Highline Trail, Fernie, BC
$125 / night [Search for travel deals offering $199 for 2 nights]
There are many choices for mountain escapes from Calgary. Heading west can take you to Canmore, Lake Louise, Banff, Invermere, and Revelstoke, while heading southwest can get you quickly to Fernie.
Fernie is just about 3 hours southwest of Calgary, just across the BC / Alberta border through the Crowsnest Pass.We stay in Fernie as a pit stop en route to longer trips with the kids. We picked it as a first night break en route to Sandpoint, ID (but because I don’t have a valid passport), we used it as a stop on our way to Nelson.
I grabbed a Groupon for Lizard Creek Lodge, and have seen it floating around for most of the summer. Now that we have come and visited, I’m shocked that the place would have to be on offer to attract visitors.
Lizard Creek Lodge is ski in / ski out, ride in / ride out resort at the foot of the chair lifts in Fernie. The property was built in 99/00 and while some of the furniture could use an upgrade, our room had a cozy chalet feel. The kitchen in our room was bigger than the one at home, the bathtub in the master bedroom has jacuzzi jets. The room has 2 patios, a fireplace, and is big and roomy.






Lizard Creek Lodge has a small pool and hot tub just off the patio of their restaurant. It’s big enough to splash in and cool off, but you’re not going to get any lengths done. It is perfect for kids to splash in. You are right at the foot of the chair lifts at Lizard Creek. We saw people pushing their mountain bikes to the room, you could just as easily see them shooshing their skis to the back patio.
While there’s no lake right in town (Lake Koocanusa is 30 minutes away), Fernie is still a very cute summer spot to get away and go hiking, mountain biking, fishing, rafting, and exploring.
We pulled in at 2:30 and had to wait until our room was ready at 4. That meant splashing pool time before we made dinner in our room and then skipped into town to have ice cream at the Happy Cow. We drove into the historic downtown (a small strip just 4 blocks long) and saw the very quaint Fernie Courthouse.
As it turns out, the unit we stayed in at Lizard Creek Lodge is for sale. $129,900 for a half share of the huge suite. I did the crunching on a mortgage calculator. That’s a mere $550 a month plus the condo fees.
You’d think it would be easy to rent out your 1/2 of the weeks and make that money back in a heartbeat. Well, remember Lizard Creek is on Groupon for most of the summer, and there are some 64 other properties for sale at Fernie.
Maybe it’s not quite the ownership deal it appears. But for a visit? It’s a great place to stay.
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