seattle-portland

[tielan]

Are either of these cities very public-transport friendly? Seattle seems to be, but I know that "seems to be" is not the same as "actually is".

At this point, I don't necessarily need 'accessible' but it's good to know. Also I am (perhaps foolishly) not particularly concerned by 'safeness'. Safety, yes; safeness, no.

Comments

[james]

Both cities have public transit, trains and buses. I haven't used it in Seattle much but you can get around in Portland though it's been 5-6 years since we were up there.

My partner and I are both willing to walk several miles, so we consider Portland to be sufficient in terms of public transit, taking the trains and walking. It is walking friendly (and bicycle friendly) though there are areas with homeless folks camping on the sidewalk or right off it, depending on your sensitivity to such things.

Also, a suggestion for Seattle to San Fran trip is the Coast Starlight via Amtrak: https://www.amtrak.com/coast-starlight-train

It is a truly gorgeous ride, even though you wouldn't be able to stop and get off and on unless you bought your tickets for segments of the journey as separate tickets (like get the ticket from Seattle to Portland and stay the night, etc).

It doesn't strictly go down the coast (it goes from Portland to Salem, Albany, Eugene, Klamath Falls), but it is very picturesque and you do go by the ocean between Seattle and Portland. We take Amtrak all the time and this ride is a very nice one.

[tielan]

I am definitely doing the Coast Starlight via Amtrack from Portland to Sacramento overnight - 16 hours, it says, arriving at 6am in Sacramento. I can get a room for actual sleeping, and it arrives bit early but eh.

I was going to take Amtrack from Seattle to Porland, too - a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon, spend Sunday night in Portland (maybe Monday night, too? I'm trying to remember who was willing/able to see me in which city) and then arrive in Sacramento by Tuesday or Wednesday.