I plan to drive from my hotel near Seatac airport to Everett and back (preferably on a weekday and for the Boeing tour). Because I understand that freeway traffic around Seattle can be pretty bad, I'd appreciate advice from those in the know.
First, am I right to assume that it will be much better for me to use the 405 rather than the 5?
Second, if the 405 is the better option, are there times when it is best avoided? If so, which stretches tend to get congested?
Third, how much time should I allow to get to Everett?
I'd appreciate any advice, observations etc. and thank you in advance.

It's a bit of a crap shoot, but the 405 is generally a better option than I-5. Do check the WSDOT site on the day as it only takes a tiny bit of roadwork to grind everything to a halt .

Busiest times, as you would expect, are weekday rush hours (roughly 7-9am, 4-6pm). If you don't mind taking a bit more time consider using hwy 99 - yes, it's an urban road with lots of (unsynchronised ) traffic lights but I've never seen gridlock on it.

Thank you for that. As a traveller from Europe suffering jetlag, it would be no hardship to leave before the am rush and book the first Boeing tour of the day.
Can you give me some idea of the journey time if, say, I left Seatac at 6am?

I would definitely take I-5, and not I-405. Northbound traffic in the morning on I-5 is heavy enough, but once past the I-90 junction (in central Seattle) the traffic diminishes greatly, and it's a "speed limit" drive from there to the Boeing plant.

I-405 on the other hand tends to have a lot of commuters going in both directions, with the Renton Boeing plants (737s) as well as all the tech employers on the east side of Lake Washington making for commuting patterns that go both ways.

Note that you want to take WA Hwy 526 (the "Boeing Freeway") from I-5 to the plant (signposted "Mukilteo - Whidbey Island Ferry) which leaves I-5 several miles shy of Everett proper.

In the morning I would allow around 45-55 min. all in from the airport area to the Future of Flight center - 20 min. to downtown, then 25 to the plant, with a 10 min. congestion cushion. Note the first tour doesn't start until 8:30 (and in fact the Boeing plant itself has some early start times) so there's no need to go super early.

Just some clarification needed here.....

There are many Boeing facilities in the Tacoma-Seattle-Everett area.

This also includes the Boeing Museum of Flight---this is not in Everett

http://www.museumofflight.org/

This is located at Boeing Field which is south of downtown Seattle near Boeing field about 7-10 miles north of SEATAC.

The large Boeing manufacturing plant where the 787 is made as up in Everett (actually Mukelteo on Payne Field)

http://www.boeing.com/commercial/tours/index.html

As for the rush hour drive...

From the airport you should be fine until you hit downtown. From the I-90 merge to the University of Washington exit will be heavy.

Same true when you return. The rush hour through downtown seattle starts around 3:30pm.

There is trafic cams that will show you how traffic is of a web site. If you google WSDOT SEattle traffic and
http://www.wsdot.com/traffic/seattle/default.aspx

roughly where 525 and 526 meet is where the Boeing tour location is.

"...some clarification needed here..."? No, I don't think so! Not for me, anyway.
My original post referred to both Everett and the Boeing tour. Is there more than one Boeing tour at Everett (i.e., in different places)??
Many thanks for all the helpful comments. As I expect to be wide awake by 4am for at least a few days after arriving from Europe, I will set out well before the worst of the am rush. Still not sure whether to go via downtown Seattle, though...
Once again, my thanks to all who contributed.

When is your visit? Right now the sun is rising around 6, but it will be getting later as we go. No need to do the drive in the dark.

If you're that early, just shoot up I-5 to SR 526, then go past the plant/FoF center into "downtown" Mukilteo and have a coffee and something for a light breakfast at the Red Cup - a funky coffee house/bakery with a nice view of the ferry landing. Then it's just 5 min. or so back up the hill to the tour center. Either that or walk around the lighthouse and onto the beach and watch the world wake up. It's really a lovely area.

BTW it's not the "Boeing" Museum of Flight. Just the Museum of Flight. The confusingly named Future of Flight is the tour center and Boeing "museum" (i.e. PR exhibit.)

What great suggestions! Thanks.

Just the one from the "Future of Flight", but while you're there do go to the Heritage of Flight museum on the South side: http://www.flyingheritage.com/Templa...px?contentId=1

I have seen numerous references through various articles over the years referring to the Museum of Flight as Boeing Museum of flight because its located on Boeing Field.

The latest reference came when the Space Shuttle training simulator was brough to museum of flight for its next home.

I was not sure if you were coming here to travel for work so you needed to go to Boeing--thus asking about traffic as in you had some meeting to go to or you wanted to tour the place.

The Boeing Everett is just one of many other places

For example the Boeing-Renton facility is where the next generation 737s are being built.

I've seen those references too, but they're all wrong. Boeing was (and remains) a major donor to the MoF, but they never asked for, nor received, naming rights, unlike Safeco or Qwest/Century Link.

The I 5 is fine going out of Seattle for the Boeing future of flight, we did the tour at 4.00 the other day we saw the 747, 787 and 777 being buillt, cant take photos which is a bit of a bummer