A Weekend in Beautiful British Columbia | What to Do in BC

September 19, 2019 by Emme

When I first decided to move to Canada, there was only one place I wanted to live: British Columbia. The idea that you could ski and surf in the same day blew my mind, I just knew that the laid back outdoorsy life of British Columbia was for me…

Well, as you know I ended up in Toronto instead, the complete opposite to BC! As much as I have enjoyed by time here, this was the year I’d finally get over to the west coast (for 5 days at least anyway).

I was very lucky to win an Instagram competition with Air Canada Rouge which gave me a pair of round trip tickets to anywhere they fly. This was definitely the best thing I’d ever won, so it took some time to decide where to go. Flying to Vancouver meant connecting in Victoria first, as Air Canada Rouge don’t fly direct from Toronto. We looked at other places because of this, both Phoenix, Arizona and San Diego, California made the short list, but my heart kept leaping back to British Columbia, so we booked our tickets!

The flight was amazing, we managed to get Premium Economy seats (the best class on Rouge) and it was such a great experience. With our tickets we were able to hang out in the Air Canada lounge at the airports first, which were great. I actually always tend to pay into an airport lounge when I’m flying as I find them to be much nicer environments than a crowded airport, so getting lounge access as part of our ticket was a huge bonus.

With Premium Economy you can also pre-book your seat, so I selected the first row of the airplane for all legs of our journey and wow, I didn’t realise what a difference this would make! I’m usually a back of the plane person, but being able to board and disembark first was great, especially with the connections.

To my surprise, the food was very good too. I don’t usually eat the meals served on planes as they’re too salty and usually not great, but I was intrigued by the Premium Rouge food and wasn’t let down. There were two options for all Premium Rouge passengers, however I ordered a vegan meal (huge flying tip: pre-order a special meal, you always get served first!) and I really enjoyed it.

Once we landed in Vancouver, we took the SkyTrain downtown and checked into the boutique Blue Horizon Hotel. Obviously I did a lot of research beforehand and luckily it paid off – the hotel was perfect for us; large rooms with a great view and most importantly in a prime location.

From the hotel we could walk just about anywhere in the city. I was enamored with Vancouver from the moment we got there, with its tree lined streets and mountain backdrop, it was a world away from what I knew in Toronto.

We ventured to Coal Harbor first, which boasted some amazing views of the bay. It was so lovely to just walk around and smell the sea air (something I always miss from home). Even though you’re in the middle of a city, it’s so peaceful and we spent most of our time walking around here, ending up at the Stanely Park seawall.

The best place we found for drinks and dinner was the infamous Gastown. This cobblestone neighborhood is full of great little bars and restaurants, which made for a nice contrast to our day spent wandering the park.

The following day we rented a car and headed up through the Sea to Sky district to Whistler. Being a skier since I was young, Whistler has always been on my list of places to go. Unfortunately there was no skiing when we arrived as it was late summer, but the village itself is still buzzing with people. You can also still take the cable car to the top of the Whistler Backcomb mountains to catch some of the amazing views.

Whilst in Whistler we stayed at Summit Lodge, another boutique hotel and one of the best I’ve been to. It’s full of thoughtful little touches, the rooms are super cosy and even come with their own kitchen, the location to the village was also perfect for us too. There were so many shops and eateries around; I can highly recommend checking out purebred if you’re ever visiting, I promise you won’t regret it!

As we were in the area for only a short amount of time, we decided to visit Squamish and take a float plane trip with Sea to Sky Air to Phantom Lake. This was honestly one of the best experiences of my life and I would say wholeheartedly if you get the opportunity to do this you should. There were only three of us in the plane; my boyfriend, David the pilot and myself, and flying through the incredible British Columbia mountains was something I’ll never forget. To top it all off we landed in the lake and was able to explore it completely alone (the only way you can get there is by plane or very long hike) which was surreal to experience the pure untouched beauty of nature.

En route back to Vancouver we stopped off at the Capilano Suspension Bridge park. It was a nice way to spend a few hours but even midweek was incredibly busy which kind of ruined it a little for me – I’m sure the BC residents must feel the same way about the bridge as us Ontario residents do about Niagara Falls!

For our final day in the city we stayed at the Blue Horizon Hotel again and did another bucket list item for me: whale watching! My favourite animals are Orcas and even though we didn’t get to see any that time around, we did see a tonne of Humpback whales. Considering these were almost wiped out a few years back it was incredible to see them in their natural habitat in such large numbers.

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After we docked from the boat, our last evening was spent on Granville Island and at the market that lives there. I really enjoyed our time at Granville, with all the cute little shops and market stalls. We were also blessed with some beautiful weather, which made the walk back to our hotel the perfect way to say goodbye to BC.

So it turn out that my initial gut feeling of British Columbia was spot on: I loved it! So much so I’d say it was my favourite place in Canada and definitely on my top 5 places I’ve ever been to (Sorry Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal). If you’re like me and love the great outdoors surrounded by some awesome nature and super friendly people, I would absolutely recommend you check it out for yourself.

❤ Emily