The Chrysalis Inn

Lovely. Fabulous. Yum. Wow.
The Chrysalis is it. Their spa easily gives Seattle and Portland a run for their money, and so do their rooms. I am happy to say I have stayed at the Chrysalis many times, and it just gets better. Just last week, I had the pleasure of staying overnight to meet with two different clients… and yes, don’t tell my husband, but I might just have «accidently» scheduled the meetings to make sure I had an excuse to stay overnight ALL BY MYSELF IN A FABULOUS INN!!! Oh my gosh! What a treat!
Guest Services: Terrific!
Room service: Fabulous!
Size of room & layout: Perfect!
The Bathroom: OH MY GOD! No, really. You will be pricing tile and calling a contractor after staying here, seriously. No, if you are thinking of remodeling your bathroom, stay here first.
The View: Beyond belief!
Yes, there are trains, and they are much less annoying than virtually any noise you will ever endure at any other city hotel. I have stayed at the other hotels in Bellingham and I always come back to the Chrysalis. Parking is secure, I am treated as if I am their most important guest, I have an incredible view, and I leave feeling renewed. How cool is that?
FYI: Want your mom to come visit you at WWU? Get dad to spring for a room for her at the Chrysalis and you will be able to talk her into just about anything, ha-​ha-​ha! Unapproved piercings and tattoos not included!

Awesome cuisine and beautiful views of Bellingham Bay. We were there during lunch and had the Crab sandwich, seafood chowder, and seared tuna. Nice place to celebrate Mother’s Day.

A few times a year, I treat myself (or my husband treats me!) to a wonderful experience at the Chrysalis Spa. My favorite treatments are the massages, scrubs, and manicure/​pedicures. Upon each visit, I am treated with kindness and interest towards my health and well-​being. Although the changing and waiting rooms are quite small, this does not deter from the over-​all experiences. Be sure to get the Northwest Spa cards to accumulate points towards free services.

We stayed here for our anniversary, good combination with the spa and a good restaurant under the same roof.
We stayed on the third floor, at the south end of the building. Great view of the bay from the room, the bay seat was great.
Nicely appointed room with a fireplace and a great bathtub set up. Comfortable bed with plenty of pillows if you need a few more in the bay seat/​window.
OK, now for the trains… We knew about the issue from reading reviews and were prepared, also we can hear trains from the house, so it isn’t totally foreign to us.
Will they wake you up, maybe (probably) but they weren’t totally obnoxious for us. Actually my wife slept through most of them and a lot depends on where and how exuberant the engineer is with the horn.
Check in and check out was easy, free underground parking for guests.
We enjoyed our stay and will likely return, trains or no trains.

We stayed in a corner suite room on the first floor. The only reason I’m not giving 5 stars is due to the train noise. It’s no joke. The room was wonderful and the bed was comfy but that was the worst nights sleep I’ve ever had! The room was beautiful as are the views. Our giant tub was to die for and I loved the spacious bathroom. A silly perk was this was the most affordable mini bar that I have ever seen! I can’t speak for the restaurant or spa but the hotel was lovely. They provided ear plugs but they were not much help. Just bring a sound machine!

I stayed in the hotel to celebrate my 30^th birthday with my husband and son. The trains kept me obnoxiously tossing & turning most of the night, the bed wasn’t very comfortable, and they wanted to charge for face wipes (really?!).
It does have a gorgeous view, decent bathroom layout, and was genuinely clean, but not impressive overall…

Stayed in the corner suite for 2 nights. Loved everything about it! Fantastic room and view. Very clean. Great food and room service. I’m looking forward to coming back!

This review is for the Spa!
I’d first off would like to say thank you to the staff that helped me have a wonderful day and they helped make it the best day a girl could ask for!
The spa is the best relaxing everyone that works in it is very professional and The atmosphere is very Zen. The showers have a steam room in them and if you are early to your apt you are more than welcome to relax in there awesome robe and steam your self.!!
The waiting room has no tv which I love !! There are big windows where you see a nice view and Beautiful music. While you wait for your appointment you can drink hot tea water with lemon and they have little treats to eat.
I got a full body massage and it has changed me ! I’ve been so relaxed my body isn’t hurting! I’m just amazing with this place !!!

Beautiful piece of property; without a doubt. Horrible customer service. I feel cheated. Seriously. The check in counter is checked out. Just blah. Parking garage has chairs, tables, and other stuff taking up spots. The hallway was lined with breakfast trays at 3 pm and remained until 6 pm when we mentioned it. The entry to the room was dirty. No card (booked for 40^th) left despite the promise at booking. Room service switched our order. The toiletries weren’t stocked. Apathetic and nonchalant staff. What an absolute crock. I’m pissed.

Love the spa and hotel rooms! Amazing!
Plus the restaurant is really nice and has great food and views too.

First off, I really wanted to LOVE this hotel and my stay, but frankly, I wouldn’t come back to stay for the night. You can’t beat the amazing views, the walking distance to Fairhaven, and beautiful rooms. I’ve been to the restaurants before and was satisfied and would return. However, this was my first stay, and the very active train tracks next to the hotel and lack of soundproofing was a serious problem that prevented any kind of restful sleep, and I’m not even a light sleeper. The King bed was way too firm for any side-​sleeping, and the air conditioner is pretty noisy turning off and on all night.
The staff was great with accommodating us last-​minute – my friends and I had a reservation snafu with another higher-​end Bellingham hotel and they scrambled to find us a like-​quality hotel. The Chrysalis Inn had 1 room open up and squeezed the four of us into a 3^rd floor corner King Room. It was cramped, but we had no other alternative in town and they made sure we were as comfortable with the rollaway bed and makeshift bed in the window seat as we could be. I’d give 5 stars for service.
One thing that was disappointing was seeing the additional charges for the bath salts/​bubble bath/etc…they entice you with fluffy robes and huge soaking tubs, but then nickel and dime the customer who just spent $ 200-​$ 300 for the room and probably spent more in the restaurant, bar, or spa. It’s just a little tacky and it made me miss the European hotels of like quality and price who focus on making sure their guests are relaxing and enjoying their room versus making a few extra dollars off them.

Went here over memorial day weekend with my family. It was amazing! The food was incredible and the service was great. I had the oysters and then the beet salad, for dessert we split the bread pudding, SO delicious. The view is also amazing, we are definitely coming back here again!

This hotel is so appealing my husband and I have stayed here twice, and we live in town! Great views, walkable location to great restaurants and shopping. I’ve visited the spa countless times. Always re-​energizing. Great massages. The bar/​restaurant is delightful. Sit out on the patio for the best view in Bellingham. All around the Chrysalis is a real treat.

Beautiful rooms, beautiful view, friendly staff.
Super loud horn honking trains all night long, mediocre food (do NOT order the bfast sausage), and thin insulation in walls.
Overall ok but won’t stay here again.

TL;DR version:
Ridiculously loud and active train, which comes through more often DURING the night. Poorly planned view side interior decorating /​architecture gives pier bird watchers /​photographers view into bedrooms. Very nice interiors, if your deaf, and like sharing your naughty bits with the general public.
—- Long version —–
Trains. And Exhibitionism!
Is it the crossover sequel to 50 Shades of Grey and Trainspotter? Nope. Its the Chrysalis Inn and Spa in Bellingham!
As other reviewers have mentioned the hotel is NOT very upfront on featuring the prominent and active train route in their advertising and that’s why they get the biggest ding in their review. My wife and I both felt it was essentially false advertising to not have this clearly stated before booking a room (especially since they want to charge a cancellation fee if you don’t give them plenty of notice).
Running right outside the hotel (on the view side no less), is a busy train route for the Sounder commuter train and Burlington Northern (a much noisier freight train). I would estimate 2 to 3 freight trains pass through overnight (the most malicious aspect of this is there is more trains at night than in the daytime hours).
The train tracks are literally 20 feet from the ‘Full View’ rooms. Regardless of how beautiful the view is, there are numerous trains there to interrupt your nighttime reverie /​relaxation /​serene view of the water.
And this isn’t just a problem for light sleepers– my wife was woken up periodically throughout the night by the trains and she is a heavier sleeper. We both resorted to the ear plugs, but they still failed to muffle the trains.
As if the trains weren’t bad enough, a bit of poor planning, landscaping, and interior decorating has resulted in the first floor rooms providing a free show to anyone on the very active pier /​walkway (also featured artistically in the many photos). Because the window glass has no treatment to obscure their view into the hotel, we noticed while walking on the pier that you could see right into the first floor rooms, and well into the second floor rooms. This might seem like a small deal, except there are plenty of photographers and people with binoculars on the pier looking BACK at the hotel (ostensibly, looking for the mating habits of the North American hotel traveler I’m sure).
Any number of approaches could resolve this– a little more plant life outside the windows on the first floor. A treated glass that limits the viewing into the room. OR top down /​bottom up window shades (probably the best for all floors) that allows the room tenant to have the shades open on top (to see the view) but closed on the bottom (to obscure the ‘bird watchers’ and photographers).
The interior of the rooms are nice — they’re spacious, well appointed with furnishings that look newer /​well maintained. The bathrooms are rarely matched by other hotel chains– large (small pool sized) bathtubs with nicely sized glass shower enclosure.
All that ends up getting swamped out in the noise and lack of planning for the rooms’ privacy.
Advice to management–
Make sure the trains are prominently noted in the checkout /​booking process. Blatantly misleading to not include them.
Switch out the shades on at least the first two floors– no excuse to not have thought about the heavy foot traffic on the pier and how that impacts your guests’ privacy.
Close up room 101– your own personnel are too loud /​noisy coming and going, plus the noise from the people dining in the lobby makes it a hellacious experience.

Again The Chrysalis is a fantastic choice ! Whether we come to stay the night and get amazing massages or we just pop in for Happy Hour, the staff is always sweet and friendly, the food is always awesome and the atmosphere cozy. Inviting, sweeping views and well… Perfect. We came for the fish tacos & chicken strips & it’s priced great & rockin for bar food. The last time we stayed we had breakfast & I would highly recommend their granola, it’s made in house and it’s hands down my favorite !

A wonderful relaxing experience. I got there a little bit early to enjoy tea in the relaxation room before my treatment. The massage therapist was very good, thorough gentle and very discreet. After the treatment I enjoyed to be relaxation room again, and then the eucalyptus steam room.
This spa is really an experience as well as the treatments. There are several women constantly keeping everything clean, the towels and fresh shower sandals stocked, everything you could need.

I’ve been coming here with my wife for years. We always get a water view room so we can watch the boats in the bay and see the sunsets.
The location is prime as you are near Fairhaven and downtown Bellingham. I love that parking is free and in a secure garage. But there is only one elevator that serves all the guests so you might have to wait a couple minutes at the peak check in-​out times.
The rooms are spacious and love the window seat/​bench that you can lie down on and just watch the bay.
The giant soaker tub and slate tile shower make the bathroom feel like a spa.
One word of caution, there is a basket of bath salts and goodies that will actually cost you and is not free. Same with the basket of candies. I just stock up before I come to the hotel as I’m familiar with this.
The bed is very comfortable and large. King size I believe. There is a railroad line just below the hotel. They provide earplugs in case you are a light sleeper as it is a very active train line. I wonder, if they knew the train line was that active, why not install triple Paine windows? Just an afterthought.
The restaurant in the hotel is wonderful with great views of the bay. We had breakfast and it was very reasonably priced and well prepared.
Often times the hotel runs weekday specials which are about a third cheaper than normal rates. If your schedule is flexible, jump on those deals.

If you’re looking for a romantic beautiful place, this place is it!
We got there a bit early, they weren’t able to check us in so we went to the restaurant there and had a few glasses of wine. Very relaxing and a good way to start our weekend getaway.
We stayed in room 202. The view was a beautiful full view of the water. It’s amazing, especially during sunset (although be prepared to look at a not so beautiful barge on one side, that the coast guard uses) The room was roomy and romantic. They have a huge 2 person bathtub, I’ve seen from reviews there are ones that have jets but ours did not. Still no complaints, either way was good for us. The beds are truly amazing, and I’m usually one to complain about a bed. They also have free cable with all the premium channels and cozy bathrobes.
You’ll also read on the reviews that this place is in front of train tracks. It personally didn’t bother me, I think it added to the whole ambience. My husband is a very light sleeper, it did wake him up a few times but not enough to be annoyed by. They also provided ear plugs, if you need them.
They’re some things that may annoy you if you are noise sensitive. Such as; the fireplace is on a timer, which makes a clicking noise. The ac isn’t central air and also is kinda noisy. And also the trains. But these are just complaints if I was really trying to find something, this wouldn’t keep me from coming back here!
We also booked the whale watching cruise with them, very easy to just book with them and the price is also cheaper. The cruise, well that’s a whole different review in itself. However, Id totally recommend it!
Our last day my husband and I did a couples) massage. Good gracious, now that was amazing. We both did a hot stone 60min session. Everything was 100%, no complaints!

I’ll be honest, I thought with a cheesy name like The Chrysalis Inn, this place would be another hotel that didn’t realize they were charging entirely too much for rooms that hadn’t been updated in 20 years. You know the kind — establishments that were the bees knees in 1988 but haven’t changed one bit because they’re the only game in town. Well, imagine my surprise that despite the fact TCI really is the only game in town, it still *is* the bees knees.
I can’t speak to the spa, the bar, the restaurant or any other of their services. I can say, however, that their rooms are what hotel rooms should be. They are quiet (the occasion train doesn’t bother me), well-​appointed /​laid out and mostly importantly, comfortable. Besides the soft beds, fireplace and daybed with a view, everything is just… warm. My wife actually commented that she wouldn’t mind a master bedroom with a similar feel. Considering so many hotels rooms feel like hospital rooms these days, it was a welcome change. For once, you actually do get what you pay for.
I knocked a star off because no one greeted us when we pulled up, exited the car or dragged our bags into the lobby. I drove off to find a parking spot while my wife checked in, where she learned there was a garage and she was now holding the key for entry. For what they charge a night, I’d at least expect someone to acknowledge us and direct us the right way.