Seattle under $500

So.. ’twas my birthday last weekend. And in our family, we are not that into presents. We prefer to make the day special in some other ways. This year, we decided to book a quick trip to Seattle! Just one night stay with the kids and some friends.

HOTEL
Seattle is a 2,5 hour drive from home (Chilliwack, BC) which makes it a perfect destination for a weekend getaway. It was not a “planned” vacation so our budget was quite limited. For the hotel, we didn’t want to pay more than $100 for a room. We booked at the Fairfield Inn & Suite by Marriot in Bellevue  which offered a two queen bedroom for $99 USD. The breakfast was included and there was even an indoor pool! Always a winner with our kids! This being said, we thought it was a good price (and it was!) but since we are Canadians, with the taxes and the exchange rate, we really paid $145 for the night. Oh well.. It was a nice hotel.
Cost: $145

THINGS TO DO
There are many things to do in Seattle but in only two days, we had to choose. The first day, we looked for a beach because we wanted to see the ocean. May 5th is too cold to really enjoy a nice beach so we just drove around to find a park or something. We found a rocky beach and it was perfect to eat our lunch and spend an hour or two to let the kids run after the long drive.
Cost: $0

We then went to our hotel. We discovered our room and we went to the pool. We had a blast!
Cost: $0

At night, we went to Pike Place Market. It’s a public market where you can buy lots of local products and the famous “Gum Wall” is also hidden in there. If you are looking for it, ask for directions.. Otherwise, you might end up walking all around the market without finding that wall! And don’t forget to bring a gum. You’ll want to stick one on a wall like everybody else 😉
Cost: $0

On day 2, we left around 10:30 to go to the Woodland Park Zoo. I don’t think we were traveling in the high season (beginning of May) so I was surprised by the amount of people! At the beginning of the day, when we were trying to find a parking spot, we thought we would never find one. But then, we got in the park and it didn’t look that busy.. It was just perfect to have a spot and clearly see each animal. I don’t have a big expertise in zoo but I think this one was a nice one.
Cost: $85 (2 adults + 2 children + 1 free 2 year old)

PLACES TO EAT
Since this was a low budget weekend, we brought two lunches for Saturday and Friday.
Cost: $15

For Saturday night, we had no idea where to go for dinner. We ended up going to Pike Place Market so we found a restaurant there which I would not especially recommend… Copacabana Cafe has a beautiful location. Right in the middle of the market with a majestic view on the mountains. It’s supposed to be a Bolivian restaurant but I’m not sure they are representing the country very well?! The food is only ok and they don’t have anything for children. The kids ended up eating a corn.. what was it? A corn pie? With cheese on it? Looked like a pizza but made out of corn. It was not great.. None of the kids liked it. It’s too bad. What could have been a nice discovery of a part of the Bolivian culture failed completely.
Cost: $65

On our way back, we stopped at a McDonald. It was just easy, cheap and fun for the kids.
Cost: $19

TOTAL
$105 : Food (lunches, snacks, restaurants)
$ 70 : Gas
$145 : Hotel (one night)
$ 85 : Zoo
$ 40 : Parkings
———
$445

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***This article has been feature on planningaway.com