Stuff to do in Whistler

January 24, 2006 12:43 AM

Things to do in Whistler besides skiing/snowboarding...

I'm visiting Whistler this weekend, staying two nights in the village. Most of the people I'm going with will be skiing or snowboarding. I don't plan on doing either, but figured it'd be fun to tag along and see the area. I'm looking for daytime activities to do while all my friends are on the slopes.

High on my list of wants are:
- places to get free or cheap wifi
- local art galleries
- funky cafes
- the *least* outrageously priced place to get a massage or other spa service

But feel free to suggest other things as well...

posted by sanitycheck to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (7 answers total)

Just avoid The Keg. Food isn't bad, but worst service I have ever had at a restaurant. Waitress outright ignored two members of our party from the get-go, paid much more attention to a similar-sized group at a second table, corrected our orders ("Oh, I could never ask the chef to prepare that dish in the way you requested, it just isn't done!") and was generally a condescending bitch.

Other than that, walk around and see what you can find. There are a lot of good restaurants, and a lot of shops to poke around in. I was there in the summer, so 90% of what I did wouldn't be of any help to you. There is a restaurant on top of Whistler if you want to take the lift up; good view from the top. Don't know how they run in winter but in summer quite a few folks just rode up, ate then rode down again.
posted by caution live frogs at 5:52 AM on January 24, 2006

There's free internet at Esquires Coffee, via terminals, not wifi. Esquires is just between the village and the IGA minimall.
posted by Keith Talent at 9:34 AM on January 24, 2006

Best answer: If you want outside fun that doesn't involve skiing/snowboarding, you have to try the Tube Park. I was just there a couple weekends ago, and it was *so* much fun. Relatively cheap by Whistler standards, too. ($15 for the first hour, $9/hour after that).
posted by cgg at 10:07 AM on January 24, 2006

Caution live frogs' suggestion about the restaurant at the top of Whistler is spot-on. I rode the gondola with a few folks without skis or snowboards - just going up to the top to have a look around and grab lunch. Don't know how pricey it is, but then almost everything in Whistler's expensive.

There are art galleries and cafes scattered across the village. For spa services, check out some of the bigger hotels (the Westin, the Hilton) - I'm pretty sure they all offer spa stuff. Again, I have no idea how much that'll set you back.

Have fun! Whistler is an awesome town. Watch out though... when I wasn't on the slopes, I somehow ended up in a bar getting drunk. The whole town is booze-saturated.

OH! If you're going to be there on Sunday night you absolutely must go to the "Fire and Ice" show at the base of the Whistler gondola. There's some very impressive skiing/riding talent on the Whistler staff, and they like to show off. I think it gets started around 9 or 10 on Sunday night.

Have fun!!!
posted by salad spork at 10:07 AM on January 24, 2006

Best answer: I was there last summer, too. Ride the gondola up the mountain. The panorama is terrific.
And if you have the guts - definitely do this: http://www.ziptrek.com/default.htm
A great experience.
Don't know if they do it in the winter and it's not cheap.
Regarding Wifi: there seem to be several (modest priced) wifi providers all over the place. Just switch Computer on and check out what your wifi finds.
There's lots of bars and restaurants all over the village. Just take a stroll and check it out (can't remember any names, unfortunately).
posted by ollsen at 10:48 AM on January 24, 2006

Response by poster: Tubing sounds fun! It's probably not the kind of thing I'd want to do by myself though, so I'll have to see if I can get one of my friends to take a day off from skiing (we're there for three days) and join me.

As for wifi, searching this morning turned up this article which seems to suggest that Whistler offers wifi throughout the town through something called "Yodel." However, I was unable to find any information on pricing. I guess I will ollsen's suggestion and worry about it once I get there.
posted by sanitycheck at 11:17 AM on January 24, 2006

Going up the gondola to look around is a great idea, but MAKE SURE it's sunny at the top, or at least that the clouds are high enough for the visibility to be good. I was up there for 3 days about 2 weeks ago, and while it snowed like crazy (almost 1m of snow in 36 hours) the visibility sucked. I didn't see the top of the Peak on Whistler the whole time, let alone out across the valley. If you go up when it's cloudy, you just wasted a lot of money to see a lot of grey.

Try picking up one of the two newspapers (the pique and the question (I think)) and flip through them to find ads for places that look interesting, or events that you might be interested in.
posted by sinical at 8:52 PM on January 24, 2006