itinerary
 

My spouse and I will be in Seattle for about five days during the second week of June. I would like to see some of the downtown attractions (Pike Place Market, the waterfront), but I am also interested in seeing a number of places outside the immediate vicinity of downtown (Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle Asian Museum, Bainbridge Island, dinner at Rovers and Cafe Flora). We are on a moderate budget (dining out is a priority, though). We are also considering taking a sidetrip, possibly to Orcas island.
Would you advise staying at a downtown hotel and cabbing/busing to other neighborhoods, or staying at at a more moderate hotel, perhaps near Seattle Center, with free parking and renting a car?
On the issue of sidetrip:
How long a trip is it to Orcas Island (including travel time to Anacortes)? Is it necessary/desirable to have a car while there? Is one night adequate? Are there other sidetrips that would be preferable? Orcas appeals to me b/c of the ferry trip and lovely scenery, but perhaps the trip to Bainbridge Island would suffice.
Thanks for the help.

If I had time to write a book, I would, but I don't--so I'll comment on Orcas Island. It's a nice place but it involves taking a ferry, and the ferry system can have delays due to crowds, ships out of service, etc. Some great places that can be visited without a ferry ride include Mt. Rainier, Mt. Saint Helens, the Columbia River Gorge, the North Cascade Highway.

I appreciate the response. I think the fundamental question I am asking is whether, given what we would like to see, we should rent a car.

You can take the bus to the Seattle Asian Museum and a ferry to Bainbridge Island. Rovers and Café Flora can be reached by bus, but there are oodles of excellent restaurants downtown. Rovers forces you to eat an multi-course meal.

A cab wouldn?t be the right way to go to the Arboretum. There may be bus service I don?t know about. Check: http://transit.metrokc.gov/

Orcas Island would require a car and, as I suggested before, ferry travel during tourist season makes my stomach churn.

I would stay in the downtown area. If you have a map of Seattle, the Westin and Sheraton are two of the many hotels in the heart of the downtown area.

Seattle Center (where the Space Needle is) is within walking distance of downtown and is also accessible by monorail.

There is free bus service in the downtown area too.

We have a very good zoo that is accessible by bus.

If you want to rent a car for a day, check out Enterprise. I got a good deal from them when my car was in the body shop.

If you are going to be here for five days, I think you will want a car for at least one day.

Thank you for the detailed response. I am hoping to stay at one of the downtown hotels, but I have not yet bid successfully on Priceline (I don't want to spend over $115 per night). If my bids continue to be unsuccessfull I will probably settle for Seattle Center.

P.S. We have decided to compromise on spending one night on Whidbey Island. Orcas seemed like a bit of a hassel given our limited time.

atb:

Keep in mind that Seattle has a very expensive rental car tax (ah, yes...the baseball stadium). And expensive parking anywhere downtown or on the waterfront. So to rent a car for your whole stay, might cost funds you could use for a room in the downtown core and walk to nearby places you'd like to see. By the way, you can get to Madison Park, the arboretum and Cafe Flora all via one bus, I believe. Then you could rent a car at a downtown agency for a day trip if you need to.

One advantage of staying in the city center is being able to return to your hotel for whatever reason, then go back out for the evening....

People who haven't been to Seattle often don't realize that the city's districts are so spread out - wrapped around the lakes/ship canal as they are. For example, the University is 15 minutes by car from downtown on a good day. Although the campus is beautiful, the few hotels nearby are located in areas I would consider fringe at night, and in my opinion I would feel "stuck" in my room after dark.

Another hint...some of the newish "extended stay" type hotels like Courtyard, Summerfield and Homewood have courtesy vans and are located in very decent areas just outside the downtown core (like Lake Union , lower Queen Anne, and on the Pike hillclimb, just north of the Convention Center).

Enjoy your visit!

Thank you for your reply. I noticed that both Cafe Flora and Rover's are located in the Madison Park neighborhood. In your opinion, would it be worth allocating some time to explore Madison Park?