General Cycling Discussion - Ride ideas for Seattle

I am going to be visiting my sister next week and have a couple of days to ride. Can anyone recommend some rides with the following attributes: scenic, not too hilly, within 15 miles biking distance of Queen Anne Hill, nice places to relax/eat/walk at destination, not too busy with anti-bicycling tourists, etc.

Are any of the nearby islands nice for cycling?

TIA

You won't escape hills within 15 miles of Queen Anne - nor are the islands flat. Plus the whole area is swarming with "tourons" at this time of year. The good news ... it's a great place to ride anyway. Hop a ferry and explore, you can ride to the downtown terminal easily. If you don't want to face a climb when you head back, have your sister drop you off or take the bus.

I don't mind some hills, I just don't want Mt. Ranier type rides.

Queen Anne is actually a pretty steep climb but if you can get past the hills, there are some really fun neighbourhood rides. Personally, I don't like cycling around the Seattle metro area for fun... for transportation it's a bit of a different story. If you want a nice ride that's accessable from the city, I would hop the ferry to Bainbridge Island. The trip across takes about 20 mins. If you do the main loop, it's about a 40 mile ride. The traffic is quieter and for the most part less aggressive and the scenery is wonderful. You also get a really great view of Seattle itself from across the sound.

Another option is to head east. You'll have to snake your way across to 1st. Hill and then down towards Magnolia and Lake Washington Blvd. Then hop across the I-90 bridge and take it towards Bellevue/Factoria. From there, you'll find some suburban neighbourhoods to cross before you get to West Lake Sammamish Pkwy. You can take that to Issaquah and then loop around to East Lake Samm Pkwy and take that up to Redmond where you can then hop onto 202 and take that northwest to Woodinville. From there you can pick up the Sammamish River Trail (you can also pick up the SRT in Redmond at Marymoor Park) and take it to Bothell where you can pick up the Burke-Gilman and take it all the way around Lake Washington and back into the city. Hop off of it around Lake Union and you can weave your way back to Queen Anne from the north end.

Thanks for the suggestions. I will have to check out the islands.