Washington away game--hotels?

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Doc1001

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Looking for a nice hotel--maybe scenic-about 20 miles north of the seattle airport. Do i have to go all the way up to Everett to get one? Its about 120 dollar uber ride from airport to Everett. Yes i could rent a car but just checking. And i think most of the fun things to explore seem to be toward the north suburbs. Anyone familiar with the Seattle layout?
 

Doc1001 said:
Looking for a nice hotel--maybe scenic-about 20 miles north of the seattle airport. Do i have to go all the way up to Everett to get one? Its about 120 dollar uber ride from airport to Everett. Yes i could rent a car but just checking. And i think most of the fun things to explore seem to be toward the north suburbs. Anyone familiar with the Seattle layout?
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Seattle proper is where you want to be for fun things to explore. Pike Place, Space Needle (Seattle Center area), Museum of Pop Culture, etc. There's a bunch of cool neighborhoods too like Ballard, Fremont, South Lake Union, Queen Anne, Capital Hill...great way to get the local vibe. Also of course the University District.
 

The Woodmark is a beautiful hotel in Kirkland right on Lake Washington, and only about 7 miles from the UW campus. I’ve stayed there multiple times for business and loved it.

thewoodmark.com
 

WindyCityGopher said:
The Woodmark is a beautiful hotel in Kirkland right on Lake Washington, and only about 7 miles from the UW campus. I’ve stayed there multiple times for business and loved it.

thewoodmark.com
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$700 a night? Am I looking at the right place?
 











We'll be staying at my Brother's house outside of Tacoma. Looking forward to the trip to the pacific northwest but at this point I am not sure if it is going to be a flight and a four day weekend, or a leisurely drive including some national parks and a week off to accomplish it.
 

Schnauzer said:
We'll be staying at my Brother's house outside of Tacoma. Looking forward to the trip to the pacific northwest but at this point I am not sure if it is going to be a flight and a four day weekend, or a leisurely drive including some national parks and a week off to accomplish it.
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rent a car, drive there and fly home
 




Schnauzer said:
We'll be staying at my Brother's house outside of Tacoma. Looking forward to the trip to the pacific northwest but at this point I am not sure if it is going to be a flight and a four day weekend, or a leisurely drive including some national parks and a week off to accomplish it.
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For a day trip I highly recommend driving a little more than an hour north of downtown Seattle to Larrabee State Park, just south of Bellingham.

Also lots of good eateries and brew pubs in the Bellingham area, might be worth it to stay the night.
 

Ope3 said:
For a day trip I highly recommend driving a little more than an hour north of downtown Seattle to Larrabee State Park, just south of Bellingham.

Also lots of good eateries and brew pubs in the Bellingham area, might be worth it to stay the night.
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Was in Seattle with my wife and boys last August, and although we didn't make it that far north, if you're going to stay for a night that far north, and the schedule permits, a traveler might want to look into taking a ferry from Anacortes over to Friday Harbor on the San Juans. Fantastic ferry ride with great views, and we got there on the first ferry of the day and made our way over to Rocky Bay Cafe for a wonderful breakfast and went whale watching. There are resident pods of whales in the area, so there are discoverable year round. Great town to walk around with neat little shops and some good/great food options. We missed our ferry back just because we wanted to keep hanging around. Loved it so much I started looking at real estate on the island.
 

Haven't been to Seattle for over 10 years, but last we went we stayed in a neighborhood called Ballard which was nice and felt somewhat like NE Mpls.

Would not be surprised if things have changed a lot since then and very expensive.
 

Whenever I go to Seattle, I make the 2 hour drive north to Vancouver BC. Also went further north to Whistler. Whistler is very nice and quaint.
 

GopherGrit said:
Haven't been to Seattle for over 10 years, but last we went we stayed in a neighborhood called Ballard which was nice and felt somewhat like NE Mpls.

Would not be surprised if things have changed a lot since then and very expensive.
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Ballard reminds me of Uptown.
 

Hubie29 said:
Whenever I go to Seattle, I make the 2 hour drive north to Vancouver BC. Also went further north to Whistler. Whistler is very nice and quaint.
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That's a hell of a drive to Seattle and back from Whistler. Vancouver BC is gorgeous, one of my favorite cities in the world.
 

WindyCityGopher said:
That's a hell of a drive to Seattle and back from Whistler. Vancouver BC is gorgeous, one of my favorite cities in the world.
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It's not even a 2 hour drive, and well worth it. If you are in Vancouver, you might as well drive another 2 hours. The scenery alone makes it worth the drive.
 

Hubie29 said:
It's not even a 2 hour drive, and well worth it. If you are in Vancouver, you might as well drive another 2 hours. The scenery alone makes it worth the drive.
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It's a 2 hour drive from Vancouver to Seattle, but it's double that from Whistler. And I agree, it's a gorgeous drive.
 

We are saying the same thing. It's 4 hours from Seattle to Whistler. Vancouver right in the middle. If you drive 2 hours to Vancouver and spend a few days, take a day and drive another 2 hours to Whistler.
 

Hubie29 said:
We are saying the same thing. It's 4 hours from Seattle to Whistler. Vancouver right in the middle. If you drive 2 hours to Vancouver and spend a few days, take a day and drive another 2 hours to Whistler.
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It is 3 hours, 55 minutes from Minneapolis to Lutsen - as sort of an interesting comparison. With Duluth somewhat in the middle.
 

OP, I think you may need to factor how long your stay is, what would be must-do's, what your interest is, size and makeup of your party and are you renting a car. If you want to see the city, Everett is a bit far, not crazy, but 40 minutes is typical from there to downtown Seattle. You have Rainier National Park to the south, Hoh Rainforest in the Olympics on the Peninsula to the west, with ferry options for your vehicle, and are at the foot of the Cascades (Snoqualmie Pass) to the east, with small mountain towns and lodging options if you want to stay away from the density. If you don't want to rent a car, but still want to check out the City, Ballard has light rail options to downtown, SeaTac airport and both the UDistrict (their Dinkytown) and a stop right at the stadium. The Mariners have a weekend series vs the Angels and Tix are similar in price to the Twins, and it is a nice ballpark. If you are mobile, definitely check out the natural scenery. As others suggest, San Juan Islands, Bellingham and Vancouver (passport needed) are all great options up north. Also a full day option is Leavenworth, a Bavarian-themed town with a big pavilion/plaza area in the heart of town, surrounded by great hiking options. Also, check out McMenamins, it is a PNW-only company that rehabs old properties and turns them into unique hotels with bars, restaurants and events. There is one in Bothell that is pretty cool called the Anderson School. Since the Gophers are now coming to this region, you can have fun checking them all out, some are in really nice locations.

I have only lived over here for 5 years (Everett, now Tacoma), so I am not going to have the best knowledge, but I will offer opinions where I can.
 
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Ramblin Man said:
OP, I think you may need to factor how long your stay is, what would be must-do's, what your interest is, size and makeup of your party and are you renting a car. If you want to see the city, Everett is a bit far, not crazy, but 40 minutes is typical from there to downtown Seattle. You have Rainier National Park to the south, Hoh Rainforest in the Olympics on the Peninsula to the west, with ferry options for your vehicle, and are at the foot of the Cascades (Snoqualmie Pass) to the east, with small mountain towns and lodging options if you want to stay away from the density. If you don't want to rent a car, but still want to check out the City, Ballard has light rail options to downtown, SeaTac airport and both the UDistrict (their Dinkytown) and a stop right at the stadium. The Mariners have a weekend series vs the Angels and Tix are similar in price to the Twins, and it is a nice ballpark. If you are mobile, definitely check out the natural scenery. As others suggest, San Juan Islands, Bellingham and Vancouver (passport needed) are all great options up north. Also a full day option is Leavenworth, a Bavarian-themed town with a big pavilion/plaza area in the heart of town, surrounded by great hiking options. Also, check out McMenamins, it is a PNW-only company that rehabs old properties and turns them into unique hotels with bars, restaurants and events. There is one in Bothell that is pretty cool called the Anderson School. Since the Gophers are now coming to this region, you can have fun checking them all out, some are in really nice locations.

I have only lived over here for 5 years (Everett, now Tacoma), so I am not going to have the best knowledge, but I will offer opinions where I can.
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Agree 100% with all your takes. Also tons of good seafood options everywhere up and down the coast. Would highly recommend Saltys in West Seattle.

www.saltys.com

Salty's Waterfront Seafood Grills Seattle (Alki Beach) - saltys.com

Salty's on Alki Beach. Waterfront Seafood Grills in West Seattle. Waterfront outdoor dining with heated tents. Refining Winter Dining. Take Out menu available. Reservations available.
www.saltys.com www.saltys.com
 

I was just out there a few months ago. Stayed with a friend. But if you're going to Pike Place, definitely check out "Pike Place Chowder". Get a sourdough bowl with the clam chowder. Absolutely incredible.
 

Hubie29 said:
It's not even a 2 hour drive, and well worth it. If you are in Vancouver, you might as well drive another 2 hours. The scenery alone makes it worth the drive.
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Google Maps is saying 2.5 hours. The one time we made that drive 10 years ago it was smooth sailing until you got to the part where the Canadian side highway going into town starts bending up north ... from that point it was clogged the entire way with traffic.

We were staying in an Airbnb in a residential neighborhood in N Vancouver and felt like an eternity to get up there. Was probably a Friday, so maybe it's like summers in Minnesota with people going up to cabins.


One awful thing about Vancouver for me was, none of their damn roads have any left turn lanes! One a__hole at the front waiting to turn left, holds everyone in line up! The worst.
 

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