Where should I stay in Seattle?

Stay downtown between Pine Street and Pioneer Square for your first Seattle trip. The 1 Line light rail runs beneath the neighborhood, with Westlake Station at 5th and Pine and University Street Station two blocks south. That single train line reaches Capitol Hill in 4 minutes, the International District in 6, and Sea-Tac Airport in 38. Pike Place Market sits at the western edge of downtown, a 7-minute walk from most hotels on 4th or 5th Avenue. You'll catch the salt air and the wet-fish smell from the fishmongers before you round the corner onto Pike Place. The Seattle Art Museum on 1st Avenue, open since 1933, is 10 minutes south on foot. Hotel rates downtown tend to run $160-280 per night for a mid-range room. The Palihotel near Pike Place and Hotel Ändra on 4th Avenue both fall in that range. One honest warning about 3rd Avenue between Pine and Pike, where foot traffic picks up around 10pm. Request a room facing away from 3rd, or book above the 6th floor.

Capitol Hill is the better pick if you care about eating well more than being next to the tourist sights. The 1 Line's Capitol Hill Station at Broadway and John Street puts downtown 4 minutes away, so you lose almost nothing on transit. The gain is the Pike/Pine corridor between Broadway and 12th Avenue, where the restaurants serve locals, not tour groups. Stateside on East Pike does Vietnamese-French plates for $16-22. Victrola Coffee Roasters on Pike has been roasting since 2000, and the warm-bread smell drifts out the door most mornings. Hotels run $120-200 per night, with the Silver Cloud on Broadway and the 11th Avenue Inn sitting in that range. Capitol Hill does get loud on Friday and Saturday nights, though. The bar crowd fills Pike and Pine after midnight, and you'll hear it through single-pane windows. If you're a light sleeper, book above the 4th floor or pick a side street off Broadway.

Lower Queen Anne, the blocks around Seattle Center between Mercer Street and Denny Way, works if the Space Needle and Museum of Pop Culture sit high on your list. Both are under a 5-minute walk from most hotels in the area. The Space Needle has stood here since 1961, and the Museum of Pop Culture opened in 2004 in a building that looks like a crumpled electric guitar from above. The Mediterranean Inn on Lower Queen Anne runs $130-180 and has kitchenettes, which saves you $15-20 per meal. Belltown, the strip between 1st and 3rd Avenues from Virginia Street to Broad Street, connects downtown to Lower Queen Anne on foot. It has more restaurants per block than anywhere else in Seattle. Shiro's on 2nd Avenue does omakase starting around $80 per person. Rates in Belltown fall between $140-220. Mind you, Belltown's 1st Avenue between Bell and Battery streets can feel edgy after 10pm, so walk south through 2nd Avenue instead.

Skip the Aurora Avenue North corridor. The motels along Highway 99 run $70-90 but smell like industrial carpet cleaner, and the neighborhood offers nothing walkable after dark. The University District near the University of Washington has budget hotels at $90-130, but it's a 25-minute light rail ride to downtown and the food options lean toward student fare. SODO, the industrial zone south of the International District, has a few chain hotels near Lumen Field and T-Mobile Park at $100-140, but there is nothing to walk to between game days. For getting in from Sea-Tac, the 1 Line light rail to Westlake Station costs $3.00 and takes 38 minutes. A taxi runs $45-55. June mornings in Seattle currently start around 11-12°C with clear skies, so pack a layer even in summer. Book within 3 blocks of a light rail station and you can skip the rental car entirely, which saves $35-50 per day on downtown hotel parking fees.