100 Unique Experiences in British Columbia

March 28, 2026March 17, 2026 / Maria / Leave a comment

It’s been over 12 years since I moved to BC. There’s so much to explore in this province and every year has been filled with new adventures, which I’ve loved sharing on this blog. I like encouraging others to explore the many attractions BC has to offer, so for this post I’m partnering with intrip to share my list of 100 unique experiences in BC.

Intrip is a discovery app for all BC wanderers. It’s a map-based social media platform where every post is linked to a real place. It helps you to discover real local tips and experiences, easily explore what’s around you, and connect with your community to love where you live. Join me on the intrip app to rediscover beautiful British Columbia! Download the app on Google Play or Apple Store.

This list skews towards those living in the lower mainland, as that’s where I’ve spent the majority of my time, but I like to think there’s a little something in here for everyone. Happy adventures!

Unforgettable Adventures

Ride the Sea to Sky gondola for unforgettable views of Howe Sound
Cross the Fraser Canyon at it’s narrowest point at Hell’s Gate
Bike from Sidney to Sooke along the Lochside and Galloping Goose trails
Explore underground at the Upana Caves near Gold River
Hike Frosty Mountain in the Fall to see the larch trees turn yellow (pictured)
Embrace “Ski to Sea” and end your ski day with a trip to the beach
Reminisce about the Beachcombers TV show at Molly’s Reach in Gibsons

Classic City Experiences

Climb the Grouse Grind and visit the resident grizzly bears
Walk across the suspension bridge at Lynn Canyon or Capilano
Bike along the seawall and stop to see the totem poles in Stanley Park
Take the ferry to Bowen Island for a classic day trip
Play beach volleyball or let it all hang out at Wreck Beach
Ride the mountain coaster on Cypress Mountain

Natural Phenomenons

Soak in a natural hot spring in the Kootenays
Photograph the stars in E.C. Manning Park
Dive for microbialities at Pavilion Lake in Marble Canyon Park
Stay up late to look for bioluminescence in Sechelt Inlet
Travel millions of years into the past with a guided fossil walk in the Burgess Shale (pictured)
Watch thrill seekers paddling the waves at the Skookumchuck Narrows
Drive north and look for the Northern Lights

Delicious Eats

Indulge in all you can eat sushi, Hot Pot or Korean BBQ
Join the throngs of people enjoying Sunday brunch at Jam or Fable
Grab a sandwich and coffee from Blue Moose Café in Hope before heading off on a day hike
Split tapas with friends at Nuba or Nightingale restaurants
Sample local venison and bannock at Kekuli Café in Merritt
Try delicious vegetarian food at Meet
Enjoy brunch by the river at Fergies Café in Squamish

Camping Adventures

Take your family frontcountry camping at Golden Ears, Porteau Cove, or Alice Lake
Plan a coastal hike along one of Vancouver Islands iconic routes, like the West Coast Trail or Juan de Fuca Trail
Experience hut-to-hut hiking on the Sunshine Coast Trail (pictured)
Camp at one of thousands of free Rec Sites around the province
Go back in time hiking a Heritage Trail like Tikwalus or the HBC Trail
Wild camp in grizzly country in South Chilcotin Park

Entertainment

See a broadway musical at the Queen Elizabeth II Theatre
Line dance with friends at The Yale Saloon in Yaletown
Try roller skating at the Roller Skate Club at the PNE
Enjoy live music at The Vogue, The Orpheum, or the Commodore Ballroom
Take a guided Ghost Tour in New Westminster
Support community theatre on Granville Island

Wildlife Encounters

Look for owls at Boundary Bay or Eagles at Brackendale
Celebrate the annual salmon run with First Nations at Adams River
Search for moose on the Bowron Canoe Circuit (pictured)
Feed the birds at Reifel Bird Sanctuary in Delta
Make friends with the Goats on the Roof in Coombs
Spend a day horseback riding in Pemberton

Stay Hydrated

Stop for a cold beer after your hike at Backcountry Brewing or A-Frame in Squamish
Sip tea at BC’s oldest tea merchant, Murchies, in downtown Victoria
Visit Brewers Row in Port Moody along a beer crawl
Go on a winery tour around the Okanagan
Drink beer from all over the province at Craft Beer Market and Brewhall

Summer Exploring

Explore a classic hiking trail in Garibaldi Provincial Park (pictured)
Photograph the sea stacks at San Josef Bay, the most beautiful beach in the world
Swim with bergy bits at Berg Lake in Whistler
Enjoy Honey’s Donuts after hiking to Quarry Rock in Deep Cove
Count how many waterfalls you can see in Wells Gray Park
Cool down on a hot day at the Sooke Potholes

Opportunities to Learn

Go on a historic walking tour around Chinatown and the Inner Harbour in Victoria
Relive the gold rush era in Historic Barkerville town
Watch a documentary at Science World’s IMAX theatre
Learn about BC’s history at the Royal BC Museum in Victoria
Appreciate indigenous art at the Bill Reid Gallery in Vancouver

Water Based Activities

Snorkel the warmest water in BC in Copeland Islands or Desolation Sound (pictured)
Spend a week house boating on Shuswap Lake
Relax along the lazy river in Penticton
Attempt the inflatable obstacle course on Harrison Lake
Surf the waves with Surf Sisters Surf School in Tofino
Look for the mythical Ogopogo at Okanagan Lake
Embrace your wild side at the Cultus Lake Water Park

Sweet Treats

Cool down with homemade ice cream at Earnest in North Vancouver
Satisfy your sweet tooth with a gourmet doughnut from Doughnut Love in Coquitlam
Find your favourite bubble tea shop with options all over the lower mainland
Celebrate with High Tea at 8 Corners Tea Room or Neverland Tea Salon
Walk along the inlet in Port Moody with an ice cream cone from Rocky Point
Get a frozen yogurt made with fresh fruit from Alice + Brohm in Squamish

The Rocky Mountains

Ride the Rocky Mountain Express train along the historical cross-province route
Hike the Berg Lake Trail to the base of Mount Robson, the tallest mountain in the rockies
Ski iconic resorts at Fernie, Kicking Horse, Red Mountain, and Revelstoke
Try and score permits to visit Iconic Lake O’Hara and hike the Alpine Circuit in Yoho National Park
Watch the sunset from The Nub in Mount Assiniboine Park (pictured)
Do a classic thru-hike like the Rockwall Trail in Kootenay National Park

Shopping Extravaganza

Browse for books at one of the many bookshops in Sidney or Victoria
Pretend you’re in Europe at one of Metro Vancouver’s many Christmas Markets
Check out the local Farmer’s Market on weekends
Window shop along the streets of Fort Langley

Winter Fun

Watch the sunset from the Sky Chair while Night skiing at Cypress Mountain
Skate through the forest on a 1km skating loop at Apex Ski Resort
Try ski touring or cross country skiing in the Callaghan Valley
Snowshoe to a backcountry hut for the night at Elfin Lakes
Test your mettle camping in the snow at Manning Park or Coquihalla Summit Rec Area (pictured)
Ski or snowboard at Whistler–Blackcomb‘s world class ski resort
Realize the benefits of the sauna and ice bath at Tality or Scandinave Spas

Sporting Events

Cheer for the Vancouver Canucks NHL hockey team at Rogers Stadium
Support the Vancouver Rise Women’s Soccer Team in Central Park
Share a 3ft hot dog at Nat Bailey Stadium while cheering for the Vancouver Candians baseball team

Paddling

Whitewater raft along the rushing Elaho River in Squamish
Camp overnight at one of several marine access campground in selilwet (Indian Arm)
Paddle Widgeon Creek and hike to Widgeon Falls
Soak in the sunset from a SUP in Deep Cove
Explore the coastline on a multi-day paddling trip to the Gulf Islands (pictured)
Rent a canoe for the day at Alouette Lake in Golden Ears Park

Shuswap Lake and Adams River

April 23, 2025April 25, 2025 / Maria / 3 Comments

In line with my previous post, while there are a lot of intense hikes and backpacking trips to do in BC, there are also lots of attractions that don’t require substantial physical fitness to visit and enjoy. In Fall 2022, my parents came to visit for several weeks and we decided to road trip out to Shuswap Lake for a few days and visit Adams River to learn more about the salmon run. It was my first time visiting Shuswap Lake and it was an abnormally warm Fall, so we had a great time exploring this part of the province.

For our trip, we stayed in a little airbnb located on the beach, just outside of Salmon Arm. It was a nice 2-bed cabin for me, Seth, and my parents, but October is maybe not the most ideal time to visit. The water level in the lake slowly subsides all summer, so it was extremely low when we visited, meaning it was quite mucky along the beach. This was also the year when the province got overrun by invasive stink bugs and we had to remove several dozen of them from the cabin. It was no fault of the owner, they were just rampant everywhere that year, so it was a bit gross trying to purge them all from the rooms.

We only had 3 days and we spent the first day enjoying the drive out. We stopped outside of Kamloops and did a short hike up to a viewpoint at Dufferin Hill, plus we made a few ice cream stops for my mom and Seth along the way (any time Mom visits on her holiday we eat ice cream every day). It’s a 5 hour drive from the lower mainland to Salmon Arm, so it was a bit far for a 3 day trip, so we made the most of it. We enjoyed a nice walk around the parks near the Salmon Arm Wharf and had dinner at 1905 Kitchen, which was delicious!

Day 2 was our only full day without driving, so I’m impressed with how many activities we were able to cram into a single day. We started the morning with a visit to the Downtown Salmon Arm Farmer’s Market, which is open year round on Saturdays from 9am – 1pm. I was actually really impressed with the market. It was pretty substantial for such a small town and it was hard to pick between so many yummy sweets, plus lots of fruit and produce options. Plus it’s located right on one of the main streets and there are tons of quirky shops nearby.

I immediately made a beeline for The Book Nook, which is a used bookstore at the east end of the market. They had a pretty good selection and I picked up a few books. My other favourite was Sanctuary Games, which has a huge selection of board games and puzzles, plus a bubble tea cafe in store.

Our next stop after the market was to head over to the local mall to visit Bookingham Palace. I just stumbled upon The Book Nook, but I couldn’t resist planning a visit to Bookingham Palace. It’s a more traditional bookstore and nothing too special, but they were having a big sale when we visited, so we all picked up some new books before heading out of Salmon Arm to explore some nearby attractions.

Next we hoped over to the other side of the lake to do a short hike. There’s a small park called Herald Provincial Park, with a short hike (~1km round trip) to Margaret Falls. The trail follows to river up through a canyon to a tall waterfall cascading down over the rock. It’s a nice roadside attraction when you’re in the area. Afterwards, we continued down the park road to the picnic area and hung out on the beach for a while eating some snacks.

My parents don’t drink alcohol, but they were willing to explore at least one winery with us while in the Okanagan, so we made an early afternoon booking at Sunnybrae Winery for lunch. There’s a really nice balcony looking out towards the lake, so we enjoyed a charcuterie board on the terrace on a weirdly hot day for October. Seth and I picked up a few bottles of wine to take with us before getting more ice cream for mom.

We decided to return to Salmon Arm, this time visiting Canoe Beach. It’s a huge sandy beach on the south side of the lake with a really nice swimming area. Like I said, it wasn’t the best swimming season because the lake level was so low, but by late afternoon, I couldn’t resist going in the water. It was actually really warm, so Dad joined me as well and we goofed around in the shallow water. We waded out until we finally reached deeper water and generally just felt unreasonably pleased with our good fortune to be able to swim in October (we both love swimming).

For dinner, we hit up the Barley Station Brewpub, which was more about me and Seth wanting to sample the local craft beer rather than the food. Then we finished off the evening with several hands of cards at the airbnb.

On our final day, we had to drive all the way back to Vancouver, but the primary reason for our trip was to visit Adams River for the Salute to the Sockeye. The salmon run has a dominant cycle every 4 years, and 2022 was a dominant year, so we were keen to see it. Unfortunately, a lot of salmon stocks were decimated in the flooding in 2021 because their spawning grounds were wrecked and the eggs completely washed downstream. The salmon should have been peaking when we visited, but unfortunately they were late, so while we did still see some of them in the river, they were not running in abundance.

It was still a really nice side trip though. The Adams River Salmon Society and the Little Shuswap Lake Band run events in Tsutswecw Provincial Park, which features a welcome ceremony, artisan market, and food trucks. We enjoyed the festival for a few hours and walked along the nice trails before heading back to Vancouver.

Overall, it was a pretty chill trip with a bit more driving than I usually like. But it was fun to do something new with my parents (who have made quite a few visits to Vancouver over the years) and spend time as a family. I’d probably recommend the Shuswap area earlier in the summer, but it’s also at lot busier and accommodations are more expensive then. Fall is a nice time to visit if you’d like to see the salmon run or enjoy the lake with smaller crowds.

Hell’s Gate and Alexandria Bridge Park

April 16, 2025March 13, 2025 / Maria / 1 Comment

A few years ago, me and Carolyn did a 1-night backpacking trip on the Tikwalus Heritage Trail. It’s a ~12km loop train located off Highway 1 past Hope. It’s a nice trail and we had a good time exploring the area, but what was most notable for me was the realization that, in the 8 years I’d been living in BC at the time, I’d never actually driven on Highway 1 past Hope. All of my adventures either take me up the Sea-to-Sky or out the Coquihalla Highway towards Kamloops or Kelowna.

Past Hope, Highway 1 falls the Fraser River upstream to the Fraser Canyon. I’ve been wanting to travel there for several years to go whitewater rafting, but a lot of the rafting companies were impacted by the flooding in 2021. After doing the Tikwalus Heritage Trail, I was determined to spend some more time exploring the area. My timing was good, because my friend Gina works in the tourism industry and got 2 free tickets to Hell’s Gate for summer 2023. We decided to drag our husbands along and make a day of exploring along the canyon.

Hell’s Gate is a pretty cool tourist attraction. I had actually done it before when I visited BC as a teenager with my family, but I didn’t remember it very well, so I was happy to do it again. Hell’s Gate is named because it is the narrowest part of the Fraser Canyon, where the river comes rushing down from Lillooett and is forced through this narrow channel by the steep canyon walls. The canyon is only 35 metres wide at this section and has been an important location throughout history for many different reasons.

Traditionally, this part of the river was an important fishing ground for indigenous peoples in the region. During the gold rush, the canyon was frequented by miners trying to access the gold-rich bars upstream of the channel. Then, in the late 1800’s, the Canadian Pacific Railway constructed the first rail line against the bank of the channel. The railroad still passes through the canyon today, but it is much more easily accessible as a suspension bridge has been constructed at the base on the canyon, and an airtram transports hundreds of tourists from the highway down to the tourist centre.

It’s a cool site to visit, but it definitely has a dark history. A rockslide into the canyon in the early 1900’s, greatly impacted the fishery in the area by destroying salmon habitat. Today there are many fishways that have been constructed to assist in Salmon migration up to Adams Lake and there are several historical exhibits at the base of the river – including about the natural environment, the gold rush, and the many Chinese workers who perished constructing the railway.

So from a historical perspective, I think it’s a good place to visit, but it definitely needs some updating. The storyboards and information in the museums has clearly not be updated in years and I found it to be overly focused on colonial history and many of the terms and language used around the site are no longer politically correct. It might be a small criticism to some, but this is a site that a lot of tourists come through and I think it’s a bad look to be using updated terms and ideas in a place where people come to learn about local history.

As a natural phenomenon, the site is really cool and I loved the engineering aspect of it. There’s a beautiful view of the canyon from the tram and the bridge is a very cool structure. The bridge floor is just a grate, which means you can see all the way down to the river, so hold on to any lose items and hold on to your hat since it can get windy through the canyon!

We spent a few hours at Hell’s Gate and had lunch in the cafeteria. We decided to visit Alexandria Bridge Provincial Park, which is located nearby. It’s a very small park, but is the location of another suspension bridge. Like Hell’s Gate, this location on the Fraser River is also a traditional fishing ground for the local first nations and important for conservation. The bridge was first constructed in 1861 to connect the Anderson Brigade trail (according to BC Parks). I couldn’t find much information on this trail online, but I believe it is an extension of the Tikwalus Heritage Trail, which was used by the Hudson’s Bay Company as part of the fur trade in the mid 1800’s (but developed by the Nlaka’pamux).

It was cool to visit because I’ve now done the Tikwalus Heritage Trail, the HBC Heritage Trail (from Tulameen to Hope), and Alexandria Bridge. So there’s a lot of history and culture in this area and I’ve learned a lot over the past 2 years about the fur trade and the gold rush.

For more information on the trail, this is definitely just a road-side stop (not a whole day affair). There’s a parking lot on the side of the highway and it’s ~1km each way to hike down over the bank to the suspension bridge. The trail ends at the end of the suspension bridge, where it enters Nlaka’pamux Tribal Council land. It’s an easy trail – there are some shortcuts through the woods, but you can just follow the road down and it’s easy walking, but still a good work-out thanks for the elevation gain on the way back.

Our final stop of the day is probably familiar to anyone who’s driven out to Hope – Bridal Veil Falls. The Falls cascade down from Cheam Peak all year round and there’s a nice picnic area and walk up to the viewpoint. It’s only ~1km round trip, so another good roadside stop on a day out.

There’s no shortage of places to explore in BC. I tend to gravitate to some of the “big view” trails, but it was really nice to have a lazier day and explore some of the roadside stops and smaller attractions in the area, plus learn more about the local history. Even better if your friend has free passes for the airtram!