Here's our guide for what you need to see in Seattle
We took our first weekend trip to Seattle and it’s safe to say we are in love! Patrick perseverated on living in the city ALL weekend and we hope to be back for an assignment. Although we were only there for a few days, we want to share our recommendations for new visitors. We ate a seemingly impossible amount of food, tried out local hot spots, and hit the major attractions. If you have ever thought about visiting… DO IT!
Lodging: It’s safe to say Seattle is not a super affordable place to find a hotel, but there are options. We checkout out airbnb, hostels, and budget hotels. We landed at The Kings Inn – https://www.kingsinnseattle.com/en-us. This motel style hotel was designed and built for the 1962 World’s Fair in Seattle. It is one of the few built during this time that still exists. Its clean and recently renovated, but without luxuries.
Attractions:
- Ferry and Bainbridge Island – As a Grey’s Anatomy fan I had to experience a ferry boat ride! We chose to take the ferry to Bainbridge Island. This is a large island in the Puget Sound, about a 30 minute ride from the pier in Seattle. The ride to the island was a little over $8 a person (free to return) and offered the same views you have to pay more on tourist boat trips. We easily walked on and had panoramic views of the Cascade Mountain Range, the Olympic Range and the impressive Mount Rainier. The island was beautiful as well and we were happy to stumble onto a local wine tasting event. So… if you have the time and want to see Seattle from the water try a local ferry ride!
- Space Needle – On Saturday night we met some other people visiting Seattle at a local brewery. We must have really looked like tourists because out of everyone there they found us to give their unused Space Needle tickets. Thanks to them we saved a significant $65 between the two of us! The views were great and we got to experience the newly renovated rotating glass floor (it was a bit scary for me). If you are planning a visit there are two things to know: 1. Tickets are pretty pricey for what you get. Look for deals/discounts before you go and make sure you don’t pay full price. 2. Plan ahead because there is a delay between buying the tickets and being able to get to the top. Even if you buy the local tourist attraction discount book, you need to switch your voucher for a ticket. When you get this ticket there is typically a 1-3 hour delay before you can get to the top due to limited space.
Pike Place Market: This market earned its own category. We spent the most time and had the most fun at Pike Place Market. This may have something to do with our love for food…. I think we are truly earning the foodies title. We started our Saturday in Seattle with a food tour of Pike Place Market. Food tours are our go to option to learn more about a new city and try a lot of local food. Our tour was with Savor Seattle – https://www.savorseattletours.com/. They offer several tour options, but the market is a great place to start.
Before I start listing the amazing places you need to visit in the market. Here are a few facts we learned during our tour.
- Businesses can only operate in the market if they originated in the market. One of the most well known coffee chains in the world, Starbucks, has a location in the market. This is where they originated and to protect the other businesses they are only allowed to sell beverages.
- Pike Place Market started out of necessity due to middlemen drastically inflating food and produce items due to a lack of competition. Farmers and producers started selling directly to the community to allow individuals to meet the makers of their food and save a lot of money. To this day it is filled with local fishmongers, produce stands, and sellers that specialize in items like honey, spices, and flowers. It is not just a tourist attraction, but also a place where locals can go to get fresh and local food.
Now to the important stuff… THE FOOD!! Here are the places we tried with our favorites at the first. This being said, absolutely every place we tried had amazing food!
1.Piroshki Piroshki – This store had a line of people outside from 9 am when we got there until 8 pm when we stopped for seconds. They serve both savory and sweet Russian pastries that are baked fresh right in the shop. You can smell the mouth watering pastries down the street. Our favorites were the chicken curry and rice, and the beef and onions.
2. Beecher’s Handmade Cheese – This cheese maker has huge vats where they continually make cheese in there store at pikes market. I could have have stood there and watched all day! We tried their curds, top selling cheddar, and mac and cheese with a kick. 10/10 would recommend them all!
3. Pike Place Chowder – Being from the east coast I was skeptical about chowder not from New England…but this stuff is seriously good. Creamy with bacon and clams, how can you go wrong! This place is famous and always packed, so going on a food tour to get a sample is not a bad way to avoid the line.
4.Daily Dozen Doughnuts – At this stand in the main building they have a machine that measures, shapes, cooks the doughnuts right in front of you. They are fresh and delicious, which is about all you can ask for.
5. Chukar Cherries – Unknown to us before moving Washington (especially the eastern part of the state) has huge vineyards and orchards. This company offers a variety of dried cherries, coated cherries, and other nut/fruit options. We were able to try 6 different samples. One of our favorites was the dried Rainier cherry. This is a cherry that is only grown in a specific region of Washington and tastes unique.
6. Ellenos Real Greek Yogurt – For a non yogurt lover this place was perfect! They make traditional greek yogurt which has all of the whey removed with fresh fruit puree on top. Our tour guide explained why it was so special. Greek yogurt by definition is supposed to be made without leaving whey, however this is about half of the product weight. So large chains leave some whey behind to save money. Unfortunately now that I had the good stuff, I don’t think I can go back!
7. Etta’s Seafood Restaurant – This is one of three restaurants in a row by James Beard Award winning Tom Douglas. We tasted some great crab cakes and caramels here which we would definitely recommend.
Bonus – Here are a few extra places you should definitely check out: Sunny Honey Company, the Famous Gum Wall, Market Spice and the Pike Place Fish Market (where they actually throw fish)!,
Restaurants:
We ate most of our food at Pike Place Market, but we did visit a few restaurants.
Japonessa – In a city known for seafood we had to eat sushi! This place is a bit pricey, however the sushi you get is amazing. We chose to get the Omakase. This is when the sushi chef chooses your selection of sushi or sashimi. We tried 7 different kinds of fish including octopus, salmon, shrimp and tuna, plus a few things we can’t remember. If you love sushi and like to try new things, get the Omakase the next time you have the option. (http://seattle.japonessa.com/)
Biscuit Bitch – We went to this brunch place on a whim on Sunday. The line out the door showed us we were at the right place (don’t be deterred by lines, this usually means the wait is worth it!). This place is a little rough around the edges, but if you have the right sense of humor it’s a lot of fun! Their menu is centered around delicious biscuits and sausage gravy with different toppings. Like most other places in Seattle they also serve coffee. Patrick had coffee 2 of 3 for the day here and said it was great. (http://biscuitbitch.com/)
Miner’s Drive-In Restaurant – This restaurant is not in Seattle, but was part of our trip. Between the Tri-Cities and Seattle, we stopped in Yakima on Friday night. I believe it is a tourist attraction within its own right. They serve burgers on a HUGE scale (in volume and quantity) that are absolutely delicious. There isn’t much more to say than that. If you are passing through Yakima, WA and want an experience be sure to stop.
At this point it might seem insane… but we did manage to got to a few more places on our trip. Here are a few bars and breweries that we would recommend in downtown Seattle.
- Jupiter Bar – This place serves drinks and has a whole room of pinball machines
- The Rabbit Hole
- Pike Brewing Company
Comments have been fixed!
Time to get rid of Mr. COFFEE! LOVED THE VIDEO!