Vancouver- Whistler

Vancouver is ranked as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, serving as an excellent place to start or end a self-guided tour. Visitors enjoy the city's spectacular setting, First Nation’s cultural flavor, diversity of attractions, and fabulous cuisine.

This region is home to both Vancouver, British Columbia's largest city and Whistler, a world-renowned year-round ski resort. Greater Vancouver straddles the lowlands of the Fraser River and the Coast Mountains of southwest B.C. This is the most populated region of the province, with stunning geography ranging from oceans to mountains, and includes temperate rainforests, alpine peaks, lakes, fjords and fertile valley delta lands.

Downtown Vancouver sits on a peninsula bordered by Burrard Inlet, English Bay, and False Creek. Attractions include GM Place, home of the Vancouver Canucks hockey team; BC Place football stadium, home of the BC Lions football team; and Canada Place, the city's waterfront convention center and cruise-ship terminal. Visitors also enjoy browsing eclectic shops on Gastown’s cobble-stone streets

The First Nations traditions and culture remain strong, rich and diverse in the Vancouver and Whistler parts and have been shaped by the land, oceans, climate and creatures within. Visitors can watch native artists carve a totem pole, explore traditional lands and waters with an Aboriginal guide and experience a traditional First Nations healing and purification sweat lodge with a native elder. There is a chance to view some of the most exquisite Pacific Northwest native art available in art galleries, cultural centers and museums, sample traditional foods and golf or relax in native-owned, campgrounds.

The Coast Salish, one of the largest First Nations in the province, inhabits the entire Vancouver and Whistler region. Amongst the Coast Salish are the Squamish, Lil'wat, Sto:lo and Tseil-Waututh Nations. Throughout the region you are invited to share their culture through interpretive centers, performance spaces, gift and art shops, guided interpretive tours on water and land, ceremonies, and festivals.

A rare chance to see:

• largest gathering of Bald Headed Eagles
• largest red cedar tree in the world
• the longest suspension bridge in the world
• the world's second largest granite monolith