Customer Blog: Liz & Jonathan Vancouver &The Rockies 2023

Lucy organised business trips for me in pre-covid times, so I approached her when it was possible to travel again, and she arranged a fabulous holiday in Kefalonia for us last year, including a villa we would never have found on our own.

So when we decided to go on a more adventurous trip this year we were very happy to entrust the planning to her!

We explained that we would like to visit the Canadian Rockies and gave her an idea of our dates – then left the rest to her!

She came back with full recommendations of flights (including which dates offered the best value), hotels, car hire, ferries and even included recommendations of attractions and places to visit.

She suggested starting our holiday in Vancouver, then spending some time on Vancouver Island. Vancouver is definitely worth a visit, and we managed to squeeze in Granville Island, with its quirky shops, street market and cafés; Gastown and its famous steam clock; beautiful Stanley Park; and some fabulous food.

We then picked up our hire car and took the ferry to Vancouver Island. Highlights of our 3 nights in the island’s capital, Victoria, were wandering around the beautiful harbour, a trip along the coast to Sooke and a visit to Butchart Gardens.

It was immensely reassuring to have Lucy to sort things out for us when our trip went slightly awry. After Victoria we had planned a few days on the Pacific coast, but shortly before we arrived wildfires broke out and closed the only highway across the island. Lucy went into action straight away to find us a fantastic alternative.

As a result our next stop was Nanaimo on the East Coast of the island. Our room had a fantastic view over the harbour where we watched the seaplanes fly in and out. And there were fabulous walks and nature right on our doorstep.

The remainder of our holiday was spent driving through the Rockies and stopping off at amazing places! (I really recommend the GuideAlong app for anyone planning a similar trip. It uses GPS to provide on the spot advice, from a layby with a great view through to short detours to visit a beautiful waterfall or lake).

We spent time in Whistler, Clearwater, Jasper, Lake Louise and Banff. Photographs cannot do justice to the incredible scenery we experienced on our trip – from turquoise lakes (due to rock flour in the water) to absolutely awesome mountain scenes. And we encountered some amazing wildlife en route.

The experiences Lucy recommended were fab. We enjoyed afternoon tea at Chateau Lake Louise, a cable car ride up Sulphur Mountain and a walk on a glacier!

We covered 2,000 kilometres and stayed in 9 hotels over 17 nights. It was an absolutely fabulous holiday, and we both agreed that we wouldn’t have changed a thing!