This first-class 4-day holiday features a perfect, compact itinerary for experiencing two of British Columbia’s prettiest coastal cities: sophisticated Vancouver and the charming capital of Victoria.
You will travel by tour bus, ferry, and floatplane. Enjoy three wonderful nights in Vancouver and a day excursion to Victoria completes your fabulous two-city experience.
Following your arrival in Vancouver, check in to your hotel, your home for the next three nights, then head out to explore some of Vancouver’s quirky and quaint neighbourhoods. You will see a lot of the city on your next day’s comprehensive sightseeing tour, so today is a good day for a deeper dive into one of Vancouver’s neighbourhoods: Yaletown, upper Granville Street, boutique-heavy Robson Street, or funky Gastown are good choices.
Start in Yaletown with a pint at one of the local brew pubs. Trendy Yaletown offers a large selection of sunny outdoor patios and little boutiques set along heritage brick walkways. If time permits, experience the serenity of the neighbourhood’s creek-front seawall or climb aboard a hop-on, hop-off False Creek ferry: these cute little boats bob around the creek (actually an inlet that opens into English Bay), with stops at Science World, Granville Island public market, and sandy Kitsilano Beach, among others.
After exploring Yaletown, stroll or taxi to waterfront Gastown to admire the heritage buildings and do some souvenir shopping. If time permits, finish up with a FlyOver Canada simulated flight at Canada Place, then spend the rest of the day exploring this vibrant multicultural city’s culinary scene and abundant nightlife.
The next day, climb aboard your hop-on, hop-off sightseeing tour, which features 28 stops at major attractions and scenic sights such as Stanley Park, Granville Island, English Bay, Yaletown, Gastown, Chinatown, Robson Street, and the Entertainment District. This tour is ideal because you can hop off and stay as long as you want in each locale. End your day with a walk along the Stanley Park seawall, shopping on trendy Robson Street, or people-watching on a beachfront restaurant patio facing English Bay.
On Day 3, enjoy a scenic 1.5-hour B.C. Ferries trip to Swartz Bay and Victoria, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. Your guided day tour includes a visit to the fabulous Butchart Gardens, with its sunken garden, rose garden, and Mediterranean and Japanese gardens. Your tour continues through Victoria’s exclusive neighbourhoods of Uplands and Oak Bay, past the University of Victoria, the Royal Victoria Yacht Club, and waterfront Beacon Hill Park.
After touring pretty Victoria, board a floatplane for your return flight to Vancouver: expect spectacular views of the Strait of Georgia and the southern Gulf Islands. Overnight at your Vancouver hotel. On your final day, make your way to Vancouver International Airport for your flight home, unless you plan to extend your stay in cosmopolitan Vancouver.
