Tkach shared fascinating city stories about “the unsung heroes of Vancouver’s LGBTQ2+ community who forever changed the social fabric of Canada.” Wear comfy shoes and drink plenty of water during the lengthy, informative walk!Ĭocktails and dinner followed at Fairmont Hotel Vancouver’s signature eatery, Notch8 Restaurant & Bar: beautiful nouvelle cuisine featuring regional fare, inventive new flavor combinations and prized classics. Needless to say, we all went to bed that night completely relaxed, superbly sated and much like one of their cocktails, floating on cloud nine! photo by joel martensīreakfast at my hotel’s Gold Lounge was gorgeous, as it was every morning: Fresh eggs and meats, fruits, yogurts, pastries galore, juices, espresso and Champagne! After that quick repast, we all met up with Glenn Tkach, our very knowledgeable and very funny, pink-clad host for his “Really Gay History Tour.” Each was an encounter, carefully created not only for flavor, but as a dazzling visual experience. Nothing could have prepared us for the bevy of steaming, bubbling, levitating, fantastical concoctions that literally left us in awe. I will definitely rave about our last stop at Botanist, their “lab cocktail” bar. Well I could, but there isn’t enough space on the page. I can’t say enough about the stunning food and exceptional hospitality. A sumptuous dinner followed after another short walk to ARC, the restaurant inside their third signature property, the Fairmont Waterfront. 15,000 square feet of luxury facilities offer over 50 spa experiences ranging from body exfoliations, facials, massages and body treatments… pure heaven.īlissful as can be, this pampered tourist wandered down to the hotel’s urbane Lobby Lounge for a quench of a different kind: cocktails with my fellow travelers. My first sojourn took me just down the street to Fairmont Pacific Rim’s Willow Stream Spa, to indulge in a much-needed Body Quench treatment. Fairmont Gold includes: Lux concierge services, daily breakfasts, Indulgence in the Castle-a mid-day treat, evening hors d’oeuvres, late night snacks and refreshments throughout the day. They chose “Love and Luxury For All” as their Pride theme/logo and they were serious. photo by joel martensīoth made me feel coddled in comfort the entire weekend. Calm, cool and serene, very much like the concierge team who made my stay so blissfully easy. The hotel just completed a $75M renovation and my stunning Fairmont Gold suite offered a contemporary vibe, yet remained nicely tied to the building’s historic sensibility.
I stayed at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, known locally as “The Castle In The Sky,” a chateau-style landmark with green, copper-clad roof and stony-eyed gargoyles surveying their surroundings. If the kindness and care I received is any indication of Fairmont’s amity towards the LGBTQ community, well, let’s just say the experience of it will stay with me for a long time. My weekend was filled at their behest with excursions to the various Pride events and community hotspots. To my added delight, I was fortunate enough to visit-via the generosity of the exquisite Fairmont Hotels, specifically the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, Fairmont Pacific Rim and Fairmont Waterfront known as great LGBTQ supporters-during the city’s Pride Festival and Parade. I spent a long, delightful weekend there perched on nature’s edge, basking in the hospitality the stunning city is known for. is the latest location I’ve had the pleasure to explore and enjoy. Nestled between the Pacific Ocean and Canada’s coastal mountains, Vancouver, B.C.