We do bus tours from Vancouver to Victoria too!

Yes that's right, in case you didn't know we often take international students on bus tours around various destinations in the West Coast of British Columbia and Washington State!

Just this past May, we toured with a group of students who came from all corners of the world including Brazil, Switzerland, Vietnam, Germany and Japan just to name a few. Vancouver School Bus worked in partnership with Rob Forman of the International Language School of Canada (ILSC) to showcase some popular sights on Vancouver Island.

The day started at 7am when the group led by Jeff, dropped by Blenz Coffee Downtown at Hastings and Richards for morning caffeine doses. After which the group was taken to Tsawwassen to access a ferry to Oak Bay.

View Larger Map

Map route to Tsawwassen

Interesting Facts: The suburb of Tsawwassen is made up mostly of residential communities situated on a peninsula of the southwest portion of the Delta, British Columbia. As the only road accessible to the US community of Point Roberts, travelers headed this way will have to pass through Tsawwassen. Don’t forget your passport as you’ll have to go through a US border crossing!

A famous landmark in its own right, the BC Ferries’ Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal is a structure that was established in 1959 to provide vehicle and foot-passenger access between the Lower Mainland to Vancouver Island’s southern part. This ferry terminal is the largest passenger terminal under BC Ferries and quite possibly the largest in North America of its kind. In the terminal, besides sightseeing, the students also took the opportunity to do a bit of shopping.

On board the ferry, the students wandered until reaching Oak Bay. Reputably known as a quaint and charming neighbourhood with a genteel British atmosphere, Oak Bay is a municipality situated on the southern end of Vancouver Island. It is a 10 minute walk east of Downtown Victoria, where people can relax a bit and enjoy green spaces, cafes and bistros.

Our group headed to Oak Bay Marina and fed fish to the seals. Complete with a spectacular view of Washington State’s Mount Baker, the Marina has a full-service ship-chandlery, fuel dock, gift shops and ship repair services that make the site a perfect destination for summer trips.

After Oak Bay Marina, the guests were treated to a scenic drive to the south of the island to Beacon Hill Park, a 200-acre park located along the shore of the Juan de Fuca Strait of Victoria. Beacon Hill Park has been under the possession of the City of Victoria since 1882. Originally, the park was called Meeacan by the First Nations people. This is Salish for ‘belly’, named for the park’s resemblance to the belly of a large man lying on his back. One of its landmarks is the Totem Pole, touted as the world’s tallest. For years, the park has served as a venue for several events held by the City of Victoria including the annual Victoria Luminara Community Lantern Festival. In our tour, we also visited the Mile Zero marker of the Trans-Canada Highway.

Photo Credit: Scazon

Soon after, the bunch were dropped off to the British Columbia Provincial Museum where they checked out some exhibits. By 3pm, the students were given the free time to explore the city. Some decided to take a walk to Downtown Victoria, while others decided to visit the Buchart Garden, the 3rd largest garden in North America. Since 1904, the garden has become one of the premier floral show gardens in the world. With over 55 acres of green and magnificent views, the garden is tagged as a National Historic Site that attracts more than a million visitors every year.

At 5pm, the bus began to gather everyone up before heading back to the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal to catch the 7 o’clock ferry. The group arrived at Tsawwassen at 8:35pm and the bus was able to drop off the all foreign students by 9:30pm.

A special thanks to Don Minaker, General Manager of Vancouver School Bus and one of our drivers!

Contact us if you’d like to talk to us about a custom bus tour for your group. We also do frequent trips to Seattle and Whistler!

Tags: Beacon Hill Park, Blenz Coffee, British Columbia Provincial Museum, Buchart Garden, International Language School of Canada, Oak Bay, Oak Bay Marina, Tsawwassen, tsawwassen terminal, Vancouver, Vancouver Island, Vancouver School Bus, Victoria, Victoria Mile Zero

This entry was posted on Friday, June 22nd, 2012 at 8:04 amand is filed under Client Trips, Company News, Partnerships. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.