Seattle in March and Car necessary?
 

Hi all-

I'm tentatively planning a trip to Seattle in March and was wondering if you could tell me what the weather is like that time of year? Also, we'll only have 4 days there (coming from NYC).. Would a car be necessary?
We enjoy nature, art and sightseeing.

(1) Probably wet at least part of the time. Seattle March and NYC March are not terribly different.

(2) You won't need a car to visit the in-town attractions, but you might rent one for a day or two if you want to get out of town to see some sights. Numerous car agencies are located downtown, so you don't need to get one right at the airport.

There is a free bus zone that covers much of downtown, so if your interests lie in that area no car will be required. Not much nature downtown, except for Freeway Park, which overlies I-5. The aquarium is on the waterfront (duh). The Waterfront Trolley is out of action for a couple of years. Lots of boat tours available, and I recommend that you take at least one...Blake Island would be my suggestion.

For historical weather data, go to www.weatherbase.com.

Bob Gardner

As above, no car needed for getting to and from the airport or for city sight-seeing, but since you mention nature, you'd likely want a car for at least one day to take a drive in the surrounding countryside.

oh yes, and it is likely to be raining at least part of the time

If you want to get out of town you'll need a car except for places like Bainbridge Island--accessible by ferry. Maybe you will want a car for a day trip.

Seattle's bus system is OK but it's nothing at all like NYC's subway system, so be prepared. There is a "ride free" zone in the immediate downtown area but it ends at 7PM. There's a monorail that is kind of a toy, goes all of about one mile to Seattle Center.

But downtown is pretty walkable. As others have said, you might rent a car for a day - pick up and drop off downtown. You might look into the rate to rent a car. The big expense might be parking it whever you will be staying. If you wish to get out of downtown (probably), you will most definitely want a car, especially if it is nice weather (but you should expect rain in March).

Andrew

Andrew's information with regard to the monorail is slightly out of date. Due to a collision between the two cars (operator error), the monorail is shut down for the rest of the year and maybe longer. The long-term viability of the monorail itself is in doubt if the costs to get it running again are too high.

Bob Gardner

<i>Andrew's information with regard to the monorail is slightly out of date.</i>

As is yours. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transp...onorail10.html