23 Tips I Wish I Knew Before Visiting Seattle

Nice tour! Thank you :))))))))))))))))))

Respectfully disagree with you on one area; i live downtown and shop at Pike Place all the time. There is so much more to the Market than the Starbucks, fish throwing area- it is a marvelous , organic and wandering labyrinth full of wonderful gems. My favorite time is early morning for breakfast in the winter- moody and very very real.

0:10. wow. dipsh!ts REALLY REALLY love this annoying mouse clicking sound effect dont they.

The best view of Seattle is from West Seattle. I was born in this city lived there for 20 years and returned after 30 years. Now back for 25 years. Trust me.

My husband grew up in Seattle (we now live about 20 miles N of the city) and he has a saying: There is just no easy way in and out of Ballard. If you're planning to travel around the area at all, I wouldn't suggest staying there. It can be time consuming just to get to the freeway. #23 - definitely... if you come to the Seattle area and only see the city, you are SO missing out. These things can all be DAY trips (ideal to stay a night, but we have done as day trips): ferry ride from Anacortes to San Juan Island, if limited on time - the Bremerton ferry right from Seattle, Leavenworth in the Cascades is a quaint Bavarian village, Mt. Rainier as a hike or a drive, the Olympic rain forest, and the Pacific Ocean is only a 3 hr drive.

I have lived in this area for over 30 years and Pike Place market is fantastic.

man vancouver is so much better than seattle

There’s a troll under a bridge in Omaha his name is Omar! I met Omar now I feel the need to see this one lol

Starbucks Reserve Roastery mentioned here in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood closed in September 2025 permanently as part of a massive $1 billion corporate restructuring. Frankly, I think they should’ve kept this one open a shut down the “Original” Starbuck’s overcrowded tourist trap!

Yeah Dude

Nice short real recommendation list.

We’ll have about 12 hours there waiting for a red eye flight. What about doing a Hop On Hop off bus to see the city?

There are a number of wooden trolls spread out around the greater Seattle area too (I think there are 8 total?). Tend to have to look for most of them, but a few are pretty easy to find

Olympic Structure Park?

Looks lovely would love to visit Seattle and San Francisco remind me of Edinburgh Scotland SF for the hills and Seattle for the weather are probably why

Best view of Seattle is from a ferry going to Bremerton or Bainbridge Island. A round trip is $11.35 each.

Another idea for fun... As of a couple of months ago, you can grab a train across Lake Washington and go out to Redmond, home of Microsoft.

Unlike in the movies, not everything is within eye-shot of the Space Needle, and walking distance to Pike Place Market...

I live in downtown and I go to pike place all the time

Don’t come here to visit!!!! Food ,gas, sales tax, auto gratuity and ride shares are some I’d the most $$$$$ in the country! Don’t ever call anyone using pronouns… they will accost you since you don’t know the dozen of them here - generally service and people are not friendly. Also, never know who will randomly come up to you to harm you physically! Search Seattle news before you come

They are destroying the structures at gass work park for good. I never liked them and unfortunately a teen died falling from there.

I wanted to see two main attractions Boeing factory and Seattle tower and just walk around 😊😊😊😊😊 visiting there in couple months time

Local here

Queen Anne! Best neighborhood in Seattle.

Pike Place is NOT overrated. It’s a MUST SEE

Not me 💀

1400 robberies and assaults this year in 2026 along with 6 homicides, wow, good thing to know, these are only the stats/crimes that are reported also! Only about 30% of crimes in Seattle are reported to keep their stats in check, well, not really in check, I would say. Travel Alert, woman today brutally assualted as two SEATTLE police officers looked on, WOW, how effective is that! They didn't want to intervene and help they might break a nail or mess their hair up!

Isn’t Capitol Hill area where the riots are always happening? The Chaz/Chop zone?

The reasone I used Uber in Seattle each time because i did not have any other way to get to the doctors appointment from the airpoart. I live 3 1/2 hours from the city. Planning on having the third appointment in Seattle.

Seattle kinda sucks. Just go to Vancouver. lol.

Drive an hour or more, find a gravel fire road switch backing up into the Cascades to a trailhead like at Rat Trap Pass
Climb up into Paradise near Glacier Peak

❤

I paused the video at 8:51 and bought tickets 😂 I was influenced! How dare you! 🙃

Technically Kerry park is the best view of downtown Seattle, or view from the ferry, or the view from west Seattle

Bainbridge island ferry gives the best view of Seattle, but T-Mobile Park is an excellent baseball field.

Mon, March 2, 2026 at 9:38 AM Seattle police probe Pioneer Square robbery, shooting over $20 chain necklace

Good job man

Wold also recommend the smith tower (better view Imo and cheaper than space needle) , discovery park is a massive park in magnolia with bluffs, a prairie and Forrest trails, and Ella Bailey Park has one of the best views in all of Seattle.

Olympic Sculpture (not Structure) Park

technically its the 2nd starbucks. but its is the oldest operating. (seattleite). also the locks are really cool date site.

Lyft and Uber are extremely expensive because Seattle is one of the few cities in the US that forces these apps to pay their workers

If you have enough time, a trip to Leavenworth is highly recommended. You get a great chance to see the Cascades, and see a unique Bavarian theme town.

The place is great by day,but don’t go out night time it gets scary!!

Please keep in mind:
Capitol hill Seattle is also where all the shooting & stabbing happening late at night, so be aware!
Ballard is great but it’s take up to 40 mins (car ride) to get to other parts of Seattle. Traffic in & out of Ballard can get horrendous.
As Camden mentioned, Uber & Lyft rides are very very expensive, but so are prices for food and tourist attractions (example $43 person just to go up space needle in 2024) and sales taxes are 10.3%. Most restaurants add auto service & gratuity so always ask server if tip was included in bill.
Even during the day, be aware of your surrounding when walking downtown especially. There has been many incidents over the years…

How to tell the natives from the non-natives: natives don't use an umbrella.

You should mention that the Volkswagen under the troll's left hand is a real full-size VW beetle.

Another native resident here - for parks, really you can choose any quadrant of Seattle and find a good one: in the SW, Lincoln Park / between Ballard and downtown, Discovery Park / in the NE, Magnuson Park / in the SE, Seward Park. All of these have both waterfront and woodsy trails, except Magnuson which is an old naval air station with less woods. A key point about the Ballard Locks is that, for pedestrians and bicyclists, it's a very pleasant bridge that gets you between Ballard and Magnolia, which is 3 miles farther in a car.

The way I've always put it, is that Downtown is basically just there so you have a place to converge the rest of the major areas to, and I mean the areas that kinda move above the smaller neighborhoods. (West Seattle, SODO, Northlake, and Hilltop) which sounds strange because two aren't "neighborhood" names. They're essentially cities within the city.

I ❤ Seattle

So parks are more interesting than pikes place? Who goes on vacation to go to a park. Unless it’s a national park?