By TIM JOHNSON

The first thing one notices about the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel is its sweeping views of Vancouver. The shimmering silver building is perched on the edge of the city’s harbour, providing unique perspectives of downtown, the Coast Mountains and float planes taking off and landing on the water. The location provides much more, though—the Fairmont Pacific Rim is within walking distance of Stanley Park, Gastown and pretty much everything worth seeing in central Vancouver.

Take a photographic tour of the Fairmont Pacific Rim »

Opened just weeks before the 2010 Winter Games, the “Pac Rim” has a luxe spa with a full list of treatments, as well as sumptuous guest rooms, a great pool and lovely outdoor space. An Asian-chic motif flows throughout the property, especially in the lobby with its 180-foot origami art work—a creation of local Granville Island artist Joseph Wu.