Inn at the Market

The Hotel

The Inn at the Market opened in 1986 on Pine Street at the north end of Pike Place Market, in the same cluster of buildings that houses the market's main arcade. It is the only hotel in Seattle that sits directly within the market's footprint — a position that confers advantages available nowhere else in the city: the ability to walk out at 6 AM and join the salmon toss, buy Shilshole Bay dahlias from the floor vendors, and drink the best coffee in Seattle from a place that knows it.

The 70 rooms are arranged across a mid-rise building with a private courtyard. Bay-view rooms — the hotel's most sought-after configuration — look west over Elliott Bay to the ferry traffic and the Olympic Mountains beyond; these are Seattle views at their most immediate and personal. The rooms themselves are designed with the comfortable intelligence of a boutique hotel that has been at the same address for forty years: not fashionable, but correct in the way that only genuine hoteliers achieve.

Café Campagne occupies the ground floor and serves French bistro cooking in a room that has been one of Seattle's most reliably good neighbourhood restaurants since the hotel opened. The outdoor terrace on the courtyard is the right place for a late-afternoon glass of something from the Willamette Valley — quiet, away from the market crowds, and available to guests with a courtesy that feels like it comes from genuine hospitality rather than policy.

The Pike Place Market location also means that the Pike Place Hill Climb, the Washington State Ferries terminal, the Seattle Aquarium, and the downtown core are all within a ten-minute walk in any direction. The Link Light Rail station at Westlake Center is an eight-minute walk north. The hotel lacks a pool and spa — at 70 rooms on a Pike Place address, the trade-offs are obvious and the choice is correct.

Best for Anniversary

A bay-view room at the Inn at the Market, followed by the Pike Place morning ritual, Café Campagne for dinner, and an evening on the courtyard with the last of the Washington State wine: this is the Seattle anniversary that the city's character actually supports. The hotel's scale and service means the staff will know your occasion and arrange accordingly, without making the arrangement visible.

Best for Solo Retreat

The Pike Place Market at 6 AM, with the flower vendors setting up and the first ferry of the morning on the bay, is one of the more restorative experiences available in any American city. The Inn at the Market puts this at your door without requiring any planning. Walk in any direction and find something worth finding. The hotel's own quiet scale is the right container for the solo traveller who wants the city without a programme.

Rates from $235/night. Check availability directly.