Sunday 11 October 2009

A day trip to Whistler













Whistler is best known as a ski resort, but offers all year round outdoor activity options. In 2010 it will be the venue for many of the Winter Olympics activities. It can be visited in a day from Vancouver. Be warned, this allows little time to experience much of Whistler, but it hardly matters in many respects as the main purpose of the day trip is to take in the scenery. To get more of a feel for what Whistler has to offer as a resort requires a few days.

There are lots of trip options, train, coach, plane or a mixture of the three. I think the train option is s a must for part of the journey. We decided on train and coach. This allowed for stop offs on the way back and meant we could see things we didn’t see on the way to Whistler. There are two classes of travel on the train, the more expensive option means you are in a carriage with larger windows. As the best view is on the open observation deck, the posh seats are in my view not worth the extra money.

The views from the train are of mountains and forest. They offer many photo opportunities. But the highlight of the trip is to take a sea plane ride over the mountains. This is well worth doing as the views are awesome. We got the big sell for the sea plane trip on our way to the train. It was all quite comic. The guide had very long curly hair and he described the trip with such energy and enthusiasm that his hair was flying all over the place. He was good entertainment value, but best enjoyed in small doses. The seaplane he was so enthusiastic about deserved the hard sell.

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