When you’re flying all the way to the USA ’s Pacific Northwest to join a cruise to Alaska, you may as well make the most of it.
Here’s how adding an extra night to your holiday can give you 48 hours to discover Seattle, the beating heart of Washington State.
It’s not possible to get from Britain to the Emerald City – named for all its forests – on the same day to join a cruise, so you require a one-night pre-sailing hotel stay.
If you catch the 9.40am British Airways flight from Heathrow, you’ll be in downtown Seattle by around 1pm local time (it’s a -8hr time change) ready to power through the jetlag on an afternoon’s sightseeing, have an evening meal and crash out.
Then, if you add on one night in a hotel at the end of the voyage (you will disembark early morning), there’s a full day to enjoy, plus part of the following day before catching the flight back home.
I got the 7.15pm flight back, which meant I did not have to arrive at the airport till 4.15pm.
Arrive and thrive
Hitting the deck running, I was out of my hotel – the venerable Mayflower Park, which dates from 1927 – and on a 2.30pm tasting tour of Seattle’s legendary Pike Place Market with ebullient guide Bob, from Show Me Seattle (around £43 per person, showmeseattle.com ).
It’s a couple of hours of food, fun and heaps of information as you work your way through this labyrinthine series of linked buildings seeking the hidden gems and learning how this fabled place was almost lost to the developers’ wrecking ball in the 1960s.
You’ll also find the original Starbucks here, and latte-fuelled crowds of selfie snappers.
Fully Piked up, it was back to the Mayflower – a three-star with old school charm that feels like a four – for a livener in airy Oliver’s Lounge and a good dinner in the Mediterranean-themed Andaluca restaurant, before jet lag finally won the argument.
Wet, wet, wet
Next morning, after a fine eggs Benedict breakfast in Andaluca, I had a couple of hours to kill before heading to the port.
Seattle was living up to its reputation for rain, so what else to do other than wander round the posh Nordstrom department store and then visit the Westlake Park ‘walk-through’ fountain, to ensure you’re properly wet?
After the cruise
After an epic voyage with Princess to The Last Frontier, I was off the ship at 10am and dropped off my bags at the five-star and fabulous Fairmont Olympic hotel , truly the Grande Dame of Seattle, ready to explore.
First up – down; namely the excellent Bill Speidel’s Underground Tour , which is a witty wander through intriguing subterranean store fronts and streets covered up after the old Pioneer Square district was rebuilt one storey higher after the Great Fire of 1889.
It’s a unique 75-minute time-capsule view of the dust-encrusted buried streets and interconnecting tunnels – one of the best city tours I’ve done, with tales of bordellos, exploding toilets and gold fever (around £19, undergroundtour.com ).
On the subject of the shiny yellow stuff, the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park is close by and admission to a small but fascinating museum is free ( nps.gov ).
All that sightseeing worked up an appetite for lunch and a chance to try a (small, it’s really enough!) portion of cod and chips at Ivar’s Pier 54 Fish Bar . They’re a local legend and a tenner of fried heaven; just watch out for evil marauding gulls, which are the size of albatrosses.
Seattle Aquarium was close by and included on CityPASS (see below) so I dived in for a quick fix of marine wildlife, which included a lot of fish, a disgusting giant octopus and various mammals such as sea otters. Worth a look with the pass.
My next destinations were north of the waterfront, so I walked to the Monorail station at Westlake Center and jumped on the wonderful 1962 train, which still feels a bit space age as it zips along for a mile at 45mph and 30ft above the streets.
If your idea of a good time is a mash-up of Star Trek’s Spock, Kurt Cobain, the Terminator, Jimi Hendrix and Luke Skywalker’s severed hand and lightsaber from The Empire Strikes Back, then you’ll love the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP).
A series of colourful galleries celebrate anything and everything from pop culture – from fantasy and horror cinema, guitar heroes and science fiction literature, to video games, ray guns and costumes from screen and stage. Beam yourself up there.
Step out of the museum and you’re straight in to the lift queue for the 605ft high Space Needle . Like the Monorail it was built for the 1962 World’s Fair and is a renowned symbol of the city, even if it’s now not the tallest tower in town by some distance.
The views are superb, there’s a fancy restaurant, a bar selling local beer, cider and wine, and a rotating glass floor. A Seattle must-do as much as Pike Place.
Like much of the US, restaurants are pricey in Seattle and, often, 18% tips are expected.
I’d been to the Purple Cafe in downtown before and enjoyed it, so had booked again. The starter cheese and meat board, then Alaskan halibut was excellent, but with a beer, a glass of wine and tip, you’re north of a Benjamin ( purplecafe.com ).
A nightcap at the superb island Olympic Bar in the Fairmont lobby is optional, but it would be rude not to.
With that 7.15pm fight home, there was ample time the next day for more sightseeing. But not before another terrific eggs Benedict in the Fairmont’s The George restaurant .
First up, a thrilling Kenmore Air seaplane trip around Puget Sound, Lake Washington and over the city.
All passengers get a window seat in the de Havilland DHC-3 Otter for the half-hour narrated trip and the steep take-off and landing at the South Lake Union terminal are especially memorable (around £106 per person, kenmoreair.com ).
A 25-minute walk took me from the terminal to Chihuly Garden and Glass , an art museum and sculpture garden showcasing the eye-popping works by Dale Chihuly, from Seattle’s southern neighbour Tacoma.
There are eight galleries, a showpiece ‘glasshouse’ and a garden under the Space Needle. The exhibits, both inside and outdoors amid lush plants, are astonishing and I’d put this right up there as a must alongside Pike Place and the tower. You’ve probably never seen anything like this.
Extra Seattle travel tips
A lot of downtown Seattle is walkable and there’s a useful bus and light rail network, plus the Monorail. The light rail extends all the way to the airport and it’s just £2.60 each way, taking about 35 minutes to/from downtown.
The Seattle CityPASS is well worth getting for a couple of days, saving 44% at five leading attractions.
I made good use of it, taking in the Needle (allows day and night visits), Aquarium, Pop Culture museum and Chihuly. Around £101, citypass.com/seattle.
Get there: British Airways flies from Heathrow to Seattle in May from £605 return with 23kg baggage. Find out more at britishairways.com/seattle.
Book it: Rooms at the Mayflower Park Hotel in Seattle in cruise season (May-September) start at around £218 a night. Find out more at mayflowerpark.com.
Rooms at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Seattle in cruise season start at around £351 a night. Find out more at fairmont.com.
For Alaska cruises see princess.com.
You can also find more information at visitseattle.org.
