Vancouver → Vancouver (13 nights)

Surrounded by mountains, vibrant Vancouver is a haven for outdoor enthusiasts and cosmopolitan adventurers alike. Meandering oceanside pathways surround eclectic neighbourhoods – Stanley Park, the West End, Gastown, Yaletown, Chinatown. A major global city, it is renowned for its cultural diversity and thriving art, theatre, music and food scenes. Its perfectly picturesque setting makes it popular filming location – with old-growth cedar forests, mountains covering 75% and two-thirds of Canada's bird species and land mammals. A big, bustling city perched on the edge of wilderness.

The terrain is big and the crowds are small in this lesser travelled wonder that wholly embraces the ‘Last Frontier’ spirit. Primal nature reigns in the Anan Bear & Wildlife Observatory, where both brown and black bears feast on pink salmon during a few frenzied weeks each year. Cosy comforts of town open to adventures beyond: follow a boardwalk to Rainbow Falls; take a jet boat into the great Stikine River; spy Bald Eagles riding air currents between craggy glaciers and jagged peaks. Then ponder the history and mystery of 3,000-year-old messages at Petroglyph Beach, left by the indigenous Tlingit peoples.

Big nature and bigger adventures await in Seward, where the crack of calving glaciers and shrill cry of seabirds form the soundtrack of the Alaskan wilderness. Look out for waterspouts and tailfins on sublime sailings in Kenai Fjords National Park, a coastal masterpiece of epic icefields and tufted puffins nesting among shale cliffs. Explore past glacial waterfalls, conquer the heart-pounding trail to Harding Icefield or gentle loop around Exit Glacier. Find breathtaking views of Resurrection Bay, the dramatic fjord of deep, glacial waters and towering cliffs leading up to Seward.

Massive and magical, Hubbard is considered the mother-of-all tidewater glaciers in North America. Taller than a 30-storey building (above water). Larger than the state of Rhode Island. The marvel is also the most active, with ice chunks regularly sloughing off in massive dimensions. The thunderous roar of cracking ice echoes against a stellar backdrop with five of the ten tallest peaks in America. The most magical moment you’ll ever enjoy on deck.

Since time immemorial, bears and bald eagles have gathered in Haines, where the great Alaskan wilderness meets the fjords and glaciers of the Inside Passage. Humans too now join the migration to fish for sockeye and chinook in paradisical streams or float and hike riverside trails in Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve, where feathered councils congregate all year round. Chart mankind’s arrival in this northern wilderness in the galleries of Fort William H. Seward and pause to gorge on Alaskan scenery around the lakes and rivers of Chilkoot State Park.

A visually potent elixir of Mother Nature, the Tracy Arm Fjord is a magical mix of steep cliffs, glacier-blanketed mountains, and the last intact temperate rainforest in the US. Slipping through the narrow 48-kilometer waterway, spy nimble goats upon craggy precipices, eagles riding wind currents overhead, icebergs bobbing, and ice shards where fat baby seals slumber. If conditions prevail, we reach the rarely seen twin Sawyer Glaciers, an electric blue marvel that holds thousands of years of secrets in its dense ice.

Juxtaposed between baby-blue Mendenhall Glacier and rocketing jade mountains, Juneau is an eclectic capital city on the edge of unbridled nature. All the senses are arrested exploring Mendenhall Glacier and hearing the thundering song of Nugget Falls. Follow snowy peaks skyward on the Goldbelt Tram and see the world open atop Mount Roberts. Skirt around islands and ice floes in search of humpback and orca whales, which are regular guests in Juneau’s placid waters. Taste the saltiness of the sea with the freshest fish, smell the pine-scented forests, and ponder totem pole trail lining the sea walk.

Surrounded by mountains, vibrant Vancouver is a haven for outdoor enthusiasts and cosmopolitan adventurers alike. Meandering oceanside pathways surround eclectic neighbourhoods – Stanley Park, the West End, Gastown, Yaletown, Chinatown. A major global city, it is renowned for its cultural diversity and thriving art, theatre, music and food scenes. Its perfectly picturesque setting makes it popular filming location – with old-growth cedar forests, mountains covering 75% and two-thirds of Canada's bird species and land mammals. A big, bustling city perched on the edge of wilderness.