Fodor's Seattle (Full-color Travel Guide)

Full disclosure: I've lived in or around Seattle since 1997, and I've made a point of exploring as much of the Puget Sound area as I can. While I wasn't born here, I feel I have a reasonably good grasp of the city's attractions and highlights. After all, I CHOSE to relocate here and I've never regretted that decision.

Even with my residential history, there are things included in this guide that are new to me (and are now on my list of places to visit!). Over the years, I've developed into a bit of a "foodie" -- I love to cook, and I especially enjoy trying new restaurants. Seattle is well-known for its food. "Top Chef" - Season 10 - was filmed in Seattle and featured various Seattle chefs, restaurants and specialties. You won't find better fresher seafood than in the Puget Sound area, and folks here know how to cook it. Just like its hard to find bad barbecue in Kansas City (my home town), it's hard to find bad seafood in Seattle. This guide will lead you to some of the very best Seattle has to offer, and there are some moderately priced options listed that are simply wonderful!

The book is nicely organized, too, both for pre-planning your visit as well as using the guide while you're traveling around the city and surrounding areas. It does a great job of outlining the various Seattle neighborhoods and their attractions (it does leave out a few but they're not as well known and don't have the concentration of restaurants/places of interest as others: Magnolia, Northgate, Greenwood and Lake City, for example.)

Restaurants do come and go here, but the recency of this book, as well as the recommendations (more "time-tested" establishments), bode well for finding a good place to eat.

As for visual attractions -- Seattle is a beautiful city with amazing vistas, mountains, water, and in the summer, GREAT weather filling longer days (sun up around 4:30-5:00am; sunset between 9:00-10:00pm). You'll find the usual array of museums, concerts, and exhibits as well as some of the "quirkier" attractions that you'll find only in Seattle.

The ONLY downside I could find here is the lack of a single removable consolidated map of the area included in the book (many of the Fodor guides include city maps). There are detailed maps for each chapter/sub-chapter showing neighborhoods, attractions, etc., but it would have been nice to include a larger all-inclusive map. This is easily rectified either electronically or at any of the gas stations/tourist stops around the city. It's not enough to deduct a star because the rest of the guide is so comprehensive.

Fodor got this one right. Solid 5 stars.

I have lived in Seattle for 26 years, yet I still feel like a newcomer in many ways. There are so many nooks and crannies to explore here, it would take a lifetime to see all of them!
It never occurred to me to get a travel guide for my own city, those are for tourists, right?

When I was offered a Fodor's Guide for my own city, a light bulb came on.
Get a guide: what a great idea when you live in a big city, you need never go far to explore something new.

I was familiar with Fodor's guides to other cities. They are the best for finding everything: places to shop, explore, see the sights, sleep and dine.
Presented on good quality paper with many color pictures and maps, Fodor's covers it all and covers it well.

I can tell you that there is a lot more to Seattle than Pike Place Market, ferries, and The Troll.
With this guide in hand, you have access to all of Seattle, presented with an insider's knowledge of the city.
Seattle is a quirky city with roads that lead everywhere and anywhere.
Fodor's will help you get the most out of a visit to the Northwestern wonderland of Seattle.

I wish it had an index. The recommendations based on neighborhoods was helpful.

I usually use my AAA travel books and am used to their layout. It took me a while to get used to the Fodor book since it was my first one ever.
It has drawbacks and benefits compared to AAA. The AAA has a much more encompassing hotel section which pretty much gives you reviews on almost all of them. The Fodor’s hotel list is quite limited; however it does give you a very nice comparison on the different areas to choose from.
The AAA book if pretty much set up so that you just look up what you want to know, and it’s listed in a very detached list type format. The Fodor book requires much more reading, in order to get a feel for the area. It is written in much more of a book format. Depending on your preferences, both formats have pros and cons.
I must say that if you invest the time in reading the whole book, like I did, you will have a much better understanding of the area, and have much less of a chance of getting home and saying; “Oh man, I didn’t even know that was there!”

Seattle residents share the good things about their city.

Going to Seattle in June and using this as my go-to guide. This is so helpful for planning my trip- what to do and the distance between these points. They also have a whole section on food, which I am excited to explore.

I am in a bit of a quandry about how to review this travel guide...I brought it with me during a weekend conference in Seattle, thinking to compare my experience at several restaurants and the hotel where I was staying. Unfortunately, while dining at one of those restaurants, Gordon Biersch Brewery, I left this guidebook and my Kindle unattended on my table, next to my food, as I had to make a quick visit to the restroom. When I returned, my Kindle was still there, but the Seattle Travel Guide had been purloined, ripped off, light-fingered, absconded with...you get the drift. While I was thankful that the thief hadn't swiped my faithful Kindle companion, I was flummoxed about how I could write a fair, unbiased review of the almost-unread guide! So rather than write up something inaccurate or misleading, I'm arbitrarily assigning this three stars.
Perhaps the jerk who stole Fodor's Seattle from my table will decide to contribute a more thorough review, though the question remains; can you trust a person of dubious integrity to write an honest review?

Slightly outdated

My au pair finds it helpful!

my daughter used this for her trip to Seattle..helped alot