As much as any city, Seattle is synonymous with the tech industry. Over the past 40 years, Seattle and its suburbs have seen hometown heroes like Microsoft and Amazon grow into some of the biggest businesses on the planet. Around them has sprung up a diverse network of companies whose work touches nearly every aspect of public life, from Redfin to Costco to Wizards of the Coast, to name a few.
Tech culture has seemingly permeated nearly every aspect of city life here—a fact about which some local Mossbacks grumble—and it has transformed certain neighborhoods entirely over the past few decades. This is especially true of the South Lake Union neighborhood, where Jeff Bezos has parked his mighty balls, and a new crop of office towers and hotels have sprung up around them in priapic fashion, eager to serve Amazon’s considerable needs.
Seattle is also a distinct cultural destination in its own right, and the stuff you’ve seen before on TV—like the Pike Place Market (please note it is not possessive; Pike Place, not Pike’s Place) or the ferry boats scooting around the Puget Sound—is very much worth checking out while you’re in town. Live sports, live music, a surprisingly good comedy and theater scene, great shopping, and awesome restaurants (particularly with fresh seafood) are all on deck for Seattle travelers, and I do suggest trying it all.
I know you’re here for work, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun. With the right hotel, a bar or two to decompress in, and a choice dinner reservation, Seattle offers high levels of enjoyment amidst the busy professional environment. We work hard, we play hard—try and keep up, and no one complains about the rain, because it’s simply a fact of life.
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Where to Stay in Seattle
Courtesy of Palisociety
107 Pine Street, (206) 596-0600
Tucked a block away from Pike Place Market, with epic views looking out over the market and on to Elliott Bay, this Seattle location from the California-based Pali Society offers unbeatable location benefits galore. You can literally use the market as your breakfast pantry, just a block outside your door—grab a morning pastry from Piroshky Piroshky or an espresso from Ghost Alley—and in a matter of minutes be anywhere downtown for meetings or at the Convention Center for convention stuff. Beloved Pike Place market mainstays like Athenian Cafe (for seafood), Alibi Room (for day drinking), and Café Campagne (for all-day French bistro) are seconds from your door. It literally does not get more Seattle than this.
110 Boren Avenue N., (206) 455-9077
Tech travelers with commitments in South Lake Union may want to choose a hotel directly adjacent to the action, and with around 10 to choose from, let me make it simple: Level Seattle is where you want to stay. This place is hyper modern to the extreme, with blazing fast Wi-Fi throughout the property, a vast, impressively modern gym with Peloton bikes and a climbing wall, and a level of detached chic interior design throughout that fits the busy travel vibe. If you’re here for a night or two, this place is great; if you’re in town for longer, and really getting your tech work on, Level Seattle also offers tastefully furnished apartment suites.
700 3rd Avenue, (206) 776-9090
The Arctic Club hotel is epic, in every sense of the word. Originally founded in 1908 as a social club for prospectors, financiers, and adventurers drawn to Seattle by the Klondike Gold Rush, the building was added to the National Register of Historic places in the late ’70s, and became a hotel in the late aughts. Today it’s operated by Hilton; many of the rooms have vast panoramic views of downtown, including the Olympic Mountains to the west and the historic Smith Tower building on the edge of Pioneer Square; and every room features free Wi-Fi, HDTV with streaming and casting, and complimentary breakfast. Eight of the suites feature rooftop terraces, so if you’re looking to splash out on a hospitality suite situation, this is a great option. The best part of staying here is your nightly proximity to the Polar Bar, which oozes history and sophistication, making it the perfect place to take a happy hour meeting or meet colleagues for a wind-down drink after meetings or post-dinner.
@intodustphotographyCourtesy of Fairmont Olympic
411 University Street, (206) 621-1700
Seattle’s grand dame hotel, opened in 1926, has been lovingly remodeled in a series of tasteful modernizations, including a significant $25 million update completed in 2021. They’ve really got it all here: a buzzy lobby bar, multiple restaurants, including The George, which offers perhaps the classiest brunch in Seattle, and an all-world spa and wellness complex on the bottom floor. The gym is modest and bright, but the real action is at the hotel’s glass conservatory swimming pool, which is set beneath sweeping skyscrapers above. Presidents and ambassadors and dignitaries and rock stars stay here, so why not you?
4140 Roosevelt Way N.E., (206) 632-5055
The University of Washington—my alma mater (real men wear purple)—is a major hub for various nodes of the tech industry, home to several leading research institutions and a world-class teaching hospital at UW Medical Center. If you’re in Seattle for work in and around the U District, it’s worthwhile to stay close by, and the University Inn is the best of the local bunch. Open since the early ’60s, and now managed by hospitality group Stay Pineapple, this spot is bright, clean, and modern with a kitschy ’60s atomic theme (but not too heavy-handed). I’ve been continually impressed by the range of amenities here across multiple stays: snacks in the lobby, free coffee in-room, a reusable PATH water bottle in every room and a filtered “Water Bar” in the lobby, and great customer service. The UW campus is a five-minute walk.
Coworking and Meeting Spaces
Aerial Seattle Downtown and Capitol Hill SunraysPhotograph: Mike Reid Photography/Getty Images
1424 11th Avenue, Suite 400, (206) 739-9004
Every real tech city has a coworking space where the people-watching is a good as the connectivity. Such is the scene at The Cloud Room, which floats above Seattle’s fashionable Capitol Hill neighborhood as part of the Chop House Row development. A $40 day pass gets you hi-speed Wi-Fi, printing services, free coffee (and kombucha), and flexible seating across the space’s dreamy warren of nooks and snugs. Check the events calendar for TCR’s many activities, from yoga to live music.
92 Lenora Street, multiple locations
A locally owned mini-chain of coworking spaces, with locations in Ballard, Belltown, and down south in Tacoma, The Pioneer Collective feels rooted in the Pacific Northwest thanks to a timber-forward approach to interior design—and a collection of working people from around the region. Day passes are $35, or $75 for your own private office, with gigabit Wi-Fi throughout and larger office meeting rooms available.
1700 Westlake Avenue N #200
Thinkspace has one thing the other coworking spaces in Seattle can’t match, and that’s proximity to Lake Union. Their Seattle location is set right on the water—you can even rent a stand-up paddleboard in case you need to get in a core workout between meetings. A day pass runs $50 and includes unlimited coffee and tea, showers and lockers, and phone booths as well as meeting room options. If you need to post that #OfficeViews ’gram and make the team back home jealous, this is your place.
Best Cafés and Co-Offices
Courtesy of Victrola Coffee
411 15th Avenue E., multiple locations
A personal favorite for getting a little work done with a nice cup of coffee. Victrola is a long-standing Seattle third-wave coffee bar, and its location on 15th Avenue has seen it all—get a cappuccino and a cookie and hunker down.
425 15th Avenue E
A bookshop dedicated to STEA(A)M titles and a charming, chill coffee bar with plenty of seating. This is the ideal place to work, relax, and perhaps pick up a book for your flight home. Ada’s is a short block or so from a great local cocktail bar called Liberty, in case your office hours need to transition into happy hour.
754 N. 34th Street
Long one of the city’s best cafés, in a charming neighborhood north of the lake with close proximity to the Adobe HQ. Milstead serves coffees from a variety of roasters, all prepared with “third wave” expertise and care. The shop gets busy on weekend mornings, but it’s a charming midweek coffice, particularly if the weather’s nice and you can sit outside.
472 1st Avenue N
A huge space, perfect for setting up your laptop or even taking a chill meeting, with coffee service by local roaster Café Vita. This is also the lobby for Seattle’s much-loved community supported radio station, KEXP, so you get cool points for hanging out here.
1501 17th Avenue E
Opened by former Canlis alums, this spot serves outstanding coffee and makes some of the city’s best pastries. The space inside is cute, and you can work if you need to, but use this cafe as a jump-off point for a walking meeting or a strolling phone call, and explore the leafy neighborhood it calls home.
4214 University Way N.E. (in the alley)
Seattle’s oldest continually operated coffee bar, this space vibrates with history and culture. If you’re anywhere near the U District I highly recommend you stop here for some laptop time amongst the students, professors, and assorted intellectuals that call Allegro a home away from home.
Where to Eat
Photograph: Jordan Michelman
4903 Rainier Avenue S
Brawling, bare-knuckle offal-forward cuisine to challenge and delight from chef Evan Leichtling, who cooked in San Sebastian and Paris before opening his own place in south Seattle. If a chanterelle and wild boar pot pie or ham and cantaloupe sorbet sound like your idea of a good time, perhaps washed down with some cheerful natural wine or craft beer, this is your place.
1054 N 39th Street
Mutsuko Soma is a James Beard finalist chef for her work at Kamonegi, where she hand-makes soba noodles nightly and runs one of the best tempura programs in the United States. Make a reservation, because this place is tiny, but if you have to wait, their nextdoor sake bar, Hannyatou, is a rollicking good time and features delicious drinking snacks.
2576 Aurora Avenue N
The godfather of Seattle fine dining, Canlis is unbeatable for its view, atmosphere, and timeless mid-century live piano vibes. Their beverage program is epic—in particular the cocktails of head bartender Jose Castillo (order his pimento sherry martini)—and the food from new executive chef James Huffman shows verve and promise. Some untold amount of deals and agreements and contracts and marriage proposals have been sealed behind these doors over the last 75 years, so why not add your Dinner of Great Importance to the historic register?
