Seattle and Vancouver

[Malbecfan]

It was our silver wedding anniversary last year, but due to Covid restrictions, we were unable to do the trip we had hoped - to where DD2 was studying abroad. So as a belated gift to ourselves, DH and I are heading off in October half term to the NW USA/BC having 5 days in each location and travelling by train between them. Booked yesterday 😃

We have seen various things on different websites, but there is nothing like getting the lowdown from people actually there, or who have been. So please let us know things to do and what to avoid. Thanks in advance.

Vancouver is our favourite place to visit and next year will get the train to Seattle for the first time (so following for that).

We love:
Lynn Canyon
Flyover Canada (amazing ride at Canada Place)
Seabus to Granville Island
Grouse mountain (climb up or cable car)
Cycle around Stanley Park (hire from Spokes)
Richmond night market
Squamish - sea to sky gondola and Shannon Falls

Vancouver is a great city. We hired a car and went over to Vancouver Island. Canadians are much friendlier than Americans - more genuine.

Thanks for these. Please do keep them coming.

We did a big road trip from Calgary to Seattle. For the Vancouver section we drove from Vancouver Island to Whistler, then across to Vancouver Island by ferry. After that we took the ferry to just above the US border and drove to Seattle. The coast line was beautiful, with little coastal towns. We stopped at White Rock and had very English Fish and Chips!
I realise your time is short, but there’s so much to see and do, as others above have suggested.

Seattle Art Museum, and Vashon Island.

We were in Seattle for 3 days in the summer and absolutely loved it, but we were very lucky with the weather. I think
October might be one of the rainiest months and it's already a pretty wet city anyway. But if the rain doesn't put you off then you should have a great time. Pike Place Market is enormous and if it hadn't been peak season we could have spent a lot longer exploring it and trying different foods, but it was mayhem when we went so going in October hopefully means it's all a lot quieter.
The MoPop museum is brilliant if you are into music like Nirvana or Jimi
Hendrix, plus there are lots of movie props and displays.
The 5 Point Cafe is a great diner / dive bar. The food was great there and the atmosphere is very Seattle - highly recommend for breakfast.

Lived there!

When in Vancouver I suggest renting bikes Stanley park (a tandem is available too) for Seattle my favourite tourist attraction is museum of flight. The real gems are in the countryside though

In Seattle, the Boeing museum if it's open, Chihuly gardens near the space needle, Dahlia bakery for breakfasts and snacks, the original Starbucks (go early, big queues but well managed and moves fast, the food market next to it also amazing. The hop on hop off bus is pretty fun too and good for getting your bearings

Vancouver - Chinese food, The Keg for a typical Canadian steak meal. Capilano bridge, seaplane or whale watching trip. If you had time I'd also say Vancouver Island. Granville Island for a fab food market, would be easy to spend all day.

Vancouver is amazing:

Asian food - sushi, Vietnamese, Thai etc etc. Amazing.
English Bay - walk along or rent bikes
Little boat to Granville Island for the food and a wander round
Capilano suspension bridge

Seattle:
See the first Starbucks
Pike place market

Nothing to add as I haven't done this yet but it's on our wishlist! We aim to fly into Seattle which seems to be much cheaper than Canadian flights, and we want to do an Alaskan cruise as well (which commonly leave Seattle and Vancouver)

The main thing I want to do in Seattle is see the old underground city.

@peasblue very envious- everyone I know who has done the Alaska cruise has loved it.

When we were in Seattle last year, everything seemed v expensive but probably just the post Covid thing play strengthening of dollar against pound

Thanks so much for these. I'm a bit of an Avgeek so the Boeing museum is definitely on the list, but the factory tour is closed indefinitely according to their website (I've heard elsewhere about problems with the Max and 787). I'm not a Starbucks fan at all, but I think it's worth going there. As a Music teacher, the MoPop place sounds fab so that's going on the list.

Please do keep them coming. I'm very grateful.

Just back from vancouver

Electric bikes to ride round Stanley Park (there a one way system and keep to the right - all the lovely faster locals will speed up from behind saying 'on your left') such an easy way to see the park

Any of the Cactus Club restaurants but book in advance. Best priced meal we had in a Canada and lovely restaurants and really good food

Prince of Whales for Orca and humpback whale watching. £££ but for 3-4 hours and really expert guides it was so good. We saw a pod of 6 Orca and at one point the pod swam under the boat!

Never been to Seattle but Vancouver is a wonderful city!

Was in Seattle last month. I liked it very much, Pike Place market was fab. However, brace yourself for the druggie problem. They are on the zombie drug and it's like nothing I've ever seen before , they literally do look like zombies, contorting their bodies or bent double and the smell in some areas is horrendous. I'm not trying to freak you out, but I had no idea and was just aghast. But I did like the rest of it very much!!

I love Vancouver. My favorite place to shop is Kitsilano, lots of cool independent shops and places to eat. I would avoid East Hastings and stay out-of Stanley Park after dark.

Are you planning to just stay put in the 2 cities & just do day trips? Personally 5 days in Vancouver would be too long for me. I’d hire a car & drive up to the Rockies.

We did a trip for our 1st anniversary- flew in & out of Seattle, hired a car & drove to Vancouver, then stopped at several places in the Rockies including Banff & Jasper. We recrossed the border to go to Glacier NP & then back to Seattle.

Seattle -

Pike Place Market - definitely worth it, try and go on a weekday if you can as it’s usually a little less packed, and go as early as you can or wait until not long before closing.

Underground Tour - amazing, was one of our highlights.

Get the City Pass - much better value for money!

Original Starbucks - personally I didn’t think it was worth it queing up to get in. Go and look at the outside and if there’s no queue (unlikely) or it’s moving quickly then go inside but otherwise, the outside is pretty and you can have a peek of the interior from the outside. The queue can be ridiculous.

Washington Park Arboretum - gorgeous park, I can imagine would be absolutely stunning when the leaves are changing colour.

Chihuly Garden and Glass Musuem - great museum, amazing installations.

Seattle Great Wheel - on a very cheesy pier, but fantastic views from the top on a clear day.

Museum of History and Industry - we were surprised how much we enjoyed this museum - you mentioned liking aviation and I remember them having one of the first Boeing commercial planes on display there

IMO neither Seattle nor Vancouver need 5 days so I’d squeeze in a trip to Vancouver island, which is lovely. Take a sea plane if the budget will allow.

in Vancouver, as well as the things mentioned we enjoyed the Capilano suspension bridge park - lots to do there. Cora’s is amazing for breakfasts

in Seattle I’d second the Chihuly glass exhibition - it’s extraordinary.

be aware that both Seattle and Vancouver have serious homelessness problems - not like anything we have in the UK.

Some great suggestions here.

For Seattle, I’d also add looking at the Gum Wall next to Pike Place and second getting a city pass for best value. Space Needle is worth a visit. If you like sport, we saw a Mariners’ baseball game which was a great experience. We stayed in the Ace Hotel which was well located and very cool.

I got back this morning!

We did 4 days Seattle, 4 Vancouver Island and 3 Vancouver and if you can re-jig your itinerary slightly I would strongly suggest you add in Vancouver Island; it's amazing. You can get a passenger ferry from Seattle direct to the Island (it takes 2hrs 40) and then another ferry from the Island to Vancouver (90 mins), but if you don't then you can use some of your time to do day trips and explore the surrounding areas to both cities as they are stunning.

Seattle was out least favourite as my young kids were pretty freaked out by the open drug use the PP described and it seems like the downtown area has never quite recovered from covid; lots of closed businesses. Having said that we loved all the activities we did there. We did:
Space Needle, Chuhily Glass (was amazing), Pike Place, Gum Wall, MoPop, Woodland Park Zoo (they have bear cubs!) and the aquarium which wasn't that great to be honest.

Vancouver Island, we did:
whale watching-£££ but worth it, Lake swimming, some gentle hikes, shopping in Victoria, day at the beach and river tubing. Would have loved to do the Butchart Gardens but the kids weren't up for it.

Vancouver- I read a quote whilst researching my trip (obvs from a Canadian) that Vancouver is the city that Seattle wishes it could be and I found that to be the case. There is an issue with drug taking there as well but no where near as prevalent as in Seattle. We did:
Granville Island (similar to Pine Place but 10x better imo), bikes around Stanley park, some shopping, science centre and Capilano suspension bridge. I thought Capilano was a complete rip off and wish we had listened to our hotel staff who told us to go to Lynn Canyon instead.

Whatever you choose you'll have an amazing time! Wish I was back there now :)

Definitely do the underground tour in Seattle - amazing!!!

We did this trip 10 years ago - flew into Seattle and spent 3 days there then up to Vancouver for a week (where we have family). The train trip between the cities was fabulous!
Seattle - Space Needle and Pike Place market were great. We just enjoyed wandering and people watching.
Vancouver - Stanley Park is wonderful, the aquarium was great. We walked up Grouse mountain and then got the cable car down. Couple of days on Vancouver island, did whale watching and museums.

Capilano suspension bridge was fun to cross, and we drove up to Harrison hot springs which was a gorgeous drive.
Hope you have an amazing time!

PookieK we also took in Harrison Hot Springs, loved it there. I think the wild fires have damaged the Okanagan Valley drive.