Night at the Fairmont Château Lake Louise

This post may contain affiliate links in which I make a small commission if you click you and make a purchase, at no extra cost to you!

Oh. My. Goodness. It was an absolute dream to finally stay at the Château Lake Louise for the first time! All the years that I’ve lived in Calgary, and all the times that I’ve visited Lake Louise, I never stayed at the Fairmont. But the day before Christmas Eve, that changed.

Jason and I were at first quite hesitant to make the splurge. Especially with it being the Christmas season and all, we knew the pricing wasn’t going to exactly be on the low side. But I’ll explain why in the end we were thrilled to have made the decision to stay here. Keep scrolling to watch our cinematic vlog of our time here!

Fairmont Gold Package

Being as it was the first time that we were staying here, Jason and I wanted to make the most out of our one-night stay. I mean it’s not everyday that you get to stay in a château! We opted in for the lake view and a decently sized room, but what really stood out for this specific room was the Fairmont Gold package. What is the Gold package you ask? At this Fairmont location, Gold guests get their own check-in location, own concierge, a luxury-designed room or suite on the top two floors (floors 7-8) of the building, special amenities and exclusive access to the Gold Lounge. The latter was what rang silver bells in our heads.

You might be asking, what’s so special about a lounge? Well, just like an airport Business lounge, the Gold Lounge offers its guests food and drinks during its opening hours (7am-10pm). Every morning 7am-11am, a full-on breakfast buffet is available for Gold guests and it’s included in your room rate. They even have an omelette station which checks off as an obligatory item on my “good resort” list!

You’re free to come and lurk about the lounge anytime in the day to grab a few pastries, a specialty coffee/tea, and/or play board games. It’s seriously such a comforting and quiet place to be even during the busy season of Christmas. From 5pm to 7pm is canapé time and they certainly had a wide selection of hors-d’œuvres to choose from! Hot appies, cold appies, cheeses and charcuterie, fresh fruit, and lots and lots of desserts! I was stunned that we didn’t need any dinner after that, considering it was all included in our rate!

The resort is truly magical and castle-like, with its grand entrance, ballrooms, and 12-feet high arc windows overlooking the lake!

The Room

The room was spectacular and luxurious, as expected. At 375 sqft, it definitely felt like I could move in. We booked the two-Queen room as the 1-King rooms were no longer available for this tier. I honestly just wanted to retire there and live off the lounge food for the rest of my life. The bathroom was nice and grand with palatial fixtures, a double vanity, marble finishes, a cozy bathtub and a modern glass shower that had a million flow settings. The water closet had a separate door so you could do your business while your partner is brushing their teeth!

A feature that I love to see in resorts is an in-room Nespresso machine, which we certainly had. They even had some Lindt chocolates set by the coffee maker, and during the nighttime turndown service, they even brought in a couple more chocolates and a fresh ice bucket!

We definitely enjoyed spending time in the room. If we stayed here for a few more nights, the drawers and closet were incredibly spacious for all our belongings. Even the entrance way was grand and provided a lot of room to place skates, skis and snowboards!

Christmas at the Fairmont

For two weeks (December 20 to January 4), the Fairmont puts together a holiday season activity guide and schedule for its guests. You can opt in for many complimentary activities, such as their fitness classes, caricature sessions, Bavarian curling, Bingo, movie showings in the ballrooms, hotel history and kitchen tour, evening campfire by the lake and many more. If you wanted someone to put up a Christmas tree in your room, you could!

There are also guided snowshoe treks, horse sleigh rides, and country ski lessons you could enjoy! Dining specials are also a major attraction to staying here during the holiday season. During Christmas Eve, Day and New Year’s Eve, their different restaurants will have a unique and limited holiday set course menu, which I highly recommend considering.

And of course, the MAIN reason you’re coming out to Lake Louise in the winter is for the skiing and skating! The hotel’s ski and skate rental shop is located right beside its parkade, and this is where we grabbed Jason’s rec skates before heading out to the lake. The lake is massive and has a huge surface to skate on, but note that by this time of the year, it snows A LOT, and that stuff is hard to zamboni off the ice. So we definitely had a rough time skating, as opposed to if we had come in late November. So beware of the ice conditions! But don’t worry, the ice is extremely thick and safe.

This is also the time that the ice castles and sculptures go up as well as the Ice Bar. Be sure to check that out and grab yourself a hot cocoa before hitting the crisp air of the lake, or try out the frozen maple syrup experience! (Check out the video for a glimpse of what I’m talking about.)

Did I love staying at the Fairmont Lake Louise? Yes! Would I go back? Absolutely! I think we’ll try it over the summer next time. But what do you think? Would you want to stay at the Fairmont Lake Louise over the winter?

Like this post? Pin it!