Pike Place Market opens for business at dawn. The fish arrive before that, on trucks, along Western Avenue and Pike Place itself, and the sound of a delivery bay at half past four in the morning carries a long way up a narrow street between tall buildings. This is the hidden variable in booking central Seattle, and it does not appear in a single hotel description.
The market is also the single best thing about the city centre and the reason to be near it. The resolution is height and position: stay above it rather than beside it, on the uphill side, where you get the market at the door, Elliott Bay in the window and none of the four a.m. logistics.
Why the elevation matters here
Seattle's downtown falls steeply from the freeway down to the waterfront, which means the city stacks vertically in a way that Portland and Vancouver do not. From First Avenue upward you are looking over the market roofs to the bay, the ferries crossing to Bainbridge, and the Olympic mountains behind on a clear day. Two blocks lower and you are looking at a viaduct's replacement and a car park.
The other reason to care is the walk. Seattle's centre is compact but the hills are real, and a hotel above the market means you walk down to the waterfront and the ferry terminal and take a short uphill on the way back, rather than climbing from the pier every evening.
The nine below are grouped by where they sit on that slope.
Above the market, First Avenue and up
The best position downtown: market at the door, water in the window.
Four Seasons Hotel Seattle sits a block up from the market with a rooftop infinity pool looking over Elliott Bay, a serious art collection and the largest rooms downtown. It is the best hotel in the Pacific Northwest.
Four Seasons Hotel Seattle
Above Pike Place · 5★ · $$$$
Rooftop infinity pool over Elliott Bay
Check availabilityInn at the Market is the small hotel built into the market itself, above the stalls, with rooms looking directly over the roofs to the bay and the best breakfast position in the city. It is a four-star and the location is unmatched.
Inn at the Market
Inside Pike Place Market · 4★ · $$$
Rooms directly over the market roofs to the bay
Check availabilityThompson Seattle, by Hyatt occupies a tower on First Avenue with a glass-walled rooftop bar over the bay and contemporary rooms, and it is the most design-led of the group.
Thompson Seattle, by Hyatt
First Avenue · 5★ · $$$
Glass-walled rooftop bar over the bay
Check availabilityThe Charter Hotel Seattle, Curio Collection By Hilton sits beside the market with a rooftop terrace and rooms that are simple and well judged. It is the best value on this stretch and the closest to the market entrance.
The Charter Hotel Seattle, Curio Collection By Hilton
Beside Pike Place · 4★ · $$
Rooftop terrace at the market entrance
Check availabilityThe waterfront
Below the market, on the piers, with the ferries and the water immediately outside.
The Edgewater, a Noble House Hotel is built out over the water on a pier, the only hotel in the city that is, with rooms where the bay is directly beneath the window and a lodge-style interior. It is the most memorable stay in Seattle and it involves a walk uphill to everything else.
The Edgewater, a Noble House Hotel
Pier 67 waterfront · 4★ · $$$
Built out over the water on a pier
Check availabilityHotel 1000, In The Unbound Collection By Hyatt occupies a waterfront position with bay-view rooms, a good spa and an easy walk to the market and the aquarium.
Hotel 1000, In The Unbound Collection By Hyatt
Waterfront edge · 5★ · $$$
Bay-view rooms with a good spa near the aquarium
Check availabilityUphill, the business core
Higher again, closer to the shopping and the convention centre, quieter at night.
Fairmont Olympic Hotel is the 1924 grand hotel with a barrel-vaulted lobby, an indoor pool and the deepest service bench in the city. It is four blocks uphill from the market, which is the trade for the building.
Fairmont Olympic Hotel
Business core · 5★ · $$$
1924 barrel-vaulted lobby and the deepest service
Check availabilityLotte Hotel Seattle sits in a tower with the largest standard rooms uphill, a good restaurant and views over the Sound from the higher floors.
Lotte Hotel Seattle
Business core · 5★ · $$$
Largest uphill rooms with Sound views up high
Check availabilityThe Alexis Royal Sonesta Hotel Seattle occupies a restored building near the market with a wine-focused programme and a small, personal operation. It is the quietest hotel on this list.
The Alexis Royal Sonesta Hotel Seattle
Near the market · 4★ · $$
Small, personal and the quietest on this list
Check availabilityWhat we have left off
The Bellevue hotels are excluded, and they have newer rooms, more space and lower rates. They are also across a bridge from the market, the ferries and the water, which is all of what makes Seattle worth a trip.
What to do
Do the market properly and early: the fish, the first Starbucks if you must, and then the lower levels, which almost nobody visits and which hold the odd shops.
Take a ferry. The Bainbridge Island crossing is 35 minutes each way, costs very little on foot, and gives you the whole skyline and the mountains from the water. It is the best thing you can do in Seattle for the price of a coffee.
Go to the Chihuly glass garden beside the Space Needle, which is better than the Needle itself, and to the Museum of Pop Culture next door for the building if nothing else.
Get outside the city. Mount Rainier is two hours and enormous. The Olympic Peninsula is a ferry and a drive. Both are the reason people live here.
Eat oysters, drink coffee that is better than the chain that made the city famous, and go to Ballard on a Sunday for the market.
Practical notes
Sea-Tac connects on the Link light rail to downtown in around 40 minutes for a few dollars. A taxi runs 50 to 60 and takes 30 in light traffic.
July to September is the dry season and it is genuinely excellent: long days, mid-twenties, and the mountains visible. October to May is grey and wet, though the rain is persistent drizzle rather than downpour. The city is at its best in late summer and there is no serious argument otherwise.
Bring a rain shell and no umbrella, which is what locals do.
Explore 4 & 5 Star Seattle Hotels
Questions people actually ask
Is staying next to Pike Place noisy?
The delivery traffic starts before five. Above the market and on the uphill side you are fine; directly on the delivery streets you are not.
Waterfront or downtown?
Downtown above the market for walking and convenience. The waterfront for the water, with a hill to climb.
Is Seattle worth visiting in winter?
It is grey, cheap and the food and coffee are as good as ever. For the mountains and the ferries, come between July and September.
How many nights?
Three in the city, four or five if you are adding Rainier or the Olympic Peninsula.