Is Seattle worth visiting?

[AmericaPleaseThanks]

First main point. I will NOT be driving. It's my dream to see Orcas in the wild and I thought this would be out of the question as I'd need to get to the San Juan islands but I believe there is a half day excursion from Seattle itself. Can Seattle be done on foot? Like NYC?

Museums, shopping, food, that kind of thing. I hear it has a huge crisis with homelessness and drugs etc but would like some input from people on here please. I'll probably go for around a week.

Solo female early 40s

There’s loads of great stuff to do in Seattle, I really liked it
Museum of Flight is outstanding (on a bus route)
Chihuly Glass museum also amazing
Space needle obvs…
Underground tour really interesting
Pike market worth a wander

Did you have a car?

Bump

We were there earlier this year and had a great time. We didn't have a car, but we did use Ubers a couple of times. It's all fairly walkable if you are fit and able bodied, but there are a lot of steep hills in some parts.

Go and have a drink/meal at the Edgewater Hotel - some great photos of bands from the 60s/70s, including the Beatles fishing out of a window at the hotel.

There is a visible homeless/drug presence on the streets, but it didn't really affect us.

Worst part was arriving at the airport. There were two transatlantic flights which had landed close together and one (yes one!!!) immigration booth open to process non-US citizens.

No

Went a few years ago and would say Seattle is lovely but like all big US cities there is a major drug and homeless issue . Research where you stay - we stayed downtown and wouldn’t recommend it we felt unsafe at night and saw s man take a poo in the steet! People jacking up and open drug use. that aside there is losds to do depending on your interests? Edited to add no car we walked and used uber, and booked a few trips to the mountains.

We headed to Seattle in July. We had a fantastic time exploring Washington although we did hire a car.

Whale watching was an absolute highlight. We used https://www.pugetsoundexpress.com/seattle-whale-watching-tours/ although we went from from Port Townsend. Would definitely recommend them and taking an all day trip rather than the half day trip. We saw lots of bald eagles, seals, sea lions as well as the whales.

Would something like this appeal?https://www.pugetsoundexpress.com/3-day-san-juan-islands-birdwatching-wildlife-cruise/

Also, Seattle is the jumping off point for lots of Alaska cruises if you like wildlife.

Can I ask what is stopping you driving ? Cost/licence/driving in another country.

Olympic national park and Rainier were absolute highlights for us but you need a car. As well as being beautiful the wildlife was amazing. So tame compared to the UK - we had chipmunks, ground squirrels, marmots, deer and snowshoe hare within a couple of metres of us. We even saw a bear at a suitably far distance!

Just being clear though, visiting America is expensive, as is whale watching. Even the food is much more expensive than the U.K.

Seattle Itself is fine but has the same drug/homeless issues as any of the big cities - but we were only on the streets in day light and my kids now know how to swerve anyone looking unsafe. We filled a couple of days there but for us the main draw in America is always the national parks.