We are visiting U of Washington next week, still not sure where to stay. Son is lgbtq. Stay near Capitol Hill or University area? He wants to walk around thrift shops, cafes, etc. Also want to be near public transportation but it looks like both areas are okay for that. THank you!
The U-District is a great area and I would choose it over Capital Hill for what you want but both are great. I also like staying on Lake Union.
I toured with my D23 this summer, and I lived in Seattle and surrounding areas for 25 years (1978 to 2003). It’s a bit run down compared to when I lived there, but still a great place to be. I didn’t live on Capitol Hill, but spent four years on First Hill (which is right next to/walking distance to Broadway and everything on CH) and loved it. Didn’t make it to CH this year, but I’m sure it’s worth a good visit, especially for an LBGTQ+ kid. The UW provides public transportation passes to all students, so maybe try getting from one to another while you’re there. I don’t have a recommendation on where to stay since we stayed with family. The Ave (University Way, slightly west of campus) was always the funky/edgy/eclectic place for UW college students, but looked a little run down from the glimpse I got of it. University Village (on the east side of campus) is very posh, but does have lots of shops, restaurants, and a good grocery store. If you have the time, I recommend having a look at both areas so you know what’s around. I hope you have a great tour. Our guide was a super energetic, really funny kid from Sweden. It was clear he loved the school and I think that really helped my D’s positive opinion of it.
Thanks all! Trying to nail down decisions tonight. Will go from Seattle down to Portland for more tours.
Make sure you get recs on where to stay in Portland also. It’s a train wreck. Some fun things to do in the area though.
I’d simply say not to stay in downtown Seattle. It’s not safe.
I recommend staying in the U District or S Lake Union area and take the bus (live the experience) to the UW and walk around and then take a Lyft to Cap Hill to experience the vibe there. Your student will likely spend a ton of time on campus and the U -District. Make sure you go by the stadium (rent a canoe by the IMA/Stadium) if you have time. The Ave is fun to walk around. Check out the dorms, etc. One end by the Quad houses biz classes, lib arts classes. One end by the HUB and part of Drumheller has the engr classes. The other side (Bagley) holds science classes (and ChemE) where your student will take tons of Gen Chem, Bio, Physics. Kane in red sq has the major GE lecture halls, etc. Have a great time!!
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I just visited my grad-student daughter recently and stayed at the Watertown Hotel, which is one of the pair of StayPineapple hotels in the U district. It wasn’t fancy but it was clean and functional and close to everything. Good discounts on booking.com We took a bus over to Cap Hill which was pretty easy. IMHO, if your son is considering attending UW, he’s not going to live in the Cap Hill neighborhood at least at first; you might as well stay in the U district and see what it’s like accessing everything else from there. (OTOH if he’s also considering Seattle U then maybe he might live over that way, so it depends.) UW used to give a good dorm tour, separate from the general campus tour, but I imagine that’s probably not happening in Covid times.
When I visited with my younger daughter a few years ago, we flew in and just stayed at an airport hotel and took light rail everywhere from there. That worked fine too, for a quick visit, but for what you want it’s probably better to stay closer to UW.
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Yup. Our tour this summer did not involve going inside any buildings, dorms included.
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We are going to stay at Marriot Residence Inn Seattle University District. Take Link around. Hopefully that works out well.
They have rooms with a little tv area with a sofa bed so he can have some privacy.
THanks all for your comments.
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Oh, and we are close to Berkeley/Oakland, and I work in SF so we are very used to the current train wreck situation of some places.
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That’s where we’re staying on our visit too. Seemed like a good location to see what student life is like. That’s so nice that the Link just opened the U District Station a few days ago, good timing!
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@RMGC Are you back from your visit? What did your S think?
We got back last night, and were favorably impressed with UW Seattle. My D made a comment of it being the most diverse student body she’s ever seen. We took the Link to Capitol Hill to check out the area and it seemed pretty quiet when we were there.
The visit help confirm that it’s a school she’ll apply to.( I think she was halfway hoping she could avoid another application since UW uses the Coalition App, and all the other schools on her list use Common App haha.) We took a student led tour, and afterwards unofficially wandered into some of the buildings. We got to see The Mill maker space which was fantastic.
The campus is beautiful. And big. TBH the size is a bit of a negative of the school for D, but other aspects of the school check off many boxes.
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Yes we are back! Took a plane to Seattle, then the link all around town. Stayed in the University district at a Marriott. Toured U of Wash and it is my sons #1 choice, but don’t think he has the grades to get in. Beautiful campus, great programs, great tour guide. Close to downtown.
Then we took Amtrak to Portland (very enjoyable low stress ride) and saw Portland State U, Willamette, Western Oregon U, Lewis and Clark and Linfield. Out of those I think Portland State U is his favorite because he wants to be close to an urban downtown, and they also had a very nice campus, programs, info .
I think Willamette is a maybe, Western Oregon seems so small, Lewis and Clark is lovely, but the program is not quite what he wants, Linfield has a great nursing program but boy the McMinnville campus where you spend the first two years is small and seems low energy and isolated.
Now that the trip is done, he is saying he will apply to Southern Oregon U which we also wanted to see but he said no at the time, but is now saying he wants to apply to. I think that could be a good match as well.
It was a good trip, we good to get a feeling for some campuses and the rain and fall colors were a nice change from home.
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