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West Trek Tours

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West Trek Tours - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

West Trek Tours

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West Trek Tours - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

West Trek Tours

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744 W Hastings Street

Vancouver, BC V6C 1A5

Serving Vancouver Area

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Laurel V. said "A very fun adventure in the city that is run by friendly staff. My partner, 11-year-old, and I did the spy game and it wasn't too easy but not too hard, so that my kid could also participate in the problem solving. There is walking…" read more

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About the Business

West Trek Tours is Vancouver's #1 budget tour provider, servicing the international student community, budget travelers, backpackers and locals since 1998! Don't miss our famous Rocky Mountain Tour for unforgettable sightseeing, partying and the chance to make new friends from all over the world! You can also join us on one of our exciting and affordable tours to Whistler, Seattle, Victoria, Tofino and Portland. We are here to provide visitors of Vancouver with an unforgettable adventure, while helping you create memories and friendships that last a lifetime! At West Trek we pride ourselves in offering a uniquely Canadian experience. Not only are all of our tours offered in English, our guides are proud and patriotic Canadians who are eager to share the fascinating, and often humourus, historical, environmental, and geological stories of our beautiful country! Check out what people having been saying about us in our reviews. …

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Warning! Risk of life! This tour operator works very dangerous and with the sole purpose of making money! The accommodations they describe as comfortable are terrific cabins, some with no drinking water from taps. The worst thing, which puts the passenger's life at serious risk are the buses, with rebuilt tires and tread-offs. We were stopped for this by the police, who rightly blocked the bus forbidding to continue. We waited for more than 9 hours of help in the night, in the mountains, on a trail of the freeway in the forest, that they would be rescued. These incapable people came from Calgary, far more than 430 miles of small buses, instead of getting cabs from Jasper, near 15 minutes, to get us to sleep there fast. Not to spend extra, they brought us where the reservation was and we arrived in this last dreary dorm at 4 and a half in the morning, after a nightmare. DO NOTTRUST TO POSITIVE REPORT: ARE FALSE !!!!!!!

Business owner information

Business Employee

Aug 28, 2017

Hello Marco, Thank you for taking the time to give us feedback. We are sorry you had an unpleasant time on your tour. As discussed in person with you, we outsource bus companies to provide transportation. Blue Star, the bus company we currently work with, have never had a breakdown, until now. Their drivers do 'pre-trip' and 'post-trip' inspections every day to ensure the safety of their buses.   The problem with the bus had nothing to do with the tires. During the course of the day a strut broke and, rather than taking the chance of continuing to Jasper, the bus company opted to take the safer option and pulled off the highway.  The police officer simply alerted the driver to a strange noise he heard coming from the back right tires. He didn't issue a ticket or a warning.  He and the driver discussed the issue and together they decided it would be safest to wait for a replacement bus.   Unfortunately, the breakdown happened on one of the busiest weekends in the busiest tourist areas in all of Canada. Finding a replacement bus was extremely difficult as every bus out there was already assigned. Blue Star was lucky to find any bus, and it was only through their perseverance they located mini-coaches in Calgary. Taxis were never an option for the same reason outlined above. On one of the busiest weekends of the year there simply weren't enough taxis in the small town of Jasper to accommodate all the passengers from a highway coach. As well, it wasn't possible to change our hotel booking and simply book a hotel for 57 people in Jasper. Unfortunately, there is nothing available for last minute bookings in a resort town in the rockies. Again we are sorry Marco for your experience, and would be happy to continue to explain what happened with you. ` For those reading along, Marco asked we pay him $5000 for his inconvenience and when we refused, he started his online campaign against us. We invite you to check Trip Advisor for a more realistic appraisal of our business.   Best, Erin Queenan

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Fun Adventures in Western Canada

636 Hornby Street Vancouver, BC V6C 2G2

Tel: (604) 689-8128 Toll Free: 1-855-689-8128 WhatsApp: 1-778-838-5708 Email: info@westtrek.com

Every day (Monday – Sunday) 9:00 am – 5:30 pm

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West Trek Tours

West Trek is all about fun and adventures. Experience the best of Western Canada’s wilderness and most iconic destinations on a day tour or multi-day tour, designed for international backpackers and active travellers.

Starting from and returning to downtown Vancouver, embark on an authentic and transformational guided travel experience to discover the Canadian Rockies, Whistler, Victoria, Tofino, and even Seattle (USA) in a way you will never forget.

The best part? With your HI Membership, you can save 10% on your West Trek tour*.

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• Visit the West Trek website to book your tour*.
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*This offer is only valid for scheduled coach bus tours under the West Trek collection. Offer excludes tours that travel to the Yukon and Independent Travel Itineraries.

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WEST TREK TOURS (Vancouver) - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go

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Live the Adventure!

WHAT is Discover Canada Tours?

We are a family-owned and operated tourism agency in vancouver. as a leading tour operator in western canada, we connect travellers to communities through sustainable tourism. we foster human connections in authentic, year-round travel experiences throughout canada and the pacific northwest. our adventurers are our top priority and we commit to providing you with unforgettable, safe adventures for the best value., why travel with us.

Discover Canada Tours is a leading travel specialist in Western Canada. We are proud to be a trusted, locally-based, family-owned and operated travel company. We take pride in the fact that many of our adventurers travel with us repeatedly or are referrals from our past guests. We are also delighted to have been awarded the TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Award for several years.

We strive to keep our travellers in safe hands. More importantly, we make it our mission to make you part of something bigger – a community brought together by the passion for adventure, exploration and culture. As a company that tours Canada, we celebrate and share our country’s diversity with others to help travellers appreciate and feel accepted within our cultures. We aim to be a sustainable company, working with and committed to giving back to our communities.

As you embark on your authentic travel experience, you will form meaningful relationships with yourself and fellow adventurers . Our tour guides are experienced, friendly and passionate about Canada and its communities, and will go above and beyond to ensure you have a memorable experience while ensuring the utmost safety and flexibility.

Our tours and destinations cater to a wide range of ages, budgets, interests and fitness levels . We operate our own fleet of comfortable mini-coaches or charter deluxe coaches and manage your itineraries, ground and ferry transportation, night accommodations and activity bookings. We can also book flights, travel insurance and more. In short, we relieve the stress of planning and organizing your vacation. Are you ready to Live the Adventure ?

HOW did we get here?

Our story is a family story… Bear with us as we travel back to the 90s!

Doug and Dianne Revell are the proud owners of the UNIGLOBE Specialty Travel franchise since 1995, and one of their daughters, Kelly, is the General Manager . Their other daughter, Stacey Thorson, and Clint Drdul, Kelly’s husband, founded Discover Canada Tours under the UNIGLOBE brand in 2005.

Driven by their shared passion for adventure, exploration and tourism, Stacey and Clint guided the very first Discover Canada Tour to the Canadian Rocky Mountains in March of 2005. Since then, we have hosted over 450,000 travellers across Western Canada and have become Western Canada’s tour specialist of choice.

Discover Canada Tours has grown significantly over the years and we now cater to various types of travel styles, ranging from experienced adventurers, solo travellers, families, young adults and school students. We do so under five distinctive brands; Discover Canada Tours , West Trek Tours , Destination Snow , Discover Canada Student Adventures , and the new Extraordinary Experiences Collection.

WHO are we?

Our green team is the dream team to deliver memorable and authentic travel adventures by exploring the most iconic attractions in Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest.

Our adventurers are more than just customers, they become members of our family when sharing exceptional travel experiences and bonding moments with our friendly guides.

The team at Discover Canada Tours welcomes travellers from around the world to come Live the Adventure and explore the very best of what Canada has to offer!

WHERE do we go?

Departing from Vancouver, our most popular destination is the majestic Canadian Rocky Mountains, but our travellers also love to explore The Yukon, Alberta and other cities in British Columbia, such as Whistler, Tofino and Victoria. Others prefer to go on a snow adventure or even cross the border to Seattle in the USA!

We curate our adventures and ensure our tours are not only diverse and rich in experiences but also educational and fun. We operate a wide range of activities for travellers of various budgets, fitness levels and interests. Discover Canada Tours also operates custom-made tour itineraries that are suitable for smaller groups.

ROCKY MOUNTAINS

BRITISH COLUMBIA

Our Commitments

• Ensure the utmost safety and security of our guests at all times.
• Deliver the most authentic travel experiences, enriching travellers’ lives and creating lifelong connections.
• Provide tours suitable for all ages, budgets, interests and fitness levels to give equal opportunities to experience Canada. 
• Care for the people and the planet. We carefully design our itineraries to provide rewarding experiences, support local communities and protect our environment.
• Enhance our guest’s and staff’s well-being by supporting and investing time and resources towards initiatives that help our cultures and society at large.

A ‘Work hard, Play Hard’ attitude to all life’s adventures.

What does it mean to Live the Adventure? Adventure can be defined in many ways. For some, adventure can be extreme experiences like bungee jumping or whitewater rafting, for others, it can merely be heading into uncharted territories, trying something new, or exploring unfamiliar local and international destinations.

At Discover Canada Tours, we believe that adventure is whatever you make it be. We make sure that every single tour and experience that you have with us is an adventure and something that you’ll take home with you and never forget. We are passionate about travel and strive to empower international adventurers to explore the best of what Canada has to offer.

Working as a collaborative team allows us to achieve the impossible. We are a team of many talents. Not one person in the company performs only one task. We have high standards and set ambitious goals to achieve them as a team.

We are accountable, dependable and realize our success is a direct result of our actions. This advantage makes us a stronger organization. When our goals are achieved, we celebrate together!

We strive to give our adventurers ‘the time of their lives’. Everyone in our organization is committed to this belief and will not hesitate to go above and beyond to make sure each guest is having a unique and unforgettable experience on our tours and trips. We operate on integrity and care about the impact we have on our communities and each other. We stick to our values, no matter the cost. Our adventurers come first, always!

We truly believe in the importance of having a well-balanced and healthy life and we will do anything we can to ensure that our employees are able to take advantage of this. A positive image and fun loving attitude helps us be more productive and less stressed.

As we have mentioned, Life’s an Adventure and it’s about having a fun time living it!

At Discover Canada Tours (DCT) Social Responsibility matters. We are committed to enhancing visitors’ experience and staff well-being by investing time and resources in supporting initiatives that benefit society, the environment and local communities and economy. We are deeply committed to preserving the destinations in which we travel through responsible tourism.  Communities are the pillar of our great nation and define who we are.

We want to be showing off what we love about Canada for generations to come, that’s why we’re committed to exploring responsibly within our ecosystems and our communities.

Your Opinions

Excellent tour. Accommodations, meals, vehicle met and many times exceeded expectations. Each day offered new adventures, sites, options. Itinerary was perfect with driver/guide Kara being professional, cheerful, thoughtful and adaptable. I highly recommend Discover Canada and wish they did tours in the east as well. Great value for money. The support from Jennifer at head office to reconfigure end of trip helpful as well. Thanks for memorable holiday in the west.

My mom and I, along with her friends did the full day sightseeing tour to Vancouver island with a visit to the Butchart Gardens. We had an absolutely fantastic experience and I would highly recommend if you want to see the island and gardens as the travel is all planned out and you get to sit back and enjoy everything!

Discover Canada also provides very good pricing for everything you get and our tour guide Joe was fantastic and very kind! He was very knowledgeable and made everyone feel comfortable and answered random questions everyone had throughout the day.

Positive: Professionalism, Quality, Value

I took the Whistler sightseeing tour with Joe as our guide, it was really great! Joe was very friendly and helpful, informative and knowledgeable about BC and its history; he told us interesting tidbits and stories about the province and Whistler/Blackcomb. I enjoyed being able to do my own thing on the tour, Whistler was beautiful! Thanks again to Joe and Discover Canada Tours!

636 Hornby Street Vancouver, BC V6C 2G2

Tel: (604) 689-8128 Toll Free: 1-855-689-8128 Email: hello@discovercanadatours.com

Office Hours:

Every day (Monday – Sunday) 9:00 am – 5:30 pm

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Western Canada Tours & Trips

Whether it's an Alaskan cruise from Vancouver or a snowboarding adventure from Sun Peaks , the west coast of Canada is where adventure lives! Play hide-and-seek with bison and bears, hike and marvel at some of the photogenic views in the world, or enjoy the serenity of true wilderness amongst a verdant forest. From polar expeditions to Rocky Mountain traverses, there's something for everyone in Western Canada.

250+ West Coast Canada tour packages with 5,871 reviews

• Hiking & Trekking

Canadian Rockies: National Parks Westbound

Definitely the trip of a life time! The Rockies are beautiful and you get to see the most amazing sites on this trip! I would highly recommend, this was my first G Adventures tour and it certainly won't be my last

• Mountain Hikes

Canadian Rockies: National Parks Eastbound

I only wished it lasted longer

We had 8 fantastic days with Lee. He is a perfect guide with a lot of fun. Every Day was special and we enjoyed it a lot since the first second. Thank you - the selfie sisters !

• 10% deposit on some dates Some departure dates offer you the chance to book this tour with a lower deposit.

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Rockies Classic Summer Tour

The Rockies Classic Summer tour was an excellent introduction to the Rockies, with a series of stops at points of interest. The hotels were of a high standard, the tour guide (Ryan) had a great manner and the whole trip massively exceeded my expectations. In particular, I really appreciated that when we reached a stop point we were given the freedom to explore on our own rather than being herded around in a large group. I would totally recommend this trip to anyone who is short of time and wants a flavour of what the Rockies has to offer.

Fantastic. Thoughtful, informative guide, Christopher, and Nico were the best. Thank you for an amazing experience.

Canadian Rockies

Very nice trip in the Canadian Rockies!! The itinerary was perfect!! The places seen are beautiful. It was an amazing experience

Rockies Premium Tour from Vancouver (34 Seats)

A great adventure with truly experienced and professional guides, Will & Savio. They really knew their stuff and kept up a running commentary as we moved along, sharing local information and history with their clients. The route was all the advertising made it out to be and even better, accommodation and meals were brilliant and more than adequate. The attention to detail and making sure that the clients were well informed of what was coming up on the route was well appreciated. The stop and lookout points along the way are perfect and well thought out. Highly recommend this tour and the professionalism of the staff and company.

I took the 5-day Coho tour starting in Vancouver. Our tour guide Kiera was just great and has always given us with a lot of interesting information about Canada in general, our surroundings, nature and trains. In general, you could ask her anything and thus got a life coach or Canada expert! Also our group was great! We were only 7th at the beginning and became a group of 11 in Banff, due to the fact that we were the last tour for the year. Together we had fun bus rides and marveled at the beauty of Canada. I really recommend everyone to do this tour! We saw so much that otherwise would not have been possible for one independently in the short amount of time! We also did a lot of great things as a group (campfires, cooking, game night, going out) and became great friends that definitely keep in touch! Keira also always asked us about our preferences, which also allowed us to decide for ourselves what we wanted to focus on! I really loved this flexibility! My expectations of the trip were definitely exceeded and I am overjoyed to have chosen it. The hostels were also all very pleasant and clean. The Wildness Hostel was definitely a highlight, which made the experience even more special. I would gladly give it more stars as I am absolutely convinced and can recommend it to everyone!

• In-depth Cultural

Real Canada

Trip leader Michelle Tepel was incredible, with an amazing sense of humour and patience personified! The participatory camping was an awesome way to explore this region with a food kitty enabling your budget to go a long way! The hikes, lakes, glaciers, snow-tipped mountains and amazing wildlife on this trip blow you away on a daily basis. Nothing like the Rockies! This is a must do trip!

• Train & Rail

Via Railway Experience｜5-Day Vancouver to Rockies Railway Full Experience Tour Departure

Good tour overallAll personnel very accommodating

Heart of the Canadian Rockies

I had Ken as the Tour Director and Heather as the Bus driver. They were both incredibly lovely, as a 21 year old travelling for the first time alone they were very kind and looked out for me. Ken was incredibly knowledgeable and willing to answer any question thrown at him and they both very obviously loved their job and what they did

5-Day Rockies Unique Tour (Banff & Jasper & Yoho National Park)

Overall experience is good for this tour of 4 days in Canadian Rockies, Banff and Jasper. However, it was kind of tiring due to tight schedule. We love to spend more time in Lake Louise. Unfortunately, timing is too short as we wasted some time waiting for lunch time instead of a quicker one. I would love to suggest the next tourists to book your own lunches including at Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise Hotel since you can have another restaurant inside the same hotel under your own choices and nicer sceneries to enjoy Lake Louise at the max :)

7 Day Rocky Mountain Camping Adventure

Jef and cedrick were fab guides and made our trip to the rockies an amazing adventure

• €140 deposit on some dates Some departure dates offer you the chance to book this tour with a lower deposit.

Wonders of the Canadian Rockies (10 Days) (7 destinations)

The trip was absolutely brilliant and highly recommended! Breathtaking landscapes, many animals and a super group! We were very lucky with the weather except 1 time. Unfortunately, we could not visit Maligne Lake due to snowfall. The personal highlight for me was the whale tour in Victoria. We saw a lot of orcas, fantastic! The only thing I would add is 2 full days in Victoria. We had 2 nights but only 1 day of that available. The morning was Butchers Garden and the afternoon was whale watching. So you could not visit the city of Victoria well.

7 Day Vancouver Island Camping Adventure

We had a fantastic holiday. We met a great group of people and saw loads of stunning, and often undiscovered places. Alex's local knowledge was exceptional - and he went to great lengths to make sure he was meeting everyone's needs. As just one example, both my wife and I have awkward dietary requirements and he catered for us at every meal - producing amazingly good food considering we were camping. We'd recommend Fresh Adventures to anyone and everyone!

What people love about West Coast Canada Tours

This trip was the best experience of my life so far! My CEO Melanie was so amazing, I felt so at ease and happy throughout every step of the tour. This is the perfect trip to see some of Canada. 100000/10 would recommend to everyone!

Great tour with amazing sights and wildlife; however, be aware of a lot of driving the first two days on the way to banff and on the last two days back to Vancouver. Furthermore the itinerary should be updated as there where some changes as to the description.

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West Trek Tours

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West Trek Tours - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024) - Tripadvisor

Local News | The Empress steam locomotive rolls through…

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Local News | The Empress steam locomotive rolls through Franklin Park on Canadian Pacific ‘Final Spike’ tour

The locomotive’s stop was part of the one-year anniversary of the Canadian Pacific’s purchase of the Kansas City Southern line. The buy created the only single-line railway connecting the three North American countries, and hauls freight.

“It’s a nice engine,” said Mike Brown, who was among the throng that stood in the shade near the track, watching the old engine blow off steam. Brown visited the locomotive with his family, all train buffs for decades.

While The Empress was not open for tours inside the train — crowds stood outside of police tape and safety bollards along the track — the sheer size of the metal locomotive’s engine and its century of service running rails in Canada seemed enough.

The Empress’ trip this time originated in Calgary, Canada, the home office of the Canadian Pacific Railway, in late April and its trip will conclude early next month. If the stops so far have been any indication, the train will be seen by thousands, while a crew of engineers versed in modern rail engines tend to the needs and demands of the old engine.

Ben Cummings, one of the engineers on The Empress, said he has 28 years of experience on trains, and running an old steam locomotive is entirely different from modern vehicles. First, every 100 or so miles the train has to stop for lubing and while two tanks of water can last a fair bit, it’s another resource the crew has to attend to, he said.

All the while, mile by mile and town to town, the crew works, sleeps and relaxes together on the train. Cummings said it’s a good work environment, including operators who also naturally love the job.

“There’s no easy job here,” Cummings said. “On the train, everyone, even the hospitality people who cook, work hard, every day.”

At the controls are a handful of highly trained personnel, he explained.

“I think everybody on this crew is a locomotive engineer,” he said, explaining that “engineer” is a designation denoting skills and education as opposed to a particular job. “We’ve got a great team here.”

The fans who come out to observe the engine help buoy the crew’s spirits, and Cummings said he likes answering fans’ questions.

“At each stop we’ll get 8,000 or 9,000 people,” he said. “Which is impressive, honestly.”

The Empress isn’t quite as massive as the Big Boy, the world’s largest steam engine, made by Union Pacific. One of those engines made its way across the United States in 2019 and stopped in west suburban Elmhurst. The Browns were on hand to witness that one too, family members said.

Still, The Empress had plenty to brag about.

The Browns and many others standing along the tracks in Franklin Park are all too young to have ridden on The Empress when it was in regular service. And though some steam engines are available for private rides and rentals or along specialty routes, their heyday is long gone.

Still, Cummings said, there’s an attraction to the old ways when the rails ran engines across the prairies of Canada and the United States, hauling people and trailing steam.

“It stirs up memories and stories,” said Cummings, “just to see it.”

Jesse Wright is a freelancer.

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