We had the pleasure of visiting Vancouver, Canada this past May. Our primary purpose was to take in Pearl Jam’s kickoff concert for their 2024 Dark Matter tour. The show was fantastic, complemented by a great stay at the historic “Castle in the City”, the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver.
Fairmont Hotel Vancouver Review – Stepping Back In Time
There’s a lot to say about the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, but likely the first things you’ll experience is a sense of stepping back in time. The iconic copper roof with its distinctive green colour, and the elaborate stonework featuring gargoyles and other ornate sculptures suggest another era. This was once one of the grand old hotels of the railway era, officially opened by no less than the King and Queen of England in 1939 on their tour of Canada.
The sense of a bygone era fades when you step inside. The hotel has been updated and modernized, no doubt many times, since it opened. Inside, it’s contemporary, sleek but still luxurious. This is not a bad thing, but you certainly can’t judge this book by its cover.
The lobby is flanked by high-end designer boutiques, and the visually-impressive Notch8 Restaurant & Bar. This lively space for dining and drink will give you an idea for how the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver has stepped into the 21st century.
Our room, a King Room on the Gold Floor was spacious and similarly contemporary in terms of vibes.
The master bathroom was outfitted with a glass shower, marble sink, and even a cutting edge Dyson-brand hairdryer.
This old hotel is not without its quirks, however, and if you’ve chosen to stay there that probably won’t entirely disappoint you. There are odd angles and edges that come with old bones, and even the most thorough renovations can’t quite hide them. My personal favourite was the ledge pictured below. A sort of un-get-to-able courtyard outside our window where a solitary stone sculpture stood looking back at me with a cheeky side-eye:
Other quirks weren’t so welcome, like the lack of water pressure in the shower, taking away somewhat from the spa-ahhhh feeling you crave on vacation. Also, the downtown location, so convenient for everything else, does bring with it a refrain of sirens and horns even through the night. This wouldn’t have been that big of a deal were it not for the hotel’s policy to not to turn on the air conditioning until a date a few weeks out from our stay despite the very warm temperatures. (We’d heard about this from other guests pre-trip, and were hoping it wasn’t true – alas, it was.) As a result, the room felt quite warm and stuffy most of our stay, necessitating open windows which invited in a lot of downtown noise. It’s too bad as otherwise the hotel has obviously gone to great lengths to make the rooms comfortable.
But back to the perks and positives, and there were many! The Gold Floor for instance offers concierge services, private check in, and private lounge with a terrific daily breakfast spread – hot and and cold dishes and a lovely selection of coffees, and delectable get-your-day-started fare. Coffee, tea, snacks and cold beverages are also available through the day. (Side note – it was hockey playoff time, and so the Gold Floor lounge offered up cookies celebrating Vancouver’s team):
As you might guess, the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver is in a prime location, within walking distance of a range of excellent restaurants. We dined at the nearby Black and Blue, an upscale steakhouse about a block and half away, and had an excellent meal. We (re)visited the nearby Gotham Steakhouse & Bar a few days later, and it was just as fabulous as it was twenty years (!) earlier. Joe Fortes was another gem not too far away where we feasted on fresh West Coast seafood prior to the Pearl Jam show at Rogers Arena. That too, incidentally, was quite walkable from the hotel, about 20 minutes by foot. (The arena is also adjacent to BC Place, the football stadium, if that’s what brings you to Vancouver.)
Indeed, if the weather holds up, you can do quite a lot on foot when based at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. Besides the restaurants and the sporting events, there are several blocks of shop-lined streets nearby, a combination of very high end and more casual stores. You’re also a three-minute walk from the downtown shopping mall, CF Pacific Centre anchored by the iconic Canadian department store Hudson’s Bay.
Overall, we were well-situated and fairly comfortable at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. Service was excellent, and we enjoyed our stay!
For more information, visit www.fairmont.com
