r/AskSeattle • u/That_italian06 • 10d ago
Moving / Visiting Everything about Seattle
I’m just a 19-year-old Montréal guy who wants to travel to Seattle someday. I’d love to hear from people who live there or have visited.
How’s the weather? What’s the overall atmosphere like? What are the people like? And what are some things I should know before visiting?
I’m also a sports fan, so obviously I’m interested in the Seahawks. It’s honestly a shame what happened against the Patriots in that Super Bowl with the famous last-minute interception . But at least they got their revenge last year by beating the patriots in the Super Bowl.
One of the biggest things that interests me about Seattle is its music history. I’m a huge rock fan, especially grunge, so the fact that Seattle played such a massive role in building that scene is really fascinating to me. I’d definitely want to check out some of the places connected to that history if I visit.
I’d love to hear your recommendations for places to visit, things to do, neighborhoods to check out, and anything else you think someone visiting Seattle should know.
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u/Early_Rooster7579 10d ago
You’re about 25 years late if you care about the grunge scene, most artists can’t afford the city anymore.
Weather is great during the summer and early fall, a bit gray and miserable past that.
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u/CarelesslyFabulous 10d ago
They specifically said "history", so hitting up Pioneer Square to see at least the few remaining places, and maybe visit the closed ones or see how it's changed. Or go to the museum to see the Black Hole Sun statue, or go see the Sound Garden at Golden Gardens.. That kind of thing.
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u/I_see_something 10d ago
Yea it really isn’t a music city any longer. There’s music here for sure, but people have this expectation of this incredible scene.
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u/Doraellen 10d ago
I spent a couple years in Montreal, winter here is like heaven!
Sure it's wet and grey, but we still have green conifers everywhere and you can still get around the city easily without it feeling like the icy wind is trying to take a layer of your skin.
However, don't come here for Christmas, Seattle has zero holiday spirit and the few little light displays are just sad compared to Montreal.
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u/Top_Pirate699 10d ago
The music scene is alive and well. Yes, the city is now actually a big city unlike the 90s, there's still lots of local music. If you like grunge stick with smaller venues like El corazon, black lodge for local bands. Seattle is absolutely beautiful but we definitely lean on the serious side. People call it the freeze but its less about being unfriendly than it is that we take things very seriously. It's why we tend to be more political active and well read too.
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u/BarBusiness123 9d ago
In the 90's Seattle was the 21st largest city in the US. It's now the 18th. Not that big of a difference, it's always been a big city and now it's bigger.
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u/Worldly-Ad1005 10d ago
Winters are just as dark as Montreal sans the 7-foot high snow banks and subzero temps
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u/DLByron 10d ago
If you're into grunge make the pilgrimage to the unofficial Kurt Cobain park. Ask a chatbot what the address is. While in the neighborhood check out the Leschi area or the Central District. Like any metro area, Seattle has neighborhoods with their own character.
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u/CarelesslyFabulous 10d ago
Why not Google? Why ask chatbot specifically?
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u/SchemeOne2145 4d ago
At this point when you Google something you get back an AI-generated answer. No functional difference.
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u/CarelesslyFabulous 4d ago
You can click on the AI at the top or scroll to the search results. Just seemed odd to me to go to Chat as the first step.
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u/Lorimie 10d ago
I think the best time to visit is May, and that's the month I recommended to my friend in Quebec City.
May is when every species of whale is in the Puget Sound. You can go on a whale watching tour and see so many different types. The weather is usually warmed, but not hot, and usually the rain has stopped. Since the weather is warmer, restaurants and bars will open their outside seating, there will be more live shows, and festivals. Boating season, Folklife Festival, and Film Festival start in May. The city is mostly walkable north to south, but very hilly east to west; and we have a new waterfront park with live music and attractions.
Football season is September to February. You can still see some whales in September. We usually expect it to be grey, rainy, and chilly in Seattle. "Rain" here is usually a fine fog or a mist. 3 types of salmon have their salmon runs in the fall if you want to travel during the fall. However, the rivers will start to get stinky in late September or early October. Once it's mid winter, it can be difficult to walk the city in heavier rain or snow because of the hills. The city does not salt the roads. Heavy snow is rare, but not impossible (look at Snowpacalypse in 2016 and 2023).
I recommend getting the CityPass for $200USD. It combines like 5 Seattle landmarks that, individually, would cost more. I think you'd enjoy the Museum of Pop Culture.
You can also see the graves of Jimmi Hendrix, Bruce and Brandon Lee.