Cosmopolitan, cultural and creative, Canada's major cities celebrate a quality of life that recently saw Vancouver named the world's most liveable city. Canadian-born architectural writer Terri Whitehead revisited her home country to find various hotel properties springing up across the country to allow visitors a taste of the good life...
The new Opus hotel in Vancouver exemplifies the low-key luxury of the city. Located on the west coast of Canada, the city has an enormous Asian influence, with a laid back, non-smoking pace with good vegetarian and sushi restaurants. In 2005, Vancouver, Canada's third largest city with about 2m people, was named the world's most liveable city by the Economist Intelligence Unit's liveability survey which looked at conditions in 127 world cities. With its location on the Pacific ocean, proximity to mountains, clean air and stable economy, it is also one of Canada's most visited tourist destinations.
In 2010, Vancouver will host the Winter Olympics and an enormous amount of building and preparation for the visitors is beginning to take place. A 'ski to sea' highway will link the Whistler/Blackcomb ski resort to the city. The skyline is filled with cranes building the tall skinny condo-tower on the waterfront that defines Vancouver's downtown.
In 2004, Vancouver was Conde Nast Traveller's Reader's Choice for the top city to visit in the Americas. It is surprising that the city doesn't have very many new hotels. With all the filming going on there, (due to the picturesque scenery and the generous tax break American movie production companies get in Canada) there are always celebrities hanging out in the city, but where do they, and other luxury travellers, stay? The Opus hotel in trendy Yaletown, is, at three years old, the newest luxury boutique hotel in the city. Manager Daniel Craig boasts that the Opus has the highest occupancy rate in the city and it is quite clear there is a market for top quality, high-end design. Plans are in the works for a few new properties, including a Shangri-la Hotel will be opening in downtown Vancouver in 2007 and a new Fairmont hotel in 2008.
Toronto, 5000 miles east, is even more international, with a close proximity to New York and a more lively contemporary art and architecture scene. Two new hotels with artist designed rooms; the Gladstone and the Drake are combining music and art to create memorable hotel experiences, welcoming both locals and travellers. The new Cosmopolitan hotel takes a different approach, with a new-age 'Zen' approach to design and interiors that incorporates environmental and spiritual concerns. Toronto, Canada's largest and most multicultural city has about 5m people, and is part of a region called the Golden Horseshoe, a densely populated part of the province of Ontario, with about 8m people. About a quarter of all Canadians live in this region, and the city is undergoing a cultural renaissance with high profile building projects such as the Royal Ontario Museum extension (by famed Freedom Tower designer Daniel Libeskind), the Art Gallery of Ontario extension (by architect Frank Gehry, who reated the iconic Bilbao Guggenheim) and several new university buildings at the city's downtown campus. The hope is that Toronto will attract more tourists and the city will be more desirable as a result of increased spending on the arts. These projects are funded by a mix of provincial and federal funding specifically geared towards the creating a cultural infrastructure in the city. These buildings, such as British architect Will Alsop's Ontario College of Art and Design addition and Lord Foster's building at University of Toronto, are starting to complete, with the majority complete by 2007-2008. Toronto's tourism industry is thriving after recuperating from the devastating SARS virus of 2003 that brought the industry to a near standstill. With a travel advisory against visiting the city, the hotels were empty, and the city feared it would be years to restore people's faith in the city.
Finally, Montreal, in the French-speaking province of Quebec, has Canada's first W Hotel, an impressive 5-star hotel in the renovated Banque du Canada building.
