The best family hotels in Seattle
Written November 2026
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Seattle is full of things to ride and climb: a Ferris wheel that hangs nearly 40 feet out over Elliott Bay, a 25-foot jellyfish with a long tube slide on the waterfront, and the Space Needle, where the glass floor turns while you stand on it. A couple of the hotels here have suites that sleep six, and a few have pools that are actually fun for kids.
Downtown and the waterfront
Downtown Seattle runs downhill from Pike Place Market to the waterfront, which has been rebuilt as a park along Elliott Bay, with the aquarium and the ferry terminal on it. The market, the aquarium and the ferries are all walkable from a hotel here.
Fairmont Olympic Seattle
Downtown
The Fairmont has been a downtown landmark since 1924, and it still thinks about kids, with kid-size robes and no-tear shampoo. The pool sits in a sunny solarium under a skylight, with little waterfalls around the edge to duck under.
Over the holidays the Teddy Bear Suite on the second floor fills up with bears, and anyone can walk through it for free (donations go to Seattle Children's). Pike Place Market and the waterfront are both an easy walk.
- Book
- Deluxe Room 2 Double
Seattle Marriott Waterfront
Waterfront
Every room at the Marriott looks out at the harbor or the Olympic Mountains, and the hotel sits right on the water across from the Pier 66 cruise terminal. The pool is half indoors and half out, and the one-bedroom suites put a sofa bed in the living room.
The Overlook Walk, with a play area partway up to the market, starts about 1,000 feet away, and the aquarium's Ocean Pavilion is about a quarter mile. From there, the waterfront's protected lanes (good for scooters) run north to Olympic Sculpture Park.
- Connecting rooms
- Yes
- Suites
- Yes
- Fridge
- Yes
- Kitchenette
- No
- Pool
- Yes, indoor, heated
- Free breakfast
- No
- Kids' club
- No
Lower Queen Anne and Seattle Center
Lower Queen Anne is the neighborhood around Seattle Center, the park at the Space Needle, a monorail ride from downtown. Seattle Center has MoPOP and Chihuly Garden and Glass, with Kraken games at Climate Pledge Arena, and up the hill Kerry Park has postcard views of the city. With younger kids it's an easy place to stay, a few blocks from all of it.
The Maxwell Hotel
Lower Queen Anne
The Maxwell is a Staypineapple hotel, so there are pineapples everywhere, pineapple treats in the afternoon and a Dash the husky plush on every bed. The pool is small and only four feet deep, with kids' art on the tiles, and the hotel lends out pineapple beach cruisers.
Three of its suites sleep six. The Artists at Play playground and its 30-foot climbing tower are about 1,400 feet away, with the Children's Museum and the Pacific Science Center just past it.
- Book
- Maestro Two Queen Suite
- Beds
- Two queens and a sleeper sofa, up to six
South Lake Union
South Lake Union sits at the bottom of Lake Union, where Amazon and Google have their offices. Lake Union Park is on the water's edge, and you can rent a boat and paddle out on the lake.
Residence Inn Seattle Downtown/Lake Union
South Lake Union
Two-bedroom suites here fit a family of five or six with a door to close between you. There's a game room, and an indoor pool and hot tub.
The Center for Wooden Boats, where kids can borrow a rowboat with a volunteer's help, is about 650 feet away, and MOHAI and its Kid-Struction Zone are about 1,000 feet. PlayDate SEA, a three-story indoor playground, is about 900 feet.
- Suites
- Yes
- Fridge
- Yes
- Kitchenette
- Yes
- Pool
- Yes, indoor
- Free breakfast
- Yes
- Laundry
- Yes
- Kids' club
- No
Pioneer Square and the stadiums
Pioneer Square is Seattle's oldest neighborhood, full of art galleries, and the Underground Tour takes you down to the old street level that was buried after the Great Fire of 1889. Smith Tower has an open-air deck on the 35th floor, and with the stadiums just south it's a fun base for a ballgame.
Silver Cloud Hotel – Seattle Stadium
Stadium district
Across from T-Mobile Park and next door to Lumen Field, the Silver Cloud has a rooftop pool with views of the stadiums (on a game night you can hear the crowd). The pool is open-air and heated to 82 degrees.
The suites have a bedroom of their own with a sleeper sofa out in the living room. The water taxi to West Seattle leaves from Pier 50, about two-thirds of a mile north, and Occidental Square has a play area just over half a mile north.
- Suites
- Yes
- Fridge
- Yes
- Kitchenette
- No
- Pool
- Yes, heated
- Free breakfast
- No
- Laundry
- Yes
- Kids' club
- No
More in Seattle
The best playgrounds in Seattle
Stroller-friendly playgrounds in SeattlePhoto credits
Fairmont Olympic Seattle: Seattle Municipal Archives (Public domain) · Seattle Marriott Waterfront: Joe Mabel (CC BY-SA 4.0) · The Maxwell Hotel: Joe Mabel (GFDL)