2010 VANCOUVER OLYMPICS
Join our Vancouver stringer, Celeste Moure, for daily happenings from the host city.

When in Vancouver, the CHI Spa at the Shangri-La Hotel, the latest addition to the city's luxury hotel scene, is a must! It features five individual treatment rooms outfitted with their own fireplace, relaxation lounge, changing and vanity area, and private bath and shower—basically a “spa within a spa.” Through March 31, the spa is offering Olympic-inspired treatments. My favorite is the Bronze Medal Body massage, which uses a rich mix of organic seaweed from the Pacific, pumpkin and olive oil.

The hotel itself occupies the first 15 floors of a 61-story landmark (the tallest building in town, also built to LEED Silver certifications). Natural materials, warm lighting and designer furnishings from B&B Italia fuse perfectly with Asian flourishes. The spacious 119 rooms are equipped with iPod docking stations, flat-screen TVs in the bed and in the marble bathrooms, and floor-to-ceiling windows that let guests take in the city views and the fleeting Northwestern sunlight. Three-star Michelin chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten presides at MARKET, which features four distinct dining atmospheres (a casual bistro with a fireplace, a heated outdoor terrace, a raw bar, and sophisticated fine dining room) and an impressive menu that focuses on regionally inspired cuisine with an emphasis on seafood.