Redmond
Redmond is a city in King County, Washington in the United States of America.
Redmond is famous for being home to Microsoft Corporation and it has a large presence over the area. It is also home to Nintendo of America along with numerous other companies. It is the self-proclaimed biking capital of the country.
Get in
By plane
- Main article: Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA IATA), nicknamed "Sea-Tac", is the nearest major airport. To get to Redmond by public transit from the airport, the best way is to take Sound Transit Link light rail to Downtown Seattle, and then transfer to the Sound Transit Express bus route 545 (see #By bus). Exit Link at International District/Chinatown Station, then walk over to the bus stop on 4th Avenue South.
By train
Amtrak provides service to Seattle's King Street Station. To get to Redmond, take Sound Transit Express bus route 545 (see #By bus), which stops just around the corner from the station, on 4th Avenue South.
By car
- SR-520 Connects Redmond to I-405 (Exit #14), north of downtown Bellevue and I-5 (Exit #168B), south of Lake Union, between downtown Seattle and the University District. The SR-520 bridge crossing Lake Washington is a toll bridge. Tolls vary depending on the time of day and is automatically deducted from a prepaid "Good to Go" pass on the windshield of the car. If no "Good to Go" tag is on the windshield the transponders take a picture of the license plates, front and back, and mail the toll bill to the legal owner of the vehicle. There are no toll booths to collect the tolls.
- SR-202
- East Lake Sammamish Pkwy goes 12 mi (19 km) along the east side of Lake Sammamish from Front St & I-90 (Exit #17), north of Issaquah, to its intersection with SR-202 just east of downtown Redmond. Front St continues south though Issaquah and connects to SR-18 at "Issaquah-Hobart Rd".
- West Lake Sammamish Pkwy goes 10 mi (16 km) along the west side of Lake Sammamish to Exit #13 of I-90 (Lakewood Blvd) just west of Issaquah.
By bus
Both Sound Transit and King County Metro have buses connecting Redmond to Bellevue, Seattle, and other nearby places. The most useful routes, which run every 15 minutes in the middle of the day:
- 545. Stops at Bear Creek Park-and-Ride (in Redmond), Redmond Transit Center (in Downtown Redmond), and Overlake Transit Center (in Redmond, in the midst of the main Microsoft campus) before running nonstop to Downtown Seattle.
- B. Goes from Redmond Transit Center (in Downtown Redmond), to Crossroads (in Bellevue) before heading to Bellevue Transit Center (in Downtown Bellevue).
- 245. Goes from Kirkland Transit Center (in Downtown Kirkland) to Overlake Transit Center (in Redmond) before heading to three different parts of Bellevue: Crossroads, Eastgate, and Factoria.
Get around
Downtown Redmond is walkable, but better yet, get a bike (see #Do), as it is flat and bike-friendly. The city has numerous trails and the only velodrome in the state of Washington (at Marymoor Park). Just be careful, as some trails end on extremely busy roads. King County has great information on biking paths and trails.
Outside of downtown, you are probably best off driving, although it is easy enough to take Metro's B bus between downtown Redmond and the Overlake area, which has Microsoft's main campus, and straddles Redmond and neighboring Bellevue (see #By bus).
See
- 1 Microsoft Visitor Center, 15010 NE 36th St (Microsoft Building 92), ☏ +1 425 703-6214. M 10AM-7PM, Tu-F 9AM-7PM; occasionally closed early or all day. The majority of the campus is comprised of office buildings closed to the public, but there is a Visitor's Center. Unfortunately, it's not much more than a few small marketing displays, rather than a decent history or behind-the-scenes museum. There's also a large Microsoft Store, which to its credit does have a lot of exclusive merchandise you can't buy elsewhere. To give you an idea of how underwhelming the Visitor Center is, the most popular attraction appears to be taking photos with the large Microsoft sign in front of the building. If this would be your only reason to journey to Redmond, skip it and go to the Living Computer: Museum + Labs in SoDo instead.
Do
- 1 Marymoor Park. There are a number of things to do in its vast 640 acres (259 ha). It lies along Lake Sammamish and the Sammamish River. There are sports fields, tennis courts, a climbing wall, a radio-controlled airplane field, a dog park, and the Velodrome, which is a bicycle racing track that connects with the Sammamish River Trail. Parking is $1/day per vehicle.
- Sixty Acre Park (At Willow and 116th Sts). Has soccer fields and Radio Controlled airplane field, for primarily electric powered aircraft and gliders.
- 2 Redmond Cycle, 7495 159th Pl NE, ☏ +1 425-885-6363. Tu-F 10AM-6PM, Sa 9:30AM-5PM, Su 11AM-5PM. Located near the Sammamish River Trail, this bike shop is good place to rent a bike, helmet included. $10/hour, $40/day.
- 3 Second Story Repertory, 7325 166th AVE NE Suite F250, ☏ +1 425-881-6777. Live theater at the Redmond Town Center
Buy
Redmond's main shopping district is the Redmond Way/Cleveland Street corridor in downtown Redmond. It consists of a variety of small stores and a few strip malls.
- 1 Redmond Town Center. An outdoor mall between downtown Redmond and Marymoor Park, with around 50 of the usual mall boutiques.
- 2 Redmond Saturday Market, 7730 Leary Way, ☏ +1-425-556-0636. Starting in May, every Saturday the farmer's market operates from 9AM-3PM. You'll find a wide variety of products that are grown or crafted within the state.
- 3 Brugge Chocolates, 15946 Redmond Way, Ste 103, ☏ +1-425-882-4722, info@bruggechocolates.com. If you're looking for local chocolates to sample then this shop is well worth a visit.
- 4 IPIC Redmond, 7330 164th Ave NE, Ste E200, ☏ +1-425-636-5601. Now occupies the space where Gold Class Cinemas was located. IPIC theaters still have the same concept of a nice inclusive theater, complete with a bar, food and plush chairs to view your movie. Tickets sold online.
- 5 Snapdoodle Toys, 15752 Redmond Way, ☏ +1 425-869-9713. M-F 9:30AM-7PM, Sa 9AM-7PM, Su 10AM-5PM. Well-curated toy store.
- 6 Half Price Books, 7805 Leary Way. 9AM-10PM. Used book store. Has a particularly good selection of computer programming books.
Eat
- 1 Mayuri Indian Cuisine, 2115 Bel-Red Rd, ☏ +1 425 641-4442. Southern and Northern Indian food. One of the few restaurants in Washington that serves dosas. $8.95 lunch buffet daily ends at 2:30PM.
- 2 [dead link] Kanishka Indian Restaurant, 16651 Redmond Way, ☏ +1 425 869-9182. M-F 11AM-3PM, Sa Su 11:30AM-PM. Great food. Daily lunch buffet $7.95.
- 3 Ooba Tooba, 15802 NE 83rd St, ☏ +1 425 702-1694. This is authentic Mexican Food. Fantastic salsas made right there. Great for kids as well. Get there early for lunch. $7.95 open 7 days a week.
Drink
- Matador Tequila Bar (Corner of Leary Way NE and Cleveland St. in old town Redmond), ☏ +1 425 883-2855. 11AM-2AM daily. A trendy tex-mex style bar. Get there early on Friday and Saturday night as seating past 7PM is difficult.
- Woodblock, 6175 Cleveland St #109. Local draft beer in rotation, friendly staff and good quality food. Outside seating for warmer days.
Sleep
- 1 Seattle Marriott Redmond, 7401 164th Ave NE, ☏ +1 425 498-4000, fax: +1 425 556-1231.
- 2 Residence Inn Seattle East/Redmond, 7575 164th Ave NE, ☏ +1 425 497-9226, toll-free: +1-800-331-3131, fax: +1 425 497-1909.
Go next
- Seattle is right across Lake Washington, about a 10-15-min drive (barring rush hour traffic). I-90 and State Route 520 (SR-520) both have bridges that cross Lake Washington and connect the East Side (Redmond, Bellevue, etc.) to Seattle. Rush hour traffic can increase travel time between the East Side and Seattle to approximately 30-40 min - go at off-peak hours!
| Routes through Redmond |
END in Seattle at  (Exit 168B) ← Bellevue at (Exit 14) ← |
W  E |
→ END |
Jct  in Woodinville ← |
N  SE |
→ Jct  in Fall City |