Seattle Vacation Rentals
Our Seattle homes are whole houses rather than apartments, spread across the city — Ballard and Crown Hill in the northwest, Queen Anne, the Seattle Center, and West Seattle across the Sound.
Where our Seattle houses are
Five parts of the city, spread from the northwest corner round to the far side of Elliott Bay. Most of them are quiet residential streets rather than the tourist corridor.
Ballard, Loyal Heights and Crown Hill
The northwest corner of the city, and the part that feels least like a city. Quiet residential streets of detached houses with gardens, a short walk or drive from Golden Gardens on Puget Sound. Ballard Avenue carries the restaurants, bars and the Sunday farmers market; the Ballard Locks sit at the bottom of the neighbourhood where the ship canal meets the sound. It is about twenty minutes from downtown by bus, and it is where you would stay if you wanted a house rather than a hotel room.
Queen Anne
On the hill north of downtown, with the ship canal on one side and the city on the other. Kerry Park, on the south slope, is the view of the Seattle skyline that appears on every postcard. Walkable to the Seattle Center and close enough to downtown to leave the car where it is.
Seattle Center and South Lake Union
The closest we come to staying downtown. The Space Needle, the Museum of Pop Culture and Chihuly Garden and Glass are all within a few streets, and the monorail runs into the retail core in two minutes.
Madrona and Capitol Hill
East of downtown, over the hill toward Lake Washington. Madrona is quiet and residential, with a short shopping street and a swimming beach on the lake. Capitol Hill, a little to the west, is the densest and most walkable part of the city: restaurants and bars along Pike, Pine and Broadway, Volunteer Park at the north end, and a Link light rail station running straight down to the airport.
West Seattle
Across the bay and slightly apart from the rest of the city, with Alki Beach looking back at the downtown skyline across Elliott Bay. Quieter, more residential, and a genuinely different feel from the north end.
Things to do in Seattle
Anchored to the neighbourhoods above rather than a generic city list — these are the things near where you would actually be staying.
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Ballard Free
The Ballard Locks
Open daily, and one of the best things in the city. Boats are lifted between the ship canal and Puget Sound, and a glass-walled fish ladder lets you watch salmon climb through on their way upstream. The fish ladder viewing room is open 7:00am to 8:45pm year-round. The visitor centre and museum keep shorter hours and are closed Mondays and Tuesdays, which catches people out — free guided tours run at 2:00pm on Wednesdays. There are seven acres of botanical gardens on the site.
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Ballard
Golden Gardens
Ballard's beach, at the bottom of the hill on Puget Sound — sand, driftwood, fire pits and a view across to the Olympics. Three of our four northwest houses are within easy reach of it.
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Ballard Sundays
Ballard Farmers Market
Every Sunday, 9:00am to 2:00pm, year-round and rain or shine, along Ballard Avenue NW. One of the best in the city and a five-minute drive from most of our Ballard houses.
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Queen Anne Free
Kerry Park
On the south slope of Queen Anne. It is a small strip of grass and a railing, and it is the definitive view of the skyline with Mount Rainier behind it on a clear day.
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West Seattle
Alki Beach
West Seattle's waterfront, looking back at downtown across Elliott Bay.
FAQs
No, and not for a long time. The Ballard Link Extension is planned but is currently slated to open in 2039. For now the RapidRide D Line bus runs from Ballard through Interbay and Uptown into downtown Seattle.
Yes, entirely. The grounds, the lock viewing areas, the fish ladder and the botanical gardens are all free to visit.
The viewing room is open 7:00am to 8:45pm daily, year-round. Salmon runs are seasonal and heaviest in summer, so numbers vary considerably through the year.
No — it is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, and keeps shorter hours than the grounds. Free guided tours run at 2:00pm on Wednesdays. The locks themselves and the fish ladder are open daily regardless.
Every Sunday from 9:00am to 2:00pm, year-round and rain or shine, on Ballard Avenue NW.
Kerry Park, on the south slope of Queen Anne. It is the view used on most postcards of the city, with Mount Rainier behind the skyline on a clear day. It is small, free and busy at sunset.
Yes. Within Seattle city limits, operators need both a city business licence tax certificate and a short-term rental regulatory licence. The city defines a short-term rental as a stay of 29 consecutive nights or fewer. Most operators are limited to two units.
Yes, and in 2026 you do not need a timed-entry reservation — that requirement applied in 2024 and 2025 only, so any advice telling you to book a slot on Recreation.gov is out of date. Note that the Sunrise area and White River Road have been closed since 13 August 2026 because of the Grand Park 2 Fire, so approach from the Nisqually entrance and Paradise instead.
About twenty minutes by bus on the RapidRide D Line, and similar by car outside rush hour. It is a genuinely separate neighbourhood rather than a downtown suburb, which is much of the appeal.
It depends on the block. Some residential streets near business districts and transit are Restricted Parking Zones, where vehicles without a resident permit are limited to the posted time — often two hours — during the posted hours. In unpaid areas those hours are typically 7am to 10pm daily, or 7am to 6pm Monday to Saturday. Outside them, anyone can park. Read the sign on the block: it states the zone and the hours that apply.
Link light rail runs from SeaTac/Airport station into downtown Seattle in 38 minutes. From downtown, the RapidRide D Line carries on to Ballard, and other buses serve Queen Anne and West Seattle. A taxi or rideshare is quicker door to door but costs considerably more, and I-5 traffic can erase the difference at the wrong time of day.
It depends where you are staying. On Queen Anne and around the Seattle Center you can walk to most of what you came for and take the monorail or a bus for the rest. In Ballard, Crown Hill and West Seattle a car makes life considerably easier — the bus into town is simple enough, but reaching Golden Gardens, the Locks and anywhere beyond the city is not. Bear the parking zones above in mind if you bring one.
July through September for dry weather, and the gap is dramatic: July averages 0.6 inches of rain and 312 hours of sunshine, against 5.7 inches and 53 hours in December. Late spring and early autumn are quieter and often still fine. Winter is dark and wet rather than cold, and it is when the city is at its cheapest.
Milder and drier than the reputation. Average highs run from about 47°F in December to 78°F in July and August, and lows from 37°F to 57°F. Total annual rainfall is around 39 inches, which is less than New York, Boston or Miami. What Seattle does have is a great many rain days — measurable precipitation falls on around 156 days a year, mostly as light rain between October and May. July and August together average under 1.6 inches.
A fair amount, and you may well need it. The Museum of Pop Culture and Chihuly Garden and Glass are both at the Seattle Center, a few streets apart. The Ballard Locks visitor centre has exhibits and a theatre, though it is closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Pike Place Market is largely under cover. Check current opening hours before setting out — several of these vary by season.
Yes, and it is the best cheap sightseeing in the city. Washington State Ferries run from Colman Dock downtown to Bainbridge Island in about 35 minutes and to Bremerton in about an hour. Kitsap Transit also runs a passenger-only fast ferry to Bremerton in around 30 minutes. Walking on is straightforward; taking a car means queueing, sometimes for a long time in summer.
Very — the city runs around fifteen off-leash areas. The handiest for the northwest neighbourhoods is at Golden Gardens: a one-acre off-leash area in the upper northern part of the park, with benches and a small covered shelter for wet days. Kinnear Park on Queen Anne has a smaller one, Lower Woodland Park has an acre near Green Lake, and Magnuson Park has the largest in the city at 8.6 acres, fully fenced. Dogs must be on a leash everywhere else in city parks.
Nearby on Puget Sound
If Seattle is booked out, the water is the reason most people come anyway. These are the closest places we manage homes.
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