Is Seattle worth a visit?

[TooMuchPeppa86]

I want to plan a trip for my 40th birthday. I’ve always fancied Seattle (Frasier, Greys Anatomy) but i have never actually been to the States before.

Is it worth a visit?

What kind of stuff are you into? I like Seattle because it's a very 'outdoorsy' city in a beautiful location - there's tons of amazing hiking and climbing in the surrounding forests and mountains. Also it has amazing outdoor stores so I went a bit crazy there too. There is lots to do in the city as well - Pike Place Market, the Space Needle, Seattle Aquarium and a trip on Washington State Ferries across Puget Sound are all great. There's also a really good coffee/food scene. I live in Calgary and go to Vancouver a fair bit, and find them quite similar (Van and Seattle I mean). I don't find Seattle a really 'American' city, and I mean that as a compliment!

Yes, it’s lovely, in a low key sort of way.

I was an au pair there quite a long time ago, when grunge was a thing.

Went to Lollapalooza festival, which involved crossing Puget Sound on a ferry. Fun times!

Swam in lake Washington (mostly from a little beach at the tennis club).

Visited Snoqualmie Falls, where they apparently filmed Twin Peaks.

Broadway was great for hip/alternative shopping.

I ate far too much pizza/Mexican/ice cream and got a bit chubby.

Had brunch up the space needle. Amazing views!

Visited Mount St Helen’s (v hungover 😵). Was like being on the moon or something. Stuff has probably grown back quite a bit since then though.

Many cosy coffee shops to hang out in. I enjoyed getting lost in the health food shops too.

Definitely worth a visit.

I really had to pick my own brains there. It’s been 27 years!

Consider a split holiday? Fly to Seattle, which is interesting and has as PP mentioned, Pike Place Market, and a monorail to the Space Needle. Then after a day or so, take the Coast Starlight (Amtrak) down to San Francisco and stay a couple of days there. Book a sleeper for the one night aboard (small but comfy and includes all meals for your ride.)

You get to see more of America that way - the train trip is amazing, ocean and forests - and San Francisco is wonderful - nicer than Seattle IMO.

Definitely do it. Have a lovely birthday trip, whatever you decide!

If you go to Seattle you must visit the troll that lives under the bridge!

Seattle's nice, but not sure it's worth a trip from the UK on its own tbh. Combine with another destination, sure.

Oh yes OP it is lovely!

When we saw the troll we were in an uber where the driver kept saying "look out for the earth man". We thought he was insane until we saw it!!

Great breweries and I loved the chihuly gardens as well as everything mentioned above.

It can be quite expensive but if you plan accordingly it is worth it.

I loved it when I was there but the weather was unusually good. The view of Mt Ranier from the Space Needle was breathtaking.

It’s a lovely city but I’d definitely hire a car and get away in the surrounds for a few days too. Maybe 2/3days city and 2/3mountains. The jet lag isn’t worth it for less than a week.

If you like wind and rain Seattle is okay

near canada!

Maybe not the obvious first place to visit in states

It's subtle and sophisticated, you have to enjoy it's own culture to appreciate it. Visit the fish market and the little trinket shops around, visit the monorail, snoqualmie salmon fish farm. Take a car rental and get out into the woods, the 'colours' of the leaves are lovely (a variety of reds and yellows forming a rainbow blanket) and go to the mountains (the bottom is fine), visit Boehms Austrian/ German chocolatiers and the visit the museums to learn about the deep Japanese, Native American and African American history there. It's a bit of an understated city. Oh, and bring jeans, a warm jacket and good footwear. You can't get away with flip flops there like in most other west coast cities

Oh my goodness I had completely forgotten, I went on a boat trip to Tillicum Village Native American museum thing.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tillicum_Village

Also went to Seattle zoo, where there is a Jimi Hendrix memorial (that seemed a bit random to me at the time). That’s the only thing I remember about it!

If you like wind and rain Seattle is okay

LOL I'm in Seattle right now. Windy and rainy are the last words you'd use to describe it today. I wish I'd brought shorts. But the weather is about to change.

It's subtle and sophisticated, you have to enjoy it's own culture to appreciate it

Agree. It has its own West coast feel that's unlike most of the rest of the West coast. I don't actually appreciate Seattle hugely (and I used to live there) but I do think it has a great charm. I adored the mountains around it too, the views of Mt Rainier, the water and islands right beside it.

I would do a split holiday with Seattle and Vancouver, or Seattle and Portland, and try to get out on the water and up into the mountains too.

I love Seattle. You could easily spend 5/7 days or so exploring the city or couple of weeks if you’re willing to drive a bit in the surrounding areas. Lots of great scenery in Washington State.

Yes, I forgot the islands, definitely take a trip to San Juans.

You can take an underground city tour to see the original Seattle, before it was rebuilt above the floodline.

The original Starbucks is next to pike place market.

It’s a nice area for outdoors stuff. It the city itself... humm gum alley? Underground tour? Original Starbucks?

Not huge amounts to see really and it’s got loads of building work around the port just now. Galleries and museums not fantastic either.

I have family there and they say if you don’t like outdoors or sport you are stuffed! We get on the ferry or drive out to Tacoma (not ‘fashionable’ I know...) and if we didn’t have family there we wouldn’t go for a holiday. Even they say ‘why come here??’.

We really enjoyed going up the Space Needle at night, and having a drink at Nest at sunset overlooking the sea.

The Spheres looked worth a visit but were closed when we got there. Also we shopped in an Amazon Go store for the first time.

Also loved the many types of Asian food there - Korean and Taiwanese were our favourites.

I didn’t like it all. Felt unsafe at times ;we were followed home by a group of youths one night which was scary. Have been to lots of nicer US cities. Boston was great.

I didn't feel any less safe in Seattle than Boston. Seattle has changed so much though. Areas that used to be really seedy are now full of Amazon offices and fancy apartment blocks.

It's great, but you'll probably get through it pretty quick though. Do the needle either early or late in the day or you'll be in line forever. Pike Place market is fab, and we really enjoyed the touristy boat tour we did.

It's worth planning to explore the wider Washington state during the trip- the Olympic Penninsula and National Park are spectacular.

Seattle definitely didn't feel unsafe to me. In fact, it felt WAY safer than the midwestern city we live in...

It’s worth a visit, but I would say it might depend on when you plan to go. The weather can be pretty grim from now until Spring.

Got back on Friday and had a fabulous time doing all those things listed plus Boeing Factory and museum of flight and the Pop Culture Place. Also things often on at the Bill and Melinda Gates Centre.
They have a simulator ride over Washington State, visited loads of breweries and cider places. Also a great kind of burlesque scene.
I felt super safe at night.
Frasier wasn’t filmed in Seattle but you can go to ‘his’ balcony for the view they used. Oh and the Starbucks Reserve Roastery is great.
And get a seaplane to Vancouver!
I’m going to shut up now (can you tell I loved it?)

It's stuffed with breweries. So much beer and cider. Some really cool pubs and great hole-in-the-wall places to eat too.