Question by Jennifer A: Help vacation to Seattle?
Hello we are planning a vacation to Seattle for our twin girls first Birthday we have several places we would like to go so we will be getting the city pass that Seattle offers. There will be my family of five and three other family members. However I can not find a good itinerary with all the things we want to do I would like to take city transit as much as possible if easy to use and walk. so here are the places we will be going someone help me put them in order of day one two and so on and also for the same location in one day I owe whoever does this for me BIG time! this means a lot to my family..
pikes place
china town
aquarium
zoo bug safari
space needle
monorail
lake cruise
deception pass
Burke museum
children museum
Also ideas on packing food to eat any ideas for vacation with a large family.. also we will be going in April or May so clothing sugg

Best answer:

Answer by dryhen0
Hi there!

i answered a similar question a few days back, when someone wanted to know what to do in a day in seattle… one day can be spent seeing the whole of downtown, taking in a show or a movie to top the night off! here’s a breif synopsis of what I would do on day one, which knocks off a bunch of stuff on your list: (pike place, aquarium, space needle, monorail, children’s museum)

I would start at the Seattle Center, which is where the Space Needle is located. Park/cab there, you won’t need your car until way later. If it’s a clear day, go up the needle. if not, don’t bother, it’s not worth it. 🙂 just being honest.

While at the Seattle Center, you can visit the Children’s Museum, but there’s also the EMP (Experience Music Project) which is a music museum filled with a bunch of cool popular culture artifacts. If you’re more of a science buff, may i suggest hitting up the Pacific Science Center, also located at the Seattle Center. Great for kids, great for learning. This will take up a big chunk of your day, too, as there is so much to see.

Once you’ve exhausted your time at the Seattle Center, hop on the Monorail. For only $ 4 per person round trip, this mile-long monorail takes you right to the center of the business district. It drops you at Westlake Center (don’t waste any time in that mall, it’s crap).

Head outside, where you’ll find a couple of blocks of fun shopping — everything from Banana Republic, American Apparel, Deisel, Gap, and you’ll also be able to hit up Pacific Place shopping center (across from Nordstrom one block East of the monorail drop off) that has the higher end stores like Tiffany’s, Barney’s, Coach, Bebe, etc. Lots of fun there.

You can walk a bit south (6 blocks or so, but i’d hop on the bus to get there if i were you) to Chinatown and spend a good hour there, if you’d prefer that to the shopping.

After a couple hours shopping or Chinatown, head West down to Pike Place Market (this is a MUST!) where you can walk the market and grab fresh produce from local farmers, or stop in at one of the many cute hidden restaurants located on the block (let me know if you would like any specific suggestions — mandyhoov@hotmail.com). Spend a good deal of time exploring this area. It’s got so much history.

Once you are done with the market, head two blocks west (take the stairs down from the market) to the waterfront, where you will find the Seattle Aquarium, and some other fun shops along there (Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe) along with an indoor amusement park with a carousel and arcade. Head north along the piers where you’ll find some breathtaking views of the Puget Sound. If you’re feeling energized, you can take a water taxi along to Alki Beach, but really, it’s not necessary (and you won’t have time). At the end of the waterfront, there are a bunch of restaurants where you could grab a bite to eat — Anthony’s or Waterfront Grille (a bit pricey)… Check out the Sculpture Park (it’s a weird funky park with outdoor sculptures) as you finish your walk.

Head back up to Westlake Center — you can either catch a play at the Paramount Theater, or a concert at the Moore or Showbox, or a movie at the Cinerama, or, if you are tired and want to call it a night, catch the monorail back to your car and head off into the sunset…

so, to sum up:

park at seattle center
space needle
Children’s Museum/EMP/ or Science Center
Monorail to Westlake Center
A bit of shopping at Pacific Place and surrounding Areas
or Chinatown
Walk down to Pike Place Market for lunch
Walk down to the Waterfront
Aquarium
Walk along the pier to Anthony’s for dinner
Back to Westlake for either
Concert
Play
Movie
Back to the Monorail that takes you back to the Seattle Center.
Back to your car.

As for the other things on your list, they are a bit more spread out… the Zoo could be an entire morning — it’s about 5 miles north of the city center… you could do that the same day as the Lake Cruise — i would recommend Ride the Ducks — it’s a great tour of Seattle on a bus that turns into a boat!! so it takes you by land and by sea! the kids will love it!

Deception Pass is another all-day trip, as it’s pretty far north. you will want to rent a car to do this, though, because a cab ride would be really expensive! it’s beautiful in the spring time, and you’ll see so many bald eagles! i used to go up there with my folks when i was a little girl and we’d count over 30 some times!

bring rain gear just in case, as you will be here during the ‘rainy season’ (hahaha, it’s seattle, so isn’t all year the rainy season?)

if you need suggestions for places to eat, i would say definitely check out Yelp.com … but here are some that i recommend downtown for families with children:

Cheesecake Factory
Fox Sports Grill
Palomino
Icon Grill (so good! and has genuine Chihuley art throughout — VERY seattle!)
Anthony’s on the waterfront

Some of my top favorites (although i’m an urba

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