Though it’s a chain hotel, family-friendly Hilton Whistler Resort & Spa (4050 Whistler Way, 604/932-1982 or 800/515-4050, www.hiltonwhistler.com; $141-450 d, parking $32-36) feels surprisingly local, with aboriginal art in the lobby and a great location just a five-minute walk from the lifts. The 287 guest rooms, in two towers, are among the largest in Whistler Village, ranging from standard units and studios (with kitchenettes) up to three-bedroom suites. The outdoor pool is open year-round, as are the two hot tubs; in summer, you can play tennis on-site. Rates include Wi-Fi and local phone calls.
OVER $250
With a solicitous staff and all sorts of amenities, S Four Seasons Whistler Hotel (4591 Blackcomb Way, 604/935-3400, www.fourseasons.com; $399-539 d, $675-1,399 suite, parking $39) is among Whistler’s top resort hotels. Decorated in ski-lodge earth tones, the 273 rooms and suites have gas fireplaces, big closets, minifridges, and flat-screen TVs; ask for an upper-floor unit for slope-side views. If you haven’t gotten enough exercise on the mountain, you can work out in the 24-hour fitness room or swim in the heated outdoor pool. The three hot tubs and eucalyptus steam room are popular après-ski, as is the library-style Sidecut Bar. Located in Whistler’s Upper Village, the Four Seasons isn’t a ski-in, ski-out property, but the hotel offers a free ski concierge, so you can leave your gear slope-side. A complimentary car service can take you around town.
Four Seasons Whistler Hotel
Like a grand mountain lodge, the S Fairmont Chateau Whistler (4599 Chateau Blvd., off Blackcomb Way, 604/938-8000 or 800/606-8244, www.fairmont.com; $299-619 d, parking $35-39) keeps you comfortable, whether you’re in your room, exploring the property, or out in the village. The 550 rooms and suites, some with views of the slopes, have down duvets, fluffy bathrobes, flat-screen TVs, and Keurig coffeemakers. The Fairmont charges a daily resort fee ($12 per room), which covers most of the things you’d want to do, including Internet access, use of the indoor and outdoor pools and the well-equipped health club, yoga classes, tennis, a shuttle to take you to various village destinations, and valet service for your skis, bikes, or golf clubs. The Mallard Lounge is popular for après-ski cocktails, and the hotel has several other dining outlets, including The Grill Room (6pm-9pm daily; $33-59) for steak and seafood and the more casual Wildflower Restaurant (7am-10:30am and 6pm-9pm Mon.-Fri., 7am-11am and 6pm-9pm Sat.-Sun.; $22-49).
You can’t stay much closer to the lifts than at the 121-unit all-suite Pan Pacific Whistler Mountainside (4320 Sundial Crescent, 604/905-2999 or 888/905-9995, www.panpacific.com; $279-689 d, parking $28-32), steps from Blackcomb’s Excalibur gondola. Decorated with cherry-hued Craftsman-style furnishings, the studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom units all have full kitchens, gas fireplaces, flat-screen TVs, and DVD players. The studios nominally sleep four, with a queen-size Murphy bed and a sleep sofa, but the larger suites are more comfortable for families. Other amenities include a heated outdoor saltwater pool, two hot tubs, complimentary Wi-Fi, and free local phone calls. The Dubh Linn Gate Irish Pub (604/905-4047, www.dubhlinngate.com; 8am-1am daily; $14-25) is popular for drinks and pub fare, with more than 25 beers on tap and live music most nights.
Slightly farther from the gondolas than its sister property, the Pan Pacific Whistler Village Centre (4299 Blackcomb Way, 604/966-5500 or 888/966-5575, www.panpacific.com; $169-539 d, parking $28-32) has a more modern boutique feel, but similar amenities: suites ranging from studios to three bedrooms with full kitchens, a saltwater lap pool, two hot tubs, a sauna, and a fitness facility. Rates include breakfast, Wi-Fi, local calls, and a complimentary shuttle to get around the village. You can store your ski or snowboard gear at the Pan Pacific Mountainside.
Set on a lake in the Creekside area, S Nita Lake Lodge (2131 Lake Placid Rd., 604/966-5700, www.nitalakelodge.com; $289-559 d, suites $409-849, parking $20-30) is a beautiful setting for a stay in any season. The 77 spacious contemporary suites—studio, one-, and two-bedroom units on four floors—have fireplaces, compact kitchenettes hidden in an armoire, and modern baths with rain showers and soaker tubs; the best units have lake views. You can choose all kinds of activities, from lounging in the rooftop hot tubs to kayaking, canoeing, or stand-up paddleboarding on the lake, or riding up the Valley Trail on the complimentary bicycles. There’s a full-service spa, as well as three restaurants, including the more formal Aura Restaurant (7am-11:30am and 5:30pm-9pm Mon.-Sat., 7am-2pm and 5:30pm-9pm Sun., off-season hours vary; $20-30) overlooking the lake, Cure Lounge (11:30am-11pm Mon.-Sat., 10am-11pm Sun.; $13-25), and casual Fix Café (6:30am-3:30pm daily; $5-13), which serves pastries, coffee, and sandwiches, giving you plenty of dining options. The hotel offers a free shuttle to the village or the Creekside gondola.
kayaks on the dock, Nita Lake Lodge
CAMPING AND CABINS
The Riverside Resort (8018 Mons Rd., 604/905-5533, www.parkbridge.com) has several lodging options, including campsites for tents and RVs, yurts, and sturdy log cabins. It’s located two miles (3.5 kilometers) north of the village.
The 14 family-friendly cabins ($210-250), with solid wood furnishings, have a living room, small kitchen, bedroom with a queen bed, and bath on the main level, plus a sleeping loft with two twin beds. They’re equipped with electricity and even a flat-screen TV. The yurts ($105-145) are more rustic, but they still have electricity and heat. Sleeping up to five, most have a bunk bed with a single over a double bed, and either a futon couch or a separate single with a trundle bed. Washrooms with showers are a short walk away. RV campsites ($52-65) include both fully and partially serviced sites. There’s a quiet wooded walk-in tent campground ($23-40) with sites along the river.
The campground’s main building has a small market and café; bicycle rentals are available. Other amenities include a guest laundry, a kids’ playground, a volleyball court, and a putting course. The Valley Trail crosses the campground property, so you can follow it into town.
CONDO RENTALS
You can book many condo accommodations through the Tourism Whistler (www.whistler.com) and Whistler-Blackcomb (www.whistlerblackcomb.com) websites and through many of the standard online booking services for hotels. You can also find condos through Airbnb (www.airbnb.com).
Check locally based rental agencies, including alluraDirect (604/707-6700 or 866/425-5872, www.alluradirect.com), which sometimes offer deals that the larger booking services don’t have.
INFORMATION AND SERVICES
VISITOR INFORMATION
Tourism Whistler (www.whistler.com) should be your starting point for information about the Whistler region. The website has lots of details about the area, both on and off the mountain, and they run the year-round Whistler Visitor Centre (4230 Gateway Dr., 604/935-3357 or 877/991-9988, www.whistler.com/whistler-visitor-centre) in the village, which supplies maps, answers questions, and books accommodations and activities. Hours vary seasonally, but the visitors center is open at least 8am-6pm daily; it stays open until 8pm or 10pm on busy weekends and holiday periods.
Whistler-Blackcomb (604/967-8950 or 800/766-0449, www.whistlerblackcomb.com) books lift tickets, equipment rentals, ski and snowboard lessons, and accommodations (reservations 604/296-5316 or 888/403-4727) and can provide information about other mountain activities in every season. Check the website for toll-free reservations numbers from many different countries.
MEDICAL SERVICES
The Whistler Health Care Centre (4380 Lorimer Rd., 604/932-4911, www.vch.ca; 8am-10pm daily) provides emergency medical services to both locals and visitors. Doctors are on-call after hours.
The Whistler area has several medical clinics that will see visitors for minor issues, including the Whistler Medical Clinic (4380 Lorimer Rd., 604/932-3977, www.whistlermedicalclinic.com) and Town Plaza Medical Clinic (40-4314 Main St., 604/905-7089, www.medicalclinicwhistler.com).
Rexall (103-4360 Lorimer Rd., 604/932-2303; 4212 Village Square, 604/932-4251, www.rexall.ca; 9am-7pm daily) has two Whistler pharmacies. Shoppers Drug Mart (121-4295 Blackcomb Way, 604/90
5-5666, www.shoppersdrugmart.ca; 9am-9pm daily) also provides pharmacy services.
GETTING THERE
CAR
Allow about two hours to make the 75-mile (120-kilometer) drive between Vancouver and Whistler along the spectacular Sea-to-Sky Highway.
From downtown Vancouver, take West Georgia Street to the Lions Gate Bridge. Watch the signs carefully as you approach Stanley Park en route to the bridge to stay in the proper lane. The center lane on the three-lane bridge reverses its travel direction at different times of day, typically creating two travel lanes into the city in the morning and two travel lanes toward the North Shore during the afternoon rush hour.
After you cross the Lions Gate Bridge, bear left toward Marine Drive west/Highway 1/Highway 99. Enter Marine Drive and stay in the far right lane to take the first right onto Taylor Way (the sign says “Whistler”). Follow Taylor Way up the hill, and exit left onto Highway 1 west. Continue on Highway 1 until it merges with Highway 99 (the Sea-to-Sky Hwy.). Stay on Highway 99 through Squamish and into Whistler.
AIR
A dramatic way to travel between Vancouver and Whistler, if your budget allows, is by floatplane, which takes you above Howe Sound, the Gulf Islands, and the surrounding peaks.
Harbour Air (604/274-1277 or 800/665-0212, www.harbourair.com; 45 minutes; one-way adults $200) flies twice daily in each direction between the Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre (1055 Canada Pl., behind the Vancouver Convention Centre, 604/274-1277) and Green Lake (8069 Nicklaus North Blvd.), two miles (3 kilometers) north of Whistler Village. There’s a free shuttle between the Green Lake terminal and the village. The shuttles operate in conjunction with the flight schedules.
BUS
To visit Whistler without a car, Greyhound (800/661-8747, www.greyhound.ca; about 2.5 hours; one-way adults $17-38) operates several buses a day between Vancouver and Whistler and is the least expensive option. In Vancouver, the bus depot is at Pacific Central Station (1150 Station St.). In Whistler, the bus stops in Creekside (2029 London Ln.) and Whistler Village (4230 Gateway Dr.).
Pacific Coach Lines (604/662-7575 or 800/661-1725, www.pacificcoach.com; one-way adults $55, ages 5-11 $27.50) runs buses several times daily between downtown Vancouver and Whistler Village. The trip takes 2.5 hours. The downtown stops are on Burrard Street at Alberni Street outside the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, and at Melville Street adjacent to the Hyatt Vancouver. You can also take their YVR Whistler SkyLynx bus (one-way adults $74, ages 5-11 $37) directly between Vancouver International Airport and Whistler, which takes three hours.
GETTING AROUND
CAR
Whistler Village is a pedestrian zone, so you have to leave your car outside the village proper. Whistler has several public parking lots where you can park all day.
Day lots 1 to 5, on Blackcomb Way near Lorimer Road, are closest to Whistler Village. Lots 4 and 5 are always free. Lots 1, 2, and 3, which are closer to the lifts, are paid lots ($2 per hour, $8 per day) until 5pm; they’re free from 5pm to 3am. Closer to the Blackcomb base area, off Glacier Lane, day lots 6, 7, and 8 are also free. From November through March, you can’t park overnight in any of the day lots; between April and October, you can park for up to 72 hours.
In the Creekside area, you can park free in the Creekside base underground garage. Follow London Lane off Highway 99.
Public paid parking is available at Whistler Conference Centre (4010 Whistler Way; per hour/day $1/$10, 24-hour maximum) and Whistler Public Library (4329 Main St.; per hour/day $1/$10, 24-hour maximum).
BUS
B.C. Transit (604/932-4020, http://bctransit.com/whistler; $2.50 pp) runs several bus routes through the Whistler area that are useful if you’re staying outside of the central Whistler Village. The Whistler Creek route travels between the village and Creekside, and the Valley Connector links many of Whistler’s residential neighborhoods with the Whistler Gondola Exchange, where you can board the mountain gondola.
Two bus routes are free during the winter season, including the Upper Village/Benchlands route that can take you to the village from condos in those neighborhoods, and the Marketplace Shuttle between the Whistler Gondola Exchange and the Marketplace shopping center.
The Valley Connector route operates 5:15am-3:30am daily. The other routes vary seasonally; call or check the website for hours.
TAXI
Whistler has two local taxi companies: Whistler Resort Cabs (604/938-1515, www.resortcabs.com) and Whistler Taxi (604/932-3333, www.whistlertaxi.com). Both operate 24 hours daily. Taxi fares average $5 within Whistler Village, $10 between the village and Creekside, and $15 between the village and other Whistler neighborhoods.
BACKGROUND
The Landscape
History
Government and Economy
Local Culture
The Landscape
GEOGRAPHY
Canada is the world’s second largest country, covering an immense area of 3,855,230 square miles (nearly 10 million square kilometers). Canadian land stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific to the Arctic, and shares its long southern boundary, along the 49th parallel, with the United States.
Bordering the Pacific Ocean, British Columbia is the country’s westernmost province and its third largest geographically, after Ontario and Quebec; it’s about the size of Germany, France, and the Netherlands combined. To the south are the U.S. states of Washington, Idaho, and Montana; to the north are the Yukon and Alaska. More than 60 percent of B.C.’s population is clustered in the province’s southwest corner, in and around the city of Vancouver, in the region known as the Lower Mainland.
Siwash Rock in Vancouver’s Stanley Park
Vancouver is known for its dramatic natural setting, perched between the mountains and the sea. Water surrounds the downtown peninsula, where three bridges cross False Creek, connecting the city center to the rest of the metropolitan area. Two more bridges take you over the Burrard Inlet to the city’s North Shore, where several mountains dominate the landscape, with three local ski areas and numerous parks. Continuing north, along the strikingly beautiful Sea-to-Sky Highway, you’ll reach Whistler, North America’s largest winter resort and a year-round outdoor playground; it’s a two-hour drive from downtown Vancouver.
Vancouver is a particularly green city, not only for its environmental policies, but also for its rainforest setting, with tall trees dominating the region. Douglas fir, western cedar, Sitka spruce, and hemlock all grow in B.C.’s coastal regions, and many of these giants are the tallest in Canada. Even within the city of Vancouver, you can wander through the forests in Stanley Park, on the end of the downtown peninsula, and in Pacific Spirit Regional Park, near the University of British Columbia campus.
If you travel inland from Vancouver, into the province’s vast interior, you’ll cross several mountain ranges. The Coast Mountains, which extend from Washington State to the Yukon, rise to more than 9,800 feet (3,000 meters) in their southern sections. Driving over these mountains, you leave behind the coastal rainforests and descend into a sunnier, drier region known as the Okanagan. Located along a string of scenic lakes, this agricultural valley has become B.C.’s major wine-producing area and a popular holiday destination. It’s also home to Canada’s only desert.
Continuing east through southern British Columbia, you’ll cross the Columbia Mountains in B.C.’s Kootenay region, and then nearing the provincial border with Alberta, you’ll reach the Canadian Rockies. British Columbia has four beautiful national parks—Mount Revelstoke, Glacier, Kootenay, and Yoho—in this mountain region.
Vancouver Island is west of the city of Vancouver, across the Strait of Georgia. It’s a big island, measuring 285 miles (460 kilometers) from north to south; from east to west, it’s between 30 and 75 miles (50 to 120 kilometers) across. British Columbia’s capital city of Victoria is located on the southeast tip of Vancouver Island, a 90-minute ferry ride or 35-minute flight from mainland British Columbia.
A spine of mountains, including several a
pproaching 7,000 feet (2,100 meters), runs along the center of Vancouver Island. Winding your way between these peaks will take you to the island’s western shore, with lovely sandy beaches in the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve and in the nearby communities of Tofino and Ucluelet.
Because coastal British Columbia sits near the edge of two tectonic plates, the large North American plate and the smaller Juan de Fuca plate, it’s located in an earthquake zone. Small earthquakes do occur with some regularity across the region, although few have been felt in the metropolitan areas; the last major earthquake shook the area back in 1700. However, researchers say that there’s a 25 percent chance of another significant quake occurring in the next 50 years.
CLIMATE
Unlike the rest of Canada, coastal British Columbia has a temperate climate. In fact, Victoria has the mildest climate of any Canadian city. The weather in Vancouver and Victoria is similar, although Victoria is normally a degree or two warmer and slightly drier.
In both Vancouver and Victoria, summers are sunny and mild, with daytime temperatures in July and August averaging 68-75°F (20-25°C). In January, the coldest month, expect average temperatures during the day of 41-43°F (5-6°C), dipping close to the freezing level at night. From November through March, it’s not terribly cold, but it is rainy, frequently cloudy, and gray. While it can snow in the cities, it’s relatively rare, and snow doesn’t typically stick around for more than a couple of days. When it’s raining in Vancouver, it’s often snowing in the North Shore mountains and in Whistler.
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