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Shared itinerary · Sea to Sky Highway, British Columbia

Sea to Sky Highway day trip from Vancouver

One day up the Sea to Sky Highway from Vancouver to Whistler and back: Porteau Cove and the Britannia Mine Museum on Howe Sound, Shannon Falls and the Sea to Sky Gondola at Squamish, then Tantalus Lookout, Brandywine Falls and the graffiti boxcars of the Whistler Train Wreck before dinner in the village. 8 stops with times and notes. The gondola and the mine sell timed tickets, so book both for a summer weekend.

Updated

Distance

90.5 km

Porteau Cove Provincial Park → Whistler Village

Day

1

Stops

8

Day 1: Porteau Cove Provincial Park to Whistler Village

90.5 km

Vancouver to Whistler on Highway 99, about two hours of driving each way, with the stops in the order you reach them. Leave the city by 08:15.

  1. 09:00

    Porteau Cove Provincial Park

    Park & nature

    A pebble beach and a pier on Howe Sound, the first place the highway meets the water properly.

    10.2 km · 10m drive to next

  2. 09:45

    Britannia Mine Museum

    Sight

    Once the biggest copper mine in the British Empire. The underground train tour runs through the day; book a time.

    8.2 km · 10m drive to next

  3. 11:30

    Shannon Falls Provincial Park

    Park & nature

    A 335 m waterfall, five minutes on foot from the parking lot.

    567 m · 5m drive to next

  4. 12:10

    Sea to Sky Gondola

    Activity

    Ten minutes up to the Summit Lodge for lunch, then the Sky Pilot Suspension Bridge and the Panorama Trail. Tickets are cheaper online.

    24.7 km · 15m drive to next

  5. 15:00

    Tantalus Lookout

    Sight

    A roadside pullout facing the glaciers of the Tantalus Range across the Squamish valley.

    27.6 km · 20m drive to next

  6. 15:40

    Brandywine Falls Provincial Park

    Park & nature

    A 70 m drop over old lava flows, ten minutes on a flat trail from the lot.

    8.8 km · 10m drive to next

  7. 16:40

    Whistler Train Wreck

    Activity

    Boxcars from a 1956 derailment, covered in graffiti, in the forest by the Cheakamus River. A suspension bridge leads in.

    10.4 km · 15m drive to next

  8. 18:00

    Whistler Village

    Food & drink

    Dinner on the Village Stroll, then two hours back down the highway.