Seattle Hotels

This recently spruced-up arty hotel is a book-lover’s dream. Try to score the Author’s Suite, where you can curl up next to a fire with a book pulled from the room’s private library. Look closely and you’ll find signed copies from authors who have stayed in the room.

Pictured: Pull a volume from the shelf or doodle with colored pencils while you wait for brunch at the Library Bistro, just downstairs from your room at the Alexis.

• Alexis Hotel
• 1007 First Ave., Seattle WA
• $$$-$$$$*
• 888/850.1155

*Price key:

$ = $100 or less
$$ = $100-$175
$$$ = $175-$250
$$$$ = over $250

Inside the skyscraper with the blue glass fins at Eighth Avenue and Olive Way is a Hyatt hotel with environmentally conscious rooms, some of which have a view over the green roof with drought-tolerant sedums.

• Hotel at Olive 8
• 1635 8th Ave., Seattle, WA
• $$$
• 206/695.1234

The look is all clean lines and fun nods to 1960s mod. And, oh, that view―the Olympic Mountains and sparkling saltwater crisscrossed by ferries. Be sure to check out the bathwater-warm outdoor infinity pool (left) with a panorama of Puget Sound.

• Four Seasons Hotel Seattle
• 99 Union St., Seattle, WA
• $$$$
• 206/749.7000

The hotel is fairly new, but it’s in a 1917 landmark building that was once a men’s club. Whereas the other new downtown hotels are sleek and spare, the Arctic Club is plush and plump. Rooms on the Executive Level have terraces with knockout views.

• Doubletree Arctic Club Hotel
• 700 3rd Ave., Seattle, WA
• $$$
• 206/340.0340

Celebrating its 25th birthday in 2010, the inn has simple, stylish rooms and a sunny deck with sweeping views of the Seattle skyline and sparkling Elliott Bay. Grab your lunch at Pike Place Market outside then head up to theere for an impromptu picnic.

• Inn at the Market
• 86 Pine St., Seattle, WA
• $$$$
• 800/446.4484

Most of the 10 rooms in the Pike Place Market walk-up share baths, in keeping with the tradition of classic pensiones.

But everything is neat as a pin in this budget-priced European-style gem, where breakfast is served at antique wooden tables overlooking the Puget Sound and rooms are appointed with antiques and crisp white linens. (Two second-floor suites include both kitchens and private baths.)

• Pensione Nichols Bed & Breakfast
• 1923 First Ave.; Seattle, WA
• $$
• 206/441.7125

Newly renovated rooms are fashionable-mod, but the real draw is the bull’s-eye Belltown location, within walking distance of many of downtown Seattle’s best attractions.

• Hotel Ändra
• 2000 4th Ave., Seattle, WA
• $$$
• 877/448.8600