we're taking our three teenaged kids (13, 16, 19) to seattle for 7 nights in august. i figure we can easily fill about 3 days in the city going to pike place, experience music project, fremont, etc. then two more of the days will be travel days flying to and from chicago. That leaves about two days open. i was hoping to spend those two days enjoying non-urban places near seattle, without having to change hotels. (day trips). one idea i had was to go to whidbey island, but a friend who used to live in tacoma said they thought that was just a residential community. (although they've never been, nor had they been to the san juans). that friend suggested going to vancouver, but since that's a four-hour drive, we would have to spend the night and then change hotels a third time to get back to seattle the night before our morning flight home.

any advice? is there enought to do near seattle or should i just resign myself to changing hotels a few times during the week and going further afield?

Yes, change hotels. If you haven't seen Mt. Rainier, consider staying there two or three nights. Lots of great short trips from Seattle, but you won't want to go back for the night.

We're going to Seattle for the first time soon, and plan to take in a ballgame--that may be an idea for you. Meanwhile, I'll be watching this thread for daytrip ideas myself! (We're only there for 3 nights.)

Ooooooh yes, 7 days in Seattle for my teens would be way too much. It would be too much for me too, and Seattle rocks; its an awesome city!!!

Pike's Place Market is great fun - be sure you see the Fish Throwers!! (They've published two excellent books about their great success, used by corporate america.) That will take 1/2 day....or less, depending on how much your kids the area.

Experience Music Project is also fun for all ages, but again, 1/2 day there. Exploring city, shopping etc is fun, can be done in a day - maybe less.

Go on a whale watching trip around the san juans! Lots of choices of outfitters, many that take only 1/2 day. We used Cap't Jacks from Port Townsend, saw LOTS of orcas, and had the best time.

Go to the Olympic Pennisula / Olympic Nat'l Park via the ferries for a couple nights. Incredibly diverse NP, altho it is spread out. We did it all in 3 days, but that included Hoh Rainforest along the Pacific Coast. Totally awesome!

And / or spend one night at Mt. Rainier NP and also consider Mt. St. Helens NP. Amazing testimonial to the power of nature!

Yes, take in a Mariners game! Safeco Field is one of the best ballparks in america, and their salmon is surprisingly good!

Good luck and have fun!

PS: As you probably know, seattle is the home of many bands, much of grunge music, Kurt Cobain, Nirvana etc etc. There are a few clubs / bars etc. of note that your kids may be interested in driving past?????

No, no, plenty to do as day trips.

Mt. Rainier is two hours each way, no sweat. A great day trip is to Hurricane Ridge in Olympic NP, just south from Port Angeles, allow 2 1/2 hours each way including ferry rides (themselves a real treat.)

Whidbey Island is a fine day trip; visit Langley and/or Coupeville, both cute towns. Start a day trip to Whidbey by taking the tour of the Boeing 747/777 plant just off the freeway that goes to the Whidbey ferry - biggest building in the world, and usually impresses even the most jaded teenagers. Continue up Whidbey to Deception Pass (on the way to Anacortes and the freeway - no ferry - back to Seattle. Amazing high bridge over churning rip tides below.

If the budget can handle it, take a day trip to Victoria via floatplane from Lake Union in downtown Seattle to the Inner Harbour in front of the gorgeous Parliament buildings and Empress Hotel. Not cheap (a little more than the Victoria Clipper) but you'll have way more time in Victoria and your kids won't stop talking about the plane ride for months. wwww.kenmoreair.com

In August there won't be very much water going over Snoqualmie Falls (45 min.) but there will be some, and the hike down to the base of the falls is beautiful and the falls quite impressive from that angle.

Mt. St. Helens is around 2 - 2 1/2 hours (to the visitors' centers) and worth the drive.

For a longish but not uncomfortable day drive, head north to US 2 and go over gorgeous Stevens Pass, through faux-Bavarian Leavenworth, down into orchard country around Wenatchee. Then go south either on US 97 or out to Wenatchee and south along the Columbia River, through red rock canyons and old west country, to I-90, then back over Snoqualmie Pass to Seattle. It's maybe an 8-driving-hour day, but it will expose you to the remarkable diversity of the region.

Nothing for a day trip? Baloney.

Check out the Boeing tour north of the city (can't find my notes on that) but GO EARLY and get tickets...they go FAST!! Your teens will LOVE that tour!!!!

Take a ferry to Lopez Island(the San Juans) for some beautiful bike riding country. I happen to love Whidbey Island. Your kids might get a kick out of sitting on the beach and seeing a submarine surface(it's fairly routine). The Greek restaurant in downtown Langley is delicious and probably a good spot to feed the crowd
See if your kids can get into Toby's (it's a famous bar in Coupeville on Langley)..great penn cove mussels and burgers. There's a huge marlin hanging over the bar. There's a fort on Whidbey as well that has some lodging. The kids might like this. From there you can take the ferry over to Port Townsend and either head back to Seattle or over to Olympic National Park. I suppose all this suggests a few nights elsewhere which could be ok and probably will give you more a sense of the area. BTW..you might check out the Olympic Institute which is associated with the Park I believe and has activities for families.

I spent 8 nights in Seattle last may and I didn't get sick of it. The "tourist" places you visit are so diverse you never see the same thing twice so its great to go back. Plenty of stuff to see, lots of great food (and drink) (Pike Pub has great micbrews)and great shopping. 7 nights is perfect

I also agree with two of the above posters. If you can make it to Victoria, B.C. it is well worth it. Is a very enchanting city. Vancouver, even though it is very close to Victoria would not really be worth it. One day in Victoria would be great...And also to agree with the above poster, I would definately go to the Experience Music Project..My brother and I spent about 5 hours there. It is really cool.

Reread your message - I see it is really 5 days, since if you are like us travel days you don't really do much with teenagers. (They usually had to get up too early to get to airport and can get evil if you make them do too much the first day)

We spent 3 days in Seattle 2 years ago with teenagers. Took harbor cruise - it was actually a hot and sunny day. On way out of city (to drive to San Francisco) we stopped for several hours at Mt St Helens - well worth the trip and you could do it as a day trip. The kids were as much in awe of the destruction as we were.

EMP got on our nerves after 4 hours, Pike Market is a half day thing unless your kids are girls and then they will want to shop at all the little stands for a whole day.

Depends on your family's preferred pace of travel - our kids sometimes are very happy with 1/2 day activities and then relax at hotel, swim in pool, etc. If they like to be going all the time, it is too long, but we could have spent another day or so there without problems.

thanks everyone for all the great info. i'm still not sure whether we'll stay the whole 7 nights in seattle and just take day trips outside the city, but it does sound as though there are some beautiful places not too far, so that would be possible.

the hard part is traveling with teenagers who don't all want the same thing out of the trip as mom and dad. i hate to go all that way and not see more of the beauty of the pacific northwest. but at least two of my kids are looking for a more urban experience and don't like hiking much. so there are always compromises when traveling with a family. i think we'll be able to do enough of both to satisfy everyone, and i'll just have to go back with my husband in a few years to see the things we missed. there's only so much you can cram into one week, and teens can be very difficult to get going early in the mornings. we are not a family that likes to fill every minute and spend a lot of time driving just to say we saw a certain site. i'd rather pick a few things and enjoy them at a leisurely pace. i'll let you know how it goes!

Another fun activity your teens might like would be to rent a boat at The Center for Wooden Boats on Lake Union. Also, University of Washington rents boats on Lake Washington (campus itself is beautiful too and they might enjoy the "Ave"--University district).

Also, if you go to the Olympic Pennisula, there's a great animal retreat for retired "Hollywood stars" and other animals in Sequim --Olympic Game Farm where zebra and llamas will comeup to your car (have crackers or bread for them to nibble on)and bears will "perform" for you. They also have a walk-through area with wolf, tigers, fox, etc.

Another good day trip is to a little town called Index. You can stop along the freeway and go to Deception Falls right off the road.

We've been here for 12 years now and never get bored (my teenager loves it).
Have a great trip.

Bucky,
Your post is almost a year old. Did you ever make that trip to Seattle last August? Any specific recommendations? I am interested in "teenagers in Seattle" info for this coming summer.
Thanks.

I realize the original post of this thread is pretty old, but for anyone who is interested ...

I am taking 2 teens (17 and 19) to Seattle in July, also for 7 nights. Our tentative plans are:

Day 1 and 2 - Seattle
Day 3 - raft trip on the Wenatchee
Day 4 - Seattle
Day 5 and 6 - overnight trip to Vancouver
Day 7 - Seattle
Day 8 - early a.m. flight home

There are so many things to do in both Seattle and Vancouver that I wish we had planned for a few more days.

The things my teens are most looking forward to are the Experience Music Project, going to a couple of music/laser shows at the Pacific Science Center (Nirvana, Pink Floyd, etc.), the Seattle Art Museum, and the river rafting trip. They also want to see the Cobain house and the Jimi Hendrix gravesite.

We have many more activities on our agenda besides the above. I just hope we can squeeze them all in.

You've received a lot of great suggestions, but I am amazed how often on this site the Olympic National Park is promoted over other gems of Washington. What about Route 2 over the Cascades and the North Cascade Highway (Route 20)? The Columbia River Gorge is fabulous, and, if your kids don't like Washington, take them to Cannon Beach, Oregon for a day or two.