How to Get to Bumbershoot

There are some summer festivals for which the question “how do I get there?” is a major determining factor in whether you’ll go. A festival in the middle of nowhere is going to be tougher for people without a car to reach, there’s no getting around it. But you stick a festival in the middle of a major U.S. city and you’ve just made it instantly accessible to many more people.

But even though the Bumbershoot Festival is just to the north of downtown Seattle – still well within the city center and easy to reach without having a car – that doesn’t mean you don’t still have to ask, “how do I get there?” So here’s an overview of how to get to Bumbershoot.

>> Bumbershoot takes place each yer over Labor Day weekend 

Flying to Bumbershoot

The closest airport to the Bumbershoot festival is Sea-Tac about 15 miles south of Seattle, but if you’re in the mood for a road trip either before or after Bumbershoot you can fly into one of the other area airports like Vancouver or Portland. From Sea-Tac airport you can reach central Seattle via public transit and not have to worry about renting a car. Flying into Vancouver, you can take the Quick Shuttle into downtown Seattle (again, no car rental necessary). If you fly into Portland, you’ll either have to rent a car or get into downtown Portland to take a Greyhound bus or Amtrak train up to Seattle.

Driving to Bumbershoot

The Bumbershoot festival takes place each year on the 74-acre fairgrounds and park of the Seattle Center. It’s to the north of Seattle’s downtown, and although it’s easy to find with a map of Seattle or a GPS system, parking can be an issue. So if you’re driving to the festival, organizers encourage carpooling whenever possible. There are official parking lots at the Seattle Center which offer discounts to anyone who’s carpooling, so that’s yet another incentive! If you’re looking for an address to plug into your GPS system or a mapping program, the Bumbershoot website uses 305 Harrison St., Seattle WA 98109 – but if you have a good map of downtown Seattle just look for the Space Needle – that’s Seattle Center.

Taking the Train to Bumbershoot

There’s an Amtrak train station in downtown Seattle about 2 miles from the Seattle Center. When you get to the Seattle station, you can make use of the city’s fantastic public transportation to get to Bumbershoot so you don’t have to pay for a taxi or bother with a rental car. There are three bus lines that will take you from the neighborhood around the Amtrak station to the Seattle Center – lines 24 and 33 leave from right outside the train station, and line 16 leaves from nearby Yesler & 1st Ave. Any of these buses will have you at the Seattle Center in about a half-hour.

Taking the Bus to Bumbershoot

There’s a Greyhound bus station in Seattle at 811 Stewart Street, and it’s even closer to the Seattle Center than the train station. There are a few bus lines that run from stops not far from the Greyhound station (although you’ll have to walk to them – they’re not right outside the station) to the Seattle Center. The lines that you can take are 8, 4, or 16 – the trips on Seattle’s city buses from the Greyhound station to Seattle Center range from 15-20 minutes. But if you’re not overloaded with luggage and it’s a nice day, you can also walk directly from the Greyhound station to the Seattle Center in 20-25 minutes.

Using Public Transport for Bumbershoot

As mentioned, Seattle has a great network of public transportation options that make getting to Seattle Center for Bumbershoot easy, efficient, and cheap. Which transport method is best for you depends almost entirely on where you’re coming from, though, so it’s impossible to list all your transport options here – but suffice it to say that Seattle has buses, streetcars, water taxis, and even a Monorail. You can plan your trip on public transportation to the Seattle Center from wherever you’re starting on the King County Metro site.

>> Find out more on the “getting there” page of the Bumbershoot site

photo by Chas Redmond