Seattle Travel
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Arrival and Transportation
Arrival and Information
Flights land at Seattle/Tacoma’s Sea-Tac Airport (tel 206/431-4444, ), on Hwy-99 (the Pacific Highway) fourteen miles south of downtown. Outside, the Gray Line Airport Express bus ($8.50 one-way, $15 round-trip; tel 206/626-6088, ) leaves every twenty minutes for the 25-minute journey to various hotels downtown. ShuttleExpress (tel 206/622-1424 or 1-800/487-RIDE, ) offers door-to-door service for $18-30. Metro express city bus #194 ($1.10, peak hours $1.75) takes thirty minutes to reach downtown’s Transit Tunnel. A taxi to the city center costs $25-30.
The Amtrak station at Third Avenue and Jackson Street, just south of downtown, and the Greyhound bus terminal at Eighth Avenue and Stewart Street to the east, are both an easy bus ride from downtown. A couple of blocks towards downtown from Greyhound is the visitors bureau , on the Galleria level inside the Washington State Convention Center at Seventh Avenue and Pike Street (Mon-Fri 8.30am-5pm, summer also Sat-Sun 10am-4pm; tel 206/461-5840, ). The main post office is downtown at Union Street and Third Avenue (Mon-Fri 8am-5.30pm; tel 1-800/275-8777; zip code 98101).
City Transportation
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, ).