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Looking for day trips or excursion in an around Vancouver?
Vancouver's neighbouring towns and cities offer the day and weekend traveller
a diversity of sights, sounds and souvenirs.
At its best, travel is the chance to create an orderly schedule and a carefully
defined list of must-see attractions, which, once you’ve arrived, can be
crumpled up and left under the passenger seat.
What follows are five of the province’s nearby destinations and a variety of
suggested activities meant to inspire and incite your inner wanderer. Not all
who wander are lost, as the bumper stickers say, so allow yourself to stray into
whatever pleasures lure you and linger as long as you like. Vacations are too
short for schedules.
VICTORIA BC(1-3 DAYS)
Go experience Victoria’s love affair with Olde England. With its manicured
trees, fish and chip houses, and 19th-century façades.
It is a scenic hour and a half ferry ride away from
Vancouver on Vancouver Island, with first class hotels, hundreds of restaurants
and a large downtown, with plenty of shopping There is plenty to see and do in
Victoria BC the Capital of British Columbia.
To Start off you can walk from the Empress’s central Inner Harbour location to
several other attractions: the Parliament Buildings, the Royal British Columbia
Museum and the Maritime Museum of B.C. If you have children in tow, you can
reward their lack of fidgeting at teatime with visits to Miniature World (the
world’s largest dollhouses and the world’s smallest sawmill) and the Royal
London Wax Museum. The wax museum features British royals, historical figures, a
gruesome Chamber of Horrors and, most terrifying of all, various Canadian prime
ministers.
Double-decker tour buses are available for city tours and destinations like
Butchart Gardens and Craigdarroch Castle.
GETTING THERE:
Call BC Ferries at 888-223-3779, for schedules. Victoria Travel InfoCentre is at
250-953-2033 or 800-663-3883.
The
Fairmont Empress Hotel, 721 Government St. or a list of other
Victoria BC Hotels
Royal British Columbia Museum, 675 Belleville St., 250-356-7226.
Maritime Museum, 28 Bastion Square, 250-385-4222.
Miniature World, 649 Humboldt St., 250-385-9731.
Royal London Wax Museum, 470 Belleville St., 877-WAX-FACT.
Double-decker buses: Grayline of Victoria, 800-663-8390; Victoria Regional
Transit, 250-382-6161.
Butchart Gardens, 800 Benvenuto Ave., Brentwood Bay, 866-652-4422.
Craigdarroch Castle, 1050 Joan Cres., 250-592-5323.
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TOFINO & THE COWICHAN (2-5 DAYS)
You can eat and drink your way through on a tour through the Cowichan Valley on
Vancouver Island, Canada’s answer to Provence.
 One
meaning of “Cowichan” in the Coast Salish language is “the warm land” and the
name fits: residents enjoy the highest mean temperature in Canada. Over the past
20 years, an impressive mix of organic farmers, slow-food visionaries,
microbrewers and estate vintners have gathered to take advantage of the region’s
rich soil. Their gourmet talents have spawned a thriving foodie culture. You can
take a leisurely cycling tour of local wineries like Vigneti Zanatta, learn to
forage and cook with wild mushrooms at The Aerie resort’s annual Great Fall
Mushroom Hunt or sample Trappist-style artisan cheeses at Hilary’s Cheeses
(available at the downtown Duncan Farmer’s Market or right from the source at
Cheese Pointe Farm).
Lush valleys like the Cowichan can lull one for days, but while you’re on
Vancouver Island you should buckle in for the three-hour drive to Tofino on the
western coast. Rugged and wild (“storm watching” is a local pastime), Tofino is
Canada’s surfing capital and home to both the Tofino Food and Wine Festival and
the elegant Wickaninnish Inn, aka “the Wick.” Spend your day hiking the beach
trails or trying to paddle your board past the breakers; at night rest your
muscles and trade stories over roasted Clayoquot oysters and lemongrass halibut
at the Wick’s exceptional Pointe Restaurant. Ruggedness never tasted so good.
GETTING THERE:
For ferry information, call BC Ferries at 888-223-3779. CraigAir (877-886-3466)
offers daily flights to Tofino for winter storm-watching season, with frequency
increasing in June. Contact Tourism Vancouver Island, 250-754-3500, for more
info.
Merridale Estate Cidery, 1230 Merridale Road, Cobble Hill, 800-998-9908.
Vigneti Zanatta, 5039 Marshall Rd., Duncan, 250-748-2338.
Cheese Pointe Farm, 1282 Cherry Point Rd., Cowichan Bay, 250-715-0563.
The Aerie Resort, Malahat, 800-518-1933, www.aerie.bc.ca.
Wickaninnish Inn, the Pointe Restaurant, Osprey Lane, Tofino, 800-333-4604.
Tofino Food and Wine Festival, June 2-4, 2006, 250-266-0076.
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WHISTLER (1-3 DAYS)
Whistler VillageJust 2
hours north of Vancouver,
lies ,
a charming Boutique and cafe lined alpine village, and home to the
2010 Winter Olympics
 Winter
at Whistler is, in a word, huge. Over 8,000 skiable acres encompass groomed
schusses, snowboard pipes, brutally steep mogul fields and some of the world’s
best bowl skiing. For those who prefer not to ski, there are other ways to spend
your time besides shopping the village and drinking consecutive Irish coffees.
An experienced musher and team of huskies will tour you via dogsled through the
Soo Valley Wildlife Reserve, or you can work up a sweat on a guided snowshoe
trek through forests of hemlock and old-growth cedar.
Whistler broke new ground and aroused the envy of resort operators worldwide in
2001 with its summer Mountain Bike Park. Open May to October, the terrain park
gets bigger every season; everyone from green beginners to log-jumping experts
can improve their trail-riding skills and put the vertical to good use. Wildlife
tours, five golf courses and nearby flyfishing and river kayaking round out the
warm-weather action. Be careful of the après-ski nightclub culture, though: it’s
seductive in a whole other way.
GETTING THERE:
Drive north on Highway 99, the scenic “Sea to Sky Highway,” or bus it with
Perimeter’s Whistler Express, 877-317-7788,
www.perimeterbus.com Call
Tourism Whistler, 877-991-9988, for more info.
Accommodations at Whistler
Fairmont Chateau Whistler |
Crystal Lodge |
Holiday Inn Whistler |
Residence Inn Whistler
Westin Hotel Whistler
| Cascade Lodge
| Pinnacle Hotel
| Whistler Village Inn
Whistler-Blackcomb, 866-218-9690.
Dogsledding: Cougar Mountain Adventures, 888-297-2222.
Guided snowshoe trek: Outdoor Adventures, 604-932-0647.
Horseback riding: Adventure Ranch, Pemberton, 604-894-5200.
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GULF ISLANDS (1-3 DAYS)
 Whatever
your speed—sea kayaking among orcas, touring around a local artist market or
relaxing fireside—there’s a Gulf Island to suit.
Outdoor adventures aren’t necessarily the main reason to visit the Gulf Islands.
It’s quite legitimate to spend five days shacking up in a B&B that serves
organic espresso, buying pottery from an artist who lives “in one of those Bucky
Fuller domes” and reading last year’s magazines by a bay window overlooking the
strait.
If such comforts on their own sound like an invitation to a coma, adventures are
readily available. Seasonal activities include fishing, swimming, beach walking,
scuba diving, bike tours, sailing and, best of all, kayaking.
The Gulf Islands, like the San Juans to the south, are renowned as some of the
best kayaking in the world for the gorgeous scenery and frequent sightings of
orcas and other mammals. Kayaking at night in bioluminescent waters is also, as
the locals might say, a trip. But be sure to get expert advice or a guide: the
strong currents and treacherous tidal phenomena are equally legendary.
Once you’ve satisfied your outdoorsy cravings, you can head in for a pint or
three at an island pub like the Hummingbird Inn on Galiano. This is where you’ll
find the occasional adventurous Vancouverite, playing darts and recuperating
after a one-kilometre bike ride from a rented cottage.
GETTING THERE:
For ferry information, call BC Ferries at 888-223-3779. Contact Tourism
Vancouver Island, 250-754-3500, for Gulf Islands travel info.
Kayaking: Batstar, 877-449-1230.
Tours: Great White Charters, 250-818-6050.
Hummingbird Inn, 47 Sturdies Bay Rd., 250-539-5472.
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THE OKANAGAN (2-5 DAYS)
 The
Okanagan Wine Route wends its way to over 50 wineries in the region. Wine
festivals and all manner of activities are tied in with the industry, which vies
for attention with the abundance of apple, peach and cherry orchards. The fun
doesn’t just grow on vines and trees: houseboating on Shuswap Lake and some of
the best golf in the country await your pleasure.
GETTING THERE:
All routes begin with a drive east along Highway 1 to Hope, B.C. Call Thompson
Okanagan Tourism, 800-567-2275.
For some great Golf Courses and wine tours
Kelowna BC is a great place to start your vacation in the Okanagan.
Accommodations in Kelowna
Best Western Inn Kelowna |
Coast Capri Hotel |
The Grand Okanagan Resort and
Casino
Manteo Resort |
Prestige Inn Kelowna
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