1,000 Places to See Before You Die

by Patricia Schultz

  A few miles north, the little seafaring village of Tofino feels like the edge of the earth and, at the same time, the center of the universe. This quirky, unpretentious harbor town thrives on contrasts—young ecotourists rub shoulders with grizzled fishermen, while upscale European visitors share tables with tattooed surfer dudes.

  Tofino is literally the end of the road on Vancouver Island’s wild west coast—unless you’ve got reservations at the Clayoquot Wilderness Resort, an eco-safari resort located within the fragile Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Reserve and accessible only by water taxi from Tofino or floatplane from Vancouver. Twenty white canvas tents serve as guest rooms: think wooden floors, opulent rugs, antiques, and otherworldly comforts. The dining, library, and massage tents connected by cedar boardwalks offer visitors a taste of upscale safari life, along the water’s edge.

  WHERE: About 85 miles/138 km northwest of Victoria. Tel 250-726-7721; www.pc.gc.ca/pacificrim. When: West Coast Trail open May–late Sep; the rest of park open year-round. WICKANINNISH INN: Tel 800-333-4604 or 250-725-3100; www.wickinn.com. Cost: from $300 (off-peak), from $500 (peak); dinner $90. CLAYOQUOT WILDERNESS RESORT: Tel 888-333-5405 or 250-726-8235; www.wildretreat.com. Cost: from $4,825 for 3-nights, all-inclusive with floatplane transfer from Vancouver. When: mid-May–late Sep. BEST TIMES: Jun–Jul for warm weather and long days; Nov–Feb for storm-watching; Mar for Pacific Rim Whale Festival; 1st weekend in Jun for Tofino Food and Wine Festival.

  Home of the Mighty Orcas

  STUBBS ISLAND WHALE-WATCHING

  Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada

  Separating Vancouver Island from the cedar-flanked coast of British Columbia, Johnstone Strait near Telegraph Cove is home to the world’s largest concentration of orcas. Over 200 of these black-and-white whales inhabit these waters, and they have good reason to gather here. In addition to congregating to socialize and mate, the orcas come here to eat: The confines of Johnstone Strait force migrating salmon into a narrow channel, which means easy hunting and an all-you-can-eat fish buffet. The area also features the “rubbing beaches” at the Robson Bight Ecological Reserve, where the orcas gather at shallow, pebbly beaches to rub their bellies on rocks and gravel—a kind of whale massage. Although the rubbing beaches are off-limits to human visitors, wildlife-viewing tour boats visit nearby areas where passengers can watch these magnificent creatures as they dive, breech, and spy-hop—the whale equivalent to treading water.

  Stubbs Island Whale Watching operates two 60-foot Coast Guard–certified vessels, with an on-board marine biologist to explain and interpret wildlife behaviors, plus hydrophones that allow passengers to listen to the orcas’ vocalizations. Although Mother Nature is unpredictable, the company has over a 90 percent success rate with orca sightings.

  WHERE: Telegraph Cove is 250 miles/402 km north of Victoria. STUBBS ISLAND WHALE WATCHING: Tel 800-665-3066 or 250-928-3185; www.stubbs-island.com. Cost: from $74. When: late May–mid-Oct. BEST TIME: Jul–Sep.

  Local Bounty off the Continent’s Coast

  VANCOUVER ISLAND’S GASTRO HAVENS

  Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada

  With its diversity of Pacific seafood, generous rainfall, and mild coastal climate creating some of the best growing conditions in North America, Vancouver Island was a culinary revolution waiting to happen. So it’s no surprise to find internationally acclaimed restaurants, inns, and resorts in this corner of Canada, minutes from Victoria, BC’s intimate, very British capital (see next page).

  On a quiet wooded promontory overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the distant Olympic Mountains sits a tidy white 1929 clapboard inn that has played a leading role in changing how we eat and think of food today. Sinclair and Frederique Philip’s Sooke Harbour House is justly famed as an epicenter for authentic regional cuisine showcasing resolutely local ingredients.

  Its dining room features inventive, delicious cuisine prepared with just-caught fish and seafood from local waters, produce and meats from nearby organic farms, and a wide selection of wild mushrooms from the area. Growing herbs, vegetables, and edible flowers, the inn’s organic garden plays a major role in the menu’s ever-changing, one-of-a-kind dishes. Served in a candlelit dining room overlooking the rocky coastline, dinner is complemented by a stellar list of more than 2,000 wines. End your evening in one of the inn’s serene and unpretentious guest rooms.

  Continue west, along the winding, ever-wilder coastline to reach Point-No-Point Resort, another outpost of fine dining and gracious hospitality. Perched above a rocky, wave-crashed headland, it offers 22 delightfully woodsy cabins with hot tubs and fireplaces on 40 forested acres. The restaurant serves excellent meals focused on seafood (don’t miss the local wild salmon, halibut, and spot prawns) and organic produce, and the views from the dining room can’t be beat—just pick up the binoculars on your table to watch orcas, otters, dolphins, and bald eagles.

  The region’s top restaurants procure much of their local produce and delicacies from the nearby Cowichan Valley, a burgeoning center for cheese- and wine-making, organic farming, and ranching. Drive the lovely back roads to visit wineries, and be sure to stop at Merridale Estate Cidery, a charming farm with orchards of centuries-old apple varieties, for a tasting and a marvelous bistro lunch.

  From the Cowichan Valley, take the slow road back to Victoria, via the Mill Bay Ferry to Brentwood Bay on the Saanich Peninsula. The famed Butchart Gardens is your destination, with 55 acres of formal plantings in a former limestone quarry. Over a million bedding plants in some 700 varieties throughout the gardens ensure uninterrupted bloom from March through October.

  SOOKE HARBOUR HOUSE: Tel 800-889-9688 or 250-642-3421; www.sookeharbourhouse.com. Cost: from $166 (off-peak), from $256 (peak); 5-course prix-fixe dinner $67. POINT-NO-POINT RESORT: Tel 250-646-2020; www.pointnopointresort.com. Cost: from $140; dinner $45. MERRIDALE CIDERY: Tel 250-743-4293; www.merridalecider.com. Cost: lunch $18. BUTCHART GARDENS: Tel 250-652-4422; www.butchartgardens.com. BEST TIMES: Jun–Sep for pleasant weather; Mar–Apr for spring bulbs and Jul–Sep for roses at Butchart Gardens.

  Victoria’s Magnificent Waterfront

  THE INNER HARBOUR

  Victoria, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada

  Replete with beautifully preserved Victorian-era architecture, British Columbia’s capital has always enjoyed its reputation as being “more British than Britain.” Today’s traveler is probably less impressed by the opportunity to eat crumpets or go lawn bowling than by the city’s lively street life and magnificent setting on the Strait of Juan de Fuca, with Washington’s Olympic Mountains rising to the south. The Inner Harbour is Victoria’s centerpiece, a pocket-size inlet flanked by historic buildings and bustling with sea-going vessels—skittering water taxis, bobbing seaplanes, and the mammoth car ferry from Port Angeles, Washington.

  The ivy-covered Fairmont Empress is an unlikely backdrop to the busy harborscape. The larger-than-life regal landmark, distinguished by marvelous Edwardian architecture and filled with sumptuous detail, is a grand lodging with the style and furnishings of another, more gracious era and all the comforts and conveniences of modern times. Sit in the opulent Tea Lobby and enjoy a Victorian tradition, partaking of the hotel’s secret blend of tea, accompanied by freshly baked raisin scones served with Devon-style double clotted cream and strawberry preserves.

  For less historic splendor, the boutique Magnolia Hotel is just steps from the Inner Harbour; its elegant guest rooms are havens of good taste.

  Overlooking the harbor, the Royal BC Museum sits between the Fairmont Empress and the ornate British Columbia Parliament Building. It is an exceptional regional museum with three permanent galleries focused on British Columbia’s natural environment, its settlement history, and the rich art and culture of its First Nation peoples. Perhaps most compelling, and always the most visited, is the First Peoples Gallery, dedicated to the region’s several distinct indigenous nations. Displays of hand-carved masks, ceremonial garb and headd
resses, decorative accessories and textiles, and totem poles bring to life Native cultures dating back thousands of years.

  The Fairmont Empress, built between 1904 and 1908, honors British traditions.

  FAIRMONT EMPRESS: Tel 888-705-2500 or 250-384-8111; www.fairmont.com/empress. Cost: from $200; tea $45. MAGNOLIA HOTEL AND SPA: Tel 877-624-6654 or 250-381-0999; www.magnoliahotel.com. Cost: from $175. ROYAL BC MUSEUM: Tel 888-447-7977 or 250-356-7226; www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca. BEST TIMES: late Jul for International Flower and Garden Festival; early Sep for Classic Boat Festival.

  The 2010 Winter Olympics Showcase

  WHISTLER BLACKCOMB SKI RESORT

  British Columbia, Canada

  The giant twin peaks of Whistler and Blackcomb, just 75 miles north of Vancouver on the stunningly scenic Sea-to-Sky Highway (Highway 99), comprise North America’s largest ski and snowboard resort, regularly rated No. 1 by polls and magazines. After a major construction boom prior to cohosting (together with nearby Vancouver) the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, Whistler Blackcomb is now even more incredible than ever.

  The resort’s numbers do a lot of the talking: Whistler Blackcomb has the greatest vertical drop (more than 5,000 feet) of any ski resort on the continent; 8,100 acres of skiable terrain; more than 200 marked trails; 17 massive alpine bowls; an unfathomable average of 33 feet of snowfall per year; and a ski season that runs from late November through May.

  Whistler and Blackcomb are separated by a deep valley, and the new Peak 2 Peak gondola carries skiers and snowboarders (and in summer, thrill seekers) directly between the two summits: it is the world’s longest unsupported cable span.

  Whistler Blackcomb has acquired a cult reputation with advanced and extreme skiers and snowboarders, but more than half the trails are rated intermediate, with a host of other winter activities to keep guests busy, such as dogsledding, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, and cross-country skiing.

  The peaks are linked at their base by the Tyrolean-style and surprisingly cosmopolitan Whistler Village, a pedestrian zone with café-lined plazas, boutiques, restaurants, and bars.

  The top hotel choice goes to the Four Seasons Resort Whistler, a très elegant monument to refinement in a town with its share of faux alpine hominess. Its urbane good taste extends to the sumptuously appointed guest rooms and marvelous spa (Whistler’s largest and most luxurious), with a heated outdoor pool and three whirlpool baths.

  Whistler Blackcomb’s best ski-in/ski-out property, however, is the grand, gabled Fairmont Château Whistler, a resort-within-a-resort at the base of Blackcomb Mountain. With 550 luxury-level rooms it’s not exactly intimate, but it’s the place to ski and be seen. The resort segues effortlessly into a summertime playground, with a beautiful 18-hole Robert Trent Jones Jr. course and three other fine courses lying within striking distance.

  Not all Whistler hotels are grand and imposing; sleekly minimalist Adara Hotel has urban-chic furnishings in a modern Scandinavian style in the heart of Whistler Village.

  WHERE: 75 miles/120 km north of Vancouver. VISITOR INFO: Tel 866-218-9690 or 604-932-3434; www.whistlerblackcomb.com. Cost: 3-day lift tickets from $210. When: ski season Nov–May. FOUR SEASONS RESORT WHISTLER: Tel 888-935-2460 or 604-966-2700; www.fourseasons.com/whistler. Cost: from $310 (off-peak), from $410 (peak). FAIRMONT CHTEAU WHISTLER: Tel 800-441-1414 or 604-938-8000; www.fairmont.com/whistler. Cost: from $240 (off-peak), from $395 (peak); greens fees $110 (off-peak), $175 (peak). ADARA HOTEL: Tel 866-502-3272 or 604-905-4009; www.adarahotel.com. Cost: from $135 (off-peak), from $285 (peak). BEST TIMES: Jan–Mar for best skiing; mid-Jul for Whistler Music & Arts Festival; early Nov for Cornucopia, a celebration of food and wine.

  Kings of the Tundra in the Far North

  POLAR BEAR SAFARI

  Churchill, Manitoba, Canada

  Since long before Churchill had a human history (with stints as an Inuit settlement and armed forces base), it was the polar bear capital of the world. Today, every October and November, up to 1,000 of these generally solitary creatures gather just outside Churchill, making it the world’s greatest concentration of polar bears. Expectant bears come here to fatten up on seals before taking to their dens and bearing young. Come witness the timeless drama played out by some of the largest of all terrestrial predators (some weighing in at 1,500 pounds), and come soon, as a warming climate and melting polar ice threaten the future of polar bears. The Churchill denning area was placed under the protection of Wapusk National Park in 1996, and travelers are permitted to visit only as part of an authorized tour group. Outfitters will ensure that you get up close in the comfort and safety of a tundra buggy.

  Beyond the excitement of seeing roving polar bears, the late-fall night skies frequently put on a show of their own, pulsing with the aurora borealis. These are the northern lights, shifting curtains of multicolored light that swirl across the sky, an astral dance between the earth’s magnetic fields and electrons and protons brought in by gusts of solar wind.

  Whereas polar-bear viewing is best in fall, the arctic summer brings a brief but astonishing display of flora and wildlife to the tundra. Summer trips to Churchill, a town with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants, allow you to journey on to Hudson Bay or along the coast—under nearly-24-hour daylight—in search of beluga whales (nearly 3,000 congregate near here in summer), caribou, and seals, or to join a birding trip to search out the more than 200 species of rare arctic waterfowl and shorebirds.

  You can’t reach Churchill by road; most travelers fly in from Winnipeg, but VIA Rail Canada offers passenger rail service through the vast open tundra between Winnipeg and Churchill year-round, a 43-hour journey each way.

  Wapusk National Park takes its name from the Cree word for “white bear.”

  WHERE: 630 miles/1,014 km north of Winnipeg. WAPUSK NATIONAL PARK: Tel 888-748-2928 or 204-675-8863; www.pc.gc.ca/wapusk. HOW: Natural Habitat Adventures offer 6- and 7-day polar-bear-viewing trips and 7-day summer excursions. Tel 800-543-8917 or 303-449-3711; www.nathab.com. Cost: from $4,995, includes air from Winnipeg; summer excursions from $4,595. When: polar-bear trips mid-Oct–mid-Nov; summer excursions mid-Jun–mid-Aug. VIA RAIL CANADA: Tel 888-842-7245 or 514-871-6000; www.viarail.ca. Cost: Winnipeg–Churchill round-trip seats from $610; sleepers from $1,960 per person, double-occupancy. BEST TIME: Feb for Northern Manitoba Trappers’ Festival.

  A Marine Wonder of the World

  BAY OF FUNDY

  New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Canada

  The Bay of Fundy boasts the world’s highest tides, rising as much as 48 feet in six hours—more than 22 times greater than the average tide in open seas. The hard, rapid tides have sculpted the bay’s cave-pocked coastline, reducing huge boulders to fantasy shapes, such as the Hopewell Rocks, which jut from the sand with miniature forests on their summits. The bay is best observed at Fundy National Park, established in 1948 to protect 80 square miles of coastline and forested mountains on the bay’s New Brunswick coast.

  So dramatic is the difference between low and high tide that, at the park’s Alma Beach, almost three quarters of a mile of tidal flats are exposed at low tide. Then, when the water comes rushing back in, it produces a roar at mid-tide called “the voice of the moon.” Explore the dramatic coastal cliffs, sea caves, and hidden beaches by sea kayak. In addition to more than 250 species of seabirds, you may see the rare right whales, just one of eight whale species that call these food-rich waters home. Stay in Alma, where hotels like the Cliffside Suites provide views of the bay from a peaceful and secluded perch.

  Those wanting to explore the bay by car can take the scenic Fundy Coastal Drive, stretching from Aulac to St. Stephen, near the Maine border. This scenic 5-hour route takes in great stretches of natural beauty and quaint towns such as the seaside village of St. Andrews at the mouth of the St. Croix River, a favorite summer playground for the wealthy and fashionable at the turn of the 20th century. Lined with tasteful shops and galleries, historic Water Street parallels the bay and its bustling harbor, while gorgeous Kin
gsbrae Garden offers 27 acres of formal plantings and woodland trails. Enjoy a view of the gardens or the bay when you overnight at the Kingsbrae Arms, built in 1897 as a “cottage-style” manor house and later converted into a stylish ten-room country-house hotel. The chef has made the dining room a destination offering world-class cuisine that bursts with contemporary flavors.

  The most imposing option is the hilltop Algonquin Hotel and Resort, with 234 rooms. Built in 1889 overlooking the bay, its Tudor-style turrets, red-tile roof, top-ranked seaside golf course, and kilt-wearing staff might convince you that you’ve woken up on the other side of the Pond.

  WHERE: 84 miles/135 km northeast of Saint John. FUNDY NATIONAL PARK: Tel 506-887-6000; www.pc.gc.ca/fundy. CLIFFSIDE SUITES: Tel 866-881-1022 or 506-887-1022; www.cliffsidesuites.com. Cost: from $110. KINGSBRAE ARMS: Tel 506-529-1897; www.kingsbrae.com. Cost: from $230. ALGONQUIN HOTEL: Tel 506-529-8823. Cost: from $120 (off-peak), from $175 (peak). BEST TIMES: a new or full moon for the most dramatic tides; mid-Jul–mid-Sep for peak bird migration and best kayaking weather; Sep–Oct for foliage and whale-watching.