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Condé Nast Traveler picks
 Best of Seattle
The 1990s were famously good to Seattle. In the space of a decade, its high-tech gazillionaires helped the Emerald City undergo a startling turnaround. Gone was the Washington State city that in its 1970s dog days lost thousands of residents to Boeing layoffs. In its place was a world-class metropolis with renovated historic theaters and a new music museum and symphony hall, creating a downtown area to rival New York or San Francisco. The pace of change has slowed since the dot-com era, but the monuments to Seattle's modern-day Medicis remain. Of course, natural beauty counts for something too, and Seattle has a setting to envy. The city is tucked into a maze of inlets, bays, and islands behind the fat anvil of the Olympic Peninsula, whose high, snow-catching peaks jut up between the city and the sea.
Attractions & Activities One thing that remains constant in this bit of the Pacific Northwest is the risk of inclement weather, but there is an odd principle at work in town. By some strange atmospheric trickery, visitors never seem to catch Seattle on a wet day. The Space Needle—that elevated disk built for the 1962 World's Fair in what is now a park called Seattle Center—was considered a modern marvel at the time. Now it looks like something out of The Jetsons. Making the trip to the observation deck on a cloudy day is pointless—it's like taking a $14 elevator ride into the middle of a cotton ball. But when it's clear, you can see forever: jagged white peaks 360 degrees around; the glittering skin of Elliott Bay, cut by ferry wakes; the downtown skyline popping up like a bar graph (206-905-2100; spaceneedle.com). Near the Space Needle's base, the Experience Music Project is Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's pet, designed by starchitect Frank Gehry and resembling wads of wrapping paper—bright metallic skins melted and stretched over a curving form. Inside, displays include the Hendrix Gallery, full of Allen's legendary memorabilia; the Northwest Passage, a history of local music from Ray Charles to Kurt Cobain; the Sound Lab, in which visitors enter soundproofed rooms and try their hand at playing instruments; and the interactive exhibit called Onstage, simulating the experience of playing arena rock-and-roll through a kind of mega-karaoke in which would-be rock stars perform in front of a screen showing more than 10,000 screaming fans (206-770-2700; emplive.com). In Belltown, the city's burgeoning restaurant district, Cinerama, a revived decades-old single-screen movie house, is another Paul Allen project. Entering the lobby is like stepping back into 1963, with globe lights on long stems, and carpeting and wallpaper reminiscent of Marimekko. The theater itself is a marvel—a cavernous space with raked mohair seats which recline so deeply that you get a good look at the wavy, pin-pricked ceiling above. The massive curved screen and surround sound put multiplex moviegoing to shame, making this the place to see the nominees for Best Cinematography (206-441-3080; cinerama.com). It may be hard to get a last-minute ticket to a concert at Benaroya Hall, the $118 million downtown symphony space that has been running at almost full capacity since it opened in 1998, but its sparkling acoustics are worth it—as is the musicianship of the local symphony, which has risen to prominence under the direction of Gerard Schwarz (206-215-4747; seattlesymphony.org). Opera lovers with a bent for the experimental should check out the schedule of the Seattle Opera well in advance. The company's daring productions at the Marion Oliver McCaw Hall—opened in 2003, designed by LMN Architects, and financed with Starbucks bucks—have drawn international acclaim, and its summer stagings of Wagner's Ring Cycle, performed every four years, play to packed houses (206-684-7200; seattleopera.org). Another recent addition to the landscape, the Seattle Public Library may resemble a corseted Rubik's Cube on the outside, but the form of Rem Koolhaas's radical new book repository merely follows a layout dictated by the library's staff, down to the function of each floor and its relative proportions. Throughout the 11-story structure, the sophisticated color palette is really code—chartreuse moves you through the building, red indicates reading areas—while a colossal atrium functions as the city's most resplendent public park, replete with tables for chess, a carpet of outsized local flora, and views of Puget Sound (206-386-4636; spl.org). Lodging Three Seattle hotels rank on Condé Nast Traveler's Gold List of the best places to stay the world over: the Fairmont Olympic Hotel, in a historic Italianate building near museums and theaters, with brocade couches, floral drapes, and crystal lamps in the gold-and-cream guest rooms; the Inn at the Market, an unassuming brick tower just above Pike Place Market, within walking distance of downtown and Belltown, with rooms that are small but sleekly decorated in dark woods and soothing neutrals; and the Grand Hyatt, across the street from the Washington State Convention and Trade Center, with Zenlike rooms done up in earth-tone fabrics and Asian touches such as shoji screens and onyx accents. In downtown and not far from the library, the sleek W Hotel has a lobby that's filled with the style obsessed, who lounge on velvet banquettes amid the modern art and piles of green apples in silver bowls. The rooms are modest in size but cosseting: goose-down comforters, TVs with Internet access, and leather and velvet furniture. In the lobby of the Hotel Ändra, in Belltown, Pacific Northwest meets Scandinavia: zebra-skin Alvar Aalto armchairs, a rough-hewn granite fireplace, and floor-to-ceiling maple bookcases. Upstairs, the 119 rooms—in an appealing palette of blue, brown, green, and taupe—reflect the building's past as a 1926 residential hotel: The quarters are so large and comfortable that you may be tempted to settle in for a spell. Belltown's Hotel Max tapped area artists to create works for the guest rooms and public spaces—including the doors to each room, which nine photographers used as giant surfaces for their work. The Grunge Floor, or fifth level, may be the most dynamic: It features rock-and-roll lensman Charles Peterson's concert images capturing the energy generated between musicians and fans. Dining One of the best places to view Seattle's new face is Belltown, a formerly run-down district north of downtown. The old brick buildings continue to be converted to artists' lofts and condos, and the street-level spaces have a mix of clothing boutiques, supper clubs, and cafés. Every few months, it seems, another Pacific Rim-cuisine eatery sprouts like a mushroom in the wet weather. A big player in the area, chef Tom Douglas opened Lola very near his acclaimed Dahlia Lounge, off the lobby in the new Hotel Ändra. Here he turns out reinterpretations of rustic Greek classics using local ingredients; mezes and other shareable plates are the specialty, including crisp, savory chickpeas fried in olive oil and sprinkled with rosemary and sea salt, and crab fritters of local Dungeness in a green tomato aioli (2000 Fourth Ave.; 206-441-1430; entrées, $9-$38). Hip and lively, Flying Fish serves impeccably fresh Asian-inspired seafood. Make a meal out of the inventive starters, or share a by-the-pound platter of Dungeness crab (2234 First Ave.; 206-728-8595; entrées, $17-$37). Regulars come to Etta's Seafood for the unpretentious atmosphere and the perfectly cooked fish, crab, and lobster. The menu usually has at least five different varieties of oyster (2020 Western Ave.; 206-443-6000; entrées, $13-$36). Lampreia's spare decor is a study in minimalism. It's all the more shocking, then, when you take your first bite of stuffed duck breast or roast veal: The flavors are over-the-top (2400 First Ave.; 206-443-3301; entrées, $20-$35). Cascadia serves Northwest cuisine in an elegant setting, complete with Limoges and leaded crystal. You can order à la carte, but the seven-course tasting menus are unforgettable (2328 First Ave.; 206-448-8884; tasting menus, $60-$90). For a glimpse of Seattle's hipster crowd, stop by the Capitol Club, a Moroccan-themed bar and restaurant in Capitol Hill, where habitués recline on velvet pillows, sipping martinis (414 E. Pine St.; 206-325-2149; entrées, $17-$19). Before a day of sightseeing, stroll over to the Macrina Bakery & Cafe, in Belltown, for a latte and the best baked goods in Seattle: tarts, scones, muffins, and coffee cake. It's stylish and cozy, with concrete tables, blackboard menus, and the smell of fresh bread. Weekend brunches are crowded (2408 First Ave.; 206-448-4032). Truth in Travel is the guiding principle for all content published in Condé Nast Traveler. Other travel publications often accept free travel and accommodations. Condé Nast Traveler does not. It is independent of the travel industry. The magazine always pays its way, and, as far as possible, its correspondents travel anonymously. By doing so, they experience the world—both the good and the bad—as other travelers do, and their reports and recommendations are fair, impartial, and authoritative.
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