SmarterTravel Spotlight: Nimmo Bay Resort, British Columbia

There's a 95 percent chance Senior Editor Christine Sarkis is thinking about travel right now. Follow her on Instagram @postcartography and Twitter @ChristineSarkis.

Christine Sarkis is an SATW-award-winning journalist and executive editor at SmarterTravel. Her stories have also appeared on USA Today, Conde Nast Traveler, Huffington Post, and Business Insider. Her advice has been featured in dozens of print and online publications including The New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, and People magazine. She has also shared travel tips on television and radio shows including Good Morning America, Marketplace, and Here & Now. Her work has been published in the anthologies Spain from a Backpack and The Best Women's Travel Writing 2008. She is currently working on a travel memoir.

The Handy Item I Always Pack: The Trtl Pillow. It's easy to pack and comfortable, and makes it so I can actually sleep on flights.

Ultimate Bucket List Experience: Seeing the Aurora Borealis from the comfort of somewhere warm, like a glass igloo or hot spring.

Travel Motto: Curiosity is an amazing compass.

Aisle, Window, or Middle Seat: Aisle all the way.

Email Christine Sarkis at editor@smartertravel.com.

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The wilderness lodge Nimmo Bay Resort offers all-inclusive stays of three, four, or seven nights throughout its May-through-October season. The rate includes accommodations, local and lodge-based activities, all meals, and access to resort amenities like its waterfall-adjacent hot tubs and daily yoga classes. Nimmo Bay Resort is a luxury resort, but it manages to create an environment in which luxury feels less like garden-variety exclusivity and more like the privilege of deep connection.

The Location

Nimmo Bay Resort kayaking — Jeremy Koreski

Nimmo Bay Resort offers some of the world’s most pristine natural beauty. Located deep in the Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia—the world’s largest unspoiled temperate rainforest—the resort is accessible only by seaplane, boat, or helicopter. The peaceful cluster of cottages along the water’s edge on a small, sheltered bay offers the feeling of having a national park all to yourself. Because you pretty much do, though you’ll share all this nature with an exciting variety of wildlife, including bald eagles, bears, dolphins, porpoises, whales, seals, and sea lions.

The Rooms

Nimmo Bay Resort cabins interior — Jeremy Koreski

The small resort has nine two-bedroom, one-bathroom cabins with living rooms and outdoor seating. The six intertidal cabins sit along the water’s edge, while the three forest cabins are tucked back into the trees next to the resort’s cascading waterfall. All cabins have ultra-comfortable pillow-top mattresses with Stonewashed linen cotton bedding, a constantly refreshing supply of house-made cookies, plus complimentary wines (mostly local British Columbia reds and whites), juice, beer, tea, and coffee. The cabins offer a beautiful and peaceful place to soak up the scenery.

Dining

Nimmo Bay Resort culinary experience and dinner on beach — Jeremy Koreski

When you’re at Nimmo Bay Resort, there’s nowhere else to go, but the resort rises to the challenge by offering creative, hyperlocal, and sustainable meals that change each day. Often, on the first night, there will be an a la carte menu, followed by a tasting menu on the second night, and a family-style meal on the third. In addition to meals in the dining room, there are also picnics and other al fresco meals. Cocktail hour brings drinks made with tinctures from local plants and flowers and intriguing appetizers—think nootka-rose tinctures, cedar-infused rye, local halibut beignets, and duck rillette tempura.

Activities

Nimmo Bay Resort massage outdoors — Jeremy Koreski

During your stay, you’ll meet each morning and evening with your guest experience optimizer, who will ask you a series of questions meant to gauge your mood, energy level, and interests. The optimizer will then create a day for you that might include wildlife sightings, beach picnics, hiking, kayaking, forest bathing, whale watching, fishing, massage, or other activities. Adventure here is tailored to each guest on a daily basis. It creates a sense of expectation and mystery, but also a feeling that each day brings exactly what it should.

Price and How to Book: Per-person nightly rates at Nimmo Bay Resort start at about $1,500 CAD. To book, call 800-837-4354 or book online.

More from SmarterTravel:

Christine Sarkis visited Nimmo Bay Resort as a guest of the resort. Follow her on Instagram @postcartography for more advice about making every vacation the best vacation.

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