Whistler Day Trips

For a guided Whistler day trip from Vancouver that runs in every season, book Landsea’s Full-Day Whistler Tour, from $134 per person. It is rated 4.7 from 238 reviews and gives you about three hours in Whistler Village on a 10.5-hour day with a local guide. Its listing does not include a Sea to Sky Gondola ticket, so it suits a day built around the highway and the village. If the gondola is the reason you are going, Westcoast Sightseeing’s Whistler, Sea to Sky Gondola & Shannon Falls includes the ticket from $121.

Can you do Whistler in one day?

Yes. Whistler is about 120 km (75 miles) north of Vancouver on Highway 99, the Sea-to-Sky Highway, and the drive takes about 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours without stops. Day tours leave Vancouver around 8am and return 9 to 11 hours later, with about three hours in Whistler Village and one or two stops on the way. Three hours covers lunch, the Olympic Plaza, a walk through the pedestrian village and an hour in a museum.

A single day does not stretch to a full day of skiing, the PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola and the Sea to Sky Gondola all at once. For that, or for an evening show like Vallea Lumina, which starts after sunset, stay a night. For what the whole trip costs across every tour, see our Whistler tours comparison.

Tour, bus or driving yourself

Site prices are USD. Bus fares, the gondola ticket and parking are each operator’s own CAD rate at the time of writing.

For two people, Westcoast’s tour costs $242 with both gondola tickets. Driving yourself costs CAD 147.90 in gondola tickets plus CAD 10 parking, on top of the car and fuel, and you need winter tires on the rental from 1 October. The bus is the cheapest way to reach Whistler alone, and Epic Rides carries skis and bikes at no extra charge, but it runs non-stop, so there is no gondola or waterfall on the way. Viator also sells a one-way Skylynx seat from the city center from $34, rated 4.7 from 364 reviews.

There is no scheduled passenger train from Vancouver to Whistler, so the choice is between the road and the air.

Which day tours run in which months

Most gondola tours are spring-to-autumn products, and only three keep the gondola in their winter days. Prices are USD per person on GetYourGuide.

October is when the choice narrows. Star Sightseeing stops on 15 October and Pacific Coach on 31 October, and Landsea’s gondola route ended on 12 October. From November, the gondola tours still on sale are Westcoast, Jupiter Legend and Bearly There, and nobody can ride the gondola from 9 to 26 November while it closes for maintenance. Our guide to Whistler winter tours goes through those months one by one, and the Sea to Sky Gondola tours page compares time at the summit.

Several of these operators sell the same tour on Viator, and neither marketplace is cheaper every time: Pacific Coach is $153 on Viator and Jupiter Legend $130. Westcoast Sightseeing’s tour costs $121 on GetYourGuide and $167 on Viator, where it carries 2,123 reviews. It is booked on Viator:

Whistler, Sea to Sky Gondola, & Shannon Falls Tour from Vancouver

• ★ 4.8/5 (2,123 reviews)
• 10 hours
• Free cancellation
• Operated by Big Bus Vancouver / Westcoast Sightseeing

Includes Roundtrip journey via comfortable motorcoach · Downloadable walking tour of Whistler · Vancouver’s most trusted tour …

From $167 per person Check Availability

You'll choose your date and complete the booking on Viator.

A one-day itinerary by car

Leave Vancouver by 8am and cross the Lions Gate Bridge to Horseshoe Bay, where the Sea-to-Sky Highway begins. Porteau Cove Provincial Park, 38 km north of Vancouver on Howe Sound, has sunken vessels that draw scuba divers. Britannia Beach follows, with the Britannia Mine Museum and its underground train ride.

About an hour out, stop at Shannon Falls, 58 km north of Vancouver. An easy 350 m trail leads to a view of the falls, which drop 335 m, the third highest in British Columbia; the 700 m granite face of the Stawamus Chief rises beside the park. The Sea to Sky Gondola is just up the road: a 10-minute ride to a summit 885 m above Howe Sound, where 90 minutes is enough for the suspension bridge and a short loop trail.

North of Squamish, pull over for the Tantalus Range, then stop at Brandywine Falls, a 70 m drop reached by a 10 to 20 minute walk over a footbridge. In the off-season the park gate is closed and you walk in from the highway. In Whistler, the Olympic Plaza has the rings and the 2010 cauldron. The Audain Art Museum opens Thursday to Monday, and the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre, Tuesday to Sunday, needs 60 to 90 minutes. Head home by late afternoon to drive Highway 99 in daylight.

Fitting an activity into a day trip

On a tour, your window for an activity is the three hours of free time, and the coach leaves when it leaves. A short helicopter flight fits, because the scenic flights spend about 14 to 45 minutes in the air. A zipline or snowmobile tour usually does not: they take two to three hours, and snowmobile bases sit 15 to 25 minutes’ drive south of the village. For those, take the bus or drive so you set the return time, or stay the night.

The seaplane is the other answer. Harbour Air’s Day Trip in Whistler by Seaplane, from $377 per person and rated 5.0 from 13 reviews, flies about 40 minutes each way, lands on Green Lake and leaves you about seven hours in the village. Arrive at the terminal 40 minutes before departure with photo ID. Our breakdown of the seaplane day has the timings.

To book the guided day that runs in every month, check availability.