King County – Travel guide at Wikivoyage (2024)

Largely upscale suburbia, heavily residential.

• 1 Bothell — commercial center of the north county
• 2 Shoreline — a northern suburb of Seattle that is home to Kruckeberg Botanic Garden
• 3 Woodinville — the center of the Washington wine industry

Better known as the Eastside, this is the fastest growing region in the county.

• 4 Bellevue — the second largest city in King County and Seattle's largest suburb, home to an art museum and a botanical garden
• 5 Issaquah — has an attractive old town and hosts a salmon festival
• 6 Kirkland — a charming lakefront city with a collection of outdoor sculptures
• 7 Mercer Island — a small city located on an island of the same name in Lake Washington
• 8 Redmond — home to Microsoft and Nintendo of America

Most visitors will only see the Sea-Tac Airport, in the city of SeaTac. (The airport's name came first.) Continuing south merges into Pierce County, soon reaching Tacoma.

• 9 Auburn — home to the White River Valley Museum which focuses on Native American history to the 1920s. They focus on the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, pioneer life
• 10 Burien — 'Old Town' Burien has a wide variety of shops and restaurants and has held onto the area's early charm
• 11 Federal Way — home of the Pacific Bonsai Museum and Rhododendron Species Botanical Gardens
• 12 Kent — a commuter town and manufacturing
• 13 Renton — dominated by Boeing's 737 factory
• 14 SeaTac — the city that named itself after an airport
• 15 Tukwila — visit the Museum of Flight, an air and space museum
• 16 White Center — blends seamlessly into its neighbor, West Seattle, the area has embraced its punk rock, mixed-ethnicity identity

The rural, sparsely distributed towns of the far east county are the one respite from the sprawl.

• 17 North Bend — David Lynch's television series Twin Peaks, was partially filmed here

• King County Council website

The major interstates are I-5, running north-south through Seattle to Snohomish County and Pierce County, and I-90, running east from Seattle through Bellevue and Issaquah to Snoqualmie Pass and Kittitas County. The notoriously congested I-405 splits off from I-5 at Tukwila in the south and Lynnwood in the north, serving Bellevue and the other cities of the Eastside. SR-167 is an alternate route from Tacoma to the south county, while SR-18 is a high speed bypass from north of Tacoma to I-90 east of Issaquah.

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, (SEA^IATA), called "SeaTac" by locals, connects Seattle to all regions of the world, with especially frequent transpacific routes. Competition is fierce and fares are low on service to the San Francisco Bay Area and Southern California.

• Washington State Ferries (WSF) connect downtown Seattle (Pier 52) to Bainbridge Island and Bremerton on two separate routes. From next to Fauntleroy Park in West Seattle there is another WSF ferry to Vashon Island and to Southworth (Kitsap Peninsula). All ferries are for both vehicles and passengers except the ferry between downtown Seattle and Vashon Island.
• King County Water Taxi connects downtown Seattle (Pier 50) to Seacrest Park in West Seattle and Vashon Island on two separate routes. This operates as a passenger only ferry.
• High Speed Catamaran by Clipper Vacations connects Seattle to Victoria, British Columbia (Canada) as a passenger only ferry.

King County Metro, ☏ +1 206-553-3000. Operates bus, streetcar, and monorail routes in King County. Communities within the county served by this operator's routes include Auburn, Bellevue, Bothell, Burien, Federal Way, Issaquah, Kent, Kirkland, Mercer Island, North Bend, Redmond, Renton, SeaTac, Seattle, Shoreline, Tukwila, Vashon Island, White Center, and Woodinville. (updated Jun 2023)he web trip planneris straightforward and accurate, as long as your bus is on time.

The number of the route also tells you which area of the county it serves:

• Below 100 - Seattle only
• 100s - South King County: Auburn, Burien, Federal Way, Kent, Renton, SeaTac, Tukwila, Vashon Island, White Center
• 200s - Eastside: Bellevue, Bothell, Issaquah, Kirkland, Redmond, Smammish,
• 300s - North King County: Aurora Village, Northgate, Shoreline, Woodinville
• 500s - Sound Transit routes operated by King County Metro are 522, 541, 542, 545, 554, 556, 566
• 900s - DART (fixed) routes to serve surrounding lower density suburban or rural neighborhoods from a transit center or station in one of the cities served by King County Metro. There is some flexibility to deviate from the fixed route for drop off and pick-up. Appointments required for pick-up off their fixed routes.
• RapidRide - operates as bus rapid in the area to serve fewer stops (spaced further apart), along the route on frequent schedules. Routes are identified by a letter (A-H) rather then by numbers.

Sound Transit, toll-free: +1-888-889-6368. Has regional public transit routes including Sounder trains, Link light rail, and express bus in King County (e.g. Bellevue, Federal Way, Kent, Renton, Seattle), Snohomish County (e.g. Everett, Lynnwood) and Pierce County (e.g. Puyallup, Tacoma). (updated Jun 2023)

• Link light rail operates in Seattle, traveling north to Lynnwood and south to Angle Lake via Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on the 1 Line Train and from Redmond Tech Station to South Bellevue via downtown Bellevue on the 2 Line Train. Construction is underway to extend the 2 Line Train into downtown Seattle from the South Bellevue Station and from Angle Lake to Federal Way.
• Sounder commuter rail service, operating weekday rush hours only, connects Seattle to Tacoma via Auburn, Kent and Tukwila on the 'S' Line Train and to Everett via Edmonds and Mukilteo on the 'N' Line train. Two separate routes.

• Sound Transit has many convenient express bus routes that travel South (to Tacoma), East (Redmond, Bellevue), and North (Bothell, Lynnwood). Outside of the immediate Seattle-Bellevue area, many routes operate only during weekday rush hours. Check your schedules in advance, and beware of holiday service cutbacks. All Sound Transit routes have route numbers that are in the 500s.

All but essential for reaching the outermost suburbs and mountains. In addition to the interstates, major routes include SR-520, linking Seattle's University District to Bellevue and Redmond; SR-18, a major freeway in the south county from Federal Way to Issaquah; and SR-509, the alternate route from the airport to Burien and Seattle.

Traffic congestion is a major problem in the Puget Sound area on all freeways and major roads. Avoid traveling during rush hour if you can, particularly along I-5 and across the Lake Washington bridges.

Lake Washington is crossed by two floating bridges: the I-90 bridge is free, but the SR-520 bridge charges a toll that varies by the time of day. There are no toll booths: unless you have a transponder, your license plate will be recorded and a bill will be mailed to you automatically in a few weeks. The long detour around the lake in either direction will usually waste far more time than you'll save in toll money.