If you love nature and being outdoors, take a tour of a lifetime to Vancouver Island. Surround yourself with the rainforests of the west coast, hike in the mountains, kayak in the ocean and rivers and immerse yourself in First Nation culture.
Pacific Rainforest Adventure Tours offers ecotours where you can experience the best nature has to offer with experienced and highly knowledgeable guides. Ecotours focus on coastal scenery and natural and human history. Traveling the West Coast, these tours take you to the villages of Tofino, Ucluelet, Bamfield, Mount Arrowsmith and Mount Washington where you experience alpine meadows rich with flowersand berries and a host of incredible views. Travel to North Island, Telegraph Cove and to the mainland of British Columbia to view grizzly bears, deer, black bears, eagles, orcas and humpback whales. Explore tide pools and marine life. Spend time in the rainforests and have your breath taken away by the old growth forests that feature some of the tallest Sitka spruce and giant Western Red Cedar trees. In the Clayquot Sound Biosphere Reserve, observe and learn about the diverse range of ecosystems that exist within the reserve’s borders. Within the reserve, there is an ancient temperate rainforest, large and small lakes, alpine peaks, rivers and streams, open ocean, sand beaches, rocky coastal shores and mud flats. These ecosystems support a wide range of marine and animal life.
Ecotours are not the only tours that will give you memories for a lifetime. Sea-kayaking tours are not only popular for experiencing extraordinary wildlife encounters with orcas, humpback whales, bears and eagles – they also provide the opportunity to experience First Nation culture first hand.
Walking and hiking tours abound. Hike Pacific Rim National Park and Cathedral Grove, a pristine temperate rainforest that is located in the lowland of Mt. Arrrowsmith. Delight in the ancient groves of Douglas Fir trees, and learn about the rainforest flora and fauna. Other points of interest include the North Island Recovery Center where they care for injured wildlife before returning them to the wild. You will see black bears, bald eagles and Canadian geese among other wildlife at the center.
If you want a strenuous workout, visit Grouse Mountain, the Peak of Vancouver, and hike the Grouse Grind. The Grind is a 2.9-kilometer trail up the face of Grouse Mountain. The trail is very challenging with an elevation gain of 2,800 feet and a total of 2,830 stairs. Like native Vancouver residents, you will fall in love with the beauty of the grind hike and thrill to the activities that await you at the summit. Take a ride on the zip-line or the aerial tram, enjoy the theatre in the sky or take photographs atop a working wind turbine. In the winter ski, take a sleigh ride or ice skate. Don’t forget an aerial tram ride to view the winter majesty of the mountain.
For those who think the only way to explore new places is on the seat of a bicycle, choose from guided, self-guided, day or multi-day cycle tours through Vancouver Island and British Columbia. Enjoy Vancouver wineries, artisan food products, sustainable farms and First Nation cultural sites. No matter where you roam, you will be welcomed with warm native hospitality, gorgeous scenery and superb seafood.
Finally, if you really want to see as much of Vancouver Island as possible in a short time, do a car tour. Touring Vancouver Island by car is easy with three circular driving routes specially designed around all of the major stops and attractions Vancouver Island has to offer. Two of the tours are designed as day trips, and the third and longest tour covers several days and takes you along the eastern coast and inner passage before circling back to Vancouver through Prince George and along the Gold Rush Trail.
No matter how you choose to tour Vancouver Island, be it cycle, car, kayak, boat or on foot, you will experience the island like those who live there-up close and personal. Your tour of a lifetime will be filled with wildlife encounters, pictures of stunning mountains, rainforest and ocean scenery and one-of-a-kind experiences with First Nation cultures that will enrich your life forever.