Weddingbee boards

Hello hive!

We've decided to visit the Pacific Northwest for our honeymoon, since we've both always wanted to go. We're starting with Seattle, and may also visit Portland and/or Vancouver.

Any must-sees or must-dos that you can recommend if you're familiar with the area? Also, where would you recommend that we stay?

Thanks! :)

Hey saramarie! Great honeymoon choice. I live in Seattle and summer here is the best. I feel like I'm on a vacation all the time (aww).

I want to second a couple things Peep Toe said. Pink Door is awesome and the Inn at the Market is very cute and they both have a great location, the market! I don’t know how much you like doing typical tourist stuff, but you need to go to Pike’s Place regardless. You can find things like it in many cities but it’s one of those destinations loved by visitors and locals alike, with tons of little places to eat. Unlike the public markets I’ve seen in most cities, it doesn’t allow any chain stores/restaurants with one notable exception, the first Starbucks.

Another hotel you might enjoy is Vintage Park. It’s a Kimpton Hotel which is a chain, but all their properties are different. It’s close to most of the other downtown hotels along 5th Avenue, but in my opinion has more character. But I used to work there, so I’m biased. I would recommend not staying too far south, like close to the sports stadiums, because it’s a little rougher at night, which doesn’t bother everyone but it’s not exactly romantic for a honeymoon.

I will be a dissenting voice on a couple things. First, Husky stadium is cool for being on the water, but you have to be prepared for the fact that they won’t win :) (saldy this is true of many of our teams lately) Looks like you’ll be there in early August so no worries there. Also, I don’t really recommend going to eat at the Space Needle. It’s overpriced and in no way represents the best food Seattle has to offer. The view is pretty cool, but you can get better ones from Seattle’s tallest building, the Columbia Tower, which is almost twice as tall and charges around half as much as the Space Needle to go up, and has the added benefit that the view INCLUDES the needle! Better yet, try Kerry Park on Queen Anne hill, which is just north of the Space Needle. I believe this is where Ms. Avocado had some after-wedding pictures done, and you can see why – you can see the whole skyline and it’s one of the few viewpoints from which the Space Needle actually looks tall compared to other buildings. One last observation point I will mention is in my personal favorite building, the Smith Tower. There is a room designed by a princess of China which is very ornate and beautiful and if I was having a very different sort of wedding I would have it there.

You need to do something on the water. Whether that’s the Victoria Clipper others mentioned, or an Argosy tour (I am getting married on one of these boats, so again I’m biased) of Elliot Bay or Lake Union/Washinton, or something simple like a $6 ferry ride to Bainbridge Island. If you don’t have much time, an even cheaper option is the Elliott Bay Water Taxi that goes from downtown to the West Seattle peninsula. It’s like a 10 minute ride and you get beautiful views of the skyline. When I’ve ridden it in summer I usually see a sea lion or two. When you get to the other side you can walk along a path to Alki Beach which is where the first white settlers lived when they came to the area. There is a baby statue of liberty there because they thought it would eventually grow up to be the New York of the west.

One last thing I have to mention is that like many cities Seattle has a free museum night, which is Thursday. You can go to the SAM, Seattle Asian Art Museum, EMP and many more so if you plan to do any of those it would be a good time to go. Also the SAM's Sculpture Park along the waterfront is free all the time. Can you tell I like travelling on the cheap? Maybe that's not what you're going for but I usually regret not knowing more cheap/free things to do after I visit a city and get my credit card bill.

Whew, sorry that’s so long. I love my city and I’m happy to answer any other questions you might have!