Seattle Trip

So I’m heading to Seattle for a work trip with a coworker. My conference training dates will be from Monday through Thursday, but because I’m from the East Coast, will fly out Sunday morning and return Friday.

The conference will be at north of Seattle; in a neighborhood from what I understand in Maple Leaf area. I’m trying to debate whether it makes sense to stay at a hotel downtown near all the attractions I can sightsee when I’m done for day at 4 daily, or stay near Maple leaf. Was actually recommended to check out Capital Hill as a place to stay since it’s between downtown and Maple leaf.

We won’t be renting a car. So it’ll be public transportation and uber/llyft.

Would love feedback on my thoughts and recommendations on where I should stay, check out interesting places and eateries for dinner.


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I’d stay near your conference. Do your downtown sightseeing on your totally off days. I think you’ll appreciate not guaranteeing daily traffic in case you just aren’t in the mood to commute.


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We recently did a 3 day trip to Seattle in mid-June and were surprised that traffic is just as bad there as it is here at home. We stayed about 2 miles east from the Pike Place Public Market and would walk downhill to the waterfront but take a Lyft home (the uphill walk was a bit too much). Even at random times, we'd hit stop-and-go traffic (not just during rush hour). Thus, I'm not sure I'd want to stay too far from where your conference is as it might require waking up earlier due to traffic. It would probably be easier to stay close to the conference site and then Uber/Lyft for dinner when you're not on a tight schedule.

If you're done by 4, you'll still hit traffic if you grab an Uber/Lyft, but maybe someone else can chime in re: public transit. Since we had 4 of us, we just always took a Lyft. We plan our trips around food, so I can share a few places we enjoyed. I'm not sure what your food preferences are or if you have a budget, but our favorite of the entire trip was Cafe Juanita (northeast of downtown, so maybe closer to you?). It was totally worth the 30-40 minute drive. It offers fantastic "farm-to-table" gourmet food and is a wonderful female chef-owned restaurant. Chef Holly Smith was there that evening, and she had at least 3 other women chefs on the line! I was super impressed as they actually called me when I mentioned my younger DD's food allergies in the reservation. That's going above and beyond as they wanted to make sure they were very careful. Chef Smith told us when we walked in, "Oh, the only fish that isn't obvious is in a sauce for the Burrata, but I made a special sauce for you without it." Wow, talk about taking care of your patrons! We felt we should order it since she made a special sauce and DD2 ended up loving it (burrata with a tangy sauce made with olives but without the anchovies given DD2's fish allergy).

We also enjoyed taking the ferry to Bainbridge Island to eat at Hitchcock. Delicious food and it felt like a "destination" experience. It was fun browsing the stores there on the walk from the ferry to the restaurant, but it's a bigger time commitment since you need to take a ferry over. I also had sushi at Sushi Kappo Tamura while DH and DDs went fly-fishing and enjoyed it greatly. We also hit 2 "tourist" restaurants Etta's for brunch and Elliott's Oyster House for dinner. They had decent seafood but were very crowded with tourists. We also relied on Door Dash to deliver food a couple times as snacks (fried chicken sandwiches from Sunset Fried Chicken Sandwiches and burgers from Dick's, a Seattle institution but we much prefer In-N-Out's burgers).

As for activities, the Pike Place Market was a madhouse, as there were lines to even walk into stores/bakeries/coffeehouses. We walked by and then gave up as we don't like waiting in a line of 20 people OUTSIDE the establishment just to get into the crowded store to buy a breakfast pastry or some fruit. We strolled the waterfront and walked around a lot, but didn't do a ton. My kids wanted to go on the Seattle Great Wheel so I took them one night after dinner (yes, it's very touristy but great views at or after sunset!). DH took them fly fishing and I just used that time to go shopping. We did not do the Space Needle or other touristy sites. My favorite non-food activity was taking the ferry to Bainbridge Island and window shopping there before our dinner.

Hope you have a great time!

There is nothing in Maple Leaf to do. Regular middle class suburb. I would stay downtown for sure. Capitol Hill is fine to visit but not where I would stay. Busy, urban hipster hood now but also lots of homeless and street people. Downtown gives you the option of shopping, restaurants, Pike Place Market, monorail to Seattle Center or quick Uber to Queen Anne. Maple Leaf has a couple of restaurants but no density to speak of and just a less expensive neighborhood that is fairly close in. Traffic is godawful with all the transplants who have moved here and just keep coming. No idea where a conference would take place in Maple Leaf but I’d think of taking light rail out to UW stop and Uber from there. I just don’t know where you would stay in Maple Leaf or if the area is even really Maple Leaf (people say Maple Leaf when might be closer to Northgate). North south is easier commute in the city vs east west.


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