Gray Line offers West Coast sightseeing with one- to two-day tours of Victoria and the Butchart Gardens. Visitors board the bus and take a 90-minute ferry ride aboard a British Columbia ferry to Vancouver Island. This scenic 90-minute ferry ride sails past many of the Southern Gulf Islands. The tour continues with exploring the Butchart Gardens, a former limestone quarry that transformed into a year-round, 55-acre display garden. Visitors also journey to the provincial capital to see Victoria's downtown waterfront and Inner Harbour near the Legislative Buildings. Extra options include high tea at the Empress Hotel and whale watching.
Holland America offers one- to two-week Alaska cruise tours that depart from Vancouver's cruise ship terminal at Burrard Inlet. A Glacier Bay Inside Passage cruise takes passengers to the Alaska ports of Tracy Arm, Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay and Ketchikan. Visitors can witness whale migrations and rugged tidewater glaciers that line the West Coast. Shore excursions can include the Tongass National Forest, the U.S.'s largest national forest, and the Mt. Roberts Tramway for a panoramic view.
Rocky Mountaineer offers rail vacation packages that depart from East Vancouver and head northeast to Calgary or Jasper. The trademark First Passage to the West tour travels via the lush Fraser Valley and rugged Fraser and Thompson Canyons. Visitors spend the night in a hotel in Kamloops, a small city near the Thompson River. The next day's journey approaches the historic site of the Last Spike, where the Canadian Pacific Railway's construction was completed in 1885. The tour allows visitors to see the glaciers and scenic natural wonder of the Rocky Mountains including the Spiral Tunnels before heading to Banff National Park or to Calgary as a final destination.
The trademark Journey Through the Clouds route to Jasper, Alberta heads northeast to Kamloops via the farmland, Coast Mountains and river canyons of British Columbia's interior. The second day of travel takes to the Monashee Mountains of eastern B.C. and the glaciers of the Albreda Icefields. Visitors lucky enough to travel on a clear day can see the 12,000-foot-high Mount Robson. The journey ends in Jasper, home of the largest national park of the Canadian Rockies.
