Seattle is the kind of city where you will do best acting like a local rather than searching for the touristy attractions. This city is made for people who live here or are visiting for business. And being the home town for Microsoft, Boing, Amazon and Starbucks, Seattle has a lot of business visitors.

The fact that the city is filled with business visitors are good and bad news. The bad news are that hotel rooms in the city are very expensive and the good news are that the restaurant scene is very developed.

We came to the city by car, which also allowed us to stay outside the city center and therefore save on hotel room. But even if you dont have a car, getting a hotel room outside the city could be a good investment, since you can über or take busses in for much less than it would cost you to be in the city centre.

Underground Walking Tour

If you are interested in history this tour is well worth going on. Seattle has a long and interesting history with many twists. The city was actually built two stories down originally, before they raised the whole town after a big fire. The underground tour allows you to go down underneath the sidewalks and see parts of the original city still intact.

I recommend going on the tour just before or after lunch since you will find two of Seattles best lunch places, just a few blocks away. At Il Corvo the menu changes daily and they offer 3-4 fantastic pasta dishes for a really good price. The wine is cheap to if you want to make it a boozy lunch, and why not? You’re on vacay! The second place is a sandwich shop called Salumi. Just be prepared to wait in line for a while.

Pike Market place

When in Seattle you have to see the Pike Market. Food are sold in the old nice building by the water and in the main entrance fish is being thrown around between the workers. This is of course done mainly for the tourist but it is still a fun thing to see.

When you’ve seen fish flying around in the air, you can keep on walking, cause there is no need to eat or spend too much time here. You could however buy some cheese and meets and take it with you to the park just by the Space Needle. This park is according to me the best place to see the tall building.

EAT & DRINK

Coffee place. The best way to see a city is by walking, and Seattle is a very walkable city. It you have been at the space needle and want to loop back, stop over at Espresso Vivace for some great coffee. Although Seattle is the birthplace of Starbucks, go to this place instead, you can have Starbucks coffee anyday.

Salt & Straw. Along the west coast you while find Portland original ice cream place Salt & Straw. This place offers the best freshly made ice cream outside Italy. The flavors are based on ingredients local to the city and the scoop servings are generous.

Rooftop Bar. This place offers Mexican drinks and tacos and is therefore the perfect place for both a pre dinner drink or to have an afterwork dinner.

Pink Door. Being a fishing town, eating fish and seafood when you are here is a must. At pink door you can get great pasta Vongole or Lasagna, while enjoying live music, burlesque or an acrobatic show, depending on which night of the week you go there. Make sure to make reservations since it can get crowded.

Staying outside Seattle also allowed us to discover the great city of Bellevue! This town offers great food and has many nice homes but best of all, it offers some great spots for swimming. Summers in Seattle can get extremely hot and we found the beaches near Bellevue to be the perfect place to spend one of those sizzling summer days.

Get ready for your trip