NATGEOTRAVEL.COMSeattle
Hotel
Playbook
Best bets for sleeping
in style on the Eastside
and downtown
By Jessica FlintW
hen the W Bellevue opened last summer, about a 20-minute
drive from downtown Seattle, the property became the
first marquee hotel in Bellevue, Seattle’s neighbor to the
east. Now, with a buzzy place to stay on the Eastside, it raises the ques-
tion: When traveling to the Seattle area, what’s the best hotel strategy?
Even though Seattle and Bellevue are separated only by Lake
Washington, two famous floating bridges, and dense traffic, the desti-
nations are different: The former is a big city with tourist attractions
such as the Space Needle, Pike Place Market, and Seattle Art Museum.
The latter is a suburb known for its outdoor spaces, shopping, and
growing entertainment district. Yet they are both populated by mega-
companies. Seattle is home to the headquarters of Amazon, Starbucks,
and Nordstrom, and houses large offices for tech companies such as
Google and Facebook. Bellevue has the flagships of Costco, T-Mobile,
and Expedia, and it isn’t far from Redmond, where Microsoft and
Nintendo of America are based.
When visiting the region for business, use obvious travel logic:
stay close to your meetings. This means if work is in downtown
Seattle, pick a place in the heart of it all, like the Four Seasons Hotel
Seattle ( from $449; fourseasons.com) on First Avenue, blocks from
the waterfront and Pike Place Market, and close to Pioneer Square’s
trendy art galleries, coffee shops, and bars. With 147 rooms and
suites, the property is known for its scene-y rooftop infinity pool,
which overlooks Elliott Bay and the greater Puget Sound to the city’s
west. A block south is the similarly sized Loews Hotel 1000 ( from
$255; loewshotels.com), which just unveiled a multimillion-dollar
renovation. Up the street, the boutique Inn at the Market ( from $225;
innatthemarket.com), the only hotel tucked right into Pike Place
Market, has 76 rooms and a cool roof deck with panoramic views.Business travelers might overlook
Pier 67’s four-story, 223-room Edgewater
Hotel ( from $229; edgewaterhotel.com)
because it is located ever so slightly
north of downtown. But keep in mind
that this lodgelike Nobel House prop-
erty, Seattle’s only true waterfront hotel,
is only a 10-minute drive from the South
Lake Union neighborhood’s tech hub.
The hotel has a great restaurant and
bar, Six Seven, that overlooks Puget
Sound. (Also: The Beatles stayed in suite
272 in 1964. You used to be able to fish
out of your hotel room like they did, but
no longer.)
One could argue that the more rustic
Edgewater is the opposite of the glossy
new W Bellevue ( from $237; wbellevue
.com), which is where to book if busi-
ness calls you across Lake Washington
to Bellevue or Redmond. The 245-
room hotel—designed with cabinlike,
A-frame ceilings and decor that pays
homage to a weekend lake house—
occupies the first 13 stories of a 41-story
skyscraper in the Lincoln Square
development. It is located across from
Bellevue Square Mall and Downtown
Park, and is only a short walk from The
Shops at the Bravern, SoulCycle, and
CorePower Yoga. Now, what happens
if you’re in town for meetings on the
Eastside but extending your stay? The
answer is simple: Book on the Eastside
for work, then switch to a downtown
Seattle hotel for play.The Lincoln Square
development houses the
W Bellevue and Ascend
restaurant (above). Four
Seasons Hotel Seattle has
an infinity pool with views
of Elliott Bay (right).UPGRADES
HOTELS
SUZI PRATT (RESTAURANT), FOUR SEASONS (POOL)NATGEOTRAVEL.COMSeattle
Hotel
Playbook
Best bets for sleeping
in style on the Eastside
and downtown
By Jessica FlintW
hen the W Bellevue opened last summer, about a 20-minute
drive from downtown Seattle, the property became the
first marquee hotel in Bellevue, Seattle’s neighbor to the
east. Now, with a buzzy place to stay on the Eastside, it raises the ques-
tion: When traveling to the Seattle area, what’s the best hotel strategy?
Even though Seattle and Bellevue are separated only by Lake
Washington, two famous floating bridges, and dense traffic, the desti-
nations are different: The former is a big city with tourist attractions
such as the Space Needle, Pike Place Market, and Seattle Art Museum.
The latter is a suburb known for its outdoor spaces, shopping, and
growing entertainment district. Yet they are both populated by mega-
companies. Seattle is home to the headquarters of Amazon, Starbucks,
and Nordstrom, and houses large offices for tech companies such as
Google and Facebook. Bellevue has the flagships of Costco, T-Mobile,
and Expedia, and it isn’t far from Redmond, where Microsoft and
Nintendo of America are based.
When visiting the region for business, use obvious travel logic:
stay close to your meetings. This means if work is in downtown
Seattle, pick a place in the heart of it all, like the Four Seasons Hotel
Seattle ( from $449; fourseasons.com) on First Avenue, blocks from
the waterfront and Pike Place Market, and close to Pioneer Square’s
trendy art galleries, coffee shops, and bars. With 147 rooms and
suites, the property is known for its scene-y rooftop infinity pool,
which overlooks Elliott Bay and the greater Puget Sound to the city’s
west. A block south is the similarly sized Loews Hotel 1000 ( from
$255; loewshotels.com), which just unveiled a multimillion-dollar
renovation. Up the street, the boutique Inn at the Market ( from $225;
innatthemarket.com), the only hotel tucked right into Pike Place
Market, has 76 rooms and a cool roof deck with panoramic views.Business travelers might overlook
Pier 67’s four-story, 223-room Edgewater
Hotel ( from $229; edgewaterhotel.com)
because it is located ever so slightly
north of downtown. But keep in mind
that this lodgelike Nobel House prop-
erty, Seattle’s only true waterfront hotel,
is only a 10-minute drive from the South
Lake Union neighborhood’s tech hub.
The hotel has a great restaurant and
bar, Six Seven, that overlooks Puget
Sound. (Also: The Beatles stayed in suite
272 in 1964. You used to be able to fish
out of your hotel room like they did, but
no longer.)
One could argue that the more rustic
Edgewater is the opposite of the glossy
new W Bellevue ( from $237; wbellevue
.com), which is where to book if busi-
ness calls you across Lake Washington
to Bellevue or Redmond. The 245-
room hotel—designed with cabinlike,
A-frame ceilings and decor that pays
homage to a weekend lake house—
occupies the first 13 stories of a 41-story
skyscraper in the Lincoln Square
development. It is located across from
Bellevue Square Mall and Downtown
Park, and is only a short walk from The
Shops at the Bravern, SoulCycle, and
CorePower Yoga. Now, what happens
if you’re in town for meetings on the
Eastside but extending your stay? The
answer is simple: Book on the Eastside
for work, then switch to a downtown
Seattle hotel for play.The Lincoln Square
development houses the
W Bellevue and Ascend
restaurant (above). Four
Seasons Hotel Seattle has
an infinity pool with views
of Elliott Bay (right).UPGRADES
HOTELS
SUZI PRATT (RESTAURANT), FOUR SEASONS (POOL)