Car Rental or Public Transportation in Seattle

We will be staying 2 nights before our cruise in May at a hotel near the airport. We have tickets to see a game a Safeco Field and also plan on going to Pike Place, Space Needle and other locations downtown. There will be 3 adults so would it better for us to rent a car or just use public transportation like Uber and Light Rail?

Depends on rental rates: note that it's not uncommon to pay more in taxes than actual rental charges around here. Enjoy our stadia: they're paid for with the rental car tax.

UberX works really well here and the light rail gets you airport-adjacent to downtown in :40. See the end of the FAQ for some guidance on our transit system.

Most airport hotels charge for guest parking - $11-15 day. Parking downtown is somewhere between $4-8 hour during weekdays (street or garage) and is usually pretty available. Parking near the game is $15-50 depending on demand.

None of the places you're talking are particularly hard to reach with transit. If you were thinking the Museum of Flight, the Boeing Factory Tour/Future of Flight or Snoqualmie Falls/Mt Rainier/Various scenic options, I'd be screaming GET A CAR. You look like the perfect case for transit.

There's also info in the FAQ about getting to the various piers using public transit. This is a challenge with the way most cruisers pack, but transit to Westlake Center and then an UberX to the pier is completely doable.

For the game, using Light Rail would be very simple since there is a 'STADIUM" stop.

http://www.soundtransit.org/Schedules/Link-light-rail

For general sightseeing, ride the Light Rail to the end, Westlake Center. From Westlake, walk about 3 blocks and you're at the Market. Go early .... by 11am the crowds are unbearable. Then walk back to Westlake and catch the monorail to the Seattle Center/Space Needle.

Downtown Seattle is quite compact .... a taxi will only be about $10-$12, if you want to take a cab from the Seattle Center to Westlake.

Your hotel probably has a free shuttle to/from the airport. Ask your driver to let you off near the Light Rail entrance. Otherwise you'll be dropped at the terminal and its about a 7-10 minute walk to reach the rail station. You're walking thru the parking garage so it's covered, and flat, but if you can avoid it, why not.

Thank you mapleleaves and VibeGuy, you have helped us make the decision not to get a rental car. We are very excited to explore Seattle and be able to see the our Red Sox play at Safeco Field.

We will be staying 2 nights before our cruise in May at a hotel near the airport. We have tickets to see a game a Safeco Field and also plan on going to Pike Place, Space Needle and other locations downtown. There will be 3 adults so would it better for us to rent a car or just use public transportation like Uber and Light Rail?

If those are the sights you plan to see, you probably don't want to rent a car. Parking is scarce and expensive in all those areas. If you were going other places outside the central city (Snoqualmie Falls, wine tasting in Woodinville, the Ballard Locks, the Boeing tour in Everett, Mount Rainier, etc.) then a car might come in handy--but for the standard sights in the middle of town, a car will be more trouble than it's worth.

(Check out the recent "Restaurants around SeaTac" thread--there's a good discussion there about food options at Safeco Field as well. Oh, and GO MARINERS! :D)

I would definitely take UberX over taxis. While taxis officially accept credit cards, you will given lots of grief if you try to use one. Plus UberX is cheaper and includes tip!

We fly down to Seattle from Alaska at least once a year to spend several days in the city and just give us a break. Alaskans almost view Seattle as being part of Alaska. While we stay at a downtown hotel we never rent a car and use the light rail to attend games at Safeco or monorail to reach Seattle Center.