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Day 1 UK to Vancouver, Monday
Depart the UK by wide bodied jet to Vancouver International Airport
(not included). Upon arrival transfer to your hotel (not included
- see options above). The rest of the day is free.
Overnight: (2 nights) Coast Plaza Hotel & Suites.
Day 2 Vancouver, Tuesday
Get better acquainted with your travelling companions at a ‘Welcome
to Canada’ breakfast before exploring Vancouver on a morning
city tour, including Stanley Park, English Bay, Gastown, Chinatown,
the Capilano
Suspension Bridge and much more. The afternoon and evening are free.
(Optional Sunset Dinner Cruise £37/C$85).
Day 3 Vancouver to Victoria, Wednesday
This morning you board the BC ferry for a pleasant cruise to Vancouver
Island. Continue by coach to Butchart Gardens, where you can enjoy
one of the world's great floral displays. Continuing to Victoria,
a city proud of her Maritime heritage and to this day retains a
truly quaint, colonial demeanour. The rest of the day is free. Optional
Victoria Floatplane excursion (£40/C$93).
Overnight: Coast Harbourside Hotel & Marina. Continental breakfast
included.
Day 4 Victoria to Campbell River, Thursday
Depart by motorcoach to travel the scenic Malahat Drive, visit Chemainus,
which boasts a remarkable collection of outdoor murals depicting
the area's history. You also travel past Nanaimo, your destination
for the night is Campbell River, the self proclaimed ‘Salmon
Capital of the World’.
Overnight: Coast Discovery Inn. Continental breakfast included.
Day 5 Campbell River to Port Hardy, Friday
Continue exploring today as you travel to Port Hardy. Enroute you
pass lively, but unhurried, little towns and villages. A special
highlight enroute to Port Hardy is a Whalewatching excursion to
Telegraph Cove.
Overnight: Port Hardy Inn. Continental breakfast included.
Day 6 Port Hardy to Prince Rupert, Saturday
Cameras at the ready! This morning you join your ship for a full
day cruise north along the coast of British Columbia. The famous
‘Inside Passage’ is one of the most spectacular waterways
in North America. In the evening you arrive in Prince Rupert.
Overnight: Crest Motor Hotel.
Day 7 VIA Rail to Prince George, Sunday
Early morning you begin your railway journey eastward on board VIA
Rail's Skeena train. Called ‘the river of mists’ by the
local Indians, the beautiful Skeena River Valley represents some
of Canada's most forested and
rugged terrain.
Overnight: Coast Inn of the North. Breakfast, lunch and dinner included.
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Day 8 VIA Rail to Jasper, Monday
Continuing your rail journey, you pass Mount Robson, at 3,953
metres, the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies. The scenic beauty
of Jasper National Park offers craggy mountain peaks, centuries
old glacial ice, flower carpeted meadows and pristine lakes.
Overnight: Jasper Inn. Breakfast and lunch included.
Day 9 Jasper to Banff, Tuesday
Close to Jasper, you have the chance to go on an optional raft trip
on the Athabasca River (£20/C$45). The journey today promises
to be a highlight in your ‘Railtour Rendez-vous’ programme.
As you travel south on the Icefields Parkway you will experience
a wealth of breathtaking mountain scenery. Enroute you will stop
for an exciting ‘Snocoach’ ride on the Columbia Icefield
(included), the largest mass of ice outside the Arctic
Circle. Also visit the ‘Jewel of the Rockies’, Lake Louise.
Overnight: (2 nights) Banff Ptarmigan Inn. Continental breakfast
included.
Day 10 Banff National Park, Wednesday
This morning a comprehensive tour of Banff National Park, founded
in 1885. Optional Helicopter Sightseeing tours are offered (£72/C$165
- £85/C$195), or an optional Banff Nature & Wildlife tour
to scenic Lake
Minnewanka (£15/C$35). The rest of the day is free. Continental
breakfast included.
Day 11 Banff to Kamloops (Rail) Rocky Mountaineer, Thursday
Today you board the ‘Rocky Mountaineer’ and head west.
This unique daylight service allows you to view some of the most
spectacular sights in Western Canada. Your route departs the Rockies
through Kicking Horse Pass, and then climbs into Selkirk Mountains
following Rogers Pass. By late afternoon you are in the arid ranchland
of interior British Columbia. Optional dinner
at Two River Restaurant (Redleaf service £28/C$60, Goldleaf
service £18/C$42).
Overnight: Executive Inn. Breakfast and lunch included.
Day 12 Kamloops to Vancouver (Rail) Rocky Mountaineer, Friday
Your railway journey today takes you along the dramatic Thompson
and Fraser Rivers, the railway tracks clinging to sheer canyon walls
with the turbulent waters rushing below. Approaching the Pacific
coast, the Fraser Canyon opens into a fertile valley with mountain
backdrops. In the late afternoon you return to majestic
Vancouver.
Overnight: Coast Plaza Hotel & Suites. Continental breakfast
and lunch included.
Day 13 Vancouver to UK, Saturday
Transfer (not included- see options above) to Vancouver International
Airport for your return flight home (not included). Continental
breakfast included.
Day 14 Arrive UK, Sunday
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