British Columbia
Get your digital arrival card- Code:BC
- Type:province
- Population:5M (2021)
- Area:944,735 km²
- Capital:Victoria
Introduction
British Columbia is Canada's Pacific province — a place where snow-capped mountains drop straight to the ocean, temperate rainforest meets surf beaches, and a relaxed, outdoorsy culture runs from the cosmopolitan city of Vancouver to the wild northern coast. For travellers it offers an unusual combination: a world-class city and ski resort within two hours of each other, an island of gardens, surf and rainforest just across the strait, and a sunny interior of vineyards and lakes — all bound together by some of the most dramatic coast and mountain scenery in North America.
Overview
British Columbia packs an enormous range into one province. Vancouver, on the mainland, is the gateway and one of the world's most scenically sited cities — a downtown of glass towers wrapped by the seawall and Stanley Park, with the North Shore mountains rising directly behind and beaches at its feet. Two hours north, the Sea-to-Sky Highway climbs past Howe Sound and Shannon Falls to Whistler, the continent's leading ski resort and a summer mountain-biking and hiking hub. Across the Strait of Georgia, Vancouver Island holds the genteel provincial capital of Victoria (Inner Harbour, the Empress Hotel, the famous Butchart Gardens) and, on its wild west coast, the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve — the surf town of Tofino, storm-watching, old-growth rainforest and long empty beaches. Inland and east, the climate dries and warms: the Okanagan Valley around Kelowna has become Canada's leading wine region, strung along warm lakes that draw summer beach crowds, while the interior ranges run up to the Rocky Mountain parks of Yoho and the Kootenays. To the north, the coast turns truly wild — the Inside Passage ferry, the Great Bear Rainforest with its rare white 'spirit' bears, and the remote, Haida-culture islands of Haida Gwaii. BC is big and mountainous, so trips tend to focus on a region — the south-west (Vancouver, Whistler, Vancouver Island) is the classic first visit — and the seasons matter: summer for the coast and interior, winter for Whistler.
Discover British Columbia
Vancouver is the rare big city wrapped in wilderness. The downtown peninsula is ringed by the Seawall, the world's longest uninterrupted waterfront path, much of it through Stanley Park — a thousand acres of temperate rainforest, totem poles, beaches and seawall views of the harbour and the North Shore mountains. Granville Island's public market, the historic brick streets of Gastown with its steam clock, and the lantern-lit Chinatown anchor the city's character, while Kitsilano and English Bay supply the beaches. The mountains are part of daily life: Grouse Mountain and the Capilano Suspension Bridge are a short trip across the harbour, and the ski runs of three local mountains light up the skyline in winter. Vancouver's food scene — especially its Asian cooking, reflecting deep Pacific Rim ties — is among the best in Canada.
Ways to Experience This Destination
Vancouver's seawall, Stanley Park and beaches, with the North Shore mountains rising behind the skyline.
Whistler Blackcomb's world-class slopes and bike park, and the Sea-to-Sky corridor's fjords and granite.
Victoria and the Butchart Gardens, Tofino's surf and the old-growth rainforest of Vancouver Island's west coast.
The Okanagan Valley's vineyards, orchards and warm summer beach lakes around Kelowna.
Whale-watching, the Great Bear Rainforest's spirit bears and the Haida culture of remote Haida Gwaii.
Frequently asked questions
Cities in British Columbia
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