Downtown is the central business district of Seattle, Washington. It is fairly compact compared with other city centers on the West Coast of the United States because of its geographical situation. It is hemmed in on the north and east by hills, on the west by Elliott Bay, and on the south by reclaimed land that was once tidal flats. It is bounded on the north by Denny Way, beyond which are Lower Queen Anne (sometimes known as "Uptown"), Seattle Center, and South Lake Union; on the east by Broadway Avenue, beyond which is Capitol Hill to the northeast and the Central District to the east; on the south by Dearborn Avenue, beyond which is Sodo; and on the west by Elliott Bay, which is part of Puget Sound (an inlet of the Pacific Ocean).
Belltown, Denny Triangle, the retail district, the West Edge, the financial district, the government district, Pioneer Square, Chinatown, Japantown, Little Saigon, and the western flank of First Hill west of Broadway consist of downtown Seattle's chief neighbourhoods. Near the center of downtown is the Metropolitan Tract, owned by the University of Washington, the location of the university's pre-1895 campus. Downtown is Seattle's finance hub, its commercial maritime hub, its centre of nightlife, and its centre of shopping. (The downtown shopping mall Westlake Center is connected to Seattle Center by way of a monorail).