Seattle Hotel Choice and Other Questions
 

We'll be vacationing in Seattle the first week in September. I was here for a conference ten years ago and stayed at the Inn At Harbor Steps (great!), which is now unfortunately.closed. This will be my wife's first visit, and her walking ability may be limited due to an ankle injury. The Mayflower Park looks like a good choice, but unfortunately they have no rooms with king sized beds, which we prefer. We were also considering either the Hotel Andra or possibly the Hotel Alexis as they appear to be both located downtown within a reasonable walking distance to Pike Place Market. We were thinking of possibly staying the first night in Bellevue, as we want to check out Snoqualmie Falls and possibly the glass or car museum in Tacoma. We'd rent a car from there, return it the next day, and take a cab/shuttle to Seattle - or we could just stay in downtown Seattle from day one and rent a car from there.
Also considering the various tours: city tour, water tours - harbor tour, Tillicum Village, etc.
Also considering checking out West Seattle/Alki Beach. Can anyone help us put together a multi-day itinerary?

"Multi-" has several meanings, including "many" and "more than one." In what sense are you using the prefix?

Considering your wife's ankle injury, I suggest you stay at a hotel in the heart of the retail, dining and entertainment core, which is centered on 5th Avenue and Pine Street.

If you visit Snoqualmie Falls and Tacoma museums from Bellevue rather than from Seattle, you will be six miles closer to the falls and five miles farther from the museums. It's a wash.

I suggest your visit include a day trip to Mt. Rainier and an Argosy boat tour through our locks.

HTtY

We stayed at The Alexis. We really like Kimpton Hotels. Join the In Touch program for free wifi and other perks. They have wine hour each night and coffee in the mornings.

The Alexis (very nice) but will be walking uphill toward the entertainment core of 5th & Pine, Pike Place Market, shopping etc...walking & hills are going to be a challenge.

You can look on VBRO almost all of the units at Inn at Harbor Steps are now listed there.

I'd get a rental car for the whole time and plan things around it.

HTTY suggestions are great; not a lot of walking. If you don't want to the Argosy boat tour, you can drive to the Hiram Chittenden Locks. There are nice benches, beautiful green grass & flower gardens and you can watch the boats all day long. On Sunday they often have guest chamber music bands.
On Sunday you can have seafood Buffett Brunch near the Locks at Ivars Salmon House on Lake Union. Or go on another day and get a picnic from Pike Place Market.

If you want to stay on the East Lake Washington side I'd suggest The Woodmark (has King beds)and dinner at Café Juanita. (You can do this same Itinerary from Inn At Harbor Steps VBRO)

So an itinerary might look like this (may need to alter for weather):

Day 1 Fly in, p/u rental car, drive to Kirkland, stay at Woodmark on Lake Washington

Day 2 Drive to Mt. Rainer, whole day

Day 3 Drive to Snoqualmie Falls for lunch or Tacoma Glass Museum

Day 4 Check out Woodmark go to downtown Hotel, Pike Place lunch, shopping etc.

Day 5 Argosy Locks tour or drive & Pike Place picnic(if Sunday have seafood Buffet at Ivars on Lake Union)

Day 6 West Seattle/Alki drive (if Sunday have seafood Brunch Buffet at Salty's on Elliot Bay.)

Day 7 Fly home

great suggestions......thank you!

1JAR: nice itinerary!

Hi Mrace, I have a bad hip so that Seattle walking is something I sympathize with. I found the Marriott Seattle Waterfront to be a great choice. It has rooms with spectacular views. There is good dining right across the street. It is on the "flat" with all the seaside entertainment, like the aquarium. About two blocks away there is an elevator that takes you right up into the middle of Pike Place Market. You have to look a little, or ask, but it's in the back of the parking garage across from the aquarium. One of the guards at the aquarium pointed it out to me. You can also get on the trolley at the Marriott to get to other sights around town. So in conclusion, although it is at the bottom of the hill, the Marriott is a good choice for all us gimpy people.

Don't know if you qualify, but the Marriott often has good senior and AAA discount rates.

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/trave...tt-waterfront/

<i>You can also get on the trolley at the Marriott to get to other sights around town.</i>

The trolley stopped running on November 18, 2005. The Marriott is a lovely place to stay and it is .3 miles from the Aquarium which is handy if that's the only place to which you want to walk.

<i>About two blocks away there is an elevator that takes you right up into the middle of Pike Place Market.</i>

Also, an elevator right next to the Marriott will take you a block or two from the north edge of Pike Place Market. Ascending on either elevator includes walking up grades.

HTtY

Oops....sorry. Since the trolley stations are still in place along that route I did not realize the actual cars had been put into storage. There is transportation however for those who arent good walkers. The #99 bus services the same route and more.

From the Tolley web site:

<I>"The waterfront area served by the Seattle waterfront trolley is now more or less served by Metro Bus Route #99. The route number is 99 to honor the route number used by the waterfront trolley. Initially the buses were wrapped to look like a trolley and they ran a route almost identical to the streetcars, running both north and south along Alaskan Way.

The #99 Metro bus is no longer painted or wrapped to look like a trolley and currently looks like any other Metro Transit bus. The route has been changed and now the bus runs southbound only along Alaskan Way and after making a loop through the international district, runs northbound along First Avenue and turns west on Broad Street to complete the loop. It isn't as convenient for people who only want to travel north along the waterfront. The bus doesn't have the charm of the antique streetcars and the route is different, but apparently in an effort to compensate for the loss of the trolleys,<u> the Metro Route #99 bus is free</u>.</I>

A new service begins May 17: www.emeraldcitytrolley.com. According to their web page it is a hop-on-hop-off bus. There are three routes that include all of the attractions that people normally visit when in Seattle for the first time. I obviously haven't tried it (duh), but I think it is the answer to many of the questions on this forum about where to see and how to travel between sites.

the marriott seattle waterfront sounds like a good option, along with the emerald city trolley.

The Emerald City Trolley looks like a grand option, <b>if you are inclined to spend $100 a couple for a TWO-DAY bus pass!!!!</b>.

Mom, Dad, and one child??? $120 <b>and no discount with the <I>family plan</I></b> (The next two kids are <I>free</I>, admittedly).

<b>In order to make that cost effective</b>, you need to be a couple with three kids, AND you need to board the bus @ 9am, <I><b>tie the kids to a seat</b></I> for the day, and then go off on your own as a couple. Then you'll have to repeat that plan the next day!

And heaven forbid you just miss the Emerald City Trolley returning from the Museum of Flight. It's only <b>an hour and fifty minutes</b> until the next one. (and of course the city bus #124 runs right out front every 20 or 30 minutes for a <I>competitive</I> $2.50 each way, and it gets you right downtown, vs. having to <b>transfer at Seattle Center to get downtown via the Emerald City Trolley</b>).


PS - The Metro Route #99 does not seem to be "free" as was stated earlier.

NorthwestMale: Uh........on second thought, city bus #124 is looking like a good option! :)

I am eager to witness whether the non-competitive pricing is a hit, or a miss, with regard to that Emerald City Trolley.

I'm anticipating half the tourists (those who <b>can</b> afford to drop $100 like that on bus fare) walking along Pike street on the side of the Hard Rock Café, and the other half meandering along over by the Target store.

In all fairness, though, we need to put the Trolley stop next to the Hard Rock Café, and the Teriyaki place on the corner next to the Target Store (so nobody will have reason to cross the street).

With that sort of a revenue stream, you would think those pinheads would make a <b>visible, permanent bus stop</b> instead of the Gray Line idea, which was to put the easel out with the first run in the morning. At $49 a pop, you can't afford to have customers who <I>can't find</I> your business.

At $49 for two days (in a city with a great bus system [no matter threatened cutbacks]) you could instead have <b>twenty</b> bus fares on Metro. There just isn't really <b>time</b> for twenty unique transfers to run-out in two days (particularly as the comparable "two-day" period spans no more than 33 hours).

i have not played with the app in Seattle since we know it enough and mostly just walk. But in other cities, I've found that if you use Google Maps on our smart phone, and hit the "bus" icon it will give you directions and a map for the best mass transit options near you.

Note that if you do it at home on your computer, you can also set the "leave" time for the time you would actually be taking the bus.

<i>the marriott seattle waterfront sounds like a good option, along with the emerald city trolley.</i>

The trolley is just the thing for a couple that has a spare $90 and lots of time to wait around for the next trolley to show up.

Others might prefer a more central location and public transport, which will cost far less than $90 for two days.

HTtY

If you want to be right at Pike and close to retail have you considered The Inn at the Market? The Alexis is a great hotel close to Pike, Downtown retails and Pioneer Square though several blocks from each. Easy to walk unless it's hard to, but buses run up and down. Personally I'd stay in one place and rent a car to get to Snoqualmie Falls and Tacoma unless you're super interested in Bellevue. Also, have you thought about spending one night at the Snoqualmie Falls Lodge? It's beautiful, you're literally right there and they have a great restaurant. If you like water the Argosy cruise is a great option. There's also the Duck tour though I must admit some of us locals have fun with it. One really fun tour is a night time tour of Pike Place Market...The Haunted Tour. There's also the Underground Tour in Pioneer Square. We also have a new Ferris wheel ala London Eye style at the waterfront.

to chevre: The Inn at the Market is a great option, but an expensive one. The Alexis looks like a good choice, even though it's an uphill walk to tourist attractions. We're also considering the Sheraton which seems to be a short walk to PP Market. We're also strongly considering staying at the Woodmark in Kirkland for an evening for the Falls/Tacoma leg of the trip. We'll have to weigh that option vs. the Snoqualmie Falls Lodge. If we stay in Kirkland, we'd also think about doing an Argosy lake cruise from that area. In Seattle, we're also thinking about doing the Argosy Tillicum Village tour. We might have to choose one or the other. Regarding the Victoria Clipper ferry trip to Victoria, I'm not sure if I'm ready for 3 hours each way, even on a high speed ferry boat. Maybe that's why people choose it with the overnight in Victoria, to break it up. The float plane for the return would be a great option, except for a nervous flyer.

If you are deciding between a lake cruise and Tillicum Village, my advice would be Tillicum. Nice boat ride both ways, excellent salmon dinner, native interpretive dance performance...can't beat it.

Bobmrg: Ok, Tillicum it is! :)

<b>Trolley Report</b> <I>(because you care)</I> {that much is obvious}


Well, Thursday saw the trolleys out and about, and I was just <b>stunned to near-silence</b> upon seeing lots and lots of old people seated on the only trolley I observed during the day. Now with that I found myself confused, for I know you can (still) read on their website that day one of service is <b>Friday, May 17</b>. (Maybe that first run was an advertising gimmick, and they borrowed a group of old folks to make it look like the trolley was <I>the place to be</I> )

Today I happened to spy a trolley fairly early (before noon) and there was <b>nobody</b> on it <u>except the driver</u>. They are supposed to cross the same spot every 30 minutes, but whenever I looked up I had just missed the right time.

I guess Memorial Day weekend will be the best early gauge of how <b>incredibly overpriced</b> this <I>(potentially dumb)</I> trolley idea is... and chances are that if it doesn't fly then, it never will.

Stay tuned <I>(because you know you care)</I>.