Embedded into a sea of conifer trees – reaching to British Columbia’s blue skies in summer and dusted with powdery snow in winter – Fairmont Chateau Whistler is the mountain town’s Schloss-shaped ode to Alpine luxury. The resort nods to the tradition of Western Canada’s railway hotels, but beneath the wood-beamed ceiling, modern sensibilities account for its enduring appeal.
First things first: we weren’t in Whistler to order room service and chill in a hotel room. No one is. With a reputation that precedes it, Whistler is easily among North America’s finest resort towns and winter sports destinations. There’s so much to discover here that most visitors will spend the majority of their stay exploring the great outdoors, and the less luxuriously inclined could almost get away with just pitching a tent somewhere to ‘bridge’ the nights. That’s if it weren’t for the bears (harmless for the most part, but would we want one sticking its furry head through the flap of our tent? Perhaps not).
Luckily, no bears – at least of the animal kind – have made it past the gates of 1989-opened Fairmont Chateau Whistler yet. While the town doesn’t have an enormous amount of five-star stays, the hotels you do find here are vast, and none more so than this one. That’s because of its 519 rooms and suites, of course, but also thanks to the spacious foyer and corridors, dripping in rustic mountain lodge glamour, with wooden benches against stone-clad walls and paintings of epic Alpine scenery strewn with local wildlife hanging above monumental fireplaces. Elaborate flower arrangements sit atop solid wood display tables, adding a touch of colour and grace amid the grandeur.
Conveniently for piste apostles, the ski-in/ski-out resort sits at the base of Blackcomb Mountain, one of the region’s two main peaks (the other being adjoining Whistler Mountain itself), and even experiences further afield, or in the town centre, are within easy reach thanks to the hotel’s complimentary shuttle service. We made plenty of use of this, and found it to be the most convenient way to travel to the resort’s dedicated golf course and adjoining Clubhouse for lunch. That said, Whistler’s lively town centre is just a ten-minute stroll away and those who walk are rewarded with views of the bluish green Blackcomb and Fitzsimmons Creeks.
Our check-in experience was efficient, yet almost exuberantly friendly – not in a learned-by-heart, corporate rulebook kind of way, but simply because the hotel’s staff appeared genuinely happy to welcome us. There was a sense of pride among the team to be working at Fairmont Chateau Whistler that we took to be an excellent sign of the kind of employer the hotel is. When employees feel happy and engaged, it usually translates to the service they provide, and how they provide it. Here, each interaction we had with the team felt warm, inclusive and authentic, a wonderful showcase of Canadian hospitality.
Guest accommodations, too, are not without charms, although our room felt a tad sterile and tame, with somewhat of a disconnect between it and the more ambitious communal areas. We liked our floor-to-ceiling windows and a French balcony offering views of the hotel’s landscape of outdoor pools below, as well as the forested mountains beyond. The room’s decor was ‘lodge light’, with a wooden headboard on our king-size bed, a pair of antlers mounted to a wall and a carpet that stopped just short of nodding to Canadian tartans thanks to its blend-in-beige colourway. A few added-value amenities like yoga mats and Fairmont-typical Le Labo toiletries added a spark, and we also appreciated having plenty of space to lounge, with a deep armchair and a comfortable couch that came heaven-sent after our daily hikes. Guests staying in the hotel’s suites or Gold-tier accommodations benefit from decidedly homelier interiors featuring fireplaces, blankets and framed artworks: it pays upgrading.
The chateau also flexes its gastronomic muscle with a range of outlets catering to varying tastes. Our favourite was the informal Mallard Lounge, with its live guitar music and singing (note, fellow travellers, musicians take requests here, although there are only so many times non-Swifties will want to listen to ‘Shake It Off’ in one night). As vegans, we’re usually a bit worried when we hear ‘bar classics’ and ‘comfort food’, as we find that many hospitality providers still put a plant-based diet into the ‘light and healthy’ categories, so we were delighted to find that Mallard Lounge’s menu featured tofu bánh mì, velvety hummus, rich tomato bisque made with coconut cream, a plant-based burger and vegan-friendly brownies and chocolate mousse – calorifically commendable.
There’s also the Clubhouse with its indulgent, plant-based aubergine parmigiana (ask to be seated on the patio), Wildflower and The Chalet, which opens for the winter season and treats guests to traditional ‘mountain fare’ transporting them to the Swiss Alps. The hotel’s fine-dining option, The Grill Room, has closed at the time of writing and we can’t say we’re mad about this, as it was the one outlet we found really lacked food options that suited diverse dietary requirements such as our own. On its four-course menu, we found just one plant-based dish – not per course, but in total. Whatever new restaurant the hotel plans to open in its place, we hope it’ll be more inclusive of all tastes.
For breakfast, you’ll have several options to choose from. Portobello, a Starbucks-style cafe strategically placed to allow guests headed for the slopes to grab a bite to go, is fun and social, with all the coffee options a teenaged TikToker could dream of and plenty of sweet, carb-heavy treats. If you’re looking for something more elevated and relaxed, the hotel’s eighth-floor Gold breakfast, available to those staying in Gold-tier accommodations, seduces with piano music and ambiance. The juices here seemed fresher and the pastries more artisanal, although we would’ve loved to see a vegan-friendly croissant or sausage, some coconut yoghurt, etc. It wasn’t bad, but there’s room for improvement to fall in line with the Good Food policy by Accor, Fairmont’s hospitality group mothership.
Guests in search of relaxation after their daily adventures can look forward to Ayurveda-inspired treatments at the Vida Spa, while complimentary, daily yoga classes are an ideal way to stretch in the mornings before the mountain calls. Fairmont Chateau Whistler is also home to a large wellness area comprising of an 18 m (60 ft) heated, outdoor lap pool as well as heated indoor and outdoor leisure pools, between which jetted hot tubs lure with their gentle hum. Although expansive, the facilities are a bit of a blind spot.
We didn’t mind them being on the more dated side of things – wellness isn’t a top priority here – but we just didn’t understand why live music from the upstairs Mallard Lounge was broadcast to the area (no really, ‘Shake It Off’ even followed us into the sauna, the one place we thought we could escape to), and we would’ve expected the staff to pick up the countless towels lying around, or actually enforce the ‘no shoes’ rule fellow guests simply ignored: who wants to walk barefoot across a wet floor someone else has just walked across in their smelly trainers? Yikes.
Of course, it’s not all bad. Poolside cabanas and the Cabana Bar are popular in summer, and fire pits as well as a duo of barrel saunas showcase the chateau’s more experiential side. So does a number of activities on offer, like a mid-morning trip to the Brandywine Falls Provincial Park, during which our guide provided plenty of insight into the local flora and fauna. While some elements of Fairmont Chateau Whistler feel a little corporate, for the most part, the hotel somehow manages to have the warmth and atmosphere of a much smaller address. This is a property that’s unpretentious but not without wit, and in the tradition of British Columbia’s railway resorts without being stuck in the past. As far as Whistler’s hospitality scene goes, it’s a safe bet.
Photography by Tal Vardi, Jillian Jackson, Brandon Barré, Mitch Winton and courtesy of Fairmont Hotels and Resorts
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While you’re OutThere
Where do we start? There’s plenty to feed both mind and body in Whistler, and some of it will perhaps surprise first-timers. BReD, a fully vegan, artisanal bakery by Ed Tatton that’s become a real sensation, with over 130,000 Instagram followers at the time of writing, was our personal highlight (trust us, the hype is justified). For culture vultures, we cannot recommend the Audain Art Museum enough: architecturally outstanding, the 2016-opened, private museum houses a permanent collection of both historical and contemporary art from across British Columbia, offering a brilliant introduction to the province’s cultural and artistic makeup. Finally, the Tourism Whistler website is a must if you’re looking for the latest things to do on and off the town’s epic mountains.
