Whistler: What to Know Before You Go

Short answer: Whistler Village is pedestrian-only (park your car in Day Lots 1 to 5 and walk or ride the free Route 4 and Route 5 Village Shuttle), a single Summer Alpine Experience ticket covers all three gondolas plus the Peak Chair and Cloudraker Skybridge, and if you want to hike Joffre Lakes or Garibaldi Lake in summer you must reserve a free BC Parks Day-Use Pass online two days prior.

1. How Whistler Is Laid Out: The 3 Bases & The 5 Lakes

Stretching along a 12-kilometre glacial valley floor at 675 metres (2,214 feet) elevation, Whistler is organised from south to north around three mountain bases linked by the paved, car-free 46-kilometre Valley Trail:

• 1. Whistler Creekside (5 km South): the original 1966 base of Whistler Mountain with its own high-speed Creekside Gondola, Nita Lake and Alpha Lake.
• 2. Whistler Village (Main Village & Village North): the energetic, pedestrian-only heart of the resort, home to the Olympic Rings at Olympic Plaza, the Audain Art Museum, and the main Whistler Village Gondola.
• 3. The Upper Village / Blackcomb Base (5 Mins' Walk Across Fitzsimmons Creek): home to the Blackcomb Gondola, the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre, and the forest trails to Lost Lake and Green Lake.

2. Three Essential Rules Before You Go (Day Passes, Winter Tyres & Bears)

1. Free BC Parks 'Day-Use Pass' Required for Garibaldi & Joffre Lakes (May to October): to prevent overcrowding at Garibaldi Lake (Rubble Creek), Cheakamus Lake and Joffre Lakes, BC Parks requires a free Day-Use Pass booked online at reserve.bcparks.ca; passes release early in the morning Pacific Time two days (48 hours) before your hike.
2. Strict Highway 99 Winter Tyre Law (1 October to 31 March): driving the Sea-to-Sky Highway from Vancouver between 1 October and 31 March legally requires M+S or Mountain-Snowflake rated tyres (police run checkpoints north of Squamish).
3. Whistler Is Black Bear Country: over 50 resident black bears live on the ski slopes of Whistler and Blackcomb, so never approach bears, keep 30 to 100 metres back, and give them the right of way on the Valley Trail.