New holiday routes and regions in B.C. 

Some redesigns of regional road trips around British Columbia have recently been introduced by Destination BC, giving vacationers some new holiday inspirations based on old favourites.

A total of six regions around the province have been given new ID titles and new product content. These were presented to journalists and influencers at an outdoor patio event in Vancouver’s Main Street warehouse district earlier in the fall.

The six regions are titled as: The Infinite Coast, The Great Wilderness, Birthplace of Adventure, Valleys & Vineyards, Nature’s Heartland and Rainforest to Rockies. These each cover significant reaches of scenic British Columbia landscapes.

For example, the Infinite Coast stretches from Victoria at the southernmost point of the province, up through Vancouver Island and the Great Bear Rainforest on the mainland coast and all the way to Haida Gwaii and Prince Rupert in the north. In between, travellers can discover all manner of coastal scenery, from gentle inlets like Clayoquot Sound on Vancouver Island to dramatic beaches facing the power of the Pacific Ocean on Haida Gwaii.

An intrepid traveller with a vehicle could continue from there on their choice of two highways northward – Hwy. 37 and Hwy. 97 – into the territory defined as The Great Wilderness. This vast northern area covers about half the entire province, and includes historic outposts such as Dawson Creek, Fort St. John, Fort Nelson, Dease Lake and Atlin, near the border with Alaska and the Yukon Territory. The “Mile 0” sign in Dawson Creek marks the beginning of the Alaska Hwy.

In contrast, the Valleys and Vineyards region, in a southern part of the province, is much more compact and serene. The business of wine has a lot to do with that, as the gentle slopes formed by Lake Okanagan cradle numerous vineyards and wineries. The region – one of the hottest in the province during summer – extends from Osoyoos in the south, near the U.S. border, to Vernon in the north. As described by Destination BC, this area is for those who prefer “less sweat and more sip.”

Those who enter the Birthplace of Adventure region can count on a concentration of mountain scenery, through ranges like the Purcells, Selkirks, Cariboos and Rockies. Towns like Rossland, Kimberley, Fernie, Revelstoke and Invermere are the communities closest to epic mountain skiing and snowboarding. And Golden is home to the heli-skiing operations that transport adventurers onto runs of deep, untracked powder. Natural hot springs await in places such as Radium Hot Springs.

The Rainforest to Rockies region emerges from impossibly scenic Vancouver, framed by mountains and sea, and provides some well-loved routes to the east, towards the Rockies, using a choice of three highways. Hwy. 5 is the most northerly and it rolls through Wells Gray Park and then close to Mt. Robson – the highest in the Rockies. The most popular Hwy. 1 – the Trans Canada Hwy. – winds up through the soaring mountains near Revelstoke and through Rogers Pass. The most southerly Hwy. 3 is maybe the most leisurely drive of three, offering constantly changing scenery while it parallels the U.S. border.

In Nature’s Heartland, travellers can count on discovering places that played key roles in shaping the human history of British Columbia. For instance, Barkerville was the hub of the Cariboo gold rush in the 1860s, and the town’s heritage buildings have been preserved and enhanced to welcome tourism. The region extends north from Hope through long-established ranchlands in Merritt and Cache Creek, including Canada’s largest working cattle ranch, the Douglas Lake Ranch, near Merritt. And it extends past Quesnel enroute to Prince George.

Go to www.destinationbc.ca for more.