Holiday helpline
We ask three operators – Bluebird Holidays, 1st Class Holidays and Travel 4 – to come up with a recommendation and sample price for two clients who have special requests for holidays in Canada.
Request 1: Clients A are two young friends looking for adventure and activities in the Canadian wilderness.
Bluebird Holidays
Area: Quebec – Montreal and the Charlevoix region.
Product: fly non-stop with Canada 3000 to Montreal and spend two nights sightseeing Montreal and Quebec City (linked by rail travel). Next, head out in to the Charlevoix region for a five-day tour by all-terrain vehicles. The tour follows logging trails and includes travel in traditional canoes. The clients have the opportunity to see caribou, bear and other native wildlife and go whale watching on the St Lawrence river.
Price: the five-day adventure costs £899 per person including all meals, transport and activities and is available from July to September, when the Montreal/Quebec package would add £160 and high season air fare would cost from £389.
1st Class Holidays
Area: The Yukon.
Product: fly with Canadian Airlines via Vancouver to Whitehorse for seven days in the Yukon. Stay at the Dalton Trail Lodge – rustic log cabin style accommodation – at the entrance to Kluane National Park, home of Mount Logan and one of Canada’s most remote and mountainous areas. From here take five days of guided adventures including four-wheel drive touring, gold panning, hiking, photography, canoeing and mountain biking. Take an optional hire car to visit Beaver Creek – crossing into Alaska for a night – and along the Top of the World Highway to the well preserved frontier/gold rush town of Dawson City for two nights.
Price: seven nights at the Dalton Trail Lodge, including all meals and activities will cost £1,077 per person, with car hire at £160 for five days, while accommodation on the self-drive part of the tour costs from £78 per person. Flights based on September departures will be £705 per person.
Travel 4
Area: Calgary to Vancouver.
Product: Western Trails and Ranches self-drive 14-day tour through the Rockies. The tour includes horse-riding through the Kananaskis back county, hiking to see bears, coyotes and eagles, white-water rafting and snow-coaching over the Columbia Icefield to the highest peak in the Rockies. Clients can also spend a day on a canoe trip exploring dormant volcanoes and rushing lakes and take a powerboat whale-watching, seal and porpoise-spotting trip.
Price: tour – including lodge and range style accommodation, plus a car, some meals and four guided activities costs from £1,153 per person based on twinshare. Flights into Calgary and out of Vancouver with American Airlines cost from £328 for November and early December departures.
Request 2: Clients B are a couple of empty nesters looking for a resort-based holiday with opportunities for excursions of a scenic touring.
Bluebird Holidays
Area: British Columbia.
Product: follow the classic Sunshine Circle flydrive tour along the beautiful coastline of British Columbia. Fly into Vancouver and take a week linking the resort towns of Campbell River (two nights) and Tofino (two nights). Explore the small coastal communities, go whale watching and enjoy spectacular mountain views, lush rainforests and some of the best salmon fishing in the world. The trip involves no more than 3hrs’ driving a day, including time in the province’s fascinating capital, Victoria.
Price: the Sunshine Circle self-drive tour includes eight nights’ hotel accommodation and car hire from £533 per person. Air fares on Canada 3000 for departures before the end of October are from £379. Additional nights in Vancouver are available from £22.
1st Class Holidays
Area: Calgary and the Rockies
Product: fly to Calgary and join a scenic sightseeing tour of the Rockies taking in the Banff and Jasper national parks and the icefields parkway. Take a snowcoach ride on to the ancient Athabasca Glacier, and then based at the Jasper Park Lodge take guided hiking or cycling tours, boat and fishing trips alternatively sit by the outdoor pool or play golf.
Price: one night at the Palliser Hotel in Calgary, the Calgary to Jasper tour and seven nights in Jasper will cost £714 per person. This can be combined with a Rocky Mountaineer add-on to Vancouver for £539 per person. Flights for September departures cost £580 per person.
Travel 4
Area: Canada’s capital cities and Niagara Falls.
Product: join a deluxe 10-day coach tour run by Greyhound International subsidiary Tauck, starting in Montreal and then moving on to Quebec, Ottawa, Toronto and Niagara Falls. The tour includes sightseeing of the cities’ great landmarks, cruises on the St Lawrence in Quebec and at Niagara, and free time to explore en route and deluxe accommodation.
Price: tour costs £1,026 per person based on twinshare and including all meals, professional tour guide and travel by air-conditioned coach. Flights into Montreal and out of Toronto with American Airlines cost from £272 for November and early December departures.