Frequently Asked Questions

We have 2 tours that offer hotel pickup from most downtown Seattle hotels: Seattle City Tour PLUS Hotel Pickup and our Seattle City Tour & Cruise Transportation.

Our Premier 3-hour City Tour,  Mt. Rainier Tour & 2-day Olympic National Park Tour offer 3 meeting locations within a short walk of most downtown hotels:

• Seattle Public Library: 1000 4th Ave Seattle, WA (Pickup is 25 minutes before tour start time)
• Midtown: 1900 4th Ave Seattle, WA in front of the Urban Coffe House (Pickup is 15 minutes before tour start time)
• MoPop Pickup: 325 5th Ave N Seattle, WA (Pickup is 5 minutes before tour start time)

Plan to arrive at your meeting location 5 minutes before the scheduled pickup time. You’ll want to be on the lookout for a white mini-coach that says Tours Northwest.

Downtown Seattle has such unpredictable and dynamic traffic conditions that offering hotel pickups on our standard tours (with up to 20 people who could all be staying at different hotels) would take valuable time away from the time we have for the tour.  We have 4 departure points, each very centrally located and very simple to get to, which makes it easier for everyone and means that we don’t waste any precious tour time doing multiple pickups around Seattle, one of which is likely just a few minutes walk from your hotel.  Feel free to contact us directly if you need further guidance on which pickup location is best for you, and if you haven’t yet chosen your accommodations, you can always let us know later.

In addition, if you do need door-to-door service, we offer a Premium City Tour and Pre-Cruise Tour for an additional fee which includes this service – the smaller group size of these tours allows us to pick up at hotels without anyone needing to be on the bus for an unreasonably long time.

To conserve time for all our guests, our tours do not offer pickup from hotels by the airport. Our office staff would be happy to advise the best meeting location for your group on a case-by-case basis.

The easiest option is to take an Uber, Lyft, or taxi to your pickup location (Seattle Public Library 4th Ave is the furthest south, so closest to SeaTac).

Another less expensive option is to take the Link light rail from the Airport or Angle Lake station towards the University of Washington Station and exit at the Westlake stop. When you exit, take the escalator upstairs to get to the street level.  Head north on 4th Avenue to our Midtown pickup at 1900 4th Ave Seattle, WA in front of the Urban Coffee House (Pickup is 15 minutes before tour start time)

If you’re driving into town to meet up with a tour, we recommend meeting us at our MoPOP pickup location and parking near here.  Next to this pickup location is the Republic Parking (Memorial Stadium Lot) located on 401 5th Ave N, Seattle WA 9109 is right next to our MoPop pickup (they offer a $10 all-day rate if you’re in before 9am)

Other options include:

Pacific Place Garage located at 600 Pine St, Seattle, WA 98101 is two blocks from our Midtown pickup at 1900 4th Ave Seattle, WA, and has lower hourly rates than most downtown garages

On weekends (and after 4pm weekdays), take advantage of FREE Parking in the Amazon Doppler Building Garage located at 2021 7th Ave (7am – 2am) – this is about a 5 minute walk from our Midtown pickup at 1900 4th Ave Seattle, WA

Since we offer 3 convenient meeting locations, you may find that there is a better meeting location for you than the one you selected at checkout. If this is the case, please be sure to contact our office in advance before switching your meeting location. We don’t stop at meeting locations unless someone booked a pickup for one, so guests shouldn’t assume they can go to a different meeting location than the one they selected during the checkout process.

None of our mini-coaches are equipped with bathrooms, but our guides make every effort to provide opportunities for a public restroom every 60-90 minutes during our tours.

We have a 12-passenger wheelchair-accessible bus that requires a minimum 7 days’ notice to reserve and is based on the availability of tours. We can only accommodate the wheelchair lift bus on our City Tours. If you will only have a folding wheelchair, it can be stored on any of our buses with advanced notice. We cannot accommodate for motorized wheelchairs or motorized scooters.

Please dress for comfort and the weather.  Comfortable shoes (ideally hiking boots with good traction and water resistance) will make a huge difference in your enjoyment of the tour.

For more details on what to expect from this tour at different times of the year, check out this blog post.

If only we knew… the weather on the mountain tends to be very unpredictable (even from one hour to the next).  In general, prepare for cooler temperatures at the higher elevations and the possibility of rain (or snow for many months).  During July and August, it may also be hot and sunny (although there may still be considerable snow on the ground), so you may want to bring sunscreen. 

You can check this weather forecast for areas within the park (Paradise and Longmire are the relevant areas since we won’t be going to the summit on this tour).

You can also check these webcams for a live view of the weather conditions in the park.

For more details on what to expect from this tour at different times of the year, check out this blog post.

Our guides make every effort to provide opportunities for a public restroom every 60-90 minutes during our tours.

Yes, you are allowed to extend the time. Please communicate this with your guide on the tour so that they can provide additional detail if needed.

If you book directly on our website or over the phone, a printed voucher or confirmation will not be needed. Our tour guides will check you in by name prior to boarding the bus.

All availability on our website is live and up to date – you’ll get instant confirmation after booking.  Booking on our website also opens a direct line of communication so we can let you know about any important information or changes regarding your tour.  Booking direct cuts out the middle man, which means we can spend more money on making your experience perfect while keeping our prices as low as possible for you. 

All of our tour buses are white and marked with Tours Northwest on the front or side. As well, we have a black Ford transit van marked with Tours Northwest that we use to shuttle passengers. Our drivers should be wearing a yellow shirt or jacket that says Tours Northwest and will be looking for you by name.

We understand sometimes plans change or things come up. We offer full refunds on all tours cancelled at least 24 hours in advance of the tour’s start time.  There are no refunds in the 24 hours leading up to the tour. For private tours, we ask for a minimum of 48 hours notice for a full refund.

Unfortunately, we cannot wait for more than a minute or two past the pickup time at any of our pickup locations. Please contact our office at 206-768-1234 as soon as you are aware you’ll be running late to discuss your options. There are no refunds available if you are not at your designated pickup location at the pickup time.