How do I get to Seattle?

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) sits 22 km south of downtown, straddling the city line between Seattle and Tacoma along Interstate 5. Alaska Airlines runs its primary hub here with nonstop service to over 100 destinations. Delta operates a sizable focus city at SEA, covering East Coast corridors and transpacific routes to Tokyo, Seoul, and Shanghai. The terminal handled about 50 million passengers in 2023, and a multi-year expansion project has kept parts of the south satellite under construction scaffolding since 2021. Near the S gates you'll hear the steady rattle of rolling suitcases on temporary plywood walkways. Paine Field (PAE), 48 km north in Everett, carries Alaska Airlines service to roughly a dozen cities, mostly West Coast and Sun Belt. PAE's terminal is tiny. The security line rarely tops 10 minutes, and warm air from the 6-gate waiting area hits you the moment you walk in from the parking lot. That said, SEA has 15 times the route network, so PAE only makes sense if you're staying north of the Ship Canal.

From the US East Coast, nonstop flights from JFK, Newark, and Dulles take 5.5 hours on Alaska, Delta, JetBlue, and United at $280-550 round-trip. Chicago O'Hare runs 4.5 hours for $220-450 on Alaska, American, and United. From London Heathrow, British Airways and Delta fly nonstop in 9.5 hours at £550-900 round-trip. Worth noting, Icelandair connects through Reykjavik from several European cities for £400-700, adding 3 hours but trimming £100-200 off the direct fare. The Tokyo Narita route covers 10 hours on Delta and ANA for $800-1,400. Korean Air connects from Incheon at similar prices. Within the West Coast, Alaska and Southwest shuttle from LAX, SFO, and Portland for $80-200. Seattle's cheapest airfare window runs January through mid-March, when East Coast round-trips drop to $250 on Alaska's winter sales. Summer rates from late June through Labor Day climb 40-60% on transatlantic routes as European visitors arrive for Seattle's dry months.

Seattle is reachable by train, and one corridor is worth the ground time. Amtrak Cascades runs Portland to Seattle in 3.5 hours for $27-66 one-way, with four daily departures from Portland Union Station to King Street Station in Pioneer Square. The train follows Puget Sound between Tacoma and Seattle, where gray-green water stretches toward the faint outline of the Olympic Mountains. Rain streaks the windows most months, and the café car sells decent coffee for $3. The Vancouver BC route takes about 4 hours for $34-75 CAD and includes a border stop at the Blaine station. FlixBus and Greyhound cover the Portland corridor in 3.5-4 hours for $15-30, though the seats smell like vinyl cleaner and the legroom is tight. Driving I-5 from Portland takes 2.5-3 hours without traffic, but the stretch from Tacoma to downtown Seattle backs up on weekday afternoons, sometimes adding 45 minutes. From Vancouver, the drive runs 2.5 hours plus the Peace Arch border crossing, which can add 20 minutes in winter or 2 hours on a July Saturday.