My Vancouver Experience with Fairmont Pacific Rim

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Almost two months ago Jasmine and I had the most lovely time in Vancouver, Canada! I want to thank the Fairmont Pacific Rim, a luxury Vancouver hotel for both inviting and hosting us. The Fairmont Pacific Rim is located in the heart of downtown Vancouver with the most stunning harbor views.

Jasmine and I stayed in the Fairmont Gold Owner’s Suite on level 18. Our room was absolutely beautiful and we had the best view of Stanley Park and the harbor. The lovely four post bed was literally sooo comfortable, and the walk in closet definitely came in handy. The spacious marble bathrooms were gorgeous as well. We enjoyed the television mirror in the master bath and spent a good amount of time working in the living area during the evenings listening to Vinyl records on the record player.

We also had access to the Fairmont Gold Lounge on the 20th floor where they had a buffet during breakfast hours and snacks or desserts throughout the rest of the day. It was a nice quiet area where you could hang out with friends, get some work done or just enjoy the hors d’oeuvres. They also have an outdoor balcony with blankets so you can enjoy some fresh air with the view.

The first night that we arrived in Vancouver we got dinner at the high class Botanist restaurant within the Fairmont Pacific Rim and got to meet the Fairmont Marketing Director, Kerri! We started at the bar in which we learned a great deal about the exquisite drinks and the meanings behind both their names and presentation.  The Botanist food was on point and truly delectable.

Throughout our trip, the average daily temperature of the air was around 40°F which made it hard to be outside for long (at least, for us Californians). It was mostly for this reason we decided to stay fairly local to the hotel and also stick to nearby restaurants and just walk around a bit. We had to stop somewhere indoors at least every 2o minutes!  Luckily thanks to Fairmont Pacific Rim for their complementary BMW car service which saved us some frozen limbs. Also I want to mention the Fairmont Pacific Rim concierge which is just the nicest and most helpful bunch of humans!

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I actually did not know what Vancouver really looked like so I was surprised by the amount of tall, modern, sparkling buildings we saw in abundance. Jasmine and I walked along the waterway a few times, which is basically a sidewalk next to the lake. We usually ended up there around sunset and we were not only able to admire the sun setting over the water, but we could also watch the sea planes going in and out which was pretty dang awesome.

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One of the days Jasmine and I checked out Gastown, an adorable little neighborhood full of history. Gastown was named after a Yorkshire seaman named “Gassy“Jack Deighton, a steam boat captain and barkeep who arrived in 1867 to open the areas first saloon. I felt like the people of this neighborhood were dressed very well (who knows how many were tourists) and so when I found out that in 2012 Gastown was named the fourth most stylish neighborhood in the world I was not surprised!

It was also in this neighborhood that Jasmine and I tried to get breakfast at the Jam Café. However we unknowingly visited on “Family Day” which is a very popular holiday in Canada to spend with your family! The wait was over an hour and so we also tried a few other places such as Medina Cafe, OEB and Catch 122 with equally long waits and finally ended up at the Bird and the Beets restaurant in which we did still have a hard time finding a table but it was otherwise delicious.

The second night we met up with a member of Vancouver Tourism for dinner at a new restaurant called Como Taperia which was basically Spanish tapas with a North American twist. The food was surprisingly scrumptious. I say surprising as I’ve never tried Spanish tapas before, and all I ever heard (from Jasmine I’ll admit) was that tapas were not “good.” She went to Spain a few years ago and tried authentic tapas. Perhaps it was not exactly the tapas that were not good, but she did not go to a good restaurant ha! We were all very pleased with the food however and would love to go back! We even got to meet one of the owners and learn about the dishes. It was a great time!

One of my favorite parts of the trip was the the morning spent at the luxury Fairmont Pacific Rim spa. Jasmine and I each received the Coastal Mountain Retreat treatment at the Willow Stream Spa. It consisted of a body scrub and massage and the experience was just heavenly. They also had vitamin infused water, dried fruit and nuts in the lounge. I would have loved to go outside and sit by the fire or lay in the sun on one of their inviting couches but maybe during the summer. I highly recommend any spa treatment but I think the couple experiences such as the Harmony for Two sounds especially amazing.

On the last night, we got dinner at a local Vancouver favorite, Tacofino, with another member of Vancouver Tourism.  She told us all about the history of Tacofino which started as a “funky” food truck serving tacos in a Tofino surf parking lot. There are now 8 Tacofinos. We tried the fried chicken taco, cauliflower and corn taco and the fish taco. We also got guacamole and salsa with chips. The guacamole and chips were aaaah-mazing!! It was all delicious but I think I ate too much guac and chips because I could only eat 1.5 tacos. They are hefty tacos!!

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One of my favorite spots I couldn’t resist going to twice happened to be the gelato spot right outside our luxury Vancouver hotel, called Bella Gelateria. The mint chocolate chip was my favorite but I tried a few others that tasted equally amazing. I was just really impressed by the diversity and uniqueness of their flavors such as Osmanthus Flower, London Fog and Fiore de Latte.

And for our very very last meal, we got to visit the Raw Bar which is inside the Fairmont Pacific Rim and it is what is called 100% Ocean Wise. This means that they use fish caught through sustainable fishing methods. They also don’t use single use plastic and their ingredients are all local, which means the menu is constantly changing based on what’s available. Everything was so delicious!!!

So that’s it! Our trip was short but sweet! What an experience, again thanks to the our luxury Vancouver hotel – the Fairmont Pacific Rim. We have already made plans to go back this summer and maybe even next winter so we can visit the Scandinavian spa up in Whistler! I also received soooo many amazing “reccos” (a Canadian way of say recommendations) for places to eat and things to do so we need to go back just for that reason since we barely made a dent! I hope you guys enjoyed this post and add visiting Vancouver to your bucket list!