The Edgewater Hotel

If your ideal hotel evening involves a proper meal, a drink with a view and a room where you can put your feet up, this waterfront address has the right shape. The Edgewater Hotel sits over the Seattle shoreline, with city rooms, over-water rooms and a handful of suites built around the setting rather than pretending the waterfront is somewhere nearby.

You will be met by a team that speaks English and Spanish. That matters when you are tired, carrying too much luggage and trying to sort out the practicalities without resorting to hotel charades. The atmosphere runs from coffee and grab-and-go food in the morning to cocktails and Pacific Northwest cooking later on, with a fitness centre available when the legs still have something to say.

At 2411 Alaskan Way in Seattle, the hotel sits directly on the waterfront beside Puget Sound. The city centre is close by, while Pier 69, P-Patch Community Gardens and the Port of Seattle are all in the surrounding area. This is a proper urban base, not a resort marooned beyond the useful part of town.

The position suits a stay split between city time and water time. You can walk out towards the harbour, explore nearby Seattle or stay close to the building and watch the working waterfront do its thing. The hotel also offers parking on site and an airport transfer service, which can be arranged with the hotel.

The main choice is straightforward: city view or over-water. The latter gives the hotel its character, particularly if you want the setting to continue after dinner rather than end at the front door. Over-water rooms include double and twin arrangements, larger rooms for up to four guests and suites, with a balcony available in one of the double-room options.

For two people, a double room with a private bathroom, air conditioning, Wi-Fi, television, fridge, minibar, safe and tea- or coffee-making facilities covers the useful after-diving basics. The fireplace is a pleasant Seattle touch; the fridge is the more practical one when you come back wanting something cold without staging an expedition. City-view rooms and suites offer the same broad choice of scale, while the Beatles Suite and Pearl Jam Suite give the hotel a little local musical history without requiring you to sleep in a themed aquarium.

Families and small groups can choose rooms designed for up to four guests, and connecting or adjacent rooms may be available. Housekeeping details include towels, toiletries, a hairdryer and an iron, while the private bathrooms include a shower or bath-and-shower arrangement depending on the room. The exact facilities vary by category, so the room card deserves a proper look before booking rather than a hopeful click on the first attractive photograph.

Six Seven Restaurant handles breakfast and dinner beside the water, working with Pacific Northwest cuisine and fresh, locally sourced ingredients. Breakfast is available as a buffet or à la carte, with service beginning at 7:00. The restaurant's brunch service runs daily from 7:00 until 14:00, while dinner begins at 17:00 and continues until 21:00 from Sunday to Thursday, or 21:30 on Friday and Saturday.

For the first coffee of the day, The Brim Coffee Shop occupies an over-water position and serves fresh coffee, seasonal drinks and easy grab-and-go options. That is useful when the day's plan starts before anyone is ready for a formal breakfast. The coffee shop is joined by Six Seven Lounge, a lobby bar with cocktails and views across Elliott Bay towards the Olympic Mountains.

A seasonal Lobby Bar adds another cocktail option when it is operating. In other words, there is a proper restaurant, a coffee stop and more than one place for a drink, with the waterfront doing a fair amount of the decorative work. Room service is also available.

The fitness centre is open around the clock, which is handy if your body clock has not quite caught up with Seattle. The equipment includes Peloton bikes, cardio machines, free weights and weight machines, with complimentary towels. It is a sensible option for keeping mobile between outings, though nobody will confuse it with a reason to skip dinner.

Bikes are available through the hotel, and cycling gives you a practical way to cover more of the waterfront and the city without turning every outing into a taxi decision. There is also a terrace and a sun terrace for the simpler plan: sit down, look out towards the water and allow the day to become someone else's problem for a while.

The concierge and excursion assistance can help shape time away from the hotel, while the waterfront location makes a walk around the harbour an easy part of the stay. Families are welcome, and the hotel also accepts small pets in selected rooms.

Reception operates 24 hours a day. Check-in runs from 16:00 to midnight, with check-out by 11:00. Express arrival and departure are available, and early check-in or late check-out can be arranged when available. The hotel also has lifts, accessible facilities and an accessible restaurant.

Wi-Fi is free throughout the hotel. You will also find luggage storage, a safe, concierge services, laundry and dry-cleaning services, an ATM, an on-site shop and a business centre with meeting and conference facilities. Parking is available on the premises, and airport transfers can be arranged through the hotel.

The hotel welcomes pets under 5 kg in selected rooms, subject to the applicable conditions. Extra beds can be arranged depending on the room category, and family rooms as well as connecting or adjacent rooms provide useful options when you are travelling with others. For arrivals by car or with bulky luggage, the waterfront address is easy to identify; for everything else, the 24-hour reception removes the need to plan your return to the minute.