Signature Cities Vancouver & Victoria

Our first Road Scholar trip lived up to our expectations. The program was informative, interesting and enjoyable. The leader, experts and other participants in this small group tour added to the pleasure.

We loved this trip to these enchanting Canadian cities! Our guide (Joanna) was energetic, knowledgeable and on top of all the many trip details. The Vancouver hotel was spacious and centrally located for all the sights we could visit on foot. The Victoria hotel was nice and located near the harbor. Highlights were the whale watching and Butchart Gardens on the Victoria visit. We appreciated the lectures that gave us the history of each city, but it would have been good to allow more time for questions/discussions. Meals were great and we appreciated the dinner meal choices. All in all - we had a great time, loved the group participants and extra kudos to our leader, Joanna!

My husband and I couldn't have been happier with our first Road Scholars trip! This was primarily due to our fabulous tour guide, Joanna Kucy! We would rate her as one of the best tour guides we have had the pleasure of traveling with over the years! She was kind, friendly, and genuinely took an interest in all those in our group. Additionally she was knowledgeable, organized and a true gem! The journal and the collages of pictures emailed at the end of the trip were a fabulous bonus! All the lectures we had the pleasure of hearing and the local tour guides were great. We certainly learned a so much from them! The number of meals included on the trip greatly added to our experience in Vancouver and Victoria. Dinner in Victoria at the Keg was incredible! Both hotels were located in areas that made navigating the cities very accessible. The staff there were very helpful! Due to the unusual heat in Victoria (which is likely a very uncommon event) the lack of air conditioning made the room a bit stuffy. We would highly recommend Road Scholars to family and friends! Diane and Elliot Sachs

First I want to acknowledge that Joanna Kucy surpassed the Group Leaders of my previous seven Road Scholar trips! She was gracious, engaging, organized, and knowledgeable about these cities as well as the region. Joanna was energetic and enthusiastic about each day's events. Her personal insights during this tour and her recommendations for our free time were greatly appreciated. I never saw Joanna rattled or annoyed. I learned about the history & artwork of the indigenous people, the importance of the salmon fishing and canneries, as well the as diverse population that migrated to the area. I thoroughly enjoyed roaming around the city and harbor of Victoria. The participants in this tour were friendly and enjoyable. My one complaint though is with the flights scheduled by the Road Scholar Travel Service. In the future, I will be scheduling my own air travel.

A busy, active week full of the beauty of British Columbia, the history of our neighbor to the north, and great food. Thanks to our superb leader, Joanna Kucy, and to the interesting and engaging fellow travelers.

Wonderful trip, just wished it had been longer! We were introduced to indigenous culture. colonial history, art and nature. Plenty of free time and guidance to pursue our own interests. Tracey and the instructors were all great. We particularly enjoyed the whale watch and mural tour.

Such a wide range of diversity in Vancouver and in Victoria. The whale watching adventure was the highlight of the trip. So glad I selected this program, and the weather was almost perfect the entire time.

This was a very interesting and informative program about British Columbia, Vancouver and Victoria.

The "Signature Cities - Vancouver and Victoria" tour was my second trip with Road Scholar. Like the first one, I was impressed with the knowledge and friendliness of the guides and speakers. They were truly welcoming, and were responsible in large part for making this such an enjoyable experience. I will definitely travel with Road Scholars again.

If you want to see and learn more about one of the greatest cities in the world, Vancouver, this is the trip.

This is a fabulous trip! Tracey Gage, our tour leader, is open, engaging and organized. It's obvious that she loves what she does and knows how to show off Vancouver & Victoria. She is also sensitive to our health & safety in areas where masks are best used. Every one of the experts who presented lectures/tours are truly experts and their passion for their topic & for Vancouver or Victoria is evident & made the trip one of the best I've been on so far! Would have liked time at the Museum of Vancouver to explore it for 30 minutes or so. Lunch at Salmon & Bannock stands out for both the food & Inez & her staff! I really liked the walking tour of the Mural Festival. The afternoon at the Steveston Village was not as interesting to me. I would have opted for time in one of the museums or more free time to explore downtown on my own. I like the overview of each Signature City by bus first & then having experts do the walking tour to get a feel of each city. Ferry ride to Victoria was an adventure as was the Whale Watching . Those staff are also engaging & we saw 2 whales! I enjoyed people-watching on Government Street along with street musicians on a Saturday afternoon.. I love to get the flavor of a city. The Butchart Gardens are spectacular as promised and the Sun cooperated for a gorgeous day. Afternoon Tea should not be missed. I was disappointed to find that the Emily Carr Collection was not available for viewing in any of its usual locations (until sometime in 2024). The Sylvia Hotel and The Royal Scots Hotel & Suites are both excellent and nicely located..thanks for that! Food was abundant and I really appreciate the extra efforts made to accommodate my food intolerance. Kudos to Road Scholar & Routes Adventures for a GREAT seven days!! Loved it! Penny

This was my first Road Scholar trip & I enjoyed it immensely. Our group was small, only 14, and my companions were all wonderful people. Our Group leader, Tracey Gage did a great job. I enjoyed Alasdair Butcher's lectures and tour on Vancouver's history & community issues. His tour of the Vancouver Murals was a high point. I also enjoyed Chris Adams lecture & bus tour of Victoria. Two best experiences were the Butchart Gardens (so beautiful) and the tour on the 4 Ever Wild Eagle Wings tours where we saw Stellar sea lions, whales and an Orca. It was great that our Vancouver hotel was so close to Stanley Park and the English Bay and that our Victoria hotel was so close to the the wharf, the downtown area and the museums. The bus trips around the cities gave us a chance to see a good part of the two cities and the bus trips from the Ferry and Butchart Garden gave us at least a glimpse of rural Vancouver. Both hotels, the Sylvia Hotel and the Royal Scot Hotel were very nice & the staff helpful. The restaurants were all fine and the food tasty and more than adequate portion-wise. My favorite was the Salmon & Bannock restaurant. We talked about their food all week. Milestones, Shady Island Restaurant and The Sandbar were also excellent. Things that should be changed: 1. There was a lot of repetition of facts from tour to tour. 2. Going to both the Britannia Shipyards National Park and Gulf of Georgia Cannery Museum was a was waste of time. Drop the cannery, it wasn't very interesting and was the same material we covered at the shipyard. 3. Give the group more shopping time at Granville Island by making the tour & lecture shorter. 4. Same for the Vancouver Museum, have a shorter lecture and give the tour time to explore the museum on their own. But overall I had a good time every day and really enjoyed chatting with my companions.

I went on this trip in mid-September, and it was delightful. Lots of late-summer sunshine and sea breezes in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. I love the signature city tours, and combining Vancouver and Victoria is a really great way to learn some of the history of Canada, and to dive into the past, present and future of urban British Columbia. Both vibrant cities, very different from each other. Vancouver is a quirky combination of bustling business and cultural/ecological/global awareness. It very deliberately balances growth with artistic public amenities, and takes green spaces very seriously. It showcases its diversity and attention to the growing recognition of reparation to the First Nations. It is free-spirited and funky, and also attuned to truthful preservation of historic sites, and artful reuse of abandoned industrial sites. Victoria, the capitol of British Columbia, is a showplace. Just a ferry-ride or float-plane hop away from Vancouver, it has wide, stately streets showing off the centers of government, is immaculately clean and pedestrian-friendly, and slower-paced than Vancouver. The beautiful harbor is busy with people coming and going by sea and air. The many touristy spots are tastefully done, taking advantage of the long seasons of temperate weather with tons of al fresco dining. There are many opportunities a marine wildlife watch by boat. It, too, is a very diverse city. Road Scholar puts together a week of immersion with fascinating history lectures, city bus tours, museums, walking in the parks, sailing on the ferry and the marine wildlife-watching boats, grabbing lunch on the wharf, altogether a feast for all of the senses. I loved it.

Got much cheaper fare at Travelocity than road scholar for same flights. Could not get through by phone. Miserable customer service.

Re: May need to be more explicit that tour starts in one city (Vancouver) and ends in Victoria. Important consideration for booking transportation.

The Signature Cities Vancouver and Victoria tour was fantastic and informative. The weather in July was superb and we found Canadians to be welcoming and wonderful to interact with.

Organized, full of interesting tours, discussions and experiences. Could not have asked for more.

Although this Vancouver/Victoria tour accomplished its stated goals, participants must accept the regimentation of all such tours with strict schedules for meals, walks, bus rides, etc.

I have participated in two Road Scholar "Signature City" programs (Chicago and Vancouver/Victoria). Both were informative and highly enjoyable. I will include RS in my future travel plans.