Self-Drive Journey in British Columbia

Eleven nights across British Columbia, self-guided, from Vancouver to Vancouver Island and Whistler, with the price quoted on application.

The itinerary is built to order rather than fixed, and two elements stand out: a private guide at Butchart Gardens, and a walk with a member of the Nuu-chah-nulth, whose territory covers the west coast of the island.

Vancouver opens it, a city of beaches with mountains directly behind. Victoria follows across the water, with the guided visit to Butchart, where a worked-out limestone quarry was turned into formal gardens from 1904 onwards. The drive to Tofino comes next, through the island’s interior and over the pass, with black bears often foraging along the roadside in spring, and the Nuu-chah-nulth walk there. Whistler closes the route, reached by ferry and the Sea to Sky Highway, with mountain biking, walking, riding and ziplining available in what becomes a summer playground once the snow goes.

The rental car, the custom-built itinerary, the private guide at Butchart Gardens and the ferry crossings are included; international flights, fuel and most meals and optional activities are not. The price is given on application. No wildlife sighting can be promised. June to September is the window, when the ferries run often and the island weather is at its kindest, and twelve days is enough to include Tofino properly rather than treating it as a day trip. Two ferry crossings are built into the route, which is the only way to link the island to the mainland and adds a slow, pleasant day to the driving rather than a wasted one.