Hot Tub Boats are a Thing and I'm All About It!

When we booked our anniversary trip to Seattle, I knew the one and only thing we had to do was hang out in a hot tub out in the middle of Lake Union with our best buds.

I first learned about this magical contraption from watching Stay Here, a Netflix special featuring designer Genevieve Gorder and real estate expert Peter Lorimer as they make over short term rentals. The first episode of the series follows a young couple as they make over their house boat in Seattle, and they briefly mention Hot Tub Boats.

I immediately looked it up to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. And let me tell you friends, Hot Tub Boats are real, and they are everything I hoped they’d be!

Now that I’ve experienced this for myself I can fill you in on all you’d need to know before you book a trip for yourself!

Start by booking your appointment online. They only have 2 boats currently in operation, so The appointments seem to fill up pretty quickly. But they do run from 8am until 10pm almost daily, so you still have a lot of options!

The price is $350 for 2 hours. I know, it’s not cheap. But you can easily split the price between you and up to 5 more of your friends. And let’s be honest, you totally deserve a bougie treat for yourself!

We packed our things and headed down to the docks where you find a little house on a platform. There is a small toilet and changing room for you to put on our suits. And don’t worry, the house is heated so you wont freeze your little buns off as you strip down to your skivies.

The host, Austin, was very accommodating, offering us water and places to store our clothes while we were out on the boat. He even gave us a waterproof box so we could bring our phones with us.

We brought a dry bag with us from home (mainly so I could also store my camera) but it’s probably not a necessity. I would however recommend bringing at least one small towel out with you on the boat so you can dry off your hands before using any electronics. Or you know, eating chips. No one wants soggy chips!

They also have La Croix for sale, but you have the option to BYO. Only non-alcoholic drinks are allowed (for obvious reasons.) They are working on starting up a towel service, but for the time being you’ll need to bring your own, and any snacks you’ll want. Snacks make everything better!

Once we were all changed, we hopped in the boat and our host showed us what to do. The boat has a storage box on the front side and the trolling motor on the back. The boats are super easy to drive and really only go about 3 miles per hour, so you have little to no chance of crashing it.

We spent our two hours out on Lake Union gazing at amazing views of the city, listening to music through the speaker on the boat and cheerily waving at cold, bundled up tourists as we sat comfortably warm in just our swimsuits. We even saw multiple seaplanes land on the lake - it was so epic!

In our two hours we had just enough time to make a full loop around the lake before ending up back at the dock just in time. There was a hot, outdoor shower ready to go with soaps and shampoo for us to immediately rinse off. It really made jumping out of the hot tub back into the cold Seattle air a little easier.

While we were taking turns rinsing off and drying off, our host Austin was quickly draining and cleaning out our boat before the next group came to use it. He said they have propane heaters to keep a source of water warm so they can refill the boats with clean water after each use. So rest easy friends, your hot tub boat is far cleaner than probably every other hot tub you’ve ever been in!

I highly recommend checking out Hot Tub Boats if you’re ever in Seattle! I can honestly say it was worth every penny and such an amazing way to see the city!