ScubaMom

A friend and I are going To Victoria, Vancouver, and Whistler the first two weeks in August. We are wondering how hot it can be and if we should choose hotels with Air Conditioning. Seems like the humidity runs high too and that can make warm temperatures seem hotter and stuffy.

Meesthare

I haven't spent a night in Whistler, but it is in the mountains and therefore probably gets very cool at night - maybe even chilly. Victoria and Vancouver also cool down remarkably at night. I don't know anybody who has air conditioning in either city, although some of the hotels do. If you go to bed fairly early, you may find it a bit warm before things have a chance to cool off. Very, very rarely it has been uncomfortably warm at night - doesn't happen much - if that's really important to you, you might want to choose hotels with AC especially if you're staying in the middle of the city.

GaryA

Well, meetshare - here's someone who does. And I live on the water but for about 50-70 days a year I sure am happy I have it. From about the middle of July to late August Vancouver can get very warm, (about 25-30C on average), during the day and while the evenings are cool compared to the sweltering and humid eastern evenings they still are uncomfortable without a strong source of cooling. Virtually all hotels and most restaurants in Vancouver have A/C so unless you are thinking of a B & B or an old heritage place like the Sylvia you won't even have to ask.



Whistler gets more extremes of temperature at that time of year, (hotter days and cooler nights), but all the decent hotels have A/C and again you shouldn't have to ask.

Victoria though, is a different kettle of fish. The harbour area, where most of the hotels are located, only rarely gets much above 25C and even though those temps are enough to make non cooled rooms uncomfortable there is a very strong belief in Victoria that A/C is not required. So only the hotels built in the last 20 years or so are sure to have A/C. So in Victoria you should ask.

Meesthare

That's interesting, Gary - I have a number of friends who live in Vancouver (one with a rather huge house near Marine Drive) and they don't have AC. We stayed at a b&b in Kits once, on the top floor - it was broiling hot when we went to bed around 11 PM but by 1 AM I was reaching for the extra blanket. I guess I thought that was par for the course. I stand corrected!

GaryA

I built my house 10 years ago and added A/C when I found that it only adds about 10% to the total cost of the home's ventilation system. After suffering through endless summers with two fans and open windows in our bedroom, (thereby requiring bypasses to the alarm system), I found it cheap and have never regretted it since. Especially when the few neighbours without A/C near us complain about the noisy beach parties which we don't hear because we can close our windows at night. It amazes me that less than half the condos now being built include A/C when the extra cost is so low and it's such a great selling point. I guess it is the West Coast mentality.

LordBalfor

How warm it seems there will depend very much on where you are coming from and what you are used to. For most Americans (not sure about Canadians), the area will not seem overly hot compared to what you are having at home. In general, the coastal areas of the Pacific Northwest region (Washington, Oregon, & British Columbia) rarely get that hot, and usually do not get a combination of high heat & high humidity at the same time. Our higher humidity tends to come when the prevailing winds are off the water (south or west) - and that usually brings cooler temps. High temps tend to occur when the winds come from the north or east and that's usually dryer air.

Overall, you've probably chosen the nicest time of year to come - usually dry and sunny with warm temps and fairly low humidity.

Personally, I wouldn't worry about AC - especially as Whistler.

Ken

LordBalfor

Opps, hadn't finished my message.

As I was saying:
Personally, I wouldn't worry about AC - especially as Whistler will get cool at night (though it may indeed be warm earlier on. In Victoria too, AC is not likely to be necessary as it's on the water and tends to be cooler anyway. You might even find it a bit chilly at night. In Vancouver however, it MIGHT be a bit warm at night. It's on the water too, but is a much larger city and so does tend to stay warmer at night - plus the warm air from eastern BC makes it's way down the Frasier River Canyon and can sometimes warm things up a bit. I probably wouldn't care that much even in Vancouver, but there is a chance it might be warm enough to need it. I think that most of the hotels there (at least the decent ones) will likely have AC though, so it's probably not too much of an issue in any event.

Ken

Meesthare

I think LordBalfor has a good point - it depends where you're coming from. These days Toronto in the summertime is absolutely unliveable without AC. We installed it about 10 years ago when it seemed like something of a luxury - I thought I was being a wimp, but we were having trouble sleeping in the summer months. Now it almost seems like a necessity. In BC, while I have sometimes found it warm at night, it's not suffocating the way it is at home.

PegS

I've never been to Whistler, but I live near San Francisco and find that the temp in both Victoria and Vancouver is pretty close to home's. When we were in Vancouver last August we definitely didn't need air con at all. In fact, it got pretty cool at night. Humidity, the way I think of humidity on the East Coast, isn't a factor at all.

The only reason I'd definitely specify air con is if you or your friend are type of person who gets hot really easily. Who knows; you might encounter a freak hot spell.

cleo9340

I can only speak about Vancouver because I have never been to Victoria or Whistler.

We live in Iowa which is hot(85-90 usually) and humid in the summer. Because of this we have the air conditioning on most of the summer at our house and our work places are air conditioned constantly.

Last August we traveled to Vancouver to go on an Alaska cruise. The two places we chose to stay did not have air conditioning. Although the tempurature was 75-80 degrees it was humid and we were doing a lot of walking which made us even warmer. Therefore, I would very much have appreciated air conditioning at night for cooling off and better sleeping conditions. With the windows open there is city noise which can keep a light sleeper like me awake.

With all this said I would have to say that it depends on your life at home. Do you have the air conditioning at your home and/or work during the summer? If you do then I think you will want to stay in a place that has air conditioning. If you do not live and/or work in the air conditioning during the summer then you probably will not need it in Vancouver.

WillTravel

I was surprised to learn the Empress Hotel in Victoria does not have air conditioning. That said, I don't have A/C at home in Vancouver, and I don't feel the need for it generally (although certain rooms get overheated due to their position and windows). There is a big difference from being close to the ocean to being even a few miles inland, in terms of how hot it is.

BowenLinda

For the last couple of years, I have taken my kids to Whistler for a few days every August to skateboard. The weather can be variable, but we have only experienced hot, hot days of 80 - 85 F. I'm not an AC fan, so we are usually by the pool or eating at an outdoor restaurant until the sun has set and it's cool inside our condo. But I am a Vancouverite and not used to the higher temps. and humidity levels that eastern Canadians and most Americans get in the summer. Have a great time in Whistler, by the way - I almost enjoy it more in the summer than the winter. Cheers, Linda

ScubaMom

Thanks for all y'all's input! We will be coming from very hot and humid Texas and yes, we live in A/C year around, especially summer! The object of heading to BC is to cool off! <grin>

Sounds like we better plan on A/C in Vancouver and probably won't need it in Victoria and Whistler.