How Many Days Should You Spend In Whistler?

Whistler is all about adventure. But traveling to British Columbia is not really easy to plan. Indeed, Whistler Blackcomb is opened all year long and it’s hard to know exactly how many days you should spend in this resort to make it worth it. So, how many days should you spend in Whistler?

People should spend between 3 and 5 full days in Whistler in both summer and winter. This is the best way to enjoy the area and experience the best activities such as skiing in winter and hiking in summer.

Is spending one day in Whistler worth it?

Let’s exactly understand how I figured out how many days you should stay in Whistler. What I did is that I planned different options: 1 day, 2 days, 3 days, and so on, in order to know at which point it started to be worth it, and at which point it started to be too expensive. First, let’s start with a one day-trip. Is staying one day in Whistler too short?

Staying one day in Whistler is not worth it because the transportation from the airport to Whistler is already 2 hours long. This means that wherever you come from, you will need one full day of transportation.

Coming to Whistler BC is an adventure in itself. You need to be ready for some driving. Then, once you arrive, you will most likely be tired from the trip. So, if you choose to spend only one day in Whistler, you will need to do all the activities the day after the arrival day.

And then, the following day, it’s transportation time again. You may start to understand the issue here… you are spending more time traveling than actually enjoying your trip!

moutain view how many days to spend in whistler
It would be a shame to only spend one day in a such place. Credits to Lance Anderson

So, one day is not enough for Whistler. The local ski resort, Whistler Blackcomb, has a lot to offer. But what if you are on a budget, and you want to spend the minimum amount of money during your Whistler trip. Well, this is what we are going to see now!

But just before, if you consider visiting Whistler, you can check these three additional resources:

How many days should you spend in Whistler on a budget?

Budget is a great question when it comes to Whistler because activities tend to be expensive here, especially skiing in winter. In order to save money, you may want to reduce the number of days you stay. This is possible, but be careful not to shorten your trip too much. So, how many days should I stay to do Whistler on a budget?

You can stay 3 full days to do Whistler on a budget and still experience most of the activities of the area. This way, you can ski two full days in winter and have a rest day to do another activity, and hike two full days in summer.

How much does Whistler cost?

To know exactly how long you should stay, you should know a bit more about money. Indeed, you may want to change your plans accordingly to your budget. So let’s get into the prices. How much does Whistler cost?

3 full days in Whistler cost $2583.49. This is for a 4-night stay in a hotel, with 3 full days of skiing for one person taking into account food, plane tickets, skiing, and transportation.

ExpenseAmount (for one person in $)
Hotel$1057.10
Flights$459.36
Lift Tickets (for 3 days)$472.02
Ski rental$275.70
Shuttle$155.40
Food$163.87
Total$2583.49
Data from Whistler on a Budget – How Much I Paid for my Whistler Ski Trip. Credits to Clarissa’s Life

Keep in mind that the table above is for one person. If you want to do a family trip to Whistler, the prices may triple easily. This is why the budget is important when you want to visit Whistler.

During the summer season, the tickets and the hotel prices won’t vary a lot. But the activities may be cheaper because hiking is cheaper than skiing. However, there are still lots of activities to do in summer such as zipline, cycling, or heading to the spa. To know exactly what activities you can expect to do in the area, you should watch the following video.

Credits to Louis Armstrong

By the way, if you really are into hiking, you should read the article about Glacier National Park and Badlands National Park.

Is spending 7 days or more in Whistler worth it?

Now let’s head to the other extreme: staying too long. Even if staying too long is really subjective and depends on what you plan to do, your wallet may be concerned about staying too long in such an expensive ski resort. So, is staying more than a week in Whistler worth it?

Staying more than a week in Whistler in winter is worth it if you are a ski lover with a good budget. But if you do not match those conditions, the trip will not be worth your money. In summer, staying a week is okay if you love hiking.

As you can see in the following video, Whistler is a great place to do activities. But activities cost money. This is the main issue here. If you just take the prices calculated above for 3 days and double them for a week, you are going to spend more than $5000 (for one person!).

Credits to Jackson Lebsack

This is why I would not recommend spending so much time in winter. In summer, however, spending a week in Whistler is okay. For instance, you can cycle one day, hike two days, do zipline one day, and rest one day. Once again, you are the only one who can choose, but if you asked me “how many days should I spend in Whistler?”, I would answer: between 3 and 5 full days.

Now I hope that you know exactly how many days you should spend in Whistler according to your budget and the activities you plan to do. If you are traveling regularly to Canada, there is more to read on my website. I would recommend the articles about Vancouver Island, Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Niagara Falls, and Denali National Park.

Also, if you have a hard time planning trips, you can read the articles about How long does it take to visit Arches National Park, and How many days you should spend in Grand Teton National Park.

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