Great Bear Rainforest

Fly from Vancouver to Bella Bella and travel by boat to Spirit Bear Lodge, in the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest and the ancestral lands of Kitasoo/Xai’xais First Nation. Spirit Bay Lodge offers guided wilderness tours and ocean-front lodging with grand views of the Pacific Ocean. Enjoy communal dinners, craft beer, and a cozy room after a full day on the land. Spy whales and other marine spectacles through the 20-foot ocean viewing windows in a common room where stories, Tsimshian art, and quiet healing are shared.

Ferry to Vancouver Island and drive north to Port McNeil, where your Indigenous hosts will chart the way through the Traditional Territories of the  Kwakwaka‘wakw people. Visit ancient villages and shell middens inhabited by wolves, eagles, and bears as Indigenous interpreters read the surrounding land and waters. Breakfast, lunch, snacks, and hot drinks are provided as you glide through the Broughton Archipelago, home to migrating humpback whales. Respect for the land and safety are priorities, making these 10-hour tours perfect for families with children ages six and up.

Homalco Wildlife and Cultural Tours depart from Campbell River and travel on the Salish Sea to Bute Inlet. Owned by Homalco First Nations, this tour operation offers the best blend of land- and water-based wildlife viewing opportunities. On the water, guests are gifted the chance to see humpback whales, orcas, sea lions, porpoises, dolphins, bald eagles, and other seabirds. On land, your hosts will guide you through estuaries and share ethnobotanical knowledge and the chance to get personal with feasting bears and other wonders from safe viewing decks.

Located in the Traditional Territory of the Nuxalk People, Copper Sun Gallery hosts local Indigenous art sales and provides opportunities to meet community artists. The gallery also books a wide range of transformative tours for all interests. Two-hour walking explorations of the Great Bear Rainforest include visits to ancient petroglyphs, towering cedars, and totem poles that tell creation stories or smayustas. There are half-day and full-day hikes, as well as rafting trips that wind through a wealth of nature viewing opportunities on the Bella Coola River.