I am planning on visiting the Seattle area, at the end of summer around September 1st (before or after). When does the height of the tourist season end? When do children in the Seattle area go back to grade school and high school? Do the number of tourists decrease and the availability of hotels increase once the children are back in school? Anything else that I should work around that goes on that time of year?

Thank you,
Dennis

The tourist season starts to slack off after Labor Day though our summer tends to go into late October or even mid-November. Anytime after mid-September should leave you pretty well free of tourists, though things might change now that we (and the Seahawks) have gotten a bit more exposure.

One of Seattle's bigger festivals, Bumbershoot, takes place over the Labor Day weekend at the Seattle Center. http://www.bumbershoot.org/

Expect huge crowds and lots of interesting things to see, do, and hear.

Funny living in Seattle and working downtown I really don't notice huge amounts of tourists.

Sure at Pike Place Market in the height of the summer, I guess.

I would assume the answer to your question would have to be yes (to availability of hotels once school starts, but that would be school for the tourist's kids so that they went back home, not the local school's schedule that would affect you).

As above, Bumbershoot is a wonderful local festival over Labor Day weekend each year.

if you plan on visiting and staying at any of the beautiful areas outside Seattle (San Juan Islands,north cascades to Winthrop,Port Townsend or such) then you will definitely have MUCH more availability in those types of areas after mid Sept.

Right after labor day is a great time to visit the natural attractions of the region-the kids are back in school but the weather is still good. I agree with Suze that Seattle isn't so overwhelmed with tourists that it really matters, for city stuff, whether to wait until after Labor Day or not (except maybe for hotel availability, but I'm not sure, since business travelers keep the hotels busy year round).

ttt for dennis