Tours in Delta

Since 2004, Snowbus’s fleet of 56 comfortable passenger coaches has shepherded skiers and snowboarders back and forth between Vancouver and Whistler Blackcomb. The route schedule allows mountaineers to hitch a ride out of Vancouver, schuss and slalom to their heart’s content at the world-renowned resort, and hop back aboard a bus for a movie and snack to accompanied their trip home. The service gives downhillers a way to circumvent the hassles of dealing with traffic and parking, and enables them to partake in après-ski revelry without fear of drinking and driving or drinking and cartwheeling back to Vancouver.

Discovery West Aviation's commercially licensed pilots sail passengers through the air on charters, private lessons, and tours above urban and rural areas sprawling out toward the horizon. In private flight or commercially based lessons, flight instructors put students at the controls of Cessna C-172 or C-150 planes, explaining flight basics before teaching their protégés how to hide from gravity. During charters, professionals take the helm of the winged craft to soar over sites such as downtown Victoria with its watery inlets and architectural outcroppings or high above the banks of Campbell River with its snowy mountain peaks and views of eagles slicing through neighbouring clouds. Discovery West recently purchased Island Pacific Flight Academy, acquiring some of their fleet as well as a greater understanding of avian sign language.

With the propeller of a Cessna 180 whirring just above its glassy surface, the Fraser River appears to tremble in anticipation of the floatplane’s imminent takeoff. After launching off the aquatic runway, the roaring plane elevates above British Columbia’s wilderness as passengers peer out at the lakes and glacier valleys below.

This is just another day at work for Fort Langley Air, Ltd.’s experienced pilots, who regularly soar above the mountains and glaciers of Garibaldi Provincial Park and Pitt River valley on sightseeing tours, charter flights, and seaplane training courses. While manning the plane’s controls, pilots point out native wildlife, interesting rock formations, and ice sculptures carved by the mountains’ reclusive yetis. Their charter services allow passengers to easily bypass less scenic forms of public transportation, and their seaplane rating courses train pilots to safely land on water with 50 hours of flight time.

Vancouver native Jewel Taylor envisioned Taste Vancouver Food Tours as a fun and informative introduction to some of the finest restaurants in her historic city. Centered on the city's oldest neighbourhood, Gastown, these tours are designed for groups or private parties and are guided by none other than Captain John "Gassy Jack" Deighton, as played by professional actor Tom Daley. Tours take in such historic landmarks as Rogers' Chocolates, established in 1885, and the city's only steam clock, where guests can get seconds for free.

Iconic buildings rise up on either side of tour groups as they trail guides who regale them with stories and historical insights. Traversing a total of 12 Victoria and Vancouver neighbourhoods, the Architectural Institute of British Columbia’s walking architecture tours illuminate pivotal and noteworthy structures throughout the city. In Victoria, explorers can ramble through Chinatown—the oldest Chinatown in the nation—or feel the waterfront breeze as it braids their hair on the famous harbour’s inner shores. Alternatively, Vancouver tourists can embed themselves in the city’s first neighbourhood, Strathcona, or investigate industrial expansion by roaming Yaletown.

The tours are just one of the many tools the Institute uses to raise architecture awareness. Established in 1920 to bring the profession's interest in line with the public, the institute doles out annual awards for outstanding architecture, displaying the winners in a public gallery. Meanwhile, their free architectural advice program for do-it-yourself homebuilders prevents common mishaps, such as building a second storey before building the first floor.

Colleen Barrow has spent her entire lifetime seeking out and memorizing the coordinates of the most scenic sights dotting British Columbia's Southern Gulf Islands. Rather than trapping them in a photo album or enormous snow globe, the local explorer shares her finds with guests through ITT Wilson's Tours. By partnering with Wilson's Transportation, Barrow coordinates luxury bus tours to castles, lighthouses, botanical gardens, and wineries. With many of the tours, guests receive a midday meal such as rustic oven pizza served at an apple-orchard picnic site, or mutton legs aged to perfection in a castle's meat cellars.