travelweasel

There are currently only two hostels in Seattle, the Green Tortoise, located downtown, (www.greentortoise.net) and Hostel Seattle, in Ballard, (www.hostelseattle.com.)For the backpacker, this means two things: 1. Book in advance, especially on weekends.2. Expect to pay more for your bed ($25-35.)  According to a cabbie, there used to be a Hosteling International but they got kicked out of their building by corporate monsters and never bothered reopening. My mom and I decided to stay at Hostel Seattle in Ballard because it was cheaper than the Green Tortoise, and because I had had mixed experiences at the Green Tortoise in San Francisco.Ballard is a nice waterfront town filled with little shops and intersected by a bike/walking path that leads through Fremont and into the city. Not that you would want to walk into the city. It takes about 45 minutes to get to downtown from the hostel (a ten minute walk to the 17 Bus, a fifteen minute wait for the bus, then a twenty minute ride in.) So if you want to be in the city, go to the Green Tortoise.The hostel itself is clean, well-run and cozy. There’s a small, well-kept kitchen with a broken stove and small-fridge. My only complaint here is that there are no cupboards for guests to keep their food. We’re staying in the hostel’s only private room, which costs $60 a night. Two dorm beds would have run us $50, and there are about a dozen dorm beds in each of three large rooms.The manager is friendly, and if you ask him (or even if you don’t), he’ll give you a map and circle all the big tourist attractions. Personally, I’m not too interested in the tourist attractions, but it’s nice to know they’re there.