Welcome to big hearted, fun loving Calgary! A beautiful city packed with trendy restaurants, a lively nightlife scene and all the honky tonk fun you could ever want, Calgary is best known for hosting the annual Calgary Stampede, which happens every July. After settling into your hotel you’ll meet up with your Travel Director this afternoon, then head out to discover the city for yourself.

Ramada Plaza Calgary Downtown

After an orientation tour of Calgary, you’ll be hitting the road this morning in the direction of Banff. The journey is part of the adventure so enjoy watching the changing landscape from the comfort of your seat as the craggy, snow-capped peaks of the Canadian Rockies come into view.

Banff is famed for its world class national parks, glassy emerald green lakes and dramatic vistas, a taste of which you’ll be getting on a sightseeing tour that will take you along Tunnel Mountain Drive, spotting sights such as Cascade Mountain, Mt. Rundle, Bow Falls and the surreal, nature beaten Hoodoo rock formations, which have formed their bizarre twisted shapes over years of erosion from water and wind.

Banff Ptarmigan Inn

Today is set aside as a free day for you to explore the area at your leisure. Consider taking an optional, exhilarating helicopter flightseeing tour, a ride up to the top of Sulphur Mountain at 7,500 feet (2,301 metres) on the Banff gondola or a more in depth exploration of Banff National Park and the surrounding wilderness including world-famous Lake Louise and stunning Moraine Lake. However you choose to explore today, one things for sure – Banff will be an experience you’ll never forget.

Banff Ptarmigan Inn

The magnificent Icefields Parkway awaits you today, a striking 232km stretch of road that cuts straight through the backbone of the Rockies, serving up ancient glaciers, mountain lakes and broad sweeping valleys en route. As you make your way up to the ‘Jewel of the Rockies’, the vibrant turquoise Lake Louise, you will make a short stop before heading on to explore the Columbia Icefield which covers an area of over 200 square miles and is as deep as 1000 feet in parts. Here, you’ll ride the giant Ice Explorer across the Athabasca Glacier for a closer look at this ancient marvel of nature, before heading on to unpretentious, heart-warming Jasper, which sits at heart of one off the most beautiful protected wildernesses in the world.

Lobstick Lodge

Enjoy a full day at leisure in the largest National Park of the Canadian Rockies. The beauty of the area will leave you breathless. Optional activities abound-from a gentle float trip on the scenic Athabasca River, to a wilderness hike to view the glacier on Mount Edith Cavell, or a scenic cruise on Maligne Lake.

Lobstick Lodge

Heading out of Jasper today you’ll continue your journey through Jasper National Park, passing towering pine forests, surging rivers, vast waterfalls and alpine meadows on the way. The crowning glory of your journey will undoubtedly be catching your first glimpse of Mount Robson, the most prominent mountain in the North American Rockies and the highest point in the Canadian range. You’ll then finish your journey in Sun Peaks.

Nancy Greene’s Cahilty Hotel & Suites

Today you will drive to the coast where you will board a ferry bound for Vancouver Island. After docking at Swartz Bay and making the short drive into Victoria, you’ll no doubt be struck by the English influence of the city. An introductory sightseeing tour will take you along the waterfront district and into the downtown area, passing the Parliament Buildings, Government Street and through Beacon Hill Park so you can really get your bearings.

Red Lion Inn and Suites

Breakfast

This morning, enjoy an Iconic Breakfast at world-famous Butchart Gardens in the Blue Poppy Restaurant with its conservatory atmosphere where light pours in through skylights and large windows face the gardens. The rest of the day is free to enjoy the many delights Victoria has to offer.

Comfort Inn and Suites

Breakfast

The outdoorsy, trendy city of Vancouver awaits today, which you’ll reach by ferry. Regarded as one of the world’s most naturally beautiful cities, Vancouver is framed by dramatic vistas on all sides and is the kind of place where, given its proximity to nature, you can ski in the morning and swim in the ocean in the afternoon! You’ll kick off your stay here with a sightseeing tour of historic Gastown, vibrant Chinatown and the green jewel in the city’s crown, the much-loved Stanley Park. With the rest of the day at your disposal, you could opt for a Capilano Suspension Bridge tour, which hangs 70 metres above the Capilano River and really tests your head for heights, or alternatively take to the streets and explore Vancouver’s diverse culinary scene which boasts some of the best Asian cuisine in North America.

Pacific Gateway Hotel

From Canada’s Place Cruise Terminal you will board the ms Volendam to begin the next stage of your adventure, the Alaska Cruise. Your ship sails at 4:30 p.m.

Dinner

Your first full day at sea and there’s plenty of time to ease into shipboard life and take in the amazing scenery of the Inside Passage. The fabled Inside Passage is one of the most scenic sea-lanes in the world, and one of the few where deep-draft vessels can sail close to steep mountain walls.

The scenery is unbelievable, with forests in a hundred shades of green, tumbling turquoise glaciers, and evocative towns loaded with history, culture and adventure. With most of Southeast Alaska accessible only by boat or plane, the Inside Passage is a lifeline to the outside world. All day long it hums with activity.

Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Nestled between 3,000-foot high granite walls, the narrow, twisting slice of ocean called Tracy Arm Fjord weaves through the Tongass National Forest for roughly 35 miles. The shoreline is spotted with waterfalls created by melting snowcaps and trees sprouting at odd angles from rocky outcroppings.

The dramatic Sawyer Glaciers at the end of Tracy Arm are framed by mountains on either side, and are often bathed in a light mist that amplifies the blue hue of the ice. The glaciers also are home to black and brown bears, wolves, deer and moose, and seals and whales make their home in the fjord’s icy waters.

Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Some of the aspiring Klondike gold rushers who made it to Skagway took a look at the long journey that lay ahead of them and decided a change of profession was in order. So many of them set up shop as provisioners in Skagway, the largest city in Alaska by the end of the 19th century. Booms fade and dreams move on, but the glory days still reverberate through the town.

Ride the antique White Pass and Yukon narrow-gauge railway, step into the Red Onion Saloon or peruse the restored buildings and wooden boardwalks of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park.

Breakfast, lunch, dinner

If you didn’t know any better, you’d think Glacier Bay ostentatious for the way it flaunts its ice. The glaciers practically terminate in your lap. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site that protects a unique ecosystem of plants and animals living in concert with an ever-changing glacial landscape.

When a monumental chunk of ice splits off a glacier and thunders into the sea the impact shoots water hundreds of feet into the air. You hold your breath as you catch the moment on film. Then you wait for it all to happen again. And it does: Glacier Bay has more actively calving tidewater glaciers than anyplace else in the world.

Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Ketchikan clutches the shores of the Tongass Narrows, with many shops and houses built right out over the water. The stairways are weathered and the vibe is cheerful in the town that calls itself the Salmon Capital of the World. Besides the main attractions – Creek Street, the Tongass Historical Museum, Totem Bight State Park and Saxman Village – try a flightseeing trip to Misty Fjords National Monument.

These deep-water fjords were gouged out by retreating glaciers, leaving granite cliffs towering thousands of feet above the sea and countless waterfalls plunging into placid waters.

Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Returning through the Inside Passage, soak in the crisp air and phenomenal scenery on your final day at sea.

Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Sail into Vancouver Harbour this morning, depart the cruise ship and make your way to the airport for your flight back to the UK.

Breakfast