Canada: Whistler
Whistler is a town north of Vancouver, British Columbia, that’s home to Whistler Blackcomb, one of the largest ski resorts in North America. Besides skiing and snowboarding, the area offers snowshoeing, tobogganing and ski jumping at the Olympic Park, a venue for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. The hub of Whistler is a compact, chalet-style pedestrian village at the base of Whistler and Blackcomb mountains
A world-class resort usually comes with world-class price tags. Although budget travelers can find packaged deals, lift discounts and hostels in Whistler, it’s still one of the more expensive ski resorts in Canada. But since it’s one of the best, many would say it’s worth the price.
Our journey from Vancouver to Whistler started early afternoon with a small Honda Civic car rental. We have been told that roads were good and no snow was expected around that time. Luckily, that little car was equipped with winter tires, as snow fall started right after we left the coastal area and begun to clime uphill towards our destination.
After a quite challange driving on the fresh snow and with the help of the snow plow truck, we reached our destination - Four Seasons Resort Whistler.
Whistler and Blackcomb used to be two separate ski areas and were friendly rivals until they merged in 1997. Once this historic merger happened, the Whistler Blackcomb ski resort became one of the world’s largest, with more than 8,000 acres (3,237ha) of skiable terrain. The Peak 2 Peak Gondola that operates between the two mountains is also record-breaking,as the world’s longest continuous lift system.
For the 2010 Winter Games, Whistler hosted Olympic and Paralympic Alpine skiing, cross-country skiing and biathlon, as well as Olympic Nordic combined, ski jumping, bobsleigh, luge and skeleton. The Olympic Village is considered one of Whistler’s legacy projects, in that it is being used after the Olympics to help house and train Canadian athletes.
Winter Games have come and gone but the spirit and energy live on in Whistler. Exciting legacies like Whistler Olympic Park and Sliding Centre, as well as monuments like the Olympic Rings or Inukshuk are scattered through Whistler for tours, photos and a chance to experience the passion.
Whistler Village is the beating heart of a social community where locals bring their up-for-anything attitude to every shop, restaurant and gathering place.
Here can be found everything, from the cultural to the culinary, the educational to the entertaining, our boutique shops, museums, restaurants, galleries, events and festivals deliver countless options for all in all seasons.
However, it's not possible to describe everything, so here are some dinning details
Four Seasons Resort Whistler is within a 5-minute walk of Whistler Blackcomb Ski Resort and within a 5-minute drive of Blackcomb Excalibur Gondola. This 5-star resort is 1.4 mi (2.3 km) from Whistler Village Gondola and 1.6 mi (2.6 km) from Whistler Sliding Centre.
Additionally, the properly pool was a real highlight. Imagine swimming in the pool with hot water while outside temperature is far bellow zero Celsius! Here are a few images to prove our experience.
And that would be all from Whistler and Canada. See you on our next trip!
