Whistler Accommodation

kermitdfrog

I know there's a fair few posters on this board who've spent a bit of time in Whistler. I'm looking for advice, and hopefully suggestions, regarding medium to long term accommodation rental this coming season.

Myself and the better half are heading there for all of January and February this coming season. Anyone know of recommended places to stay? We know about Pique and the likes of craigslist, but as we won't actually be in Whistler until the end of December that's a bit of an issue. We're looking for anything, even something very basic - as in even a simple bedsit style place would suit us.

Cost is the main issue (this is part of a bigger trip so we don't want to blow all our money on a place to stay). Most of the sites with accommodation ads are basically holiday apartments, so the cost of two months is just 8 x 1 week prices, and that's prohibitive. But ideally we'd need to go through such a site or agency, as handing cash over the likes of craiglist or an ad without at least having a good reference for someone that it's legit would be a worry.

We're also still getting our heads around the town and where's good to stay, so any further advice would really be appreciated.

Anyone have any suggested places they've stayed in before (or know someone who has) that would affordable and available for 2 months?

De_man

Forget about Whistler for cheap accomodation, the vast majority of workers & seasonaires stay at Pemberton, its about 15minutes North of Whistler with regular bus connections.

Search for the tourist office online and get a recommendation from them for the accomodation, another option would be Squamish which is south of Whistler.

Realistically, why would you want to stay two months, now don't get me wrong it's great and i've been there many times but there's so many places to go to.

Start off with a few days local Vancouver mountains, Seymour,Grouse and Cyprus (which is the largest), Whistler/Blackcomb then, maybe travel east to go to Nelson (White Water mountain and surrounding areas you need to be very strong off piste
this place is unbelievable but you need a Jeep!!!!

then head towards Calgary, (lake louise) then up to Edmonton for Banff now that's what i call a ski holiday and it'll be cheaper than staying in Whistler

kermitdfrog

De_man wrote: »

Forget about Whistler for cheap accomodation, the vast majority of workers & seasonaires stay at Pemberton, its about 15minutes North of Whistler with regular bus connections.

Yeah we've kind of come to two conclusions over the last few weeks - one, that there is no such thing as cheap Whistler accommodation, and two that, unfortunately, we are going to have target holiday, rather than seasonaire, accommodation. No season long places are going to want to rent for just two months.

Search for the tourist office online and get a recommendation from them for the accomodation, another option would be Squamish which is south of Whistler.

That's a great idea to contact the tourist office, will do. Nice one! If we were doing the full season we'd be looking at Squamish or Pemberton, but because it's "just" the two months we're going to try stay a bit closer.

Realistically, why would you want to stay two months, now don't get me wrong it's great and i've been there many times but there's so many places to go to.

Start off with a few days local Vancouver mountains, Seymour,Grouse and Cyprus (which is the largest), Whistler/Blackcomb then, maybe travel east to go to Nelson (White Water mountain and surrounding areas you need to be very strong off piste
this place is unbelievable but you need a Jeep!!!!

then head towards Calgary, (lake louise) then up to Edmonton for Banff now that's what i call a ski holiday and it'll be cheaper than staying in Whistler

Ah, you're a man after my own heart - see, what I didn't mention is that that is pretty much what we ARE going to do! We'll be taking a trip or two down to Van while in Whistler, and then once we've gotten our snow legs back, improved our boarding and lived the resort life for the two months we're off on a road trip through BC toward Calgary, hitting Revelstoke, Golden, Lake Louise, Fernie and a few others in between.

De_man

i'm green with envy!!!! Personally i'd choose Pemberton over Squamish

seriously don't overlook Nelson and surrounding areas it's amazing.

i'll make a few calls and let you know via PM

happy trails

gavkm27

Couple of options for you.

Just turn up in Whistler early after Xmas,you will pick up a bed in house share through craigslist,lots of Aussies getting injured and ending their season early,sharing a room in a big house can be around $1000 a month.Stay in the hostel in Creekside for a week or 2.

If you want to move around like suggested,rent a motorhome,their are dirt cheap deals on them during the winter months,i paid about CAD$40 a day for a 5 person motorhome their before,great way to see the province and go where the good snow is.

kermitdfrog

De_man wrote: »

i'm green with envy!!!! Personally i'd choose Pemberton over Squamish

seriously don't overlook Nelson and surrounding areas it's amazing.

Duly noted and added to "the list"!

i'll make a few calls and let you know via PM

happy trails

Thanks, much appreciated.

gavkm27 wrote: »

Couple of options for you.

Just turn up in Whistler early after Xmas,you will pick up a bed in house share through craigslist,lots of Aussies getting injured and ending their season early,sharing a room in a big house can be around $1000 a month.Stay in the hostel in Creekside for a week or 2.

Sounds feasible - we arrive in between Christmas and New Years anyway. Does there be enough shares available at that time that it's a real option (we'd need a double room, it's a couple going)? Definitely worth considering anyway, especially given the price difference.

If you want to move around like suggested,rent a motorhome,their are dirt cheap deals on them during the winter months,i paid about CAD$40 a day for a 5 person motorhome their before,great way to see the province and go where the good snow is.

To be honest we were kind of "dreaming" of that option (combine transport and accommodation costs, freedom to move as we please) but weren't sure how expensive it would be and feared the worst. Hadn't considered it would be off-season for motorhomes and they might be going cheaper. That sounds like an amazing price to be honest, and we wouldn't even need one that big. Do you happen to remember where/how you got that deal?


Thanks again folks, all of this is genuinely helpful.

gavkm27

If you look on Craigslist for today for Whistler,there will be about 20 new adds everyday advertising rooms or shared accomodation coming up available immeadiately or very soon,so yes it's a very good chance you will get something especially around that time,start of the season is much harder,but come that time alot of people get injured and have to leave etc.

The Motorhome place i went through was www.cheapmotorhomerental-vancouver.com
which is a search engine that goes through all the rental companies,there are loads in Vancouver.They picked up a deal through Cruise Canada where we got our rental for around $CAD40 a day.
Living in a motorhome in Canada in winter is not easy,so be ready to freeze your arse off,it's well worth it though.

Cheers

kermitdfrog

That site is awesome, thanks!

kermitdfrog

By the way, what did you do about the on board sink/toilet/shower when you rented the motor home? There's a warning on the rental pages that during the winter season the on board water is likely replaced with anti-freeze and so the "facilities" are unusable.

gavkm27

kermitdfrog wrote: »

By the way, what did you do about the on board sink/toilet/shower when you rented the motor home? There's a warning on the rental pages that during the winter season the on board water is likely replaced with anti-freeze and so the "facilities" are unusable.

Yeah they 'Winterise' everything so you cannot use the toilet,shower or sinks.We still used the toilet to piss in and used wind shield wiper fluid to stop it freezing then emptied it no problem,we tried pooping in the toilet but it got all frozen in the pipes,so had multiple pots of boiling water to release it all lol
We just bought a small tub and had that in the sink and bought a 30L jerry can which we filled a different creeks as we went,so washing up was easy enough.

We never pulled into a campsite the entire 3 months and had never planned to,so we bought a small generator for $300,so we could run the electrics in the RV,the shower/bathroom we turned into a drying room,we got a small electric heater and ran the generator for an hour or 2 at night to dry the stuff and charge laptops etc.
But it turns out running the engine and turning the drivers cabin into a drying room was more economical,plus the cheap generator shat the bed a few times in the cold.

Every town has a 'Rec Center' ie swimming pool,hot tub,sauna,so we got washed every week or so,so was'nt too bad,same with laundry.

Overall it was a awesome experience and can't recommend doing this trip enough,we started in Vancouver,did Whistler,then across state to Nelson,Revelstoke,up through Alberta and the Icefields Parkway to Terrace and Smithers in Northern BC,then we got a ferry to Haines,Alaska and eventually drove back to Vancouver from there!

Having said all that,i've done a season in Whistler in the past and its good to just hang out there for couple of months too

kermitdfrog

gavkm27 wrote: »

Yeah they 'Winterise' everything so you cannot use the toilet,shower or sinks.We still used the toilet to piss in and used wind shield wiper fluid to stop it freezing then emptied it no problem,we tried pooping in the toilet but it got all frozen in the pipes,so had multiple pots of boiling water to release it all lol
We just bought a small tub and had that in the sink and bought a 30L jerry can which we filled a different creeks as we went,so washing up was easy enough.

We never pulled into a campsite the entire 3 months and had never planned to,so we bought a small generator for $300,so we could run the electrics in the RV,the shower/bathroom we turned into a drying room,we got a small electric heater and ran the generator for an hour or 2 at night to dry the stuff and charge laptops etc.
But it turns out running the engine and turning the drivers cabin into a drying room was more economical,plus the cheap generator shat the bed a few times in the cold.

Every town has a 'Rec Center' ie swimming pool,hot tub,sauna,so we got washed every week or so,so was'nt too bad,same with laundry.

Overall it was a awesome experience and can't recommend doing this trip enough,we started in Vancouver,did Whistler,then across state to Nelson,Revelstoke,up through Alberta and the Icefields Parkway to Terrace and Smithers in Northern BC,then we got a ferry to Haines,Alaska and eventually drove back to Vancouver from there!

Having said all that,i've done a season in Whistler in the past and its good to just hang out there for couple of months too

Sounds awesome! We've settled on going with the campervan for the road trip. We were also considering waiting until we arrived and trying to pick up a freed up room, with a long term motorhome rental and berth as a back up option, but we've possibly got some accomodation lined up in Creekside - very basic and shared but low cost. I know Creekside is a bit outside the main town but with the gondola and runs down that end, the bus system and the (much) lower costs it still looks good, and from what I understand a lot of seasonaires stay in that part of town too.

kermitdfrog

Hi gavkm27.

Quick question, as d-day is fast approaching. When you said you never pulled in to a caravan site in three months, where DID you stop over night? Resort car parks, side roads, forestry car parks? What kind of places are available without getting clamped or fined?

Thanks!