Monday, September 6 (Day 01)
HONOLULU TO SEATTLE
Our tour commences this evening when we meet our escort at the United Airlines lobby for check-in procedures for our flight to Seattle via a connection in San Francisco.
Tuesday, September 7 (Day 02)
SEATTLE—TSAWWASSEN, BRITISH COLUMBIA
This morning, on arrival at the Sea-Tac International Airport, we’ll board our chartered motorcoach to begin our exciting Canadian Rocky Mountain tour. We’ll travel north through the state of Washington and cross the U.S./Canadian border into British Columbia, Canada. We’ll travel on to spend the night in Tsawwassen, a municipality of Delta, British Columbia.
Wednesday, September 8 (Day 03)
TSAWWASSEN—VICTORIA—BUTCHART GARDENS—VANCOUVER
Early this morning, we’ll proceed to the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal and board a ferry to Victoria, British Columbia’s capital city, located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. On arrival, we’ll visit the world-famous Butchart Gardens featuring beautiful displays of floral gardens with vibrant colors and floral scents. Designated as a National Historic Site of Canada, the gardens are still owned by family descendants. We’ll visit the famous Fairmont Empress Resort Hotel before we board the ferry for our afternoon trip to Vancouver to overnight for two nights.
Thursday, September 9 (Day 04)
VANCOUVER
Enjoy a full day of sightseeing in the city of Vancouver. We’ll visit the authentic totem poles in Stanley Park - an evergreen oasis and noted as one of the greatest parks in the world. Step onto the gentle swaying cedar planks of the Capilano Suspension Bridge in a densely wooded gorge above the Capilano River for an experience you’ll never forget. We’ll take an aerial tramway to the summit of Grouse Mountain - one of the North Shore Mountains of the Pacific Ranges - featuring a lumberjack show. We’ll drive through historic Gas Town to observe its rare steam clock and stroll through Chinatown, the second largest in size in North America.
Friday, September 10 (Day 05)
VANCOUVER—WHISTLER—KAMLOOPS
We’ll travel northeast past Whistler, a resort town in the southern Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains. We’ll continue on to Lillooet, a small but historic town located at the start of the Cariboo Wagon Road. Also known as Queen’s Highway, it’s a feat of engineering stretching through extremely hazardous canyon territory. We’ll continue on to spend the night at the town of Kamloops located at the confluence of the north and south branches of the Thompson River - hence the name Kamloops - the Shuswap Indian word for “meeting of the waters”.
Saturday, September 11 (Day 06)
KAMLOOPS—LAKE LOUISE
Our journey through the Canadian Rockies continues west through Revelstoke and Golden, to arrive at Lake Louise - Canada’s ‘Diamond in the Wilderness’. Located in the heart of pristine Banff National Park - Canada’s oldest national park - this region offers spectacular scenery with its mountainous terrain, numerous glaciers and ice fields, dense forests, and alpine landscapes. We’ll spend one night at the treasured Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise.
Sunday, September 12 (Day 07)
LAKE LOUISE—COLUMBIA ICEFIELD—BANFF
We’ll travel north of the Rockies on the Icefields Parkway to explore the Columbia Icefield, located on the boundary of Banff and Jasper National Park - one of the largest accumulations of ice and snow south of the Arctic Circle. The continuous accumulation of ice and snow feeds eight major glaciers including the Athabasca, Dome, and Stutfield Glaciers. Enjoy a tour on the icy slopes of the Athabasca Glacier on a specially designed ‘snow coach’. A driver/guide will explain how glaciers are formed and point out interesting geological features. We’ll also have an option to step out of our snow coach and walk on the ice. As we continue our journey along the Icefields Parkway, we’ll stop to enjoy a breathtaking view of Peyto Lake, a glacier-fed lake located in the Banff National Park. Significant amounts of glacial rock flour flow into the lake and these suspended rock particles gives the lake its bright turquoise color. We’ll spend the night in Banff - a resort town located in Banff National Park in Alberta’s Rockies. Known for its mountainous surroundings and hot springs, Banff is one of Canada’s most popular tourist destinations for outdoor sports and skiing.
Monday, September 13 (Day 08)
BANFF—KELOWNA
We’ll continue our travel southwest on the Trans-Canada Highway through Rogers Pass, one of the great mountain crossings located at the summit in the heart of Glacier National Park. Commemorated as a Canadian National Historic Site, Rogers Pass is noted as the Trans-Canada Highway’s crowning glory. We will pass by orchards and vineyards along Lake Okanagan, a large deep lake in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. The lake is home to several species of fish, including rainbow trout and kokanee salmon and said by some to be home to its own sea monster. A giant, serpent-like legendary creature named Ogopogo, it is similar to Scotland’s Loch Ness monster. We’ll continue on to spend the night in Kelowna, a city on Lake Okanagan in the Okanagan Valley and noted for its majestic mountains, refreshing waters and lush orchards.
Tuesday, September 14 (Day 09)
KELOWNA—LEAVENWORTH
We travel south through Osoyoos, a town located in the southern part of the Okanagan Valley near British Columbia’s border with Washington State. We’ll cross the border back to the United States into Washington State and continue south. We’ll spend the evening in the charming Bavarian town of Leavenworth - nestled in the valley on the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains, in the heart of the Wenatchee National Park. On arrival, after checking-in, we’ll enjoy a stroll through this quaint little town.
Wednesday, September 15 (Day 10)
LEAVENWORTH—SEATTLE
We’ll continue our journey into Seattle, visiting some of the highlights of the city before we check in for the night. Enjoy a stroll through Pike Place Market. Overlooking the Elliott Bay Waterfront, it’s one of the oldest operating public farmer’s markets in the U.S.. Built on the edge of a steep hill, the market offers a variety of unique shops, small family-owned restaurants and also features fishmongers, fresh produce stands and craft stalls operating in covered arcades. We’ll visit the Space Needle, a tower noted as the symbol of Seattle located at the Seattle Center featuring an observation deck to enjoy a view of the downtown Seattle skyline, the Olympic and Cascade Mountains, Mount Rainier, Elliott Bay and surrounding islands. We’ll also enjoy ‘Bill Speidel’s Underground Tour’ of the historic Seattle Underground - a network of passageways and basements in downtown Seattle underneath Pioneer Square.
Thursday, September 16 (Day 11)
SEATTLE—HONOLULU
This morning, we’ll transfer to the SeaTac International Airport for our flight home to Honolulu via a brief connection in San Francisco.