Seattle on a Budget

We are spending a day in Seattle. The whole trip is based around us taking our daughter and a friend on a college visit. Since we lived in Portland we thought we would ride the train.

Did you know that Amtrak offers discounts for college visits?  Yep, it’s true. We got a Buy One get One 50% off. With the cost of gas going up, this will save us money, plus we can all take advantage of the 3+ hour drive from Portland to Seattle. I have never taken the train, so I am excited about this adventure.

I am always on the lookout for blogs that showcase cities that we plan to visit.

Seattle-Fun seems to have tons of information and good ideas.

I used Hotwire to book our hotel. I had found a 4 star for $99 in the general area we wanted. I think I narrowed down which hotel it was. I didn’t book it at the time, even though it was a great deal. Instead I put a watch on it to see if it would come down.

A few days later I was looking again. I found a 4 star for $106 and saw that it was a boutique hotel (this information is clearly marked).  I began searching to see which one it was and my husband blurts out, “just book it!” Apparently he really likes boutique hotels. I haven’t traveled enough to know.

Without further research I book it and ended up on the Puget Sound in the Edgewater Hotel.  Booking prices start at $248, although with more research and our time of year I did get it down to $175, which is still a huge savings.

Not only that, I booked through Ebates and earned 2% cash back. It’s not a lot, but things like that add up over time.

Another Hotwire tip :: book just one night. It will show you what hotel you got and at that point you can choose to book additional nights.

I have been watching Groupon and Living Social hoping to score some cheap eats. I haven’t scored any for Seattle, but I have scored 3 recently for Portland.

Any tips for cheap entertainment or good cheap eats in the downtown area?

Read on to find out about our Hotel and where we ate.