Whistler "layout" help please?
 

Hi everyone, coming from a part of the country that never has snow and therefore not really a 'snow bunny,' I am trying to visualise the actual Whistler village/mountain "scene." Descriptions are very winter oriented, when looking at accommodation for summer (August) obviously I don't need "ski in ski out!" Where DO I need to be or not be? There is an absolute plethora of units/condos etc available that look quite nice but I'm confused about location. Thanks in advance.

I've never stayed in Whistler. I've only been there as a day tripper.

From what I've seen, I don't know if it's possible to go wrong in Whistler.

The town has a permanent population of about 10,000. There is a main "village" (Whistler Village). Then the rest of Whistler is divided into other villages (sort of like little suburbs) that are somewhat separate from each other.

Here is a map:

http://www.whistlermaps.com/new_maps.htm

Click on the top left hand map called "Whistler Resort." If you look at that map you'll see the villages that are separate from the Whistler Village -- Emerald on the north shore of Green Lake, Alpine Meadows to the west of Green Lake, and so on.

In an earlier post you said you were not city people. Well, I would not describe Whistler as a city. Still, if you want to be away from the main concentration of people, there might be some merit in staying in one of the satellite villages rather than in Whistler Village.

But, as I said, I don't know if you can really go wrong anywhere in Whistler.

But I guess it depends on your view of the world. It might be equally valid to say you cannot really go right anywhere in Whistler.

I personally thought Whistler looked frightfully artificial. It may be heresy to say that. Whistler has received all kinds of awards for its pedestrianized village and other features, yadda, yadda, yadda.

But it gave me the creeps. It was just so perfect. When we drove into it, I looked around and said to my husband, "Holy cow, if an architect was commissioned to design a ski resort town for the Canadian pavilion at the EPCOT Center [in Florida's DisneyWorld], this is what he would come up with."

I don't know how to describe it. The Stepford Wives in Legoland, I suppose.

You may think from this that I am discouraging you from visiting Whistler. Nothing could be further from the truth. For all the artificiality of the town of Whistler, it is located in an enchanting natural setting.

There are all kinds of activities there -- ZipTrek, mountain biking, horseback riding, whitewater rafting, kayaking, glacier viewing from a small plane, and on and on.

The mountains and forests are delightful. If you approach Whistler from West Vancouver / Horseshoe Bay, there are three waterfalls that are really worthwhile. One is Shannon Falls, which you reach just before Squamish, Brandywine Falls, which you reach just before Whistler, and Nairn Falls, which you reach just before Pemberton, the next town after Whistler, about another half hour's drive up the road.

Just before you reach Squamish, there is a store that sells Aboriginal crafts. My husband and I spent ages chatting to the man behind the counter. He knew a great deal about native crafts. Ironically he was American, and had not known any of this stuff prior to his move to the area. He had learned it all from his wife who was the craftsperson who had made several of the items that were for sale.

It's astonishing to find out the number of uses to which different parts of a cedar tree can be put. It's also interesting to learn how Aboriginal people harvested planks from trees in such a way that the trees continued to grow. I imagine you're aware that Aboriginal people in Australia did that too.

The geometric designs that Aboriginal people on the British Columbia coast use can be traced to designs that are used across the Pacific, all the way to New Zealand, Australia, Asia, etc. Not only did the man in the store know heaps of stuff about that, but he also knew about basket weaving techniques in Southern Africa, where I came from 30 years ago. He was able to discuss the similarities and differences. He was a really interesting guy to talk to.

ozgirl, I'm a Whistler fan, both summer and winter seasons.

What do you plan to do during your visit? That will help determine where or where not to stay but you probably can't go wrong staying anywhere in the Whistler area. Why don't you post your top five favourite condos, and get specific feedback to them?

I agree with Judy in that Whistler is fairly compact and there is a pretty good bus system in place.

While Whistler has grown exponentially since the 70s, there is a community spirit outside of the principal resort area. Ordinary people live and work there.

I don't think being right IN the Village is as important in summer as it is if you're going skiing and want to be able to walk/ski to the lifts. Since I'm assuming you're mostly there for the hiking and other outdoor activities and you prefer more natural locations, that's why I suggested the Edgewater to you in your other thread.

The main reason to be right in the Village in summer, IMO, would be if you want to be able to walk to restaurants and nightlife and not have to worry about drinking and driving.

I'd actually recommend staying in the main village, as opposed to one of the condo units elsewhere.

I agree that most of the outdoor activities in Whistler in the summer are outside of the main village, however you're going to have to drive to them from wherever you're staying (for the most part) anyway. If you're in the village, at least you'll be able to walk to/from the vast majority of the restaurants in the evenings, as opposed to having to also drive home.

The other "villages" that Judy mentioned and are shown on the map are really just subdivision names - there isn't really anything in them other than houses for the most part.