jurisdoctor

I need help estimating how much time I need to get to Seattle/Tacoma airport from Seattle city center.

I'm planning to spend a couple of days sightseeing in Seattle in mid-July. No hotel reserved yet, but I like to stay in the center of things. I'm looking to return home on an 8:40 am SouthWest flight from Sea-Tac airport. I don't know the airport and I don't know what it's like to travel from central Seattle to the airport on an early Monday morning. I'd appreciate suggestions on how many hours I should allow to get to the airport by taxi (if it's not frightfully expensive) and by bus or van (if that's how the natives do it).

Thanks very much.

christy1

This should only be a 15-20 minute drive if there's no traffic, as long as you take a cab and go via Hwys 99 and 509. The cab fare I think is $30 or so. I think any cabbie would naturally take the route I specified, since going via I-5 would mean a longer route and VERY heavy traffic, but I would still tell the driver that I wanted to go via the highways I mentioned. There shouldn't be much traffic even during rush hour on this route, but maybe to be safe give it an extra 10 minutes or so (meaning, leave 30 minutes before you wanted to be at the airport).

There is a Grayliner that is only about $10 and stops at many downtown hotels (there is more info on this on the airport website), but, since it does stop so many places, I have no idea how long it takes them to get to the airport.

red_dog

jurisdoctor, You will enjoy Seattle a lot! It's a fantastic city with amazing scenery. Make sure you see the bay, the aquarium, pikes place market, and the space needle.

Don't bother driving down to Portland, Oregon unless you wanna see a huge ghetto.

Have fun in Seattle!

starrsville

Discount the troll.

Scarlett

Down red dog, down.

Gardyloo

For an 8:40AM flight from Seattle on Southwest (where you need to be there early in order to get a good seat using their boarding system) you'll need to be at the airport no later than 7 or 7:15 I'd think. Thus leaving downtown before 7 and going against commuter traffic, I can't imagine it taking more than 25 minutes from hotel to airport. $30 is about right for a cab, which I'd use.

Alternatively you could find a cheap hotel near the airport (plenty of deals on Priceline) you could speed that up even more, use their shuttle and save more money in the process.

suze

I take a taxi (I'm local). Posted rates on Yellow Cab from downtown to the airport are $28 (it's usually a little more than that for some reason). Allow 1/2 hour for the drive.

Spokaneman

Going to the Southwest gates, leave yourself way more time than you think is reasonable to get through security, its a bear for the Southwest gates on a Monday morning, peak time.