Customer Reviews

Lonely Planet Seattle

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My wife and I have traveled the world to all but four countries using Lonely Planet and as always Lonely Planet is the only book to travel with. A bit of information on Seattle travel expenses. For a USA city, Seattle is very expensive to visit (about 38% more than the average USA city). We have friends of 40 years who relocated to Seattle and they too say it is expensive. Eating for two in a standard lunch restaurant is going to cost $60 (with gratuity).
I spent two months researching Seattle rooms (talking with hotel concierges and club member services). All room rates are hiked 40% for the summer months (May-mid Sept). All the rooms are small in square footage - similiar to NYC. The lodging with the largest rooms is Springhill Suites by Marriott on Yale Avenue. This was confirmed by fellow experienced travelers we met at Springhill - having done the same research as myself.
Due to their major highways (I-5, and others) needing to be wider I would opt to stay in downtown otherwise you will spend 30% of your time in the car. If you want to travel to Vancouver Island (during the summer season)- make your reservations a month in advance.
Their intra bus service does not provide good information on their web. Inside the inner city, all bus service is free (due to their lack of parking facilities and too many cars). On the weekend (Fri-Sun) one can purchase a weekend on-off pass for $1.50 - if you are traveling outside the inner city. Inner city is from Anthony's Seafood (excellent food and lowest priced in the city) to the Seahawk's stadium. There is still plenty of the city outside this area - and the rooms are less expensive on the fringe of the inner city.
Seattle is a beautiful city, and we will visit again. But one needs some money to visit.

This book is perfect to guide you through the must see sights and the restaurants that are convenient. As always, Lonely Planet proves to be very reliable.