Sightseeing In Seattle With Your Family

Seattle is one of our favorite cities. We had a cruise booked out of Seattle and wanted to extend our vacation a little bit, so we tacked on 4 days before the cruise began to be tourists in the city. Boy, are we glad we did! Some may think there aren’t many family friends things to do in Seattle – quite the opposite. We had a jam packed 4 days of fun and I’m excited to share with you our favorites from our time in SEA.

Where to Stay?

Seattle offers lots of options when it comes to hotels. You’ll see many of the normal hotels you see in every city (Westin, Hilton, etc.) and you’ll also have a good variety of boutique style hotels. When we travel, sometimes we like to venture out and try some of the smaller boutique hotels and that is what we did with this trip.

Hotel Andra caught our eye when searching for hotels in Seattle. It is a stylish 119 guestroom boutique luxury hotel ideally located in the heart of downtown Seattle. Nestled between popular South Lake Union and Belltown next to the retail core, this surrounding downtown area is thriving with food, music, art and history. Within walking distance of famous Pike Place Market, Seattle Center and the Space Needle, Hotel Ändra provides a sophisticated urban escape with first-class luxury hotel offerings.

The Scandinavian design elements are a tribute to the city’s Nordic heritage, while the use of prominent Pacific Northwest elements – water, wood and stone – is present throughout the hotel. The design reflects the contrast of modernism and sustainability – sleek and textured, light and dark, warm and cool, modern and traditional.

It was just perfect for our family. The rooms all have a great view of the city and the beds are extremely comfortable – two very important things when looking for a hotel, right? The staff was absolutely the best. We travel a lot and stay at a lot of hotels, and the staff at Hotel Andra was by far the best we have had in a very long time. It’s the little things – like the staff knowing your name and saying hi every time you pass the front desk, to the concierge making top notch suggestions when it came to restaurants and attractions nearby. You can tell customer service is one of their big things because they do it VERY well.

Because the hotel is so centrally located to a lot of attractions and restaurants, it was easy to walk to many places. 

Pike Place Market:

The image you see when you picture Seattle. That adorable fish market with little shops, restaurants, where the original Starbucks coffee shop is, and the flowers. Let’s take a moment for all the fresh flowers at Pike Place. For those who have been there (or seen pictures), you know exactly the place I’m talking about.

Before you buy tickets to all the following Seattle attractions, make sure you check out the option to get a CityPass. 

CityPass allows you to save 47% on the top 5 Seattle attractions! The CityPass ticket includes admission to: Space Needle, Seattle Aquarium, Argosy Cruises / Harbor Tour, Museum of Pop Culture or Woodland Park Zoo, and Chihuly Garden & Glass or Pacific Science Center.

We chose to use our CityPass tickets for the Space Needle, Seattle Aquarium, Argosy Harbor Tour, and the Woodland Park Zoo. The tickets were so easy to use, you could skip ticket lines and walk right in with your CityPass, and best of all — the $89 (for adult) and $69 (for kids) is a great deal if you plan to do some sightseeing in the city.

Also, did you know CityPass is in a handful of other cities across the US? I didn’t know that until this trip. What a great thing to keep in mind when we travel to some of the other CityPass locations.

Space Needle:

At 520 feet, take in panoramic views of the Emerald City. Mountain ranges covered in Douglas Firs. Elliott Bay’s bustling waterfront. The lights of downtown Seattle. Mt Rainier, ever-present from afar. Head up and see what all the oohhhs and ahhhhhs are about. Stare all you want, Seattle won’t mind. You can purchase tickets online, or at the bottom of the Space Needle.

A few tips before you go:

• Don’t forget to use your CityPass for this attraction.
• Be there as soon as they open. After 11am, it starts to get crowded.
• Your ticket is good for 1 day entrance and you can come back for 1 evening entrance to the observation deck.

Seattle Aquarium:

We spent a morning at the Seattle Aquarium and really enjoyed it. No matter the city we are in, we always want to visit the aquarium. A couple of our boys are into marine life, so we knew this was stop we had to make. From sea lions to octopuses to lots of hands on learning, the aquarium was a “two thumbs up” from us. It’s located near Pike Place, so it’s an easy walk, and it’s right on the water which makes the property that much more beautiful.

A few tips before you go:

• Don’t forget your CityPass before you go.
• Plan to spend 2+ hours.
• The earlier you can get there, the better. We were there a couple hours after they opened and it was starting to get crowded. We would recommend going right as they open if you can.
• They have great chowder if you’re in the mood to grab a snack or lunch when you visit.

Woodland Park Zoo:

Who doesn’t love a good zoo? We have a zoo membership in Nashville and usually use that membership to get in to other zoo’s across the US when we travel. Since the Woodland Park Zoo was included with our CityPass tickets, we decided to visit.

We went around 3:00pm and weren’t all that impressed. I believe it was because it was the time of day. It was a warmer day than usual and later in the day, so we didn’t see many animals out. The zoo itself is a great layout and has lots of shady areas to explore, see animals, and even eat, but we didn’t have a two thumbs up experience.

When we go back to Seattle, we will definitely give it another try and go earlier in the morning.

A few tips before you go:

• Don’t forget to take your CityPass.
• Go early in the morning when the animals will be out to see.
• Make sure to visit on a cooler day. I wouldn’t suggest going when its 80+ degrees.
• Take a lunch and have a picnic there.
• Allow yourself 2+ hours.

Argosy Harbor Tour:

We all agreed the Argosy Harbor Tour was probably our favorite thing we did in Seattle. During this 1-hour narrated cruise, you’ll learn Seattle history, be dazzled by the ever-evolving Emerald City skyline, explore the workings of our shipping port, get a close-up view of Seattle’s historic waterfront, all wrapped up in the natural beauty of Elliott Bay and the surrounding Olympic and Cascade Mountain ranges.

A few tips before you visit:

• Take your CityPass ticket with you.
• Arrange to take the first harbor cruise of the day in order to avoid crowds.
• Arrive 45 minutes before the scheduled tour time.
• Allow 2 hours for this (the 45 minutes prior to scheduled cruise + 1 hour tour time)

Amazon Go Store:

As my husband said, “It’s like voodoo”. This may be one of the most amazing stores I’ve ever been in. Amazon Go store – No lines, no checkout, just grab and go. Like, for real. If you have ever wanted to shoplift, this is the closest you can get to doing it without going to jail. (hah!)

The checkout-free shopping experience is made possible by the same types of technologies used in self-driving cars: computer vision, sensor fusion, and deep learning. The Just Walk Out Technology automatically detects when products are taken from or returned to the shelves and keeps track of them in a virtual cart. When you’re done shopping, you can just leave the store, even without a bag. Shortly after, they’ll send you a receipt and charge your Amazon account. It’s the most amazing thing. Just grab the app before you head in the store and you’re ready to go. If you’re visiting Seattle, you MUST visit Amazon Go.

What about the food?

Some of our favorite restaurants and dessert spots in Seattle:

• Etta’s
• Pike Place Chowder
• Cupcake Royale
• Assaggio Restaurante
• Rocco’s Pizza

Have you ever visited Seattle? If so, what are some of your favorite attractions/restaurants? I know we will be back and it’s always good to have a running list of places to visit.

 

 

 

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSaveSaveSave