In today’s Travel Tuesdays post I’m sharing my travel guide to Seattle! I spent a long weekend in the Emerald City earlier this month. I used my Southwest points to book my flight and then added Michael as my companion with my Southwest Companion Pass so the trip out west was essentially free! We met up with a couple of friends and stayed at this Airbnb. I highly recommend this spot if you’re traveling with 3 or 4 people. The Airbnb was located in a great spot, easy to walk to a lot of restaurants and coffee shops, and a close Uber ride to downtown.
Day 1
We arrived Friday evening and went to Tavern Law for cocktails and Bar Cotto for dinner. Tavern Law is a really cool local spot in the Capitol Hill area. If you’re looking for an evening drink, definitely check this spot out! Bar Cotto is known for their salumi boards and brick oven pizza so of course we had to try out both. Two thumbs up for this casual neighborhood spot!
Day 2
On our first morning in Seattle, we visited Pike Place Market. This is a MUST! I expected it to be super touristy, which it was, but it’s also packed with locals buying fresh flowers, seafood, and veggies for the week! Also near Pike Place is the original Starbucks! If you’re willing to stand in the crazy long line, you can grab a cup of joe and be super official – I just opted for a photo out front. I’m pretty sure the coffee tastes the same as all the other Starbucks …
Pike Place is very close to the water. Definitely take a stroll down to Pier 57 to check out the restaurants and Seattle’s Ferris Wheel!
Also near Pike Place, the Gum Wall. It’s as gross as you’d imagine, but worth stopping by. It’s actually pretty small. It’s a quick pitstop.
One of my favorite things about Seattle is that there is water everywhere! There are also so many parks and “beaches” along the water. I loved Gas Works Park. It’s an old gas plant that has been turned into a park – it’s really cool, and I imagine it’s even nicer when it’s not rainy and super windy!
If it is ever rainy and super windy, there are still plenty of fun things to do in Seattle, you can check out some of the exquisite restaurants, libraries, museums, and you can even stay at a hotel in Seattle. No matter what the weather is in the city – you can have a blast! I love getting involved with sightseeing and checking out the tourist attractions wherever I travel to. It’s great to explore new places and have a picture next to famous landmarks aswell! There are loads of great attractions in Seattle and I wasn’t sure which one I wanted to go to first. If you want to save some money on attraction entry fees whilst you’re in the area, it might be worth buying a Seattle CityPass. I know a few people who have used them before and they save a lot of money!
Another great feature of Seattle, there are tons of local craft breweries! We visited Fremont Brewing, which is within walking distance from Gas Works Park. The space is really cool – they have tons of outdoor tables that face the water so you can look out at all of the boats docked while sipping your brew! Another perk is that the tables are covered with high tents so even if it’s dreary (or pouring rain like it was when we were there), you can still sit outside and stay dry!
After spending time at Fremont, we went to Paseo to grab a quick sandwich for lunch. This is definitely a local, whole in the wall type place. It’s super popular among locals, but I might opt for something else if I were to go back …
We wandered around downtown for the rest of the afternoon and hit up Barrio for dinner. This place is outstanding! The space is super cool, great atmosphere, awesome service, delicious food, and it is in walking distance from the Airbnb where we stayed.
Day 3
Sunday morning we walked over to Bakery Nouveau for coffee and croissants (and macaroons!). This place is awesome – definitely get a chocolate croissants, you won’t regret it!
After fueling up on caffeine, we made our way to the Space Needle. You can’t go to Seattle and not see the Space Needle! If you’ve never been before, definitely add this to your list. It doesn’t take up that much time, and it’s definitely worth the views!
We took a lunch break back over near Pike Place at Elliot’s Oyster House. I would suggest skipping this spot. The service was slow and it was pretty pricey for what it was. That afternoon we checked out Alki beach, which while the views were nice, it’s not much of a beach. The better views (and best in my opinion) are from Kerry Park. Kerry Park is a small urban park in a very nice neighborhood. The homes are beautiful and you can’t beat the views of the city!
After visiting Kerry Park, we went to the Ballard neighborhood where there are tons of breweries within walking distance of each other. We hit up Reuben’s Brews, Stoup Brewing, and Lucky Envelope. I loved all three spots, but Stoup Brewing was definitely my favorite. They have a really cool indoor/outdoor setup!
We attempted to catch sunset at the Thompson Hotel rooftop, but it was cloudy and raining so although we missed the sunset, the rooftop has great views of the city and even has a tent covering the patio so we were still able to sit outside and enjoy the views even with the rain. For dinner we asked our waiter for a few recommendations and ended up at the Pink Door. Please do yourself a favor and read the description of the restaurant on their site! There is no sign out front, simply a pink door. The food was amazing and the service was great. A really fun way to end our weekend trip!
Where To Stay
Where To Eat
- Stoneburner
- Walrus and the Carpenter *on my list for next time!
- Bastille *on my list for next time!
- Bitterroot
- Skillet
- Bar Vacilando
- Volunteer Park Cafe
- Von’s
- Serious Pie
- Tutta Bella
- Bathtub Gin
- Il Corvo
- The London Plane
- Black Bottle
- Barrio
- Mamnoon
- Poquitos
- Frolik
- Garage Billiards
- Terra Plata
- Sitka and Spruce
- Lark
- Oddfellows
- Westward *on my list for next time!
- Canon *on my list for next time!
- Delancey
- Paseo
- Fremont Brewing
- Georgetown Brewing
- Lucky Envelope Brewing
- Stoup Brewing
- Reuben’s Brews
Things To Do
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Pike Place Market
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Gum Wall
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Original Starbucks
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Space Needle
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Breweries
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Alki Beach
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Gas Works Park
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Kerry Park
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Check out the house boats
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If it’s warm, take a sailboat tour *on my list for next time!
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Visit the Cascades *on my list for next time!
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Day trip to Vancouver *on my list for next time!
Outfit 1 Details: Old Navy Jeans c/o | Old Navy Sweater c/o | lou lou Plaid Scarf c/o (seen here) | J.Crew Jacket (old, similar) | Bean Boots | Vera Bradley Satchel c/o
Outfit 2 Details: Zara Scarf (old, similar) | Black Top | Grey Cardigan (favorite!) | Dolce Vita Ankle Boots | Denim | Vera Bradley Satchel c/o
On another travel note, interested in learning more about my favorite credit card that I use for travel (earn 2x points on any travel purchase!)?! Check out this post and compare my favorite card with other travel cards here!
Great guide, Ashlee! We almost had to MOVE there at one point this year (!!). We thought for a few weeks Chris was going to get transferred to Seattle for work. I’m happy it didn’t go through (because it’s so far from family), but your pictures sure do make we want to visit there!!! XO –
Anna | http://www.parkavenueblogger.com
Thanks Anna! It really is such a cool city! But you’re right, the only drawback is that it’s really far away from A LOT of other places! Y’all should definitely plan a trip to visit though!
-Ashlee