Seattle Hotel recommendations?
 

Hi,
My family and I will be visiting Seattle mid August.
Someone suggested the Edgewater, but that seems a bit pricey.
Can anyone recommend a nice, reasonably priced hotel, somewhere relatively close to downtown waterfront? We won't have a car. Mostly walking and public transport, if that matters. (And I'll bring my folder, of course. :)) Thanks!!!

The Pioneer Square Best Western is where my wife and I stay when we are in Seattle. Easy walk from the train depot, reasonable price, and its not a cookie cutter best western, but an older restored/update hotel. free continental breakfast too.

HTH

An older boutique-style hotel, the Executive Hotel Pacific is a pretty good deal, convenient, clean and actually has a nice rewards program if you return. It is also attached to a nice little coffee shop, but isn't everything in Seattle? :D
http://www.executivehotels.net/seattle/home_image.jpg

A few decent places at South Lake Union. Not on the water of Elliott Bay but not far either.

Silver Cloud, Marriott, right around $100 ($20 less for some rooms, $20 more for others all depending on when/how you do your room-shopping too...)

Thanks guys. :)
Additional suggestions also appreciated.

I would steer clear of anything in Pioneer Square; it's become bad again. Bad=shootings, drug use. Partying at night. During the day it's ok. Heading to/returning from a ball game is ok.

There's a Silver Cloud Inn and Marriot Residential and Marriott Courtyard at the south end of Lake Union, which is just north of downtown, and relatively close (bus or walk) to the Space Needle, University District, Fremont and Capital Hill neighborhoods.

The new South Lake Union Trolley and the #70 bus operate past the first two, and get you to downtown. If your kids are young, they'd love the trolley. And, the pass for the trolley is good/transferable to buses. The #70 drops you off for Pikes Place Market, Seattle Art Museum, and you can transfer to other buses for other destinations like Capital Hill. The Marriott Courtyard located about a block walk to the **** or the #70 stops that also service the first two hotels, and has a bus going past it (#17).

They renamed the 'trolley' to 'streetcar' once some entrepreneurial types started a business selling "Ride the ****" t-shirts for the grand opening of the trolley. It got a name-change after this, now it is officially the 'streetcar'. Locals will still call it the trolley.

The map at this link, from the streetcar website, is a good over-view of the route. The numbers in gray/black bubbles are bus numbers, which you can transfer to/from.

http://www.seattlestreetcar.org/map/

Hotels aren't identified on the map, however. The Marriott Residential is on the SE corner of Lake Union, on Fairview between Valley and Minor. The Silver Cloud is also on Fairview, just north of Marriott Residential, but unfortunately is off the map. It's also a walk, maybe a block, to the trolley and a bus stop is likely in front or very close. The Marriott Courtyard is on the SW corner of Lake Union, on Westlake, very close to the bubble with numbers 17 and 74 inside.

Lake Union is a decent area, gets quite (safely) at night, there's a kayak rental place (Northwest Outdoor Center, NWOC) there---great fun when it's sunny. You can also walk around Lake Union, again, watching the boats and sea planes land and take off is great entertainment for any age.

What's your budget? There are lots of great hotels in downtown Seattle, many cheaper than the Edgewater. None are on the water, though, but none are far -- downtown Seattle is long and skinny and nothing is more than a few blocks from the water.

BTW, for personal travel, I *always* use www.tripadvisor.com. August is the height of tourist/cruise ship season in Seattle so it might pay to shop ahead.

Under $200 a night, your choices might include:
- Mayflower Park
- Paramount
- Warwick Hotel

Also, this historic old building is being renovated and is scheduled to open as a hotel in May...Expedia is showing rooms at $196.
http://www.arcticclubhotel.com/pages/about

There's the Ace Hotel on 1st and a few nice small hotels on lower Queen Anne. These will put you closer to the Olympic Sculpture park, Myrtle Edwards Park, and the pretty part of the waterfront (as opposed to the tourist trap part).

Avoid staying in Pioneer Square - especially on the weekends. Too many drunk fools.