10 Day Rockies Wildlife Explorer

Join us on the Hop-On, Hop-Off bus, stopping at 25 stops within downtown Vancouver and 6 stops in beautiful Stanley Park. Take the entire tour in two hours or spend the whole day experiencing scenic and iconic parts of the city. Take the bus, stop at a location, browse around for as long as you want and then hop back onto the next coming bus to move onto the next attraction! You will experience downtown Vancouver at leisure as the bus circles through a series of cultural districts, seaside points of interest, and Stanley Park. Clear top buses for stunning views, rain or shine, and full commentary in English, French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Korean and Mandarin.Then, departing from bustling Granville Island with its collection of boutiques, restaurants and public market places, you will board a 74-person, express cruiser boat for a 3 to 5 hour long fully-guided whale watching and marine wildlife viewing tour hoping to see orcas and humpback whales in their natural Pacific west coast habitat.

Today you board the world-renowned Rocky Mountaineer daylight train service to Jasper via Kamloops. Departing Vancouver pass through the fertile fields of the Fraser Valley and view the towering peaks of the Coast Mountains before entering the Fraser Canyon. You'll see the thundering waters of Hell's Gate and follow the Thompson River to historic Kamloops gateway to the interior of British Columbia.

Follow the Thompson River through rolling hills into the snowy peaks of the Monashee Mountains. View Pyramid Falls and the expansive glaciers of the Albreda Icefields before passing by Mount Robson, which at 12,972 feet is the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies. Arrive in Jasper in the early evening.

In the morning join our guide for an interpretive tour up the Maligne Valley. The tour will include a stop at Maligne Canyon for a guided walk above the gorge, Medicine Lake and then Maligne Lake where you will take the boat cruise to Spirit Island. This afternoon, time permitting, you may choose to ride the Jasper SkyTram on your own to the top of Whistlers Mountain for spectacular views.

Travel down the famous Icefields Parkway, which links Jasper and Banff National Parks along one of Canada's highest mountain roadways. Climbing from the low valleys to nearly the tree line, experience three life zones, the montane, the subalpine and the alpine. Along the way stop at major viewpoints including Athabasca Falls, Columbia Icefields for an Ice Explorer sno-coach ride, Crowfoot Glacier and Peyto Lake.

Join a guided evening wildlife tour. Discover the challenges of protecting animals and their habitat in Banff National Park. Leave the safari with a greater understanding of the national park and the animals that live within it. Later, visit the Yamnuska Wolfdog Sanctuary for an up-close and intimate look at wolves and wolfdogs. Gain a better understanding about wolf behaviour through the wolfdogs at this sanctuary and how this behaviour fundamentally differs from domestic dogs. This is also a great opportunity to learn about the importance of wolves in the ecosystem, and why it is so important to preserve them in their natural environment.

A full-day tour to meet Boo, the grizzly bear as he saunters slowly through his 20-acre habitat in the Rocky Mountain bush, allowing you to watch him explore, hunt and forage just like his wild cousins. You will hear his personal story and learn about grizzly bear behaviour during your visit to the largest enclosed grizzly bear habitat in the world. The tour includes stops at gorgeous Takakkaw Falls (the second-highest waterfall in Canada!) and stunning Emerald Lake. You will also take a gondola ride up to the top of Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, where you enjoy lunch with a view at the highest restaurant in Canada.

This morning, transfer by shuttle to Calgary. Visit the internationally known Calgary Zoo to spot Canadian wildlife that you may not have seen earlier during your tour.