Bill Speidel's Underground Tour: 5 Reasons to go!

Did you know that you can tour an abandoned underground city in Seattle? It’s true! Bill Speidel’s Underground Tour offers a family-friendly daytime tour that gives you complete access to all of the history of Seattle’s underground city. Read on to learn 5 reasons why you should take this tour!

A SoCal Way of Life received two complimentary tickets in exchange for our review of the experience during the Underground Tour. However, all opinions stated in this post are honest and my own.

1. Get Unfiltered Seattle History

Reason #1 for taking Bill Speidel’s Underground Tour is the shocking, unfiltered history you get.

You might be saying, “Erika, what’s the big deal about unfiltered history?” Well, as a former history major, I can tell you there’s all sorts of history you don’t learn in school unless you go digging for more information. It’s like you’re in the exclusive gossip circle. You will see streets named after historical people and assume they must have been pleasant and pious individuals. More often than not, these assumptions are not founded in reality.

This underground tour starts with a bang when your tour guide tells you all about Henry Yesler, “The Bastard.” I mean, the picture and sign describing him even say, “The Bastard.” How is that for unfiltered and entertaining history?

You’ve got a mayor that embezzles money, yet has his name on one of Seattle’s main street signs today. The guy even kept getting re-elected. WTH?

You will also learn about the big fire that led to this underground city being here in the first place.

Oh, and did I mention that poor sewage? By the way…did you know that there were wooden pipes used back in the day? Seriously, you can check it out on the tour.

You will have a tour guide start the tour by giving you all of the details about the city fire, major players, and rebuilding of Seattle. I don’t want to ruin the tour for you, so I will leave it at that 😉

2. There’s a Kid friendly Day tour

The second reason to check out Bill Speidel’s Underground Tour? You can take the kids! And they will like it!

My kids were excited for the tour out the gate as soon as they saw our tour guide. You could tell we were going to get some fun, quirky history when she took the stage (seriously, she was standing on a stage). She had purple hair with glitter in it. And these awesome leggings with a print of cats in a mystical space background. I wish I hadn’t been too shy to get a picture of the entire outfit. I did ask her if I could post a picture of what I did get, and she said yes 😉

All of the history is delivered with a series of puns and Dad jokes sprinkled throughout. Yes, I know I’m a dork. I love the puns, and so did the kids! Check out how my little one is standing front and center to hear all of the history as we moved from one spot to another.

Notice that I say the “day tour” is kid friendly. There are night time tours that sound like a blast, but are not meant for kids. I didn’t get to go because I had kids in tow, but really wish I could have gone!

That being said, you still get to learn all about the less rated G aspects of Seattle during the day tour. For example, our tour guide kept talking about the well known “Sewing Circle” that was thriving in Seattle a long while back. My kids never caught on that the Sewing Circle was code for the town prostitutes. Ha!

3. Go into an old underground city

Reason #3 for going on Bill Speidel’s Underground Tour is the fact that you get to see an abandoned underground city. Um…hello!

According to the tour website, this is one of the most complete tours you can get of the Seattle underground city area. That sold me on coming to this company’s tour in particular.

I particularly liked that there are areas with wooden walkways and railings to keep you and the kids safe.

It was pretty amazing to see the boarded up windows of the old hotel and bank!

My absolute favorite part of the underground tour? Learning about all of these clear purple glass squares that I kept seeing on the sidewalks in the downtown area.

As it turns out, we got to see them from the underground level and it was pretty crazy! These things are over 120 years old!

Notice the roots hanging along the edges!

The tour guide had us test out whether the people above ground could hear us. Let’s just say…it gave me chills when the people walking above ground didn’t notice our group screams.

4. See old artifacts up close

The fourth reason to take this Seattle underground tour? You will get to see plenty of artifacts up close! They are not not going to be placed the way you would find in a museum, but this is part of the charm of the tour, in my opinion.

There are also old items that you get to see in the museum gift shop at the end of the tour. How’s this for quirky?

You will also come across some fun pictures of the city as it once looked and of the “main characters” you hear about in the history tour. These pictures of course include the Sewing Circle and The Bastard 😉

5. It’s centrally located!

Bill Speidel’s Seattle Underground Tour is located in Pioneer Square. This area has events and several good food choices nearby.

Pioneer Square is also close to other major Seattle attractions! We walked to the Harbor Tour and wharf area, The Public Market, and Seattle Public Library from this location.

Basically, you can plan an entire tour day in this area and be guaranteed to experience a lot of great tourist attractions. Seattle is definitely a walking city. The fact that Bill Speidel’s Seattle Underground Tour is centrally located is a major bonus in our book!

What do you think?

Will you be visiting Bill Speidel’s Underground tour when you visit Seattle? Please tag us in your pictures on social media if you do! You can find us @asocalwayoflife on all social channels!

You can purchase tickets and find more information about Bill Speidel’s Underground Tour by visiting HERE.