Want to do some bike touring in BC but you’d rather not do the planning? There are quite a few companies who run tours in British Columbia.
Also check out BC’s Organized Events: a few of them are multi-day and a lot like tours!
Guided inn-to-inn with luggage transfer
Most guided tours in BC are inn-to-inn, and transport your luggage for you. The companies which offer tours in BC and which tours they offer vary from year to year, but here are some links to get you going:
- Great Explorations (Gulf Islands, Coast Mountains, Kettle Valley, and more)
- Into The Wild (Vancouver Island, Okanagan, Sea-to-Sky Corridor, and more)
- Free Wheeling Adventures (Jasper to Banff, Okanagan, Vancouver Island)
- Bicycle Adventures (Selkirk+Kooteneys)
- VBT Cycling Vacations (Vancouver Island+Gulf Islands)
- Backroads (Vancouver Island+Gulf Islands)
Missing any? Feel free to contact me with suggestions.
Guided camping with luggage transfer
There is one operator we know of who offers guided camping-based tours in BC: the Adventure Cycling Association (ACA). ACA is a US-based non-profit, but most years they offer tours that travel up into British Columbia. These tours tend to be less expensive than inn-to-inn tours.
ACA’s tours fall into two types. The first type is its “van” tours where the guides transport your luggage for you in a van, from campground to campground. Check our the ACA list of van tours for the year, looking for routes named “Selkirk Splendor”, “Great Parks North”, “North Star”, and some of their “Great Divide” tours go into BC too.
Guided camping, self-contained
ACA also offers guided group camping tours where you carry your own luggage in panniers or bikepacking bags on your bike (“self-contained tours”). Check their list of self-contained tours for the year for routes named “Selkirk Splendor”, “Great Parks North”, “North Star”, and some of their “Great Divide” tours go into BC too. Their “Pacific Coast” tour doesn’t go all the way into BC but it is only about 100km to bike from Vancouver to its start in Bellingham WA.
Heather (creator of this website) leads some of these tours with ACA so feel free to contact me with questions 🙂
Self-guided tours with luggage transfer
If you want more flexibility in scheduling or to save money, some tour operators can plan out a route for you, book lodging, and provide luggage transfer. Some include bike rental as well.
- Into The Wild self-guided (Vancouver Island, Okanagan, Sea-to-Sky Corridor, and more)
- Free Wheeling Adventures (Jasper to Banff, Okanagan, Vancouver Island)
- Randonnée Tours (Gulf Islands, 5-day or 7-day)
- KVR Outfitters (Kettle Valley)
- Great Canadian Trails (Kettle Valley)
- Vélo Québec Voyages (Okanagan)
- RSVP (Seattle to Vancouver)
- Wilderness Trails Mountain Biking Circuit (South Chilcotin)
- Elbow Valley golden triangle ride (Rockies)
- Electric Alpine Biking on the Galloping Goose (Victoria)
Self-guided tours, self-contained
Some tour operators can plan out a route for you, book accommodations, and also rent you bikes and racks and bags for the dates of your choosing. You head out on your own based on maps/GPS instructions they provide, with an emergency number to call in case you need help. This can be a great tour type if you hope to do independent bike touring but would still like some logistical support.
Hub-and-spoke single day tours
Finally, a different type of guided tour is to combine single-day guided tours: a hub-and-spoke model, where you stay in one place and day trips out from there. Some areas of the province are particularly conducive to this.
It can work well in a city with lots of bike routes like Vancouver, a tourism destination like Victoria, an area with lots of wineries like Kelowna or Penticton. Some tour outfitters rent bikes as well. Some examples:
- Epic Cycling (Penticton)
Mountain bike shuttles
A bit different but worth mentioning: BC has a number of mountain bike shuttles: