This weekend, my in-laws came to town. Which was a very happy occasion.
I handed over my two-year-old daughter (and four pages of instructions) to them while my husband and I fled to a hotel in downtown Seattle for two glorious nights. We drank martinis at the Mayflower Park Hotel (among other places, but those were the best), got to see the new Coen brothers movie, slept as late as we wanted, dropped into a yoga class and ate the yummiest – albeit smallest – steak of my life at the Spur Gastropub. Basically, we cruised around the city as if we were unencumbered 22-year-olds.
This was not the kind of vacation we usually take. Our leisure time is dominated by campsites, cross-country skis, pancake mix and road trips to Rocky Mountain trout streams – the kind of places that are most easily driven to.
No doubt, the absence of my kid contributed mightily to the unfamiliar state of relaxation that I haven’t really experienced since she was born. But as I awoke and had to choose only whether to walk 7 blocks to the waterfront for eggs benedict or 7 blocks up Capitol Hill for some uttanasana, I also realized how much I loved the vacation from my car.
So I got curious about what research had been done on car-free travel, and how it enhances the vacation experience. I’d hoped Google would spit out a Chamber of Commerce study that found car-free visitors were so much happier they spent 27 percent more money, but this kind of empirical data seems hard to come by. (If anyone out there has stats on car-free tourism or wants to add to Sightline’s running list of the best car-free vacations, please share!)
Here’s what I can say: there are obvious benefits to carless leisure, and savvy tourism destinations from Alpine ski resorts to California beach towns are taking smart steps to encourage car-free travel and build strong brands around it. So why aren’t more cities doing it?
The annual Green Travel Forecast survey asks tens of thousands of vacationers planning to visit US cities how they intend to get around on their trip. Cost and convenience were at the top of the list for a growing number of car-free travelers in 2010:
- 52 percent of visitors said they planned to use public transportation on their visit (a figure that’s increased over the last four years).
- 49 percent said it would be less expensive than taking taxis or a rental car.
- 46 percent liked not having to worry about a parking.
- 36 percent didn’t want to drive around in an unfamiliar city.
- 51 percent said that the availability of public transit influenced their decision on where to visit.
I would add being able to drink a second cocktail and getting to experience a city on a more intimate scale to that list of advantages. But dense urban areas aren’t the only places where car-free tourists can benefit.
Santa Barbara Car Free, which was established in 1998 and has won numerous awards, has convinced dozens of hotels, restaurants and tour operators to offer serious discounts to car-free travelers who arrive via Amtrak, bus or bicycle. You can get free desserts and appetizers, a pair of walking socks and discounts on wine tours, sailing cruises, whale watching trips, kayak adventures and transportation services. The organization also offers good maps of the city with bike and bus routes, and walking tours of beaches, missions and waterfront sights.
And in a more global experiment, two dozen resort communities across the Alps have joined the “Alpine Pearls” network. To be included, a visitor has to be able to arrive by bus or train and be able to easily enjoy a completely car-free holiday. At the various destinations, one can get around by foot, free buses, boats, electric bikes, horse-drawn carriage, showshoes, ski lifts or llamas. And the communities – which span six countries – have invested in human-scale infrastructure with networked hiking trails, pedestrian-only areas or car free valleys.
Closer to home, I found an advertisement for these bike-friendly Portland hotels that offer packages to carless travelers. The BC Car-Free outdoor guidebook offers offers a wealth of online information and ways to explore southwest British Columbia. And we’ve done our fair share of blogposts on car-free hiking options.
But are there more systemic efforts afoot in the Northwest to encourage car-free travel and give non-motorized tourists a more seamless experience? (I’m sure there are, but the fact that not many popped up in basic online searches that the average tourist might use makes me think they may need better marketing.)
And, more importantly, my grandparental babysitting bank has is likely to be empty until next year. So who has more suggestions for car-free vacation itineraries, with or without toddlers in tow?
Downtown Seattle photo courtesy of flickr user rutlo via a Creative Commons license.
Mary Davies
A favorite vacation memory is a week in Waikiki starting on January 1, a surprising low-season moment. Took the shuttle to the hotel from the airport, rode public transit when we needed it, like to the wonderful art museum, history museum, international district in Honolulu for dim sum. And in Waikiki, you can just walk and walk. We bussed to Diamond Head, snorkeling, a rainforest hike. We did rent a car for one afternoon, to circle Oahu—would that we could have taken a bus!
Matt the Engineer
I hate having to rent a car when travelling – you miss all of the walkable areas because they’re tough to park at, and public transit is a good way to experience local culture. I just did Seoul and Bangkok with an almost 2 year old (they’re free on your lap on planes until then, though it takes some courage on a 12 hour flight), though I think you’re looking for sites closer to home.Cities are generally the best for walking, so around here I think you’re limited to Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver. I don’t know of any programs Seattle has to encourage walking tourists. KC Metro has nothing on its website for visitors, and I can only imagine a tourist trying to figure out our pay as you leave / enter policies or our dozens of fare systems. They used to have a day pass, but it’s been removed from their website so I think it’s been discontinued.
Bus Chick
Love it! We’re doing a downtown hotel without kids in a few weeks. (We bought the night at a nonprofit auction last spring, and it’s about to expire.) Of course, for us, every day is a vacation from cars, but we’re still looking forward to it. :)We’ve visited both Portland and Vancouver with kids (using Amtrak and PT), and both trips were great.Friday Harbor is also great place to spend time without a car. Obviously, the town itself is very walkable, but you can also use the inter-island ferry and San Juan transit (not to mention bikes, which can be rented) to get farther. We went to Lime Kiln Park almost every day using the local bus. Getting to the San Juans from Seattle is possible without a car. During the high season, you can take the Victoria Clipper, but before then, there’s a bus company that takes you from downtown Seattle right to the Anacortes ferry dock (with a few stops along the way). We did this trip before we had kids, but if you’re good at packing light, I don’t see why you couldn’t do it with them.Here’s a link to the details: http://www.buschick.com/?p=430.
Merlin
As Transportation Nag, I’ve been encouraging downtown Seattle businesses to provide travel information for car-free travelers. Can you believe that Nordstroms and Macy’s – both with Light Rail directly in their basements – give only driving directions on their websites? The Bell Harbor Convention Center now has information for many transportation modes – including charming directions for getting there from the central business district on foot using the Pike Street Hill Climb. But otherwise, the information Seattle offers to tourists is shockingly car-centric. The city’s “Visitors” page doesn’t even highlight the existence of direct light rail to downtown – the information is there but you have to search for it. I haven’t found any downtown hotels with special offers for cyclists, walkers or light rail riders – and the downtown chamber of commerce doesn’t seem to know that human beings have appendages called “legs.”I traveled a lot in Europe in my 20s – there was no such thing then as “car-free” – nobody even considered using a car while traveling in Europe! And even though Europe has embraced the car in the past 40 years, it has not destroyed the rest of its transportation infrastructure the way the US has.
Andrew
Whistler is another great west coast tourist destination which is best enjoyed car-free. There’s lots of bus service from Vancouver to get there (sadly a train service was not considered a worthwhile Olympic legacy and we got, yet another, highway expansion instead… it was possible to take a daily train there <10yrs ago)Once there the village is very walkable with lots of pedestrian life, shops, restaurants and bars in close proximity. Lots of hotels in town which are situated an easy walk (with ski boots on) to the ski lifts. We’ve been there in the fall and were able to rent bikes and rides some great local trails, again without the need of a car. There’s a decent transit service in town if you want to go a bit further afield. Its possible to spend a busy, extended weekend there and forget you even have a car.
John Newcomb
Car-free to Victoria, BC! Just get on the Clipper in Seattle and take a nice ride to Victoria, staying in downtown Victoria. We have lots of transportation options for you to get around the city and out to see sights many kilometres from town. Check it out: http://www.clippervacations.com/victoria/packages/seattle_victoria_overnight
Jennifer Langston
Thanks for the suggestions! And I too am a little discouraged about the dearth of information or promotions encouraging car-free visits to Seattle. Seattle ranked #6 on last year’s Green Travel forecast’s Top 10 cities, with 37 percent of would-be visitors planning to use public transportation.
Laura
Thanks for the recognition of the Santa Barbara Car Free Project and our 2011 Cool Car Free Discounts promotion, Jennifer! It really is easy to take a vacation from your car here in Santa Barbara—and especially for Northwest denizens—just board Amtrak’s Coast Starlight train in Seattle and 33 hours later, you’ll debark just two blocks from the beach in Santa Barbara—with dozens of hotels in walking distance, not to mention dining, shopping and attractions. I’ve taken the trip myself and it’s incredibly relaxing and perfect for families, too. Viva Car Free-dom!
Chris Bradshaw
Car-free urban vacations are a no-brainer, since most tourist attractions are in the core, or accessible by transit. But many vacationers don’t think of that fact, and rent a car at the airport and keep it until they leave, even if they stay downtown and have to pay quite a bit to park it at the hotel and at the parking lots of various tourist destinations. Better to get the hotels to offer shared cars (presumably from the local carshare provider) as an added-charge amenity. This availability, once common and listed on hotal web-sites, will remind patrons that they don’t have to provide a car when they want to go somewhere that the other modes are not useful to reach, but that one is ‘handy’ at the hotel (for not much more than those racy in-room movies, when measured by the hour).But it is not that green to use one’s feet and transit in a city, but burn lots of aviation fuel getting to and from that city. More people should become tourists in their own town. When you slow down and when you use routes you can’t use cars on, there is so much fresh and new to experience.Chris Bradshaw, Ottawa