JudyADenver

We have never been to Seattle and will be in the area Sept 17 and 18 with our dog. We are limitied to the amount of sightseeing we can do with a dog--no organized city tours, no museums, no space needle, no Boeing tour etc.

We don't want to spend our limitied time entertaining our dog (such as dog parks)--she will be content to just be with us, Pioneer Square and Pikes Market should be ok (we can take turns staying with her outside of the market)

We could take the ferry to Bainbridge but wonder what we would do once we get there on foot. (dogs are allowed on the Bainbridge ferry)

Or can you suggest other places we should go? Ballard locks? Akai Beach? What about Bremerton? We were thinking of spending one day downtown Seattle and day 2 ?

azzure

Dogs are allowed on Washington State ferries but not in the indoor passenger areas. They may or may not be allowed on the open-air upper decks, but they are always allowed on the car decks.

On Bainbridge, you can walk your dog around the cute little village, but again one of you will have to stay outside the shops etc. with the dog. Bremerton is not attractive, and is less dog-friendly than Bainbridge.

suze

On the Bainbridge side where the ferry docks, you walk about 10 mins. or so to get to the "main street" that has lots of cute little shops, restaurants, and stuff. Also a short pathway along the water you can walk.

Do you have a rental car? If yes Alki or the Locks are both fine places to go. As would be any of the parks around the city... Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill, the Arboretum, Discovery Park, Greenlake, etc.

You'll be OK in Pioneer Square and around the streets of downtown (less so within the Market because it's very crowded most of the time) lots of people who live in downtown Seattle have dogs.

JudyADenver

Yes we will have a car. I will arrive with a list of potential areas and play it by ear. Perhaps we can walk around downtown and see the locks on Friday and leave Bainbridge open for Saturday and finish the day at Alki beach. Thanks

suze

Sure that sounds OK. I hear Alki is nice, but honestly I've lived here in Seattle going on 30 years and have never been yet.

enzian

Bainbridge has a great (dog-friendly) Farmer's Market on Saturday, in the morning. If you walk on the ferry, just go upstairs to the outside deck area and you dog will be fine.
the Olympic sculpture Park is also open to leashed dogs and makes a nice walk/cultural experience.

Marion

I have another question about Bainbridge and thought to add it here when I saw this was near the top of the WA threads.

We've never been to Bainbridge and are not from Seattle.

Where does the ferry to BI leave from and how can I get driving directions to that location from the freeway?
Where can you park near the ferry landing for no or low fee if you just want to walk onto the ferry to BI like we want to?
And once on BI how do we get by foot to the waterfront park mentioned above?

JudyADenver

Marion--I sure hope someone answers your questions because I would love to know the same! If no one sees the posts, you might trying posting again. From what I have read, parking is rather expensive near the ferry terminal in Seattle. So I hope there are better alternatives.

azzure

The ferry to Bainbridge Island leaves from the downtown Seattle ferry terminal, called Colman Dock. The freeway (I assume you mean I-5?) is marked to show you the correct exit, and the surface streets are marked as well.

I don't know about low-cost parking near the ferry terminal, as I live on the Bainbridge side so haven't had occasion to park on the Seattle side. But certainly there are a lot of public parking lots, whose rates vary (though none are cheap).

When you walk off the ferry on Bainbridge, you will see signs directing you to the waterfront park.

suze

There is no low cost parking in Seattle, sorry to say. and you'll be leaving your car for longer than you can plug a meter on the street (2 hours max) so you need to pay for a lot. I'd expect to give ~$15 for parking your car say for 4 hours.

The ferry dock is 'behind' Pioneer Square historic district at the south end of downtown. You can follow signs in from the freeway, or do a Mapquest.

When you get off over on the Bainbridge Island side, just walk into town. It's obvious. and it's not a big park or anything rather a waterfront path you can walk along. Sorry for the vague directions, but we just stumbled across it, out behind the pub where we were having lunch.