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Great hotels I love in the Seattle Washington area
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Salish Lodge outside of Seattle Photo credit: Cefka at wikipedia.org
The little provincial town of Seattle has some pretty amazing hotels and lodges. I’ve put several places on this list for their accommodations and service. I’ve put some hotels here because they are situated in spiritual and awe-inspiring settings. And, all of the places on this list have been included because they meet the most stringent requirement of all: I love them.
The Fairmont Olympic Hotel, luxury in the heart of Seattle
I love this place. It just reeks of taste and elegance and luxury and beauty. It’s the gold standard for good Seattle hotels. And, I have touching memories of wedding receptions and New Year’s Eve parties in their event rooms.
True Seattleites call this place, “The Olympic Hotel”, because that is its true, traditional, and original name. No matter how many times corporate outsiders try to change the sign, older natives will remember it as it was, in its mildly informal British style: No jacket required for Georgian Tea or in the polished-wood seafood restaurant, Shuckers. (The name is a reference to people who process clams.)
Rooms can be a bit small, but hey, they are a bit small in Paris, too. People, who can afford to upgrade, should. The internet-only specials make it affordable. And, please invite me to your daughter’s wedding or your son's bar mitzvah. I need an excuse to get out of the suburbs and into reality. I promise to send a gift or bring cash. Click here for info about the Olympic Hotel.
The Edgewater Hotel, love on the waterfront
The Edgewater is a great hotel because of its location. It sits on a pier along the Seattle waterfront, in Elliot Bay, and this is the only Seattle hotel that actually is waterfront. The Edgewater has a unique fusion restaurant and bar, Six Seven, which is decorated in the same shabby lodge chic as the rest of the place, since they remade this “motel” style accommodation into something far grander.
It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but the full wall of windows gives great show in summer or winter. Actually, Seattle never gets cold or hot, so I should say that the Edgewater is great in spring or fall. I’ve eaten at Six Seven quite a bit, though I’ve never stayed overnight at this eco friendly lodge. But, I will say that this is the place where the Beatles stayed when they were in Seatown. And, any place good enough for John Lennon is good enough for me.
Wow. I keep browsing the photos in the Edgewater link. Their rooms look super romantic, with the water and the fireplace. Give me a bottle of wine, and the stress is already melting away. Click here to read about the Edgewater.
Read this for information about good seafood restaurants in Seattle with a water view.
The Sorrento, old world luxe
The Sorrento Hotel sits all warm and cozy on First Hill (Capitol Hill), right off of downtown, on the hill side of the freeway. This place is as close to old school European as anything in town. As with the Edgewater, I’ve eaten here (the Hunt Club) but I've never stayed overnight. However, I have heard that the rooms are great and the people who work here will bend over backwards to make guests all snuggly and pampered, and I can sense the Euro vibe from the Sorrento’s website.
I think that the next time I stay over in the city, not as often as I would like, I’ll try the Sorrento. It looks romantic and charming. And, though I can’t vouch for the guestrooms, and some people online sound like a bunch of whiney complainers, I will vouch for the Hunt Club. The Hunt Club feels like an old library or a private club, and I just love it. Click here for the Sorrento Hotel.
The Salish Lodge at Snoqualmie Falls
The Salish Lodge (25 miles from Seattle) used to be a funky little hotel and restaurant, called the Snoqualmie Falls Lodge. Their brunch was legendary and it was impossible to get reservations for Mother’s Day. Now, I love change and creativity, but no one should have gutted or torn down the old lodge.
Click here to pronounce Salish or Snoqualmie.
While the new hotel is designed to be Northwest underplayed elegance at its best (copper fireplace, stone, wood, and the usual accoutrements), the new place doesn’t have the authentic feel of the original. Why, why, why wasn’t the historic lodge saved? Gosh, this is Seattle. The Seattleites tried to keep a Denny’s from being torn down.
Anyway, my husband says that the rooms are spacious with big Jacuzzi tubs. The Salish rooms are often used for the first night of a honeymoon. It’s that romantic. But, the hotel is not the attraction. It is the waterfall, with its raw pounding power. Active couples should climb down to the bottom of the falls, and meditate in the mist, while sitting on a boulder. Awesome.
There is a great viewpoint, which is about street level, for non-athletes to view the waterfall. Springtime is when the falls are at their peak. Click here for Salish Lodge.
Woodmark Hotel in Kirkland WA
The Woodmark Hotel and Yacht Club is the only hotel on Lake Washington. It is a fabulous location, right in Carillon Point, in Kirkland. This fabulous hotel is across Lake Washington (by floating bridge) from Seattle, about 15 miles out of the city.
I have only been to a beautiful wedding at Woodmark, and haven't stayed as a guest, but it was a wedding for a local television personality. A perfect groove. It was summer. It was beautiful. And, it was warm. The hotel is fairly new (about 20 years old), but the reason to stay there is the view and the location. If anyone has kids that work at Microsoft, this is the place to stay for a fab visit. Check out the Woodmark.
I have strong emotional ties to all of these hotels. And, though I haven't spent the night in every one of them, I have had splendid meals in each place and found something wonderful at all. There are other great hotels in the Seattle area, but I hate to recommend a place I've never stepped foot in. You can't go wrong with any of these beauties.
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