Recently we as family took a vacation to the Pacific North West in the US/Canada region. In short an incredible place to go and visit particularly if you are a nature lover.
Our Travel Itinerary:
Fly in to Seattle
Rent car to drive to canada and back
Seattle ->Vancouver->Whistler->Victoria->Port Angeles->Olympic National Park->Seattle
Total Days: 8 (4 days in whistler) and a night each in other places
Summary of the trip:
Vancouver/Whistler is a very beautiful area to visit. If mountains and nature are you thing, this will be in your bulls eye! Whistler is like the Switzerland of North America. A very popular destination for Ski during the winter and trails/golf during summer! Whistler was also the destination for winter olympics. So very well developed village area, tons of amazing restaurants, superb trails to do runs/walk etc.
Things we did and liked:
Run/Walk along the marina region in Vancouver. Very very beautiful and amazing restaurants
Defnly check out 'Fly Over Canada' show in Vancouver. Boy it was an incredible 4D experience. Those who have done the harry potter ride in Disney orlando will know what this is.. super immersive experience where you sit on a chair controlled by robotic arms and immersed in an IMAX screen theatre and you literally fly over Canada's beautiful landscapes. BREATHTAKING!. We liked it so much that we did it twice!
Drive to Whistler from Vancouver itself was so beautiful. Remember the iconic scene in Basic instinct where the hero drives his car in this beautiful highway right next to pacific!.. Well you will get miles and miles of this experience!
Whistler: Gondola ride upto the Whistler peak, with sky bridge and a winch ride from one peak to another! Boy breathtaking..If you have never experienced what it looks like at 7k feet summit surrounded by ice capped mountains 360deg view, this is it!
There are tons of amazing restaurants in the Whistler village. We checked out an Italian restaurant with out of the world food (IL Caminato)
Talking of food, Vancouver has some amazing desi restaurants as well!.. Check out 'Tasty Bistro' (high end indian restaurant) and Satya Asha (Authentic panjabi food) for some super delicious Desi food
Whistler also provides tons of trails to explore and i did a destination run in one of the trail and boy it was SOOO good
Victoria is the capital of British Colombia. It is about 5 hours travel time from Whister. It includes a Ferry ride that is beautiful in itself. Plan/book in advance. We did not and had to wait an extra hour. We stayed only for a night.. but Victoria itself can easily provide for many recreational activities. 2 days would have been ideal
On our way back we took a ferry to mainland US (Port Angeles in North Washington) and boy we got an amazing surprise. Port angeles sits at the cusp of Olympic National Park and we decided to drive through the national park enroute to Seattle
Olympic National park is another jewel of the Pacific north west. The landscapes, the lakes, the beaches, the rain forest, hot springs.. Things that one can do in this national park alone will need a week!.. We managed to drive through it... checked out lake Crescent and few beaches. about 6 hours drive from Port Angeles to Seattle Tacoma Airport through the national park with stops etc
Finally played two rounds of Golf in one of the most beautiful mountain golf courses at Whistler! Golfers cant miss this
Items we could have done better:
Plan for ferry rides in advance and book tickets. (Seattle to Bainbridge island, Vancouver to Victoria Island, Victoria Island to Port Angeles)
Given we had only 8 days, maybe it would have been better if we had done 2 days vancouver, 4 days whistler and 2 days Olympic national park. (essentially cut out Victoria)
Destination Runs You Should Consider:
Check out this awesome 5 mile run in Vancouver marina area.
Check out this incredible trail run in Whistler Some pics for your viewing pleasure:
