Herb Garden
Located on the 3rd floor of the hotel rests a 2,100 square foot herb garden introduced in 1991, that also became one of Vancouver's first green roofs. Reflecting The Fairmont Waterfront's eco hotel philosophy, the garden plays home to over sixty varieties of herbs, vegetables, fruits and edible blossoms, as well as over 10 different species of local birds. The Chef uses the bounty from the garden daily in Herons West Coast Kitchen + Bar menus, and to create culinary masterpieces in the kitchen. Find out more about our Vancouver eco hotel initiatives.

Honeybee Apiary
September marked the end of summer, and also The Fairmont Waterfront's annual Honey Harvest! The Honey Harvest brought in over 600 pounds of honey from our nearly 500,000 resident honeybees. The bees forage over 26 square miles and bring back honey from over 60 different species of plants, collecting The Fairmont Waterfront’s largest volumes of honey from two sources, blackberry blossoms and American bamboo blossoms. Our busy bees will visit over 1 million flowers to produce one pound of honey. The hives were so productive this year that three of them successfully raised new queens, enabling the hotel to split the three two queen colonies, creating a total of 8 wintering hives. Only 5 will return to the hotel, and the remainder will be used in local farms for pollination.

Watch our Honey Bee Video>

Our bees winter at the Honeybee Centre in Cloverdale, B.C. and reside in the Fairmont Waterfront harbor garden from May to September each year. "Bee" sure to join us all year long in Herons West Coast Kitchen + Bar as the Chef creates new dishes such as honey ganache chocolates and honey cedar burnt pecorino cheese using our very own honey.

Herb Garden and Bee Hive Tours
Our dedicated hotel experts would be happy to provide our guests a guided Herb Garden & Honeybee Tour. Guests may join us for regularly scheduled tours Monday - Thursday at 3:00pm (weather permitting, space based on availability). Please contact our Concierge at (604) 691-1991 for additional information or to confirm a reservation.

Additional Honeybee Information
Our resident honeybees make the harbor garden their home from May through September. Introduced in June of 2008, the bees have since increased the productivity of the herb garden with pollination, as well as inspired creative new dishes on the lunch, dinner and cocktails menus created by our Executive Chef and his team.

Garden Views
Enjoy the view of the herbs and flowers from your Fairmont guestroom or request a Terrace Room with a private patio leading out to the garden.