West - Need to Rent a Car in Seattle?

Going to be travelling to Seattle for the Memorial Day weekend and we're wanting to keep costs at a minimum. Do we need to rent a car to get around Seattle to see the decent attractions? We'll be staying downtown and we DEFINITELY want to visit The Museum of Flight (among other places). What do you guys think?

Renting a car in Seattle is very expensive owing to all the supplemental taxes -- essentially, we make our visitors pay for public projects residents don't care to pay for themselves. So, sorry about that up front.

You will do a little better price-wise if you pick the car up in the city rather than at the airport.

Seattle is a compact city -- you can walk its length in half an hour tops -- and there is no need to rent a car to see the central museums, the waterfront, Pike Place Market, the Space Needle, the International District, attend a Mariners game, etc. You can ride the ferries across Elliott Bay to Bremerton or Bainbridge without a car. The Museum of Flight down at Boeing Field is a $15 cab ride, or there's a Metro bus.

If you want to get out of the city to the wineries on the Eastside, the Boeing factory tour in Everett, Twin Peaks sites in Snoqualmie, across the Sound to explore the peninsula, etc., you will need a car for that -- public transport outside the city is thin and erratic. But perhaps you can just rent a car for a day or two if desired.

...or there's a Metro bus.

Glad you brought that up. Would you say the public transit is easily accessible and safe?

Would you say the public transit is easily accessible and safe? Metro is reasonably accessible, though frequencies are thin on some routes. Safe in daylight hours, not after dark. But in late May that won't be a problem for you.

Here's the schedule for Route 124 from downtown to Tukwila... it goes past the Museum of Flight.

http://metro.kingcounty.gov/tops/bus/schedules/s124_0_.html

There's also light rail from the airport to downtown (and stops along the way.)

Renting a car in Seattle is very expensive owing to all the supplemental taxes -- essentially, we make our visitors pay for public projects residents don't care to pay for themselves. So, sorry about that up front.

You will do a little better price-wise if you pick the car up in the city rather than at the airport.

Seattle is a compact city -- you can walk its length in half an hour tops -- and there is no need to rent a car to see the central museums, the waterfront, Pike Place Market, the Space Needle, the International District, attend a Mariners game, etc. You can ride the ferries across Elliott Bay to Bremerton or Bainbridge without a car. The Museum of Flight down at Boeing Field is a $15 cab ride, or there's a Metro bus.

If you want to get out of the city to the wineries on the Eastside, the Boeing factory tour in Everett, Twin Peaks sites in Snoqualmie, across the Sound to explore the peninsula, etc., you will need a car for that -- public transport outside the city is thin and erratic. But perhaps you can just rent a car for a day or two if desired.

I agree for the most part. In addition to the rental costs, what you'd have to pay for parking at a downtown hotel will cover any of those situations where you might need a taxi.

Between the light rail, bus, and trolleys, you should have downtown and airport transfers covered. And if you want to get out of town for a day to go see the wineries or snoqualmie... just rent a car for the day.

The last time I rented a car in the Seattle area I rented it from a place in Renton and got a much better deal than what the rental locations in Seattle itself were offering. This was a few years ago, however.

Going to be travelling to Seattle for the Memorial Day weekend and we're wanting to keep costs at a minimum. Do we need to rent a car to get around Seattle to see the decent attractions? We'll be staying downtown and we DEFINITELY want to visit The Museum of Flight (among other places). What do you guys think?
I think it makes sense. The mass transit in Seattle is OK but definitely not as good as in Portland or in New York. Just keep in mind that most hotels in city centre have paid parking. I rented a standard-size sedan back in 2008 from Dollar for a whooping $29/day. Even now you can rent a full-size sedan for under $30/day. Even with taxes and fees it was not expensive at all. So, from my point of view, renting a car is totally worth it.