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Vancouver is a city of adventure. Tours, whether professionally-guided or a personal adventure, give visitors the chance to take advantage of the city's vitality and experience the area's natural beauty. The biggest problem is deciding how you're going to take in all there is to see.
Tour One: Vancouver On Foot
For a glance into the city's past, try the free Historic Walking Tours of Gastown. Set in the city's birthplace, the daily tour highlights the area's many attractions and shopping, restaurants and bars. Visit the Steam Clock, shop at The Landing, and get a picture taken with the statue of the area's founder, Gassy Jack. You'll stroll through streets named Blood Alley and Gaoler's Mews, the city’s first jail cell.
There is much to discover by walking through the streets of Vancouver. The Architectural Institute of B.C. (AIBC) provides a variety of tours in the summer months. The free tours show Vancouver's history through the city's architecture. Visit highlights like Canada Place, Robson Square, Cathedral Place, and Strathcona.
You can stroll through Burnaby Village Museum, saunter through the exhibits in the Canadian Craft Museum, enjoy a sample of micro-brewed beer in the Granville Island Brewery, and learn about West Coast First Nations culture at the Museum of Anthropology.
Another guided walking tour follows the history of the Chinese-Canadian community in Chinatown. Many tour companies offer tours that take you through one of North America's largest Chinatowns. You'll see Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Gardens, the Chinese Cultural Centre Museum and the bustling street markets.
If you would rather explore Vancouver at your own pace, then pay a visit to the Vancouver Tourist Information Centres. One of the city's best features is its close proximity to natural wonders. For guided hikes through some of its closest attractions, such as Lighthouse Park, Horseshoe Bay and Bowen Island, check out Rockwood Adventures. They have an extensive selection of walking tours.
Tour Two: Nature
For bus tours, there are several companies in the city, including Gray Lines and Pacific Coach Lines. If you're looking for a smaller mini-van tour, then try Cityscape or Blue Mountain Tours. Many offer multilingual, narrated tours that can be customized.
With the fresh air and views, it's easy to get caught up in the city's healthy vibe. Velo-city Cycle Tours takes you on guided cycle tours of the city and surrounding area. You'll spend time in and around Granville Island, Vanier Park and Grouse Mountain.
There are also several options for those looking for unusual excursions. At Stanley Park, Horse Drawn Tours take passengers on an old-world wagon ride through the 1000-acre park. For something less equestrian, the Vancouver Trolley Company takes passengers on a turn-of-the-century trolley ride to view the city's sites along various avenues and thoroughfares. You can see the city at your own pace, getting on or off at any of the 16 stops to visit attractions.
For a minivan customized tour, try Captain Billy's Magical Tours. Or see the city in style with Fridge's Early Motion Tours, who not only personalize their excursions, but do it all in a 1930s Ford Model A. To learn more about West Coast First Nations, several tour companies, including West Coast City and Nature Sightseeing and Detours Excursions B.C. have special day trips that highlight the heritage, history, art, and importance of B.C.'s native cultures.
For an extravagant and romantic tour, B.C. Rail's Pacific Starlight Dinner Train runs from spring to autumn. A restored dining car provides gourmet cuisine and views as it glides through North Vancouver, Howe Sound, and Porteau Cove. Another opulent B.C. Rail excursion offers a combination voyage. Take the luxury steam locomotive Royal Hudson Steam Train to Squamish, passing along the coastline past West Vancouver and Horseshoe Bay. Once at Squamish, cruise home to Vancouver on the Harbour Cruises' "Britannia."
Often referred to as the "Hollywood of the North," Vancouver is the third largest film and TV shooting centre in North America, after L.A. and New York. The popular "X-Files" was shot here for years. Hence the idolatrous X-Tours, which, among other special experiences, offers limousine tours of spots where X-scenes and memorable film moments took place.
Tour Three: By Water
Touring Vancouver by water can be adventurous and is one of the best ways to see the area. Although the more daring can charter their own boats at places like Cooper Boating, companies like Harbour Cruises offer guided sightseeing cruises that let passengers view the city from Burrard Inlet, Howe Sound, Vancouver’s harbour and English Bay.
B.C. Ferries can take you to the city's surrounding islands for great day trips, and the convenient SeaBus enables you to travel quickly to and from the downtown waterfront and the North Shore. Starline Boating Tours offer seasonal trips throughout the area. You can take a tour of the historic fishing village of Steveston, hop aboard the sea lion cruises in the spring, marvel on a killer whale watching expedition or relax on the Pitt Lake cruise.
There are also several wilderness sightseeing tours that use Vancouver as a launching point. Paddlewheeler River Adventures and LotusLand Tours provide water excursions that offer insight into the spectacular scenery and history of British Columbia.
Tour Four: By Air
Vancouver by air is a spectacle that every visitor should experience. There are a number of reliable air tour providers in the region. Although more extravagant than a ground-bound tour, air charters offer unforgettable bird's-eye views. Harbour Air has a fleet of seaplanes that provide quick city tours, as well as outings into secluded wilderness areas.
Vancouver Helicopter Tours also offers panoramic air trips over the city and surrounding mountains and valleys. They have a nighttime flight, the Grouse Heli-Picnic, where you can fly up to Grouse Mountain and dine while overlooking the city.
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