If you’re someone like me who had never attended any type of sport event or concert in Seattle, I’m hoping this post will help you to decide the best course of transportation. There are so many things I wish I knew, but sometimes you have to throw yourself out there in order to get the full experience and pass the knowledge along. Now that I’ve attended concerts at both of these arenas myself, I can easily tell you from my own experience how to get to Lumen Field Stadium and Climate Pledge Arena.
Lumen Field Stadium
Going To the Stadium
I had purchased tickets to go see Ed Sheeran at Lumen Field (btw, hands down one of the best concerts of the year!) I had no clue the size of the place nor had much information about it, aside from the fact that later in the evening Ed Sheeran broke record with 80K+ attendees!
The hotel we stayed at was The Westin. Great location as it’s right in the center of downtown Seattle and easily walkable for dining & shopping. Very convenient and service is always amazing as well as the room views!
Now, this is worst case scenario because the hotel was absolutely packed. Not only were a ton of people in Seattle for the concert, but Drake was set to perform the same night and also travelers from cruise ships had arrived. Triple the amount of people you’d normally see on any given day.
Prior to the event, I had asked the hotel’s front desk as well as locals as to what was the easiest way to get to and from Lumen Field. By car, it’s a 10-15 minute drive. Everyone had mentioned to take the underground metro train to Lumenfield because parking is a pain (plus expensive) and Uber would also be expensive as well. Luckily, the metro was only a block away from the hotel and thought, this is perfect!
Knowing that everyone echoed the same thing, we thought, let’s give ourselves 30min to 1hr lead time to get to the arena, grab some food, find our seats and chill before the show starts. We walked to the metro, purchased our ticket, and headed down with the rest of the crowd to wait for the train which would have ended up being a 5-10 minute ride. When I mean train, I’m talking about what would be equivalent to Portland’s Trimet aka Max train.
Apparently, the train arrives every 10-15 minutes. We waited and by that time there was about a half hour left before the concert. As the train approached, we immediately saw it was packed. The doors opened and no one could squeeze in. I thought, this is ridiculous and if we wait for the next train it will end up being the same thing.
Fortunately, we ended up chatting with two couples who were attending the concert together. They invited us to tag along and split an Uber since it seemed like it was going to be our only option if we were going to make it on time to the show. For context, the Uber driver never took us all the way since they were blocked off from entering too close, so we hopped out two blocks before and walked the rest of the way. Total one-way Uber ride was around $70-$75 (for a 10-15 min ride).
Exiting the Stadium
While I was watching Ed Sheeran, I kept wondering how we were going to make it back to the hotel. To the hotel was a 30 minute walk and wasn’t sure how safe it would be to walk close to midnight in downtown Seattle. The train, forget it and no way we would be able to grab an Uber after the show — it would be a mess!
Exiting the stadium after the show was actually a breeze. In the sense of there was a cool spiral tunnel that lead us out and never experienced anyone pushing or shoving each other which was great! I’d say it took us 5 minutes to exit out and it was such a smooth process.
We’re out in the street, now what? Well, we followed the groups of people heading towards the same direction. I immediately realized that no one was heading towards the train or ordering an Uber. Large crowds of people kept on walking towards the city center and because of the fact we weren’t alone, we felt completely safe.
I thought, if we can at least walk half-way, then I can order an Uber to take us the rest of the way. The point was to get far away from the stadium as possible. The night wasn’t very chilly, we were lucky to find a restaurant along the way to eat a late dinner as we were hungry, and then ordered an Uber from the restaurant to the hotel.
In Conclusion
Bottom line, if you’re attending an event where there will be a large crowd or find your hotel super slammed because everyone from everywhere has arrived in town, my recommendation would be to just pay and split the cost of ordering an Uber. It will save you time having to wait for an empty train or finding a parking spot. I know the cost may not be ideal, but if we didn’t tag along with the friendly strangers we came across, we never would have made it on time to the show.
On a non-busy day, I would definitely venture the metro train again, but honestly sometimes you have to make last minute decisions based on the crowds, timing and current circumstances. I’m sure taking the metro is cheaper and quicker, if it’s not busy! But when it is busy, you would be wasting your time waiting around.
Climate Pledge Arena
I want to point out that hands down, Climate Pledge Arena has by far been the smoothest entry and exist arena I’ve ever attended in my life! Kudos and more so if you prepare ahead of time. Keep on reading.
Going to the Arena
We opted to stay at The Westin (again) because it’s so centralized to everything. Prior to heading out there, I did my own research and told myself that this 2nd time around I’d be prepared ahead of time. I found articles and reviews from people stating it was much easier to take the metro train to Seattle Center (or near the Space Needle) and head to the arena from there.
Based on my previous train experience heading towards Lumenfield, I cringed at the thought of having to face a full train again, more so during the middle of Winter! During a warmer climate season, I’d probably would have considered trying it, but when you know that it will be cold on the way there and be much colder after the show, it wasn’t worth risking my cozy comfort nor the health of my +1 tagging along.
I read other folks saying they wouldn’t recommend Uber because they can only drive so far and you’d have to walk the rest of the way. Much worse after the show as it would be a mess trying to find a driver and get them as close to you as possible. Basically, there were many people who said to take the train and to opt out of driving or taking an Uber.
So, what did I do? I went for the “hardest” choice that no one voted for which ended up being the most easiest and best decision I could have made. All I did was drive and park inside a parking garage.
I know that Climate Pledge Arena has an underground parking garage, but I couldn’t exactly figure out how to get there. So, I ended up finding the next best thing. I found a parking garage right across the street from the stadium, reserved my parking ticket ahead of time and only paid $30-$35.
People don’t like the idea of paying that much for parking, but sometimes, facilitating my life as much as possible is worth the investment than trying to go the cheap route and complicate my entire night fighting through crowds heading towards the arena and back. Recommendation: drive to the parking garage ahead of time so you know how far it is from your hotel and where the entrance is. This way, you’ll now exactly where to go and minimize any surprises.
Getting into the garage was so easy and it was only a 10 minute drive from the hotel. They scanned my parking pass, found a parking spot, and entered the arena all within 5 minutes. If that was easy, exiting was much easier.
Exiting the Arena
This was an absolute breeze. Would you believe me that in total to exit the arena, cross the street, get into our car, and exit the parking garage was a total of 5 minutes? Yes, you’ve heard it. Why? Because I wanted to choose the option that would get me out of the arena as quickly and easily as possible without having to stand out in the cold waiting for a train, beating large crowds or going through the hassle of finding an Uber.
In Conclusion
Food for thought, this is one of those instances where you have to ask yourself which is more important: to risk dealing with large crowds and stand/walk outside in the middle of Winter for a cheaper option OR pay $30 just to walk across the street and enter/leave in 5 minutes? I don’t know about you, but I’d rather pay in order to stay warm and make the entire process as smooth as possible.
I parked at the First Avenue North Garage. There are other parking garages near by that are a few blocks away which can be cheaper depending on time and event (as low as $15). Check out the website where I purchased my parking pass and view other garages near by.
I hope this post was helpful for you to learn about my experience and figure out which is the best option for you. As mentioned, I’m sure the metro would be great for any occasion (plus cheaper), but based on what I had faced….during that moment it wasn’t. So, make your decisions based on the type of event you’ll be attending, where your hotel is, and decide from there.
Do your research and plan ahead no matter which option you decide to choose. Keep in mind that just because one option didn’t work out, doesn’t mean it never would. It all really just depends on the season, event, budget and how much lead time you’re willing to give yourself.
If I had to do it all over again, I’d Uber halfway to Lumen Field and walk the rest of the way. Same with the return. I’d also still park at the parking garage across from Climate Pledge. If it turns out that I have to wait in the car for 30 minutes to exit out of the garage, I’d rather be inside my cozy car than standing outside in the middle of Winter.
If you enjoyed this post of how to get to Lumen Field Stadium & Climate Pledge Arena, be sure to check out the rest of my travel posts.
