The Seattle Monorail was originally built for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair and continues to be an iconic method of traveling from downtown Seattle to the Seattle Center. The Seattle Center is home to several of Seattle’s most popular attractions including the Space Needle.
Not only is the Seattle Monorail a totally cool way to get across downtown, it’s amazingly fast. From 5th and Pine where you’ll pick up the Monorail to the 74 acre Seattle Center, the entire trip last only 90 seconds. Visitors to Seattle will definitely want to utilize the Seattle Monorail as a quick and convenient way to reach the Seattle Center.
Buying a ticket
The Monorail terminal is located on the 3rd floor of the Westlake Center at the intersection of 5th and Pine. (For families looking for a cheap place to eat lunch, the mall has a McDonalds on the second floor.)
Passengers must purchase their tickets from the ticket window before entering a waiting area. Riders have the option of buying a round trip ticket for $4 or a one-way for $2. Youth 5-12 are charged $1.50 for a round trip ticket. Be sure to have plenty of cash on hand since the Monorail ticket office won’t accept credit cards.
Once the tickets have been purchased, you and your family can enter the waiting area and have a seat until the Monorail arrives. Since the Monorail runs every 10 minutes, there isn’t much of a wait!
Getting on & off the Monorail
When the Monorail stops, you’ll noticed that the doors open and the departing passengers get off first in a different area. Once the area is cleared, the gates open for new passengers to embark. The Monorail hold 200 passengers so there is plenty of room for everyone.
After the 90 second ride, the Monorail will pull into the Seattle Center station where passengers can disembarked. Returning passengers present their round trip tickets for the ride home.
How to get there from the ferries
Since our family left the car on Bainbridge Island, we rode the ferry over to Seattle and walked the rest of the way to the Monorail Terminal.
The easiest way to each the Monorail without having to hike up and down a lot of steep hills, is to exit the ferry terminal by the pedestrian bridge that carries you over the Alaskan Way and leads into 1st Street. Turn left on 1st Street and walk seven blocks to Pine. Turn right on Pine, and walk another four blocks to reach the intersection of Pine & 5th. We noticed that the signal lights were synchronized for pedestrians, and by walking at a normal clip, we reached the Monorail Terminal in about 15 minutes from the ferries.
For those of us who are penny pinchers, both the Ferry terminal and the ferries have Seattle Attraction brochures with lots of great coupons, including a $1 off coupon for the Monorail. We were able to present the ticket operator with 2 coupons which knocked down the price of three round tickets from $12 to $10.
Hours
The Seattle Monorail is open 7 days a week from 9:30 am -11:00 pm.
