Seattle Travel Forum

In September 2008 I will fly to Seattle and bring my bike.

Question # 1: Can I leave the cardboard-bikebox at the airport, because I want to use it again for my flight back to Germany?

Question # 2: I want to ride the bike up to Port Angeles, take the ferry to Vancouver Island an carry on biking on the island.

Question # 3: Can anybody tell me the shortest and easiest way by bike from Seattle airport to Seattle harbour?

Thank you for your cooperation!!!

Sorry, but I think you will have trouble finding a spot to store your box. You might inquire at the airport.

We have lots of UPS stores scattered throughout Washington and they can box your bike for shipping back to Germany at a nominal charge (#36.95). It might be easier to do that than find some where to store your box. UPS will also ship your bike home for around $460.00.

Hope this info. will help you.

Mike

I called UPS for their charges but the $460 seems really high... Not sure if she gave me the right price.

Mike

Hi from Seattle, and I hope I can help you out a bit for certain of your questions.

#1: Cardboard box: This is a tough question, as I have never seen any storage of such at the airport, but you might be able to find out from the Sea-Tac website or your airline. You might try to get in touch with some of the many car park lots that surround the airport, and see if they might store the box for a fee.

#2: Once you get on the road out of Seattle, the countryside is lovely. You'll be taking a ferry first across Puget Sound to the Olympic Peninsula, and many bicyclists do this. Then, the roads are mostly rural and nice, not large jammed freeways (motorways) as around Seattle.

#3: Sorry, I can't recommend bicycling from the airport into downtown Seattle. I just drove from the airport this morning (very frequent airport visitor), and I can tell you the route I take, but I've never seen a bicyclist on it, and it is 60mph (100kph), with lots of interchanges, merging lanes, and it goes through one of our ugliest industrial areas -- not what a traveler from Germany should be subjected to. I would think you'd want to do most of your bicycling out-of-the-big-city, where the countryside is very nice.

My suggestion is that after you have stored the box (??), to put the bicycle on the front-end "hook" of Metro bus #194, which goes direct from the airport to downtown. The cost is about $2.25, which you need in exact change; pay when you board. The bus leaves about every 15-30 minutes, depending on the time of day. This is very convenient. You will then have to disembark the bus probably at the first stop in downtown before the bus enters the downtown "ride-free zone," which I think will be in the International District. Then hop on your bike and you're right downtown, or go the Bainbridge Island ferry, if you're intending on a quick get-away to the Olympic Peninsula.

If you really want to bike-it from the airport, there's highway I-5 (I'm not even sure they allow bikes on here), or here is my normal alternate route:
--From Sea-Tac, follow the signs for Rte. 518, heading in the direction of Burien.
--Near Burien, turn right onto Rte. 509, which heads north straight into downtown Seattle, and it gradually becomes named the Alaskan Way Viaduct.
--However, you'd be better off taking the smaller streets, as this type of whizzing-by traffic and trucks in an industrial zone is not fun!

Again, I'd recommend that you consider the bus option, which is safer, and also a LOT safer after potentially long-distance air flights, or in case of rain.
Good luck and I wish you a great trip!

Below is lots of information on bicycling in Seattle (including from the airport).

While the bikeways are not as well developed here as in Deutschland, there are lots of opportunities.

Seattle:
You can find lots of information and bicycle maps on the web at:
http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/bikemapsmore.htm
You can order a printed map to be mailed to you at:
http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/bikemapform.htm

A description of a bicycle route from the airport to downtown Seattle and the harbour is at:
http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/seatacbikemap.htm
There is lots more information and many links on various pages at the above websites.

King County (the area around Seattle, including the airport, has a good bicycle website at:
http://www.metrokc.gov/kcdot/roads/bike/index.cfm
The following map from the website is the area near the airport:
http://www.metrokc.gov/kcdot/roads/bike/maps/12.pdf
And the following map is the area between that above and Seattle
http://www.metrokc.gov/kcdot/roads/bike/maps/7.pdf

Route through Kitsap and Clallam counties to Port Angeles:
The Port Townsend bike association has a good website at:
http://www.ptbikes.org/
They have lots of maps available on the web, or to order, at:
http://www.ptbikes.org/maps/index.html

Seattle’s Cascade Bicycle club is the largest in the US and may be a good resource
http://www.cascade.org/Home/

Gute Reise mit dem fahhrad!

P.S. to above:
I see on your website that you intend to bicycle from Victoria to Vancouver to Whistler.
20 years ago I lived in Vancouver and in Whistler and bicycled extensively everywhere in the region … but I’ve been out of touch since … you should try to contact some with more recent experience up there. However, some observations:

Some helpful websites and maps re the Vancouver region:
http://www.translink.bc.ca/Transportation_Services/Bikes/Default.asp
http://www.translink.bc.ca/files/pdf/cyclemap/Bikemap_WEST.pdf
http://www.translink.bc.ca/files/pdf/cyclemap/Richmond_Delta.pdf

3 major comments:

Victoria to Vancouver via Tsawwassen:
Victoria to Swartz Bay via road, thence via ferry to Tsawwassen thence via road to the George Massey tunnel under the Fraser River, thence via road to Vancouver.
Problem: the George Massey tunnel is 2 lane freeway in each direction, very narrow, no cycling possible. Solution: BC Government provides a free bicycle shuttle. Here’s a website about it and its schedules:
http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/popular-topics/driver_info/route-info/massey/massey.htm

Alternative via Nanaimo
An alternative is to ride up Vancouver Island to Nanaimo, thence via ferry to Horsehoe Bay (which is north of Vancouver … the road to Whistler leaves from there.
Advantages: nice Island Riding. Avoid the tunnel hassle. Avoid the traffic of Vancouver. Avoid the ling slow winding ride from Vancouver through West Vancouver to Horseshoe Bay.
Disadvantages: miss sights of Vancouver.
You could go one way using each of these alternatives.

Vancouver to Whistler
I personally would never consider bicycling the one road that exists between Vancouver and Whistler (even though when younger I did some “interesting” cycling). Although it is being improved, much of it is very narrow, without shoulders, and has lots of blind tight curves, tightly lined by steep rock cliffs. A driver rounding them would come upon a cycler faster than he could react. I have seen some bicyclists on the route, but in general they are the wilder, invincible 20’s something types. To make matters worse the road is undergoing massive reconstruction for the Olympics with lots of heavy rock construction, blasting of cliffs, etc.
Whistler itself has excellent cycling, though much of it is more suited to mountain bikes than road bikes (dirt or gravel trails, etc).
Personally I’d take the bus Vancouver to Whistler, either with the bike as luggage, or plan to rent a mountain bike up there.

Thank you very much.
I appreciate very much your suggestions, i think I'll go for the Nanaimo route on Vanc.Island.