Welcome to the USA! After making your way from the airport to your chosen Seattle hotel, head out to explore the shops, bars, restaurants and parks of this coastal city.

Seattle hotel

Enjoy the next two days exploring Seattle. To get a good perspective on the city, you could start with a visit to the viewing deck of the iconic Space Needle, which overlooks Elliott Bay. Next, feel like a Seattleite by immersing yourself in Pike Place Market, with stalls selling everything from fresh fish to local art and crafts. There are plenty of restaurants and eateries to enjoy in the pavilion before you pick up a coffee in the very first Starbucks shop across the road.

For art lovers, there’s Chihuly Garden & Glass, showcasing the impressive glass sculptures of Dale Chihuly, and the renowned  collections of the Seattle Art Museum. Or, for a completely different angle on Seattle’s history, you could join a guided underground tour that explores previous incarnations of the city, before the present version was built on top.

Seattle hotel

Take a scenic 4-hour train ride this morning to Vancouver. A warm welcome awaits amidst the towering peaks of Canada’s Rockies. Spend the day exploring its stunning surroundings, then join your Travel Director and fellow travellers for a memorable Welcome Reception this evening.

Pinnacle Harbourfront, Vancouver

Welcome reception

Vancouver, home to Gastown’s Victorian façades, a vibrant Chinatown and towering Sitka Spruce. Embark on a sightseeing tour of the city’s historic neighbourhood, savouring the smells of freshly steamed Siopao in Chinatown before making your way to the leafy sanctuary of Stanley Park to see the First Nations totem poles. Next, visit the Bill Reid Gallery, dedicated to Northwest Indigenous art, for a docent-led tour, then time to explore on your own.

Enjoy an Italian lunch before continuing by ferry to Vancouver Island for an orientation tour of Victoria.

Chateau Victoria Hotel & Suites

Breakfast, Lunch

Today on your tour, the Garden City comes to life as you greet the day before opening hours with breakfast at Butchart Gardens, a 55-acre showcase of gorgeous floral gardens that have colourfully transformed a once unused quarry. After breakfast, enjoy time in the garden before the crowds. Spend the rest of the day exploring the walkable capital of British Columbia perhaps treating yourself to high tea or tucking into local fish and chips. Or, join an optional whale watching cruise and keep your eyes peeled for orca and humpback whales, bald eagles, porpoises and seals.

Chateau Victoria Hotel & Suites

Breakfast

Cruise by ferry back to the mainland before a short journey to the family-run Maan Farms. Meet your hosts, fourth generation owners, and learn how they turned one small berry stand into a farm that now provides quality produce to locals. Get the inside scoop on a behind-the-scenes winery tour or seasonal U-pick experience of their strawberries, raspberries or blueberries followed by a tasty lunch of Indian-inspired fare. Next up, you’ll make your way to Kamloops for a stay at The South Thompson Inn. Admire the original brick manor and carriage houses of this former racing stable.

South Thompson Inn & Conference Center, Kamloops

Breakfast, Lunch

The grand peak of UNESCO-listed Mount Robson, the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies at 12,972 feet, will make you gasp. Stop at the Mount Robson Visitor Centre postcard-worthy views before continuing to the raw wilderness of Jasper National Park, another UNESCO World Heritage Site, where you’ll spend the next two nights of your tour. If you’re eager to start your exploration of the park, join an optional Jasper guided hike taking in hills, jagged peaks, forests, meadows, marshes, streams and glacial lakes with a licensed guide.

Forest Park Hotel, Jasper

Breakfast

Maligne Canyon springs to life this morning on a guided hike. Later, take to the aqua waters and cruise Maligne Lake to Spirit Island (seasonal), admiring views of its three glaciers and Spirit Island. Then admire more gorgeous views over a delicious lunch with wine at the lakeside Maligne Lake Chalet. Continue your exploration choosing to join an optional excursion easy rafting trip down the Athabasca River, a route used by the “fur traders” over two centuries ago, keeping your eyes peeled for local wildlife. Later tonight, there is an optional theatre performance highlighting the best of this mountain town.

Forest Park Hotel, Jasper

Breakfast, Lunch

Get ready for the icy fingers of the Columbia Icefield as you journey along the Icefields Parkway to Athabasca Glacier. Cross its icy terrain, one of the largest non-polar ice fields in the world, on board a specially designed ‘Ice Explorer’. Your tour takes you to Lake Louise, where there is time to soak in the majestic beauty of the lake and its turquoise, glacier-fed waters fringed by high peaks, deep forests and overlooked by Victoria Glacier. Continue on to the township of Banff, in the heart of UNESCO-listed Banff National Park. The Banff Park Lodge is a short walk from Banff’s restaurants and shops and, if you feel like staying in, has multiple on-site restaurants.

Banff Park Lodge

Breakfast

Banff is yours to explore. Opt to take the Brewster Banff Gondola Ride to the top of Sulphur Mountain for a bird’s eye view of six mountain ranges of the Canadian Rockies. And after lunch on your own, the Three Sisters Peak or Mount Assiniboine will impress on optional helicopter flights. Then enjoy Banff sightseeing including Bow Falls, Surprise Corner and other local sights. Tonight, join your fellow travellers for a Farewell Dinner celebrating all you’ve seen on your tour.

Banff Park Lodge

Breakfast, Dinner

Descend from the glorious Canadian Rockies and transfer to Calgary International Airport for your flight home.

Breakfast