What to do in Seattle if you’re here on business (2025)
By Jordan Michelman | Published: 2025-11-04 12:01:00 | Source: WIRED
as far as Any city, Seattle is synonymous with the tech industry. Over the past 40 years, Seattle and its suburbs have seen their city champions like Microsoft and Amazon grow into some of the largest companies on the planet. A diverse network of companies has sprung up around them whose work touches nearly every aspect of public life, from Redfin to Costco to Wizards of the Coast, to name a few.
Tech culture seems to have permeated almost every aspect of city life here – a fact some locals are unaware of. Moss Grumble – This has completely transformed some neighborhoods over the past few decades. This is especially true in the South Lake Union neighborhood, where Jeff Bezos parked his car His mighty ballsA new collection of office towers and hotels have sprung up around it clumsily, eager to meet Amazon’s vast needs.
Seattle is also a distinct cultural destination in its own right, and things you’ve seen before on TV — like Pike Place Market (please note, it’s not a property; shaft Place, no Pike Place) or ferry boats that ply around Puget Sound – they are worth a visit while you are in town. Live sports, live music, a surprisingly good comedy and theater scene, great shopping, and great restaurants (especially with fresh seafood) are all on deck for travelers in Seattle, and I suggest trying it all.
I know you’re here to work, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun. With the right hotel, a bar or two to relax in, and select dinner reservations, Seattle offers high levels of enjoyment in a busy, professional environment. We work hard, we play hard – we try and we keep going, and no one complains about the rain, because it is simply a fact of life.
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Where to stay in Seattle
Courtesy of PaleSociety
107 Pine Street, (206) 596-0600
Located just one block from Pike Place Market, with incredible views of the market and Elliott Bay, this Seattle location from California-based Pali Society offers an abundance of unbeatable location advantages. You can literally use the market as a breakfast pantry, just a block outside your front door—grab a morning pastry from Piroshky Piroshky or an espresso from Ghost Alley—and within minutes you can 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 all-day drinking) and Café Campagne (for all-day French bistro) are seconds from your door. It literally doesn’t get much more Seattle than this.
110 Bourne St. N., (206) 455-9077
Technical travelers with commitments at South Lake Union may want to choose a hotel directly adjacent to the event, and with about 10 hotels to choose from, let me put it simply: Level Seattle is where you want to stay. This place is ultra-modern to the max, with lightning-fast Wi-Fi throughout the property, an impressively spacious and modern gym with Peloton bikes and a climbing wall, and a level of stylish, discrete interior design throughout that suits a busy travel atmosphere. If you’re here for a night or two, this place is great; If you’re in town for a longer period of time, and really getting into your craft, Level Seattle also offers tastefully furnished apartment suites.
700 Third Avenue, (206) 776-9090
The Arctic Club is downright epic. 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 1970s, and became a hotel in the late 1910s. Today it is operated by Hilton. Many rooms have expansive panoramic views of downtown, including the Olympic Mountains to the west and the historic Smith Tower building on the edge of Pioneer Square; Each room features free WiFi, an HD TV with live streaming and casting, and a free breakfast. Eight of the suites feature rooftop terraces, so if you’re looking to enjoy a hospitality suite, this is a great option. The best part of your stay here is the proximity at night to the Polar Bar, which oozes history and sophistication, making it the perfect place to hold a happy hour meeting or meet colleagues for an after-meeting or after-dinner drink.
@intodustphotographyCourtesy of Fairmont Olympic
411 University Street, (206) 621-1700
Seattle’s Grand Dame Hotel, which opened in 1926, has been beautifully redesigned in a series of elegant updates, including a major $25 million renovation completed in 2021. They’ve really got it all here: a bustling lounge bar, multiple restaurants, including The George, which probably serves Seattle’s best brunch, and a world-class spa and wellness complex in the basement. The gym is modest and bright, but the real action takes place in the hotel’s glass swimming pool, which is set beneath the expansive skyscrapers above. Presidents, ambassadors, dignitaries and rock stars stay here, so why shouldn’t you?
4140 Roosevelt Road NE, (206) 632-5055
The University of Washington – my alma mater (Real Men Wear Purple) – is a major hub for various points of the technology industry, home to several leading research institutions and a world-class teaching hospital at the University of Wisconsin Medical Center. If you’re in Seattle for business in and around the U, it pays to stay close by, and the University Inn is the best of the local bunch. Open since the early 1960s, and now run by the Stay Pineapple hospitality group, this spot is bright, clean and modern with an atomic 60s feel (but not too heavy). I’ve been consistently impressed with the array of amenities here over multiple stays: snacks in the lobby, free coffee in the room, a reusable PATH water bottle in every room, a filtered “Water Bar” in the lobby, and great customer service. The University of Wisconsin campus is a five-minute walk away.
Work and meeting spaces
Downtown Seattle Aerial and Capitol Hill SunrisePhotography: Mike Reed Photography/Getty Images
1424 11th Avenue, Suite 400, (206) 739-9004
Every true tech city has a coworking space where keeping an eye on people is as good as communicating. That’s the scene at The Cloud Room, perched above Seattle’s chic Capitol Hill neighborhood as part of the Chop House Row development. A $40 pass gets you high-speed Wi-Fi, printing services, free coffee (and kombucha), and flexible seating through the space’s cozy nooks and crannies. Check the events calendar to learn about TCR’s many activities, from yoga to live music.
92 Lenora Street Multiple locations
A small, locally owned chain of coworking spaces, with locations in Ballard, Belltown, and south in Tacoma, The Pioneer Collective feels rooted in the Pacific Northwest thanks to a wood-forward approach to interior design — and a group of people working from all over the region. Day passes cost $35, or $75 for your own office, with gigabit Wi-Fi throughout and larger office meeting rooms available.
1700 Westlake Street #200
Thinkspace has one thing that other coworking spaces in Seattle can’t match, which is proximity to Lake Union. Their Seattle location is right on the water — you can even rent a stand-up paddleboard in case you need a core workout between meetings. A day pass costs $50 and includes unlimited coffee and tea, showers, lockers, and phone booths as well as meeting room options. If you need to spread those #OfficeViews and make the team at home jealous, this is your place.
The best cafes and shared offices
Courtesy of Victrola Coffee
411 E. 15th St., multiple locations
A personal favorite for getting a little work done with a nice cup of coffee. Victrola is an old Seattle third-wave café, and its location on 15th Avenue has seen it all — grab a cappuccino, a cake, and hide away.
425 15th Ave. E
A library dedicated to STEA(A)M titles and a charming, quiet café with plenty of seating. This is the perfect place to work, relax and perhaps grab a book for the flight back home. Ada’s is located a short block or so from a great local cocktail bar called Freedomin case you need to turn your work hours into happy hour.
754 N 34th Street
One of the city’s best cafés for a long time, in a charming neighborhood north of the lake close to Adobe HQ. Milstead offers coffee from a variety of roasters, all prepared with “third wave” expertise and care. The shop gets crowded on weekend mornings, but it’s a charming café midweek, especially if the weather is nice and you can sit outside.
472 First Avenue N
Plenty of space, perfect for setting up your laptop or even having a quiet meeting, with coffee service provided by local café Roaster Café Vita. This is also the lobby of Seattle’s much-loved community-supported radio station KEXP, so you can score cool points for spending time here.
1501 17th Ave. E
Opened by former Canlis graduates, this place serves great coffee and makes some of the best pastries in the city. The interior is nice, and you can work if you need to, but use this café as a starting point for a walking meeting or phone call while you walk around, exploring the leafy neighborhood you call home.
4214 University Road NE (in the alley)
The oldest continuously operating coffee shop in Seattle, this space vibrates with history and culture. If you’re anywhere near the U-area, I highly recommend you stop by here to spend some time on your laptop among the students, professors, and assorted intellectuals who call the Allegro a home away from home.
Where do you eat?
Photo: Jordan Michelman
4903 Rainier Street S
Feisty, offal-free cuisine to challenge and delight from Chef Evan Lichtling, who cooked in San Sebastian and Paris before opening his own restaurant in South Seattle. If chanterelle and wild boar pie or pork and cantaloupe sounds like your idea of a good time, perhaps washed down with some delightful natural wine or craft beer, this is your place.
1054 N 39th Street
Mutsuko Soma is a James Beard finalist for her work at Kamonegi, where she handcrafts soba noodles every night and runs one of the best tempura programs in the United States. Make a reservation, as this place is small, but if you have to wait, the sake bar next door, Hannyatou, is a great time and features delicious drinking snacks.
2576 Aurora Street N
Canlis, the godfather of fine dining in Seattle, is unparalleled in its view, ambience and timeless mid-century live piano vibe. Their drinks program is epic—particularly head bartender Jose Castillo’s cocktails (order the pimento sherry martini)—and the food served by new executive chef James Hoffman shows verve and promise. Countless deals, agreements, contracts and marriage proposals have been made behind these doors over the past 75 years, so why not add your momentous dinner to the historical record?
(tags for translation) Travel
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