FS Whistler - wonderfully underrated
Most of our travel revolves around food and spa. We like to hike and walk a lot and get a lot of massages, eat great food and I felt like Whistler was so perfect for that.
The property & location
The resort sits towards the upper village, but very walkable to the lower village. This was one of my favorite features of the location. If you like getting your steps in, you can wander the whole village on foot and walk back to the property without ever thinking about a car. Great base for exploring, and an easy stroll to most of the restaurants we went to. Only used a car to get to Rim Rock.
Upon check in, we were upgraded to a suite (we had a mountain view room I believe), and the extra space was really wonderful for the five night stay we had. The balcony had a great view and we enjoyed our morning coffees there. You could also watch the live music and see how crowded the pool is from this vantage point!
The spa (my only reason I go anywhere)
We enjoyed the following treatments, spread across four days.
- Golden Dreams oil massage
- Glacial Melt massage
- Salish Stone massage
- HydraFacials
If you have sensitive skin, definitely make sure your aesthetician hears this! Mine went a little crazy with a peel but it wasn't really an issue, just lots of SPF and tried to avoid direct sunlight as much as possible. Our massages were very good, lots of therapists from Australia and London, so it was fun to talk to them about life in Whistler. Spa facilities were clean and the eucalyptus steam room was always empty so I definitely enjoyed that a few times. Lots of yummy teas and snacks here as well and I loved that ursa major themed relaxation area!
Dining
Honestly, the food was the highlight of the entire trip, on-property and off.
Sidecut (hotel restaurant). The A5 wagyu was my husband's favorite, the basque cheesecake was delicious, and the potato bread was fantastic. If you want to do the special tasting menu, they do require 72 hours notice. We didn't get to do that but the regular offerings were very good.
On our first day, the manager stopped by our lunch table at Braidwood Tavern, introduced himself, and warmly welcomed us to the property on behalf of Apollo (amazing person to work with on Sarah's team) and himself - they took care of our coffee and desserts, which was so nice!
Rim Rock Cafe — best meal of the trip. The green goddess salad was something I still think about today and the potato-crusted halibut was perfect. If you do one off-property dinner, make it this one, but you really can't go wrong with any of these. The vibes are also so nice and they have plenty of zero-proof options. We had the Road to Hana drink which was delicious and a funny memory to think about while in this small restaurant in BC!
Araxi. The crab and salmon cake, snap pea salad, and cherry cheesecake were all excellent. Service was very good; there were a couple of small hiccups during our meal, but the team handled them graciously and were genuinely lovely about it.
Wild Blue — best zero-proof options we've had anywhere. They coursed our dinner and paired a mocktail to each round, and every one was fresh and delicious. Still thinking about the gimlet and the yuzu spritz. We couldn't choose between desserts so we got three, and the chocolate fondant was the perfect ending to our five-night stay.
The staff were also always asking us where we chose to dine for dinner each night and said each one of these were the best places to eat in Whistler! I still have a long list of places I'd love to check out - next time!
We did several trails, the Blackcomb Gondola, walked around the lakes and wooded areas.
Service was as always, usual FS standard. The airport transfers were decent, but the roads are twisty and a slight problem if your driver is as enthusiastic about those turns as mine was.
And lastly, we'd recently lost our dog, and when we got to the room there was a handwritten note along with a framed photo of him placed by my bedside. I fully cried lol. Thank you Sarah and Apollo for another phenomenal trip, the details are always flawless with them.
PS - isn't the bear sculpture amazing? We spoke briefly to the sculptor who said it's one of the last ones made out Honeycomb Calcite and weighs 500 pounds!