Hello! My wife and I are headed to Seattle / SJ Islands next Wed and could use some help on a hotel / area recommendation for our last night in the area Monday 7/28. The options are: The University District / Downtown Seattle or the airport area. We will have one very short night in downtown Seattle when we arrive next Wed & a few hours Thursday morning to see the Pike Place Market before heading north. I thought we could stay in the downtown again that last night but the wife thinks it might be better to stay closer to the airport. I suggested maybe the University District but don't know much about it. We need to be back at SEA-TAC by 8:30 Tuesday morning to return the rental car. I'm guessing we'll be back in the Seattle area from the islands by 2pm that Monday. I'd say we'll have from 2pm that Monday until we go to bed to see some additional parts of Seattle. My questions:

1) How cool is the University area? Would it be a good place to stay for a night? We could explore downtown from 2pm-5pm /6pm then head over to the University District for dinner, drinks and a place to crash for the night. I read that the Ave. is a great place for ethnic food.

2) Any good hotel recommendations for say $150 per night or less in the University area?


3) How bad would traffic be going to SEA-TAC that Tuesday morning from downtown or the University District?

We really appreciate the help. If we stay out at the airport the last night we probably wouldn't head that way until 10pm or so after spending the rest of our time downtown. This would probably be the most convenient option but something about it doesn't sound very fun. Looking forward to your thoughts.

Stay downtown. Other than the Burke Museum, there's not a lot of interest for visitors in the U District, I don't think--I don't think of it as a particular "cool" area if you're not a student and IMO the restaurants on the Ave are pretty "eh"--there are better ethnic restaurants elsewhere.

There's nothing going on at the airport so I wouldn't stay there your first night if you can avoid it (unless you're getting in very late), although you might have trouble finding something downtown next week due to a huge Microsoft conference.

But the week after should be fine and staying downtown will save you a bit of time getting to the airport--heading south from downtown there shouldn't be much traffic (allow 25-30 minutes) but heading south from the U District through downtown there will be traffic.

Consider dropping the car off when you get back to Seattle the night before and saving the cost of parking as well as the time involved in returning the car.

NWWanderer- thanks for your thoughts. We are staying Wed. the 23rd at the Sheraton downtown (got the room via Priceline). I figured there must be something going on starting the 28th because I've been striking out on Pricline for a 4 star downtown on the 28th (started at $120 & have bid all the way up to $165 in $5 increments- we got the Sheraton for $120). I thought it would be easier to see downtown on Monday the 28th if we had a room but my wife is not an early morning person so suggested staying at the airport that Monday night. If we do this, we won't head that way until later in the evening so we wouldn't have to worry about being stuck out by the airport on Monday night with nothing to do. Right now, we plan to return the car Tuesday morning at the airport but could probably change that when we pick the car up. Again, great thoughts so thank you!

Downtown Seattle is lovely---I work there and am happy to be there every day, especially in the summer. It is alive with restaurants, shops, and lots of people. The airport area is a wasteland---nothing to see or do outside of your hotel.

I would suggest you change your car rental to return it downtown the night before, stay downtown, and take a taxi or the Grayline airporter bus to the airport in the morning. For hotels, try the Mayflower, the Warwick (with an Airporter pickup), the Vintage Park, Hotel Max, etc., for smaller, less expensive but still well-located downtown hotels.

i understand your wife. if your luggage is WELL concealed in your car all day, and you do not cherish the use of a room during the day, heading out to the airport after dinner would not take much away from your stay. in fact, it might alleviate a bit of stress.

however, being in town all day with no hotel room can be uncomfortable for some people.

you should be quite lucky on priceline at the airport.

also, have you tried hotwire.com for downtown yet? at www.betterbidding.com they have a hotwire hotel list so you can almost be sure which hotel they are offering.

In your specific situation, I don't think staying at a SeaTac hotel is a bad idea, heading there after a nice dinner in Seattle.

If you choose to stay in downtown, The Mayflower Park Hotel is great.

I would not recommend the University District. I know some people like it, but it's one of my least favorite areas of the city. I could call it anything but "cool". It's a student district and kind of run-down imo, plus not particularly convenient if dinner downtown is what you're planning to do.

You don't say when, or even IF you're flying out of Sea Tac sometime on Tuesday.

IF you are flying out not long after the 8:30am rental return time, then I would just commit to an airport area hotel, because you're not long for the area anyway, and it gives your wife every last minute in the morning.

Forget the U District... it isn't as unique as are many other such places - it blends in with the big city for the most part, and particularly so during summer. Not only that, but it is opposite the airport from downtown.

It wouldn't do a great amount of good to pay extra to stay downtown, and still more for a night of useless parking at that hotel, all for the right to fight a.m. rush hour traffic in an area you don't know, when needing to be back at the airport at 8:30am.

If really lucky, you'll land a hotel right across the street from the airport main entrance, and afford yourself as much time as possible. (use Priceline for sure)

Take a long, late evening sightseeing (self-guided) tour of downtown Seattle on Monday night... complete with some of the longest days of the year still in effect in the north. Then just head by car to your Sea Tac area hotel.

Hope this makes sense.

There will definitely be less traffic on I-5 after dinner time in the evening on a Monday, then there will be on a Tuesday morning.

Thanks everyone! I appreciate the help. I think we are going to try to snag something on Priceline out by the airport. Our flight is out of Sea Tac on Tuesday morning around 10:30. Thanks again!