I'm travelling from Vancouver to Seattle in mid-March and have booked at the Holiday Inn Seattle (on Dexter). My question is that we're going to go to the Paramount theatre for a concert and on a map the distance is less than a km, is it a good area to walk around? What about transportation? Good, affordable restaurants? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

To be candid, it's a crummy location IMO. There's a rather empty and trafficky part of downtown between you and the Paramount.

There are a number of good restaurants around Seattle Center (Space Needle etc.); unfortunately, it's on the other side of Aurora Ave. (SR 99), a busy freeway with few opportunities for pedestrian crossings. Otherwise, there are numerous restaurants in the main downtown/Belltown area - close on the map but not that close on foot, especially on a wet March evening.

Can I ask, is it too late to find somewhere else to stay? It's not that the Holiday Inn won't be okay (don't know, really) but its location could definitely be improved upon.

Thank you John for your reply. Unfortunately with the Canadian dollar the way it is, we're restricted as to where we could go. Ideally we wanted to stay at the Paramount Hotel but with pay parking it would have been over 200$ a night for us. With that, the Holiday Inn was the best deal that I could find. I'll take a look and see if I can find something else just in case. Thank you once again.

hi...wife and i(in Victoria)...we go down to seattle for about 2 wknds ayear....always stay in lynnwood at the hampton inn...safe area,clean hotel,and the drive into seattle isnt so bad ..just plan ahead...rather than risking an uncomfortable dwtn experience we will always stay out a bit...usually safer,if you can do that...just my thoughts,take care

The walk from this HI to the Paramount is not recommended IMO. I would call a cab for sure. Is Priceline an option for Canadians? If so I would recommend trying for a room using that so you can be in a better area.

Christa,

On my way in to work this morning I passed the Holiday Inn and you should know that the building is covered with the tarp stuff they use when re siding is going on. Might want to check on your reservations if you keep them and request a room away from any noisy construction!

Wendy

Wendy - thank you for the advice. I will definitely be calling them to confirm that we won't be listening to construction the whole time.

Do you know if it would be too difficult to walk to the space needle and then take transit downtown? I would like to avoid driving as much as possible. I'm sure we'll end up cabbing it from downtown on the night of our concert.

Crossing Aurora may take some navigating (you're on the east side of the blvd., the Space Needle is on the west.) However, there's a bus (Routes 26 & 28) that runs right on Dexter serving downtown, day and night. Remember once within the downtown zone all the buses are free. You can easily get to the Paramount on the bus, before and after the concert. http://tripplanner.metrokc.gov/

If you are interested, to save money on accommodations we bid on priceline.
4* 40$ and we got Grand Hyatt hotel.

It is so beautiful!! Really made our stay in Seattle that much better. Check out Biddingfortravel.com and see what 4* hotels and prices they are getting for your dates of travel. PJ

pj, I believe there is still a problem with Canadians using Priceline, unless they have a credit card issued by a US bank (or AMEX) with a US billing address. In addition, the PL signin screen apparently balks when you don't insert a "valid" zip code when you book, although I've heard of people using "99999" and getting past it. This is a silly and unwise business policy on PL's part IMO, especially since so many US users of the site are getting good deals on Canadian hotels.

Christa, if you have access to a US-address credit card (just reimburse the holder for the hotel cost) PL is definitely the way to go for Seattle.

I second the motion on using Priceline IF you are able to use it as a Canadian. If not, try checking the Spring Hill Suites - I stayed at the Elliott Grand last August on my PL bid (loved it!) but before winning the PL bid had been planning on Spring Hill and the rate was about $99 US. It's a decent property right on the edge of downtown not far from the plaza where the monorail station is and it's an easy walk to the Belltown restaurants. It's also a relatively short walk or cab ride up Olive Way to the many cafes and restaurants going up towards Capitol Hill neighborhood.