I had no idea where to stay when visiting Seattle so I did a quick google search. This was the…read morefirst place to come up and I'm so glad that I chose to stay here. This hostels nickname should be the clean tortoise seriously at any given point during my stay there were always people cleaning! The kitchen, bathrooms, general area and rooms. The fact that they provide breakfast and have free events is amazing! I ate a hearty breakfast every morning I was there. My belly was happy. I went on a walking tour. HUGE SHOUTOUT TO AMALIA! That tour has been resonating for days since I went on it. She's such a fun interactive tour guide and provided so much good information about the city. I felt so comfortable navigating downtown by myself afterwards. Everyone I encountered there was friendly and respectful. The only thing I will point out is that if you have any mobility issues staying here might be challenging. There are a lot of stairs to get to the main floor and to get to the sleeping accommodations. Overall such a wonderful stay. I felt so thankful to have the opportunity to have this as my home base while exploring the city hope to be back.

Found this hostel across from Pike Place Market. It has been called Seattle's best hostel by many…read moreonline. Green Tortoise Hostel certainly is a place we could stay again. Location is good and so is the place itself. The prices are okay for the area and quality. Best thing about it for many staying here is the location of course. It's located across from Pike Place Market. This is in the main touristy area, which means it gets crowded around here and inside this. Especially the bathrooms. They have quite a few in each hall so it's not very long of a wait. If needing toiletries it's $1 for soap or toothpaste. That's an okay price for these. Could charge you even more actually. They have events like free beer and ice cream, so check the calendars for when these are happening. Good place if wanting to stay close to top attractions. It's located next to many restaurants and shops, as well as other things like museums. This is also located along bus lines and it's close to the Westlake station, so it's convenient to get to with public transportation.

PROS - Flat Rate per Day…read more- Convenient - Open from 5:30am-12:30am - Refrigerated Items Accepted - No Size Limit - Pay on Pick Up CONS - Ease of Locating Located in the baggage claim area of SEA-TAC International, alongside the window/exit side between baggage claims 9 and 10 is the convenient Smarte Carte Storage. Be aware that it can easily be missed, but it does have a yellow painted wall similar to that used for their pay-to-rent smarte cartes throughout the arrival and departure areas. My experience was a pleasant one. Given that I hadn't been to Seattle, and it was on my bucket list, it came in handy to have somewhere to drop off my carry-on duffel bag while I explored Seattle on my 8 hour layover. It took some research as this baggage storage area was ran by Ken's Baggage prior to 2016. The price was very convenient, for two overhead sized duffel bags it came out to approximately $18 for whole day storage (this was for 2018/01/04), and Smarte Carte Storage is open almost 24 hours, so you can still access your belongings regardless of when you were to pick them up. However, I do not know if you can add to/access your belongings inbetween drop off and pick up... that would be a good thing to know. The employees were pleasant and patient. Unfortunately, I do not recall the name of the lady who helped store our luggage as we were in a hurry, but Bernard helped us retrieve our luggage.. we also got to see what the storage area looked like in the back, and it is very well organized. They even had a refrigerated area, I'm guessing for any ice boxes carrying any fish/seafood that was caught to be flown out, which was unexpected but I'm sure helpful in many cases. Would I return? Most definitely. I'll be sure to post current pricing as of my visit (2018.01.04) for those that are also searching for a place to store luggage/belongings during a long layover at SEA-TAC. --/ One for ME, YELP for YOU. @sandyexplores

A great option for travel. Rather than hang out in the…read moreairport, we stowed our gear and headed into town for a nice afternoon. This was easy. I would have liked the have seen a Military discount for younger families who seemed to be camping out at SeaTac.

The King Street Union Station is only few blocks from the Seattle Seahawk's Lumen field Stadium…read more Actually the ramp from the station to street level has a wonderful view of the arena. The station primarily servers Amtrak trains, but there's adjacent entrance to the subway line as well, accessible via the ramp. The main building of the station has the iconic clock tower. The station's interior was also beautiful, with high ceilings, art decor on the walls, marble floors and shafts. There were plenty of benches for passengers to sit. Multiple displays were showing the arrival times of the trains. The atmosphere inside the station was much nicer than its exterior suddronding. Once we got to the station, we went to the baggage drop off area. A friendly staff member behind the counter helped us with weighing both of our luggages, tagging them and lining them up for the train. Our train arrived at the platform on time. Our tickets were checked at the door. Staff members were available on the platform to help us find the correct car. Overall I had a wonderful experience of boarding Amtrak train for the first time ever from this station.

King Street Station was ok. It's a fancy spacious station. They have lots of hard benches, but no…read morefirst class lounge. We started our journey in Sacramento and I liked that station better. There they have a first class lounge enclosed from the rest of the station. They offered non alcoholic drinks and snacks. In addition they have soft chairs and sofas to sit on. King Street Station totally lacked this. In addition in Sacramento a tram picks you up from the station and takes you to the door of the train so no dragging your luggage across the station. When we arrived at King Street Station they told us to sit on the hard benches even though we were traveling in first class. We had a roomette. The station has bathrooms, but the Women's room was closed for cleaning the entire time we were at the station. We were there an hour. They have a security desk as soon as you walk in, but they don't have luggage tags there. They announced over the loud speaker that announced everyone needs luggage tags. I talked to an attendant and they said they were out. Oops!!! Poor planning. They do have 2 vending machines. A drink one and a snack one. There is no cafe or coffee shop. Sacramento has a coffee shop attached to the station.

Driving used to be fun but not anymore…read more I took Driver's Ed in high school. Studied the WA DOL manual. Got up at 5am on the weekends and mastered parking maneuvers in empty parking lots. Practiced driving on I-5 and steering control on E Mercer Way. Passed the written and driving tests. It was a milestone celebration unlocking freedom and independence at 16 years old. Learned how to use the stick shift and feared the red light at 15th & Spokane St. on rainy days. Drove to Dick's on Capitol Hill with friends. Never had to share the road with electric bikes and scooters because they didn't exist. Never saw distracted drivers with smartphones because these devices weren't available to the public yet. We only had to worry about cars with California plates, the occasional BC plate, or someone who said, "DMV." ;p Driving in Seattle is different now. Traffic is worse. Nobody gives the "Thank you" wave anymore. I know someone who's been driving well over 10 years and they slapped a yellow New Driver sticker on their car and uses it as an excuse to drive like a crazy person. On I-5 I saw a guy texting at the wheel, saw a girl playing a game on her phone at the wheel. Cars without license plates, cars with expired tabs. People driving in the Bus Only lane, people driving with high beams. Motorcycle lane splitting. Witnessed illegal left turns from the far right lane and people driving down the yellow center lane. A lot of these habits and behaviors didn't happen when I first started driving. Seems like the WA DOL manual doesn't apply anymore. Unwritten driving rules and etiquette taught and passed down by old school Seattleites are fizzling out. Those OGs have moved to Clark County near the WA/OR border, Eastern WA, out of state, and out of country. Gas is over $6+ a gallon and if theres an event near the stadiums parking can be between $70-$120. So if someone asks me why I take public transit, I have many reasons why. I take the light rail when my destination is near a station. I take it for peace of mind. I take it to save money. I've become mindful of my carbon footprint. The 2 Line trains from the Eastside are newer and cleaner than the workhorse 1 Line trains. There's the occasional smelly person, the sleeper, and the tweaker but I know have a choice to sit or stand away from them or get up and move. No fare gates or platform screen doors at the stations. Signage and announcements could be better too. As for the near future, I want to attend roll out celebrations for the Graham St. and Boeing Access Road infill stations. I'm also looking forward to the West Seattle and Tacoma expansions.

Awesome light rail. Very clean, efficient and with a lot of stations including SeaTac airport. Very…read morecheap too. One way is only $3 senior rate $1. Best way to get from the airport...

Over all clean smell of homelessness wasn't that bad inside outside a little bit more …read more The whole city as whole just smells bad they should pressure was the whole place . But trains run smoothly and loved the experience better then our New York trains

With the recent opening of the expansion of the 2 line going to Lynnwood from Redmond, this…read moreWestlake Station (like all the other stations in downtown Seattle) now services both the 1 AND 2 lines of the Sound Transit Link system. This means that one can take one train without transfer from here to Bellevue and Redmond, crossing Lake Washington on the world's first light rail pontoon railway. My wife and I took this route while visiting our daughter and son-in-law in Bellevue, and the crossing was a routine non-event, just like it is supposed to be. My last review for this station was 2 years, at which time, only the 1 line serviced this station. Because of the way they designed the routes, the inclusion of the 2 line was seamless, requiring no station outages during the transition. My only small gripe is the signage at a major connection point at the center near the elevators, still only shows the 1 line (with its stops at the airport and university), instead of now the opening of the entire East side of Puget Sound area, accessible via the 2 line. It's confusing for visitors...better just to state that lower level is for Sound Transit, instead of explicitly naming each line, if they don't want to change the signage every time. Another big addition that occurred earlier this year (Feb '26), is the use of tap-to-pay (using a tap enabled payment card to pay for fare at the point of entry) at all stations and bus lines (like NYC and London has). We still ended up using our preloaded Orca card this trip, but can discontinue that for future (unless taking the Monorail, which still requires an Orca card). Transfers are free for 2 hours from the first tap (excluding the Monorail), with initial charge being $3. There are no gates, with the pay stations being intentionally out of the way...it really is about the honor system to tap. We also used Westlake station as the transfer point to get from the monorail on the 3rd floor of the Westlake shopping center down to the lower level where the station actually is. Connecting to the 1 line, we got to Sea-Tac airport station in 41 minutes (though from there, it's quite a walk to get to the terminal area).

This station was one of a kind. Mostly outside, but what caught my eye a lot here was the fact that…read morethe museum wraps around the tracks. Makes you feel like you really are entering a very special place. Like you are entering a place that is kept a secret. The station actually feels like a ride platform at an amusement park rather than for public transit. I mean, that makes sense, seeing how the same type of monorail was used at Disney. The novelty of this platform makes it feel almost like a movie set. Like the other end of this system. Trains run frequently and consistently. If you hit it between runs, you might have a longer wait, and the platform may feel up with more people. Once on the train, just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Built for the 1962 Seattle World's Fair, the monorail is the fastest way to travel between downtown…read moreSeattle (5th Avenue & Pine St.) and Seattle Center. It has 2 stations total and was never meant to be actual transit. After our visit to the Space Needle, my partner and I took this 1.2-mile elevated train system and got off Westlake for our next attraction, Pike Public Market. It saved quite a bit of walking with one-way $4. It is an iconic, historic piece of Seattle and still serves to connect downtown with the Seattle Center 60+ years later.

10/10!!!! SO EXCITED I SAW GREY WHALES & ORCAS!!! (&ETC)…read more Based on the reviews we were a little scared to try this company BUT it turned out so amazing! I think people only leave bad reviews when they don't get what they exactly want! Anyway- the workers were so welcoming! The process was very easy from buying the tickets to the end! We got there just in time (not the 45 min ahead like it said) and it was perfect! (Maybe before we were the first boat of the day?) Once in the charter it didn't take long for us to leave. While they are taking us out towards where the whales are... They told us a bunch of stories a bunch of scientific facts and a bunch of tips and tricks! We also saw a bunch of sea life just heading out to the whale areas! (Seals, starfish, birds, fish, jellyfish , etc) The ride was smooth and beautiful- DEFINITELY COLD (even if it's 90F in Seattle)! But the views are beautiful- both of the sea and Seattle!! It didn't take very long to get to the areas but once we did everyone had the same goal - SPOT THE WHALES!!! It didn't take us too long because we got lucky! There was a lot of activity that day! We ended up seeing 6 different orcas and 1 grey whale!! Super fun start to our day and now I can say I saw whales(:

The price for the whale watch tour is $144. You depart from pier 69 in Seattle. You pretty much are…read morepaying for the boat ride and not the whales. It's a 4 hour tour but most of that time is spent getting to and from the destination where the whales are, which is damn near Canada. When you get to where the whales are the boat slows down and you can only see them from a distance. There's only like 1 or 2 whales and they only pop up for a quick second to breathe and when they go back in the water they don't pop up for another 15mins. The boat stays there for maybe 3 rounds of this. Then it's back to your seats and back to the pier. Dress warm and eat before you go or pack snacks! The food offered in the boat is overpriced! Definitely a tourist trap!

The agent helped plan a nice trip and answered all questions. One small detail needed fixing, but…read moreoverall good help.

I have been using the services provided by AA Travel for more than 20 years, and it has been…read moreunfailingly an effective and pleasant experience. They asked a colleague in SF to hand deliver a passport/visa once when I made a mistake with a travel date. They answered an emergency call outside of work hours to help when my ticket was canceled erroneously by the airlines. They are very professional and really know the work well, and I have been able to rely on them for my travel needs. They do have a "no nonsense style" which some people find to be not warm enough, but they are actually very nice people, and if you realize that it is but the surface (accent, tone, etc), what they can do for you is great. Thank you, Ken and Ling.