My wife, 8 mo old son, and I will be traveling to Seattle in mid October. We are looking for a downtown hotel under $75 if possible that is decent. Also, looking for sight-seeing and restaurant ideas as well for a 3 day stay. Any recommendations on all of that?

Unless you want to stay in a 1-star hotel, you're not going to find anything decent downtown in Seattle for $75 unless you use Priceline or Hotwire. With Priceline and a 3-star hotel, you might wind up at Seattle Center (Holiday Inn for example) which is slightly north of the downtown core. Look at www.biddingfortravel.com for info on Priceline or betterbidding.com for info on both Hotwire and Priceline.

Last time I stayed in Seattle I used Priceline to get a hotel at Lake Union, which isn't far from Seattle Center but to me was a less seedy area. I got a great deal on what turned out to be a Residence Inn which was a fantastic place, would love to stay there again.

Andrew

And what sights should we see while we're out there. Is it worth it to rent a car if we're staying downtown? Should we go see Vancouver island while we're out there?

For the "usual suspect" sites, start here:

http://www.citypass.com/city/seattle.html

The basic default tourist things to do in Seattle are walking the waterfront/piers where the Aquarium and the ferry terminal are located; take a ferry ride out to Baimbridge island or something; walk through Pioneer Square (not as fun with a baby). Vancouver Island is a little much for only a 3-day trip to Seattle - I'd probably stay in Seattle.

Whether you get a car depends where exactly you stay and what you want to see. Seattle has a decent bus service although having to deal with an 8-year-old certainly makes taking the more challenging. In your situation, I would probably try for a Priceline hotel in Lake Union, where you can generally get free parking on the street, then rent a car to get to some of the sites, use the bus perhaps when you are specifically going downtown or to the waterfront.

There are lots of Seattle threads here from past discussions. Use the search function here and search for "seattle" .

Andrew

jamicah,

Make sure the hotel you pick is really downtown, not at the airport or north on Aurora Avenue. Kayak.com is showing rates under $75 for two hotels downtown that are just fine: the Ramada at 2200 Fifth Ave, and The Six Avenue Motor Inn at 2000 Sixth Ave. These are just blocks from the main retail area, on the free bus route.

The Sixth Avenue Inn was the one that came to mind, I wasn't sure their rates were that low since it didn't show on their own website. That is a decent moderate choice, in a very convenient downtown location.

(I have not stayed there but I drive by it every morning on my way to work.)

I believe The Moore Hotel is in that price range.

How far is Lake Union from the downtown touristy spots (pike place, space needle, etc)? Is it walking distance? Would I be ok with a bus or shuttle?

I stayed at the 6th ave maybe 4 years ago. Got cheap through Expedia. Normal budget hotel, nice restaurant with a fire place, there was a McD across the street, bus tours from Westin (?) hotel 1 block away.

Lake Union is within walking distance from downtown, but it might not be a pleasant walk on a rainy day. Google says that it's 1.6 miles from the Residence Inn at Lake Union to Pike Place Market.

This link will help you with making travel plans via bus (Metro):
http://transit.metrokc.gov/

Lake Union is a long walk from downtown (and thru a fairly unattractive industrial and commercial area). If the hotel offers a shuttle service you'd be OK. Or you could also check Metro bus routes to see which ones go that direction.

FainaAgain- I think the hotel you may be thinking of nearest the 6th Avenue is the Warwick where they have the Greyline Tours bus stop? (The Westin is a few more blocks over/south in central downtown.) -Suze

Ok, we ended up getting the Holiday Inn Express Downtown through priceline at a pretty reasonable rate. Besides the Space Needle and Pike Place, can you please recommend other must sees that are downtown? Wondering if we should do a harbor cruise? Also, would love some reasonably priced restaurants recommendations (that are baby friendly). Thanks!

A harbor cruise would be a nice thing to do. Or you could simply ride the regular ferry out to Bremerton, and turn around and come back. This would be fun and easy to do with a kid/stroller. It gives a beautiful view of the skyline, and is cheaper (I assume) then the Argus tours.

For restaurants, you will find many casual places in and around the Pike Place Market for sandwiches, etc. A bit fancier but not too much, and family friendly, is Cutter's which has a view and is right on the water at the north end of the Market.

Another part of town you might like to see is Pioneer Square Historic District. You just continue south on 1st from Pike Place about 6 blocks or so. There are lots of shops and good places to eat there too. Elliott Bay Book Store is great.