipster status it has a wide variety of micro-breweries. Over 200 breweries
6 – Coffee
Seattlite love coffee, and coffee shops. The coffee shop is like an extension of most people’s homes, they study, they meet people, oh, and they drink some coffee.
Starbucks started in Seattle. There are more Starbucks per person in Seattle than in any other city. In Pike Place they call it the original.. But the original one is no more. If you are a fan of Starbucks visit their flagship Starbucks Reserve Seattle Roastery on Capitol Hill.
Bikini Baristas started in Seattle too.
7 – Hotels
I think the best place to stay is in the heart of downtown. Then you won’t have to fight traffic, or deal with the lousy public transit because you can walk to most things. Expensive during the weekend. Try visiting on the weekend when all the business folks are gone.
Want something a little quieter? Try the Queen Anne Neighborhood by the space needle. Still close, and probably a bit cheaper. Just not in the middle of it all.
Bainbridge Island for cheaper hotels
It’s a 35 minute ferry ride in to Seattle for a cheap $8 round trip.
Or even around Seatac Airport
8 – Big attractions
Pike Place Market, Seattle Space Needle, the Waterfront.
You might enjoy watching some of these other videos:
San Francisco Travel Tips: https://youtu.be/WUkIPSxUfyg
LA Travel Tips: https://youtu.be/qfUE8xQ_SgE
San Diego Travel Tips: https://youtu.be/r7boZsSKlts
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You might enjoy watching some of these other videos:
San Francisco Travel Tips: https://youtu.be/WUkIPSxUfyg
LA Travel Tips: https://youtu.be/qfUE8xQ_SgE
San Diego Travel Tips: https://youtu.be/r7boZsSKlts
I visited for a conference, was absolutely shocked by the homeless problem. They were everywhere and it was terrifying to walk around at night.
when showing the Fremont Bridge Troll you should have pointed out that he is holding an actual VW Bug in his right hand.
awwwwww… just thinking if someday i could step in to Seattle 🙂
I was born and raised in Seattle. The Seattle Dog was never a thing.
Where do i get that cream cheese hot dog??Dog in the Park?Where is that located??
Great video 😀
I'm four years late, however, fun fact about the Street Signs in the international district, depending on where within said district you are, the brown signs can be Chinese Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, and I believe maybe even Vietnamese. This is something I noticed whilst living there having attempted if sadly failing to learn anything reasonable about Japanese, I still learned Hirigana, which allows one to sort of discern Asian languages from each other.
Tip # 1 Stay away from seattle😂
I don’t live in Seattle thats why im watching this
Thanks for the insightful video! Fellow travelers, any tips on the best places to grab coffee that aren't the typical tourist spots?
“Part weird part awesome” 👌👌 very well said haha
Eastern market in Detroit was established in 1841
Hi Chris. Thanks to your recommendation, I went to the biggest Starbucks in the world and this was with no doubt a big highlight. Will sure miss this place. From Victoria we took a 3 hour Clipper Ferry to Seattle which was very good. We stayed in Embassy Inn which was a really bad choice. The Grand Pacific just in front of it was so beautiful, day and night difference but unfortunately was too late for us. The nicest area was the walking area from Delta hotel to the other direction and there is also an amazing café there. Also the Butchant Gardens were amazing.
I just found this older video of Seattle. I'll be honest, you make it look very appealing, as did all the videos about it that I've seen, which were produced pre-2020. Now, all the documentaries I see about it portay it very negatively. Would you feel comfortable traveling there today?
Wow what a lovly coffee.Seattle city is attractive and beautiful ful of fascilities.If I have money must visit it.
Мне очень нравится Сиэтле, спасибо за ролик моя любимая Элизабетта. ❤
If you want to check out Seattle history, get the book; "Son of the Profits". ;-D
Way off on weather. Not hot in summer. Not wet in summer. Not bitter cold in winter.
Just like @El-fi2py I don't know why I clicked on this video because I already live in Seattle. The only issue I have with this video is there is no such thing as a "Seattle Dog". While it sounds amazing, it isn't a 'thing'. I've never seen it on any menu. The interesting thing this video brought up that kinda blew my mind is that getting a hotel across the Sound somewhere and taking the ferry into the city ever day actually sounds like a good idea. If the weather is decent the ferry rides are a real joy.
Planning to settle and work here, 8 years from now. 🤞
❤❤❤❤😂🎉🎉🎉I enjoyed this one 1⃣ I was there last Summer Summer 💪🙏🏿🙏🏿🎊🎊👑👑👑🌏
There is a huge tax on both car rentals and hotels (particularly King County/Seattle for the hotels). How much? It is almost enough that if you are going to rent a car, you might consider flying into Portland and renting a car there. But the upside to that is that you can drive right past either Mt St Helens or Mt Rainier–but for either, call and find out what the weather is at the highest stop; it can be 80 degrees and sunny on I-5 and socked in at the top of either mountain. To avoid Seattle/King County's high hotel rate, you can drive 14 miles north to Lynnwood in Snohomish County and avoid the tax (but not the high rental fees). Lynnwood is close to Payne Field which has just opened to air travel (and is the home of the Boeing company-run museum and tour). The Washington State Ferry System is a fun and cheap way to see the water. Skip the Space Needle and go to the tallest building the Columbia Center (5th and Columbia; lower cost, no lines, better food, and taller than the Needle. There are several van tours of the city which is the much better way to go than the Underground Tour or even the big bus tours. Finally, people in Seattle are very friendly and will help you.
How was the traffic in Seattle? Thx
any CVPR people looking at this?? hahaha see you there in June
Full of CRAP!!!
Oooh pal, its 4 and bit hours from Portland to Seattle
Good review
Been to Seattle many times I've always stayed in Bellevue different vibe then drive to Seattle, there a lot to do for everyone
Very nice video..thanks so much!!!
Another great video Yellow.
The worst travel video I have ever watched about Seattle. Your whiney nasal voice doesn't help.
If you love homeless people, tents on the streets, shootings and lawlessness…….Seattle is your place. He's right about the teriyaki though. Love me some teriyaki.
Very interesting ab the teriyaki and the bikini baristas. Didn’t know those things. Leaving today going NY -> Seattle and excited
No one that lives here calls it the SanFran of the NW, I think you would get your ass kicked for saying that. Portland is not our rival. I have lived there my entire life and have never heard anyone say that. Agreed, I always wore shorts and a hoodie sweat shirt or light jacket. Unmbrellas are a pain and intrusive. Its called LINQ light rail. The only parts of Seattle you can get to on a ferry is downtown to West Seattle, all other ferrys go to different cities/islands around Seattle. So far the best tip you have said is do not rent a car..if you are only going to stay in Seattle, a total waste of time and $. If you are going to other places around (Mt Ranier, the Olympics…then it makes sense). What a crock, Teriyaki is not the fast food choice, that is like saying hambugers are. It totally depends which Seattle neighborhood you are in. WTF! Hotdog? No one eats hotdogs in Seattle other than foolish bloggers like this one. Sea food yes, A geoduck is just a huge clam. Bikini baristas…so what, grow up. It is only the prude that don't like them. It sounds like Motel 6 is your speed.
Underground parking at pike market place is a nice because theres security generally circulating around there 24hrs a day. We parked there to prevent break ins since i saw a reddit post on how common it is over there.
Edited to improve details*