It's best to get around either on foot or on the free downtown buses. Cross
out of the free zone - bordered by Jackson and Battery streets, 6th Avenue, and
the waterfront - and you pay as you get off; come back in and you pay as you enter.
Single fares vary between $1 and $1.75, and tickets are valid for an hour. Day-passes
($2; bought from the driver) are available on weekends and holidays: ticket books
(for 10 and 20 rides; $10 and $20) can be purchased from the Metro Customer Assistance
Offices at the Metro Transit Tunnel, Westlake Station, Fifth Avenue and Vine Street
(Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm), or in the King Street Center, 201 S Jackson St (Mon-Fri
8am-5pm; call 24-Hour Rider Information tel 206/553-3000 or Bus-Time tel 206/287-8463
for automated schedule, ), and can be used on the overhead monorail ($1.25) between
downtown and the Seattle Center, and on the waterfront streetcar ($1 off-peak,
$1.75 peak).
Washington State ferries run to Bainbridge Island and Bremerton; tickets from
Pier 52, Colman Dock (tel 206/464-6400, ). Gray Line (tel 206/626-5208) organizes
guided half-day bus tours ($27), or three-hour boat tours ($33), which are also
offered by other local operators, the best choice being Argosy's Locks Cruise
tour from Pier 57 (2 1/2 hrs, $30; tel 206/623-4252,).
Seattle Transportation
Seattle, Washington has excellent interstate highway and rail links as well
as, of course, being served by an international airport.
Arriving by Air
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) is located 19 kilometers (12 miles)
south of downtown Seattle. SEA carries almost 30 million passengers annually around
the world, on more than 40 airlines.
Arriving by Car
Two interstate highways serve Seattle; the I-5 comes in from Portland and San
Francisco, California, the Canadian border and Vancouver, British Columbia. I-90
links Seattle with central and eastern Washington State, passing through Rapid
City and Sioux Falls on its way to east to Chicago, Illinois and Boston, Massachusetts. |
