Tour 13: Canadian Rockies Explorer Tour (5 Days, 4 Nights)

There are many miles ahead of us but the distance is well worth it! This tour will reveal the remarkable, beautiful, and rugged place that is British Columbia and the adjacent Rockies. Come with us as we show you our home and native land- remote yet connected, wild yet friendly.

Starting out early in the morning, we’ll head north from Vancouver, stopping for coffee in the future Olympic village of Whistler, before continuing along the Duffy Lake Road to Lillooet. We’ll stop for lunch on the historic Main Street before we continue upstream along the explosive Fraser River to Cache Creek and Kamloops where we’ll spend the night on the hillside over looking the confluence of the North and South Thompson Rivers.

On the second day, we’ll continue along the North Thompson River stopping in at Mount Robson for a late lunch. We’ll rejoin the now nascent Fraser River and travel beyond its source, over the Continental Divide and into Jasper National Park, arriving into the Jasper Inn mid-afternoon. After a short tour of the town site and checking into the hotel, we’ll drive up into the Maligne River valley for an excellent chance to see bears, elk, moose, mountain sheep... and peace. The evening you’ll be free to explore the village and have dinner on your own. Take care not to step in elk poop on the sidewalks!

On the third day, we’re off to travel along Canada’s Wondertrail- the Icefield’s Parkway. We’ll pause for coffee at the Sunwapta Falls Resort, before stopping at the Icefields Centre and the Columbia Icefield’s SnoCoach. Once you’ve returned from the SnoCoach, we’ll make our way into Banff National Park, along the North Saskatchewan River valley to The Crossing where we’ll stop for a quick and late lunch. We’ll then continue along the Mistaya River stopping to look over the iridescent blue waters of Peyto Lake. We’ll drop in on Lake Louise for a coffee before arriving into Banff and our hotel of choice, the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, in the late afternoon.

Our fourth day will see us head over the Continental Divide, stopping to view the Spiral Tunnels in Yoho National Park, an amazing engineering feat that made travel by railway through the Canadian Rockies safe. We’ll continue through the towns of Field and Golden, stopping in Glacier National Park for a late lunch at the summit of the Roger’s Pass. After continuing through the mountain towns of Revelstoke and Sicamous, we’ll end our day at the Sunflower Bed and Breakfast in Vernon.

Finally, on our fifth day, we’ll depart for a little Okanagan valley wine-tasting, stopping at the Grey Monk and Mission Hill wineries before continuing along the Coquihalla and Trans-Canada highways, arriving back into the Vancouver region by dinner-time.