Channel Your Inner Olympian at These 5 North American Olympic Cities

These five former Winter Olympics host cities in North America offer world-class winter sports experiences for everyone.
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    ORDA/Dave Schmidt

    Lake Placid, NY

    This winter wonderland Adirondacks village proved such a gracious Olympic host city in 1932, that it repeated the role in 1980. Lake Placid's Olympic heritage remains omnipresent, and it’s still one of the premier training venues for U.S. Winter Olympic athletes today. Visitors to town can pick up a handy Olympic Sites Passport and set out on a scenic gondola ride to the top of Little Whiteface (or, purchase a lift ticket to ski Olympic mountain Whiteface, touting the highest vertical drop east of the Rockies); ice-skate on the Olympic Speed Skating Oval; tour the mind-boggling, 394-foot-high ski jump tower; visit the Olympic Museum; and more. On select weekends, sign up for an introduction to the obscure sport of biathlon (cross-country skiing and rifle shooting), or time your visit to coincide with Olympic training events or World Cup or other international-style winter sports competitions. Nothing, though, beats the rush of bobsledding down a chute at speeds of up to 55mph, wedged between an expert pilot and brakeman (on select days, daredevils can also try out the luge or skeleton, on the same track).

    Where to Stay: Book the new "Olympic Experience Package" at Whiteface Lodge and get two Olympic Sites Passports, an Olympic-themed welcome amenity, and two sports massages, plus the services of several Sochi Olympics athletes on staff.

  • Tourism Vancouver/Coast Mountain Photography

    Vancouver, British Columbia

    As the most recent Winter Olympics host city (a title it shared with neighboring alpine resort Whistler), Vancouver's 2010 Olympic ties run deep. Gather around for a winning shot in front of downtown's Olympic Cauldron (first lit during the games' opening ceremonies by Canadian hockey legend Wayne Gretzky—the flames are still set aglow on special occasions), or take in an NHL Vancouver Canucks hockey game at Rogers Arena (site of the 2010 gold medal hockey matches). For a more active approach, try white-knuckle public skeleton and bobsled runs at the Whistler Sliding Centre, ice skate at the Richmond Olympic Oval, or follow in the tracks of athletes like American snowboarder Shaun White while skiing and snowboarding on Cypress Mountain, the official Olympic freestyle skiing and snowboarding venue.

    **Where to Stay: **The upscale Fairmont Pacific Rim and Coast Coal Harbour Hotel both emerged on Vancouver's skyline in February 2010, part of a boom of new hotels that debuted in tandem with the Winter Games.

  • Utah Olympic Oval

    Salt Lake City, UT

    Since the city hosted the winter games in 2002, Salt Lake City's Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation ensures that its related games venues are kept up to competition—and tourist-friendly—levels. Stop by the Utah Olympic Oval, which set the stage for the speed skating events, and now offers public programs for speed skating, figure skating, hockey, curling, and more. Or, try the Utah Olympic Park in Park City, which hosted the Nordic ski jumping and Olympic sliding events (bobsled, luge, and skeleton) and is open for adrenaline-inducing bobsled rides. Plus, all three ski resorts (Deer Valley, Park City Mountain, and Snowbasin) that hosted the 2002 skiing and snowboarding events are open to the public, as is Soldier Hollow, venue to the Olympic cross-country and biathlon events.

    **Where to Stay: **Try the Torchlight Inn in Park City, which debuted in December with a half-dozen rooms named for Winter Olympics host cities.

  • Nathan Kendall

    Squaw Valley, CA

    This Lake Tahoe-area resort isn't letting its Olympic legacy fade any time soon. In fact, Squaw Valley just launched brand-new 1960 Winter Games Heritage Tours, offering skiers and snowboarders guided on-mountain tours of the 1960 Games' alpine venues. Look, too, for February's debut of the newly renovated mountaintop Olympic Museum, by the tram at High Camp (also the site of a striking Olympic rings display). Plus, visitors to town during this year's Sochi Games will find a bevy of viewing parties to coincide with all alpine events, accompanied by daily giveaways of skis and snowboards so that even those of us who might not walk away with medals can still feel like winners. (Tip: Keep an eye on this destination—the Lake Tahoe area is looking to once again lure the Winter Games for its 2026 edition).

    Where to Stay: Book the "1960 Olympic Heritage Package" at the recently updated The Village at Squaw Valley, for a plush slope-side stay coupled with tickets for the new Heritage Tours and two-day adult lift tickets.

  • WinSport's Canada Olympic Park

    Calgary, Alberta

    Host to the 1988 Games, Calgary is the only host city to continually employ all of its game-related facilities for training, competition, or public use. Visitors to this Canadian Rockies-fronted city can have a whirl on the Winter Bobsleigh Ride, where participants hop a bobsled (piloted by a professional, of course) to experience 5G forces and speeds of up to 75mph. If you still need more speed, the Canadian Luge Association offers an introduction to the Olympic sport, plus, a thrilling luge ride, under the instruction of a trained athlete. Plus, if you're in town for this year's Sochi Games, catch the action live while you ski or snowboard Calgary's ski hill at WinSport’s Canada Olympic Park, courtesy of a large outdoor screen streaming the event, or sample Russian-themed specials and drinks in the on-site day lodge's Sochi Fan Central Lounge.

    Where to Stay: Bunk down at The Fairmont Palliser—turning 100 years old this year. The historic hotel was an official Olympic venue and headquarters for the International Olympic Committee back in '88.

    **More on Olympics travel ideas:[_

    Old Olympic Venues You Can Still Visit_ ](http://www.cntraveler.com/daily-traveler/2012/05/olympic-stadiums-summer-winter-games-london-2012)**

    Sochi Olympics Primer

    **Vintage Olympics Posters

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Modern-day explorer, perpetual seeker, and diligent travel scribe Elissa Garay has traveled to and reported on nearly 60 countries around the globe. Tag along on her travels by land and by sea as she reports back on captivating cruises, hot hotels, and timely travel trends. When not out globe-trotting, Elissa... Read more