Need some post-Olympic pampering?
Suzanne | January 7th, 2010 - 11:42 pm
Three places to rejuvenate after the Olympics
Let’s face it, being a spectator at a winter Olympics isn’t all fun and games. After standing on a windy ski hill or sitting in a chilly arena for hours on end, you’re going to need some pampering. Herewith, three of my favorite places to rejuvenate that are within a two-hour drive or ferry from Vancouver and the 2010 Olympics .
The first resort-style destination in southwestern BC is still a local favorite. The original hotel was built in 1886, before a highway penetrated the mountainous Fraser Valley and guests arrived by boat or train. Waterfront rooms look over the icy cold waters of Harrison Lake, but it’s the hot natural mineral waters that are the main attraction, of course.
The water is so hot – it bubbles out of the ground at degrees F – it has to be cooled before it can be piped into the pools. Soak or paddle in three outdoor and two indoor mineral pools. Afterwards, relax some more with a facial, massage or other treatment in one of ten private rooms in the Healing Springs Spa.
Dine and dance the night away in the resort’s historic Copper Room. While the live band recalls the hotel’s heydays of the 1950s and ‘60s, the menu is entirely modern, featuring fresh, local ingredients such as wild salmon and free-range chicken.
Getting There: Rent a car and drive 71 miles east on Highway 1 or 7.
2. Rockwater Secret Cove Resort
When new owners took over this resort and built 13 luxury ‘tents’ they never expected them to be used year round. After all, even Canada’s Sunshine Coast gets some snow in winter. But ‘camping’ is luxurious any time of year when you’ve got a king-size bed, slate floors with radiant heating, a hydrotherapy tub and a fireplace.
“Guests arrive and we don’t see them again,” co-owner Kevin Toth told me when I visited for a couple days last June. A 1,500-foot boardwalk winds between red-barked Arbutus trees and along a bluff overlooking the Pacific ocean. The tent at the very end is so popular – it’s exceptionally private – it hasn’t been empty a single night since June 2008.
And don’t miss a facial in the resort’s spa with Nazigul Syms. Trained in her birth country of Kazakhstan, where facials are considered routine care, ‘Gulya’ will stroke, tap, push, pull and wipe years off your face. At least it feels that way.
Getting there: Drive west on Highway 1 to Horseshoe Bay, then board the ferry for Langdale. Or take a 20-minute flight from Vancouver harbor.
The Inn overlooks the ocean and is within walking distance of the ferry, so you don’t even need a car. Rooms are spacious and equipped with real wood-burning fireplaces. Some have full kitchens and outdoor baths.
The Madrona Del Mar Spa offers a surprisingly large ‘menu’ of treatments for a small resort on a tiny island. Choose from wraps, warm stone therapies, scrubs, pedicures, facials, reflexology and massage. Some treatments are unique, such as the hemp seed sugar scrub. The Spa also has a mineral sea floatation bath, where you float effortlessly in a pool of warm water.
The Inn’s dining room – Eat – offers West Coast cuisine beautifully prepared with fresh organic ingredients from the island whenever possible. The restaurant has won two Gold medals for its selection of BC wines from small wineries.
Getting there: Take a Pacific Coachlines bus from Vancouver to Tsawwassen, then hop on a ferry for a 50 minute ride to Galiano Island.