Our hotel in Vancouver deserves a post all to itself. It was absolutely fantastic!
Unlike our usual travel planning, we did not have this place booked months and months in advance – in fact, I was being very lazy and delinquent about making the hotel reservations and finally forced myself to get the job done about 5 or 6 weeks before we left. (Maybe to most people this seems very far in advance, but considering my history of having everything done 5 MONTHS in advance, this was relatively down to the wire.)
My heart was just not in it! I didn’t know much about Vancouver at all so didn’t know what neighbourhoods were desirable and which were to be avoided… plus I was just not in the mood to do any research.
I logged into Expedia and checked the prices for the Fairmont just in case they were reasonable. I didn’t expect them to be, but would that have been a treat if they were!!! They weren’t. That idea set aside, I selected “Downtown Vancouver” and “View Map” and got something like this:
Not knowing A THING about ANYTHING, I click on a random pin and landed on The Sylvia Hotel.
The price was right, the reviews were pretty positive, I googled the hotel’s website and it looked inviting; I liked the Heritage Building angle (although I have enough experience to know not to trust website glamour shots!!) I thought “a few blocks from Stanley Park + near the water” ok fine, let’s do it.
And that was it. I didn’t shop around more than that, my random pick seemed good enough and that was that.
MAN OH MAN OH MAN OH MAN OH MAN was my lazy choice ever a good one! WOW.
Esthetically, the building is GORGEOUS! The website glamour shots were true!
COVERED in HUGE leafy vines, perfectly trimmed around the windows making the building seem like it was made of leaves.
The vines fascinated us!
And right on the corner, the most beautiful flowering tree I have ever seen! It was magical, especially at night with the twinkle-lights… STUNNING! I could not get enough of it!
This is now my IPhone wallpaper and my desktop picture at work:
The tree was also right outside the window of the bar, so it was extra incentive to linger!
The room was good enough for what we need: Comfy bed, TV, Clean bathroom.
(we really aren’t that picky)
BEST OF ALL was the location in English Bay. FABULOUS! Honest to God for someone who knew nothing about Vancouver and picked a place pretty much at random was I ever rewarded!
This is view across the street.
Literally: out the door, pass the tree, cross the street, you’re along the water!
We’ll never shop around for hotels in Vancouver ever again. The Sylvia Hotel will be the default every time!
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