Beautiful Semiahmoo Resort
Here's some great articles and links about Semiahmoo:
- Semiahmoo information site
- Semiahmoo difficult course to top - bham herald
- Semiahmoo Resort - NWsource
Semiahmoo opened its doors in 1987 as Washington's largest full-service destination resort. After a full day of golfing, sailing, or touring this gorgeous area take advantage of Semiahmoo's luxurious spa or relax in the hot tub, sauna, or steam room. The resort is also home to the number one and number three rated golf courses in Washington state: Loomis Trail Golf Club and Semiahmoo Golf & Country Club - the perfect distraction for husbands during your workshop or shopping spree!
Semiahmoo is located at the tip of a mile-long natural spit, which juts into Puget Sound, forming the entrance to Drayton Harbor and framed by Semiahmoo Bay at Blaine, Washington. The resort is within view of Peace Arch Park at the U.S./Canadian border and is less than an hour drive from Vancouver, British Columbia. The two-hour drive from Seattle - whether you choose the direct route along i-5 or the more leisurely option on world-famous Chuckanut Drive - will reward you with one of the most scenic stretches of highway in the Pacific Northwest. With gorgeous views on every side, we think Semiahmoo provides the perfect backdrop for beautiful beads!
Retreat to the extraordinary at Semiahmoo Resort. Our seaside hotel features a luxurious spa and two of Washington’s top public courses; Loomis Trail Golf Club and Semiahmoo Golf & Country Club.
Nestled on the northern Puget Sound shoreline in Blaine, Washington, and overlooking Semiahmoo Bay and Drayton Harbor, Semiahmoo offers a multitude of resort activities in an exceptional setting.
Semiahmoo History:
This narrow spit of land near the border between Washington and British Columbia, originally occupied by a Coast Salish tribe, was the longtime site of one of the West Coast's largest salmon canneries, which operated into the 1970s. The resort, originally called the Inn at Semiahmoo, opened in 1987, a year after the nearby Arnold Palmer-designed Semiahmoo golf course. In 1999, Bellingham-based Trillium acquired the resort and in 2000 acquired a second golf course, Loomis Trail. In 2003, the Upper Skagit Tribe, which operates the Skagit Valley Resort & Casino north of Burlington, purchased a share of the Semiahmoo Resort and became its managing partner.
Visiting Semiahmoo Resort:
Why do lights, like those of White Rock, B.C., appear to twinkle when viewed at a distance, like from the balcony of our second-floor room across Semiahmoo Bay?
The beauty of being able to gear down at a destination resort two hours from home — no airport hassle, no border crossing (for U.S. visitors), no marathon drive — means you really don't have to answer that question.
Sure, there's some atmospheric/scientific explanation of why lights twinkle, but for now, you just sit back, feel the mild salty breeze and enjoy the fact that they do.
Despite its plentiful amenities — renovated spa, two golf courses, fine restaurants, well-equipped fitness center, nearby marina — the greatest asset of this 20-year-old resort remains the incredible piece of real estate it sits on, with views northeast to the Peace Arch border at Blaine, north to mainland British Columbia and west to B.C.'s Gulf Islands.
Over the years, the resort has changed hands, and some returning visitors noted that its original luster has faded. But its current owners have invested in significant maintenance and improvements and say more are on the way.
Even through the transition, the resort has held AAA's coveted Four Diamond rating for the past 11 years, a distinction awarded to only 3.4 percent of the properties reviewed.
And it's hard to imagine a much more pleasant location in which to smack a golf ball, enjoy a massage, savor imaginative entrées in waterfront restaurants or simply walk a sandy beach in a 1,100-acre wildlife preserve frequented by blue heron, osprey, cormorants and the occasional bald eagle.
The rooms
It's worth spending a little extra to get a water view, especially at sunset, when you can sit out on a deck just large enough for two patio chairs and watch the rosy glow of twilight. If it gets cold, just duck back inside, pull up the wooden blinds and enjoy the same view, minus the breeze.
Our deluxe room included a king-size bed with a thick floral-print bedspread and extra pillows, large sofa bed, desk, coffee table and a pine armoire containing a 27-inch TV above a chest of drawers. (We didn't actually use the television, but it offers 31 channels of free cable and, at an additional charge, movies.)
Dining
Stars is the hotel's upscale dining room, which picks up the bright, wood-beamed theme of the lobby, accented by live plants. A pianist performs Friday and Saturday evenings.
It looks out on Semiahmoo Bay, but diners in the more casual Packers Lounge and Oyster Bar actually have a more direct view, due to an indoor corridor running between the Stars dining room and the beach.
At Stars, my grilled king salmon with local mushrooms over couscous risotto ($26) was firm and flavorful; my wife enjoyed the seared jumbo scallops over cabbage and potato minicakes with bits of bacon ($24.) Pricier options included filet mignon with portobello mushrooms ($44) and a veal rib chop ($39.) A tip: Don't "bond" with anything on the menu until your waiter tells you what's special — and what's absent — that night. My first entree and wine choice were not available, but plenty of other options were.
Packers, where entrees ranged from about $16 to $30, was busier, with a lively bar and a half-dozen tables outside on the deck.
Dining options include not just the restaurants at the hotel but those at the resort's two golf courses.
The details
• We were encouraged to make dinner reservations when we booked our room, but on the Sunday night we were there, business in Stars was sparse. Service was efficient and attentive, but not intrusive.
• The wine list offered about a dozen glasses at $6.50 or $7, inexpensive by Seattle (or resort) standards. The several pages of wines by the bottle included a smattering under $30, a good variety in the $30-$40 range and premium selections reaching into three digits.
• The Great Blue Heron Grill, at the Semiahmoo Golf & Country Club, is the fancier of the golf-course restaurants, with views out onto the course.
• Big-breakfast lovers hit the Pierside (in the main hotel) on Sundays with its selection of three-egg omelets, waffles, croissants and more. If you prefer a modest breakfast, save time and money by grabbing a latte and a pastry at the coffee counter in the hotel's gift shop.
Golf
The reports are true: There is water on every hole of the Loomis Trail course, rated as one of the most difficult in the state. But this bogey golfer found it not as treacherous as I had feared; I lost only three golf balls.
I played on an even-numbered date, when the Semiahmoo Golf & Country Club course, three miles from the hotel, is reserved for members, and the public (including resort guests) plays Loomis Trail, eight miles from the hotel.
On odd-numbered days, the courses switch roles. Courtesy shuttles are available from the hotel to either course, and Loomis Trail's huge Tudor-style clubhouse even has 15 guest rooms, generally used in connection with golf events.
Both courses have appeared on golf publications' lists of the best in the state. Loomis Trail meanders through a largely flat birch forest. Semiahmoo follows the gentle contour of a hillside through a housing development closer to the water.
In the summer, nearly half of the resort's guests use the golf courses.
The details
• Under summer rates, which apply through September, hotel guests pay $55 Monday-Thursday to golf, and $65 on the weekends, $10 less than nonguests. Discounts are available for early-bird or twilight play. Power carts are $15 each person.
• Golf-plus-room package rates are available, which include golf for two, or one round of golf and a $100 credit at the spa.
• Hotel reservation clerks can also book golf tee times, and it's a good idea to book your tee time ahead, particularly on summer weekends, because the course is open to the public.
• Both courses are walkable, particularly Loomis Trail, but I saw far more people riding, perhaps a reflection that golf packages include the use of a power cart.
Other activities
Of all the resort's amenities, the European-style spa has seen the greatest expansion in recent years and is also open to nonguests. Its extensive menu (posted on the resort's Web site) runs from a half-hour Swedish massage ($60) through an array of massages, facials, skin treatments, hot stones, seaweed wrap, manicures, bikini waxing — all the way up to a seven-week "slimness package" for $2,800.
Though the spa is pricey, use of the Fitness Center & Health Club is included with your room. It has several treadmills, stationary bicycles, stair-climbing machines, free weights and about a dozen weight-training machines, with stretching area, mats, pitchers of ice water and towels at the ready, even a banked, indoor, hard-rubber running track — 20 laps make a mile.
Among other activities at the resort, besides beachwalking, are tennis (indoor and outdoor), pingpong, volleyball and horseshoes.
A great bird-watching opportunity is available weekends (Friday-Sunday) through Labor Day on the 17-passenger Plover, a 1944-vintage ferry used during salmon-cannery days. The boat, owned by the city of Blaine and operated by the Drayton Harbor Maritime Society, offers 20-minute trips to Blaine's harbor for a suggested $2 donation for adults.
The details
• The outdoor pool, heated to 83 degrees, is open year-round, as is a large hot tub under cover nearby.
• The resort has six tennis courts: an indoor court and outdoor court at the hotel, and two of each at the Semiahmoo golf course.
• Locker rooms serving the pool and fitness center have saunas and steam rooms and are stocked with complimentary shaving cream, body lotion, mouthwash and pump-spray (environmentally friendly) deodorant and baby-changing tables.
• For visitors arriving by boat, the adjacent Semiahmoo Marina, under separate ownership, usually has moorage available for rent (360-371-0440 or semiahmoomarina.com).
Resort & Travel Information
For more hotel info visit www.semiahmoo.com
Travel Info:
Driving Directions
From the south:T
- Take i-5 north (approximately 20 minutes north of Bellingham)
- Exit 270 (Birch Bay Lynden)
- Turn Left on Birch Bay Lynden Rd (4.1 mi)
- Turn Right on Harbor View Rd (1 mi)
- Turn Left on Lincoln Rd (4.8 mi)
- Lincoln Rd. turns into Semiahmoo Parkway, which ends at the Semiahmoo Resort parking lot.
From Canada:
- Cross the border at the Blaine Peace Arch Border Crossing
- Exit 276 (Blaine - first exit after the border)
- Turn Right on Peace Portal Drive (3.4 km through downtown Blaine)
- Turn Right on Bell Rd (1.6 km)
- Turn Right on Drayton Harbor Rd (1.1 km)
- Bear Left on Harbor View Rd (1.1 km)
- Turn Right on Lincoln Rd (7.7 km)
- Lincoln Rd. turns into Semiahmoo Parkway, which ends at the Semiahmoo Resort parking lot.
 
Bellingham International Airport is located approximately 30 minutes from Semiahmoo with access from I-5, and Vancouver International Airport is located approximately 45 minutes from Semiahmoo (plus a border crossing). Rental cars and shuttles are both available.
Amtrak service connects Seattle, Bellingham, and Vancouver (BC) daily. For tickets and more information call 1-800-USA-RAIL or go to www.Amtrak.com
Bellingham is also the southern connection for the Alaska Marine Highway System. Ferries and charter vessels also provide connections to Victoria, British Columbia, and the San Juan Islands.
Border Crossing Information:
Crossing the U.S./Canadian Border is usually a smooth process. Expect it to take 10-30 minutes, and longer during high-traffic volume periods. For specific information, contact the Canadian Border Services Agency at 604-666-0547 or the US Customs / Border Protection at 360-332-6318. |