Restaurants

Whistler's restaurant scene is varied enough to please the palates of its more than 10,000 residents and sophisticated enough to cater to the tastes of its thousands of international visitors. You can relax with a cappuccino in an unpretentious back-alley coffee shop; chill out (and people-watch) on a patio with a dish of homemade fusilli, or splurge on award-winning cuisine with magnificent wine pairings. Although some restaurants do close during the shoulder seasons for a brief respite, no one goes hungry here, especially when you realize that many of Vancouver's celebrity chefs now call Whistler home. Today, some of the top ski-resort restaurants in the world take advantage of the growing locavore or "slow food" movement—as evidenced during four months of Sunday farmers' markets and organic bounty—to provide diners with a surprising array of Northwest cuisine. Foodies will especially enjoy Whistler's Cornucopia Festival, which showcases culinary talents and BC wineries every November. Then there's the Beer Festival, a sudsy celebration of craft brews from the Pacific Northwest (widely considered the birthplace of North America's craft beer movement) and beyond. And for grazers? Tasting tours will while away an afternoon or evening.

For those on lower dining budgets, there are plenty of sandwich and coffee shops scattered around the village. There is also a full-scale grocery store should you land a room with a kitchen.