- Eight things to know before you go to Seattle.
I'm Chris, this is Yellow Productions.
I do travel guides that are fun,
informative, and entertaining.
This video's part of my series of Things to Know
on great cities around the world.
I've got other Things to Know series
including Tokyo, Japan, L.A., Las Vegas,
San Francisco, lots more,
you'll find linked at the end of this video,
or in the description below.
If you're traveling to any of those other cities,
and more, but in this video,
I'm going to be telling you everything you need to know
before you go to Seattle.
And first, we'll start
with some general information about Seattle.
Seattle is the capital of the State of Washington.
It's located in the Pacific Northwest.
Seattle is surrounding by mountains, water,
and evergreen forests, lots of trees.
Because of those evergreen forests,
Seattle's nickname is the Emerald City.
No, not "The Wizard of Oz," but Seattle.
Seattle is also known as the gateway to Alaska,
because it's the closest big city in the U.S. to Alaska.
Many flights leave here to go to Alaska, as well as cruises.
So, if you're taking an Alaskan cruise,
chances are you might very well be leaving out of Seattle.
Seattle is home to some major U.S. tech companies
including Amazon and Microsoft.
It was formerly home to Boeing,
but there's a lot of big industry here in Seattle.
Sometimes, people also call it
the San Francisco of the northwest.
It resembles San Francisco in a lot of ways,
including similar food.
Clam chowder and seafood are really popular here,
as well as the architecture in Seattle
kinda has that classic feel.
And please don't confuse Seattle with Portland.
Portland is basically Seattle's biggest rival,
just down in the south.
Second thing to know is about the weather.
And simply put, Seattle is wet.
Seattle is known for being rainy and cloudy.
Seattle, on average, gets about 150 days of rainy weather.
Only 37 inches.
So, 37 inches a year, not a day.
So, when it does rain, it's usually not a huge downpour,
but it's more of a steady drizzle.
So, you may be inclined to bring an umbrella with you,
but the local Seattleites, they don't really use umbrellas,
'cause it's not that much to need an umbrella.
Just bring a good raincoat.
All the Seattleites have a raincoat.
Now, I'd probably still bring an umbrella,
but I stick out and look like a sore thumb,
like I'm not from here,
'cause I'm carrying that umbrella.
So, you may be wondering,
"Are there ever sunny days in Seattle?"
You know what, summer does have some sunny days.
Look!
Blue skies right now.
But this is not all that often.
So, what's the weather like in summer?
It's pretty warm in summer.
It gets really cold in winter.
Kind of bitterly wet, cold.
It doesn't snow all that much in Seattle.
Seattle only gets about, on average,
five inches of snow per year,
but when it does snow,
it pretty much shuts down the city.
Spring and fall also on the cool side.
So, make sure you bring a light jacket
pretty much any season you come to Seattle,
because even if it's warm in the day,
it'll generally get cold at night,
and you will likely want that light jacket.
Okay, Chris, so it's hot in the summer,
it's cold and miserable in the winter,
it's rainy the rest of the year or cloudy,
when is the best time to go?
Well, Seattleites will tell you the best time to come
is in September.
It's still on the warm-ish side.
The crowds have gone away from the summer time.
So, check out Seattle in September.
The third thing to know is about getting in.
If you're flying, chances are you'll be landing into
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
Sea-Tac for short.
It's 14 miles, give or take, from downtown Seattle.
It's where most of the major airlines come into.
It's also the hub for Alaska Airlines.
If you're looking for direct flights
from somewhere in the U.S.,
chances are Alaska Airlines is gonna be offering it.
They've kind of cornered the market here in Seattle.
One of the best ways to get into the city from the airport
is to take the light rail.
The light rail takes about 40 minutes,
and it costs less than four bucks
to bring you from the airport into downtown.
I think it's one of the best airport transportation options
of any major U.S. city.
Now, from the airport, you'll also find taxis,
and Ubers will be plentiful.
The drive from the airport into the city
without traffic is 25 minutes.
If there's traffic, double it.
Another great option for getting into Seattle,
is to take the Amtrak train.
There's a big Amtrak station here in Seattle,
and there's three major Amtrak lines that run in here.
There's trains that'll run from Los Angeles in the south,
through Portland, Oregon into Seattle.
You can take trains from the north
from Vancouver into Seattle.
And there's also a train line that runs out to the east.
You can take that from Chicago all the way to Seattle, too.
That's probably gonna take a while.
If you're driving into Seattle,
it's about three hours from Portland, Oregon,
and also about three hours from Vancouver,
give or take 30 minutes
depending upon how long the border wait takes.
Okay, so now that you're in Seattle,
the next thing to know is about getting around Seattle.
Seattle has a lot of water,
which makes getting around really slow.
Seattle, in addition to being famous for trees and water,
is famous for some of the U.S.'s worst traffic.
Seattle has one rail line.
It has a light rail line.
It runs actually right under this tunnel through downtown.
The trains run every six to 15 minutes.
That's the one that I mentioned
you can take from the airport.
That's a really great way to get around, if you can.
To ride it, it's a tap in system.
You can buy single tickets,
but if you're gonna ride it a lot,
buy the ORCA card.
It's the stored value card
that you can use on the light rail,
you can use on the buses,
and a lot of the other systems around here.
There are two street car lines.
There's one monorail line
that'll take you to the space needle,
but the major public transportation option in Seattle
they are the buses.
They're buses because there just isn't that much
transportation infrastructure in Seattle.
Now, I did mention there's a lot of water,
and so the water,
there's actually water taxis and ferries that you can take
around to a lot of the different parts of Seattle.
Question I always get from people is,
"Chris, should I rent a car?"
That is up to you.
I've rented a car when I have come here
'cause I like to see some of the attractions
outside of downtown.
If you're just planning to stay in downtown, though,
then the car's probably gonna be pretty useless,
because getting around downtown,
parking's expensive, and the traffic is bad.
And so if you're goin' around downtown,
you're pretty just gonna want to take public transportation.
Actually, the best thing is to walk.
But when you're walking, don't jaywalk.
The Seattle cops love to write jaywalking tickets.
They are $56, so just don't do it.
You've been warned.
And what about Uber and Lyft?
Uber and Lyft are plentiful in Seattle.
It is a big tech city,
so, you're not gonna have to wait very long
for an Uber and Lyft.
If personal wheeled transportation is more your style,
you'll find ton of these dockless bicycles around the city.
They're operated by a number
of different app-enabled companies.
Here, you'll find the red ones by Uber,
the green ones are by Lime.
Ton of these.
Just download the app and you can unlock them,
and you pay for as long as you're riding it.
The fifth thing to know before you go is about food.
There's a lot of great food in Seattle,
but the food scene in Seattle,
kinda like that in Manhattan or New York City,
and that is there's a lot of really good restaurants,
there's a lot of choice.
But in the center of the city,
they're often really expensive.
So, what do you do
if you want something that's not that expensive?
Well, the fast food of choice in Seattle is teriyaki.
And if you don't believe me,
I'm standing here at the intersection
of Fourth Avenue and Michigan,
and there's a teriyaki restaurant right across the street
from a teriyaki restaurant.
You probably can't see it 'cause of the sun,
but just over there it's called Mikou Teriyaki.
And these are typically run by Koreans.
Teriyaki's kind of a Japanese food, right?
Chicken teriyaki, beef teriyaki.
I stopped here, and I love teriyaki.
Got some chicken teriyaki, fried rice,
and some salad for nine bucks.
Pretty inexpensive.
So, give that a try in a pinch.
The other big Seattle iconic fast food.
It's the Seattle hot dog.
What's special about a Seattle dog?
Well, it's a hot dog with grilled onions and cream cheese.
That is right.
You just have to give it a try
if you wanna know what that's like.
Seattle, because it's near a lot of water,
it's also famous for seafood.
Clams, crabs, shellfish, and, in particular,
there is one shellfish.
The geoduck.
It looks like geoduck.
But it's geoduck.
It's this two and a half pound clam.
They are native to Washington.
Most of them are actually sold to China
because they're really popular in Asian food.
But if you want something particularly
Seattle and Washingtonious,
and you're adventurous,
get a geoduck.
If you like Asian food, your belly will be happy in Seattle.
Seattle has a lot of really good Asian food.
In particular, in the International District,
also Chinatown,
there's a light rail station
that'll bring you up right here,
right in front of the Chinatown gate.
The street signs are in Chinese.
Probably one of my favorite places here
is the Japanese supermarket, Uwajimaya.
They've got a food court.
They've got lots of tasty Japanese food,
and if you only want to be here for an hour to explore,
well, $10 purchase at Uwajimaya
will get you one hour of free parking.
And adding to Seattle's hipster status,
microbreweries have totally taken off.
There are over two hundred beer breweries in the city,
so you can totally make a day or a week
of just visiting microbreweries.
The sixth thing to know is about coffee.
Seattleites love their coffee.
Coffee shops in Seattle
are basically extensions of Seattleites homes.
They study there, they work there,
they meet friends there, they hang out there,
and of course, I'm sure you already know,
Starbucks started in Seattle.
Their original, famous, first store
is in the Pike Place Market.
But what I will tell you is if you're looking
for a really cool coffee shop or a really cool Starbucks,
don't go to the Pike Place Market.
That one is just full.
There's lines to get in it.
Come to the Starbucks Reserve Roastery on Capitol Hill.
Right behind me,
this place is the biggest coffee shop I have ever seen.
They have special reserve roasts of Starbucks.
So, coffee from Africa and Peru.
Different coffees everyday.
You can even get coffee cocktails from Starbucks.
They've got really good pastries.
They've got an Experience Bar.
They've got limited edition merchandise.
I mean, I don't usually love Starbucks,
but this Starbucks Reserve Roastery on Capitol Hill
is a coffee shop you need to go to,
even if you don't like coffee.
But Seattle is home to more than just Starbucks.
There are a ton of coffee shops, independent coffee shops.
Other chains, like Seattle's Best Coffee.
But you know, one other coffee trend
that started in Seattle,
bikini baristas.
That's right.
Girls serving coffee in bikinis,
'cause what's better than that?
Yeah, and apparently Seattleites are not too proud
of that particular trend that it started here.
The seventh thing to know is about hotels.
Where should you stay in Seattle?
My recommendation is to stay in downtown Seattle,
Stay in the middle of it.
Stay in the thick of it.
There's a lot of great hotels in downtown Seattle.
There's high end hotels, and there's low end hotels.
I'm standing in front of the Four Seasons.
This is definitely on the higher end.
Because Seattle's a big business city,
it's gonna be expensive during the week.
If you want cheaper rates, come on the weekend.
Friday, Saturday, Sunday nights.
Typically, the business travelers aren't here,
so if you're coming here for leisure,
check it out then.
If you're looking for something a little quieter,
well then you might want to consider Bainbridge Island.
It's gonna be really quieter.
It's about a 30 minute ferry ride just across the water,
and there's some cheaper hotels over there.
You could also check out the Capitol Hill neighborhood,
the Queen Anne neighborhood for maybe some Airbnbs.
And another cheap option,
if you're looking for cheap hotels,
you could actually stay down by the airport,
down by Sea-Tac Airport,
and then you could take the light rail in to the city.
There's a lot of more inexpensive hotels
down by the airport,
but if you really want the Seattle experience,
stay downtown.
That's what I do.
Now, the one problem with staying in downtown,
being a big business center,
it does kinda clear out at night.
And Seattle, like San Francisco,
does have a fairly large homeless population.
So, some parts of downtown and some parts of Seattle,
can be fairly creepy late at night.
Probably the reason why the streets clear out
is most things close.
I said teriyaki was popular, right?
Here's a teriyaki place in downtown Seattle.
It closes at 6:00 p.m.
It does not open on weekends.
Here's a burger place that also closes at 6:00.
The eighth thing to know is about
what are the big attractions in Seattle?
Well, probably Seattle's most famous attraction
is right here.
It is the Pike Place Market.
Not Pike's Place.
Singular Pike.
Pike Place Market.
This is the oldest continuously operated
farmer's market in the United States.
It's been open since 1907,
and it started because there was, basically,
a disagreement about the price of onions.
People in the city thought that the vendors
were gouging for prices of onions.
And so, the City of Seattle set up this market
where people could buy produce at reasonable prices.
So, if you're coming to Pike Place Market, it's busy,
'cause everybody and their mother comes here.
So, when's the best time to come here?
Early morning is the best time to come here.
It shuts down at night.
There's not much going on at night.
There's a few restaurants and things like that open,
but most of the market's shut down at night,
except on Thursdays.
Things you have to check out.
You definitely have to check out the fishmongers.
They're right in this main entrance right here.
They're these people who they throw fish back and forth.
It's really a famous place.
Did I mention Pike Place Market is big?
It's big.
It is really big.
It's multiple buildings.
It's multiple levels.
So, if you love markets and exploration,
allocate a few hours to explore Pike Place Market.
And if you like the odd attractions,
just a floor below the fishmongers,
check out the Gum Wall on Post Alley.
Do you see all this right here?
This is all chewing gum.
Oh my gosh.
There's no way I'm gonna touch that,
and there's no way I'm gonna put my gum on there.
And it's not just one section of wall,
it is this entire alley.
That is so much chewing gum.
And on this section,
people have been artistic with their chewing gum.
They've spread it out a little bit.
And there's also another part of Post Alley,
little less gross,
this is the Post Alley It,
where people post a bunch of Post-it Notes.
So, why don't you bring your Post-it Note
instead of your gum to Post Alley.
So, if you like the Gum Wall,
that tells me you like weird and wacky attractions.
You will also like the Fremont Troll.
Part weird, part awesome,
totally amazing.
It's this troll that lives under a bridge in Seattle.
Seattle has a lot of very interesting
and unique attractions.
And so when you're here, definitely check out these things,
because the Gum Wall
and the troll that lives under a bridge,
that's what makes Seattle, Seattle.
Another big attraction is the Seattle Waterfront.
Just down the hill from Pike Place Market
and most of downtown Seattle right along the water.
This Waterfront Boardwalk is home to the Seattle Aquarium.
Lots of restaurants and shops.
But of course, it's got this big Ferris wheel
so you can't miss it.
It is super touristy down here,
but it's definitely worth the walk
because of the immense beauty down here.
You'll also see the water taxis and the ferries come and go
from down here as well.
But I think one of the coolest attractions
on the Seattle Waterfront,
is Ye Olde Curiosity Shop.
It's like these shops of old
that sells everything under the sun.
You could while away the hours in there
and find that gift for that person
that's impossible to find gifts for.
Speaking of seafood,
just down from the curiosity shop,
is Ivar's Acres of Clams and Ivar's Fish Bar.
If you like seafood,
one's a sit-down restaurant,
the other one's kind of a take-out place.
But on the take-out place,
you can eat the food on their waterfront balcony,
and feed as many seagulls as you want.
Seriously.
Pay attention to your food
so they don't get snagged by the seagulls.
Seattle's most iconic attraction,
I guarantee you've seen it,
it is the Seattle Space Needle.
Built for the 1962 World's Fair,
it stands 400 feet tall,
with 30 feet of it going below ground
so it can withstand earthquakes up to a magnitude of 9.1.
If you're in Seattle,
you have to go to the Space Needle
to at least take a picture of it or take a selfie with it.
Do you have to go up to the top of it?
It just depends how much you like views of cities?
If you like observatories and observatory towers,
definitely head up to the top of it.
I do.
I like them.
There's lots of people, though,
that said they could have passed on it.
But my favorite thing to do in Seattle
is to take the underground tour.
This is pretty neat because it takes you underneath Seattle.
There's this whole other level to Seattle.
Seattle actually had a big fire,
and it was built up basically in an entire level
from the original Seattle.
So, these buildings and streets you see today,
they're raised up one floor from the original Seattle.
And during the Prohibition eras, things like that,
there were a lot of speakeasies down there.
Anyway, you take this tour,
you learn about the history,
you see some kind of neat stuff
that most people don't get to see.
It's totally not sponsored by them.
I just think this is one of the neatest
things to do in Seattle.
And the last thing to know, is I've got more videos.
If you're planning a trip to the U.S.,
and you're planning to visit
some of the other big West Coast cities,
San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego,
I've got Things to Know videos on all of those.
You can click right here to watch them,
or you can find links in the description below
to those videos or my entire Thing to Know series.
Well, I won't say goodbye,
because I'm gonna see you in one of those videos.