What local specialties should you try in the Inside Passage?

In the Inside Passage, meals follow the rhythm of the tides, with gentle smoke, sea salt, and pearly-fresh seafood. Here’s what to try: Grilled or smoked wild salmon, with crispy skin, juicy orange flesh, and a bold flavor that blends river and ocean. Dungeness crab, cracked and served still warm, with sweet, almost buttery meat that sticks to your fingers. Pan-seared halibut, tender white flakes just cooked enough to keep the center soft. Spot prawns, firm, sweet, and briny, best served simply poached. Kelp salad, crisp and lightly salty, with a fresh green note that calls to mind wet coastal rocks.

Canada: Custom Inside Passage Tours and Travel

Visit Inside Passage

Follow the Inside Passage north through Canada, a sheltered sea route winding between British Columbia and Alaska, often by ferry or small boat. Here, it’s not about constant spectacle, but changing scenery of forested islands, gray-green fjords, harbor villages, and salty mist that can shift the mood in minutes. Come to sail with the rhythm of the tides, watch for whales and orcas in the distance, and hike through temperate rainforest. This page helps you plan your visit to the Inside Passage, step by step.

Nature, Adventure & Sport
Mountain
Island

Inside Passage: How to get there?

The Inside Passage runs along the Pacific coast, between British Columbia and Alaska. From Vancouver, fly to Prince Rupert or Juneau, then board a ferry or cruise.

Inside Passage: When to go?

Travel from May to September, ideally in June or September, to enjoy milder weather, long days, and fewer crowds than during the peak summer season.

Inside Passage: For how long?

Plan on at least three to seven days for the Inside Passage by ferry or boat, giving yourself time to slow down, watch for wildlife, and make stops along the way.

Learn more about your destination

Must-sees and hidden gems: what to see and do in the Inside Passage?

1. Take the ferry between Port Hardy and Prince Rupert

The thrill of the Inside Passage lies in this ribbon of water between mountains and rainforests, best experienced from the deck. On the ferry, the air smells of salt and wet cedar, clouds cling to the ridgelines, and every bend reveals a green island set in a steel-gray sea. Settle in outside with a hot coffee in hand and scan the ripples for porpoises, bald eagles, and sometimes a whale in the distance. Your local expert will help you choose the right sailing time and the best cabins.

2. Go whale watching in Telegraph Cove

Telegraph Cove is one of British Columbia’s best places to spot resident orcas and humpback whales. From this small village built on stilts, you head out by boat or rigid inflatable, then everything falls quiet, broken only by the powerful sound of a whale surfacing. Naturalist guides share stories of orca pods, their routes, their behaviors, and you learn how to watch without disturbing them. Outside peak season, the atmosphere feels more intimate, with softer light over Johnstone Strait.

3. Kayak through the islands of Desolation Sound

By kayak, you experience the Inside Passage right at water level, where you can truly hear the coast breathe. Despite its name, Desolation Sound is a bright mosaic of turquoise coves, forested islets, and golden beaches. Glide past kelp and sea stars, feel your paddle bite into the cold water, then land for a picnic facing the peaks. With a local guide, you can choose calm routes well suited to families.

4. Explore the Great Bear Rainforest

Here, the star is the vast, fragrant temperate rainforest, one of the rarest ecosystems on the planet. In the Great Bear Rainforest, moss-covered trunks glow after the rain, ferns brush against your legs, and rivers fill with salmon when the season comes. Walk along discreet boardwalks, learn to read tracks, and better understand this fragile territory. Local agencies prioritize small lodges and guided outings to help reduce your footprint.

5. Meet Indigenous communities in Bella Bella or Klemtu

Giving your trip deeper meaning starts with listening to the people who have lived here for thousands of years and generously share their homeland. In Bella Bella or Klemtu, Indigenous guides offer insight into Heiltsuk or Kitasoo Xai’xais culture through stories, art, and their relationship with the living world. Depending on the season, you might join a boat outing, visit cultural sites, or learn about local resource stewardship. The experience is profound, understated and always respectful.

6. Look for the spirit bear near Klemtu

Seeing the spirit bear, the rare white bear of the coast, is one of the most moving encounters in the Inside Passage. In the estuaries of the Great Bear Rainforest, you approach in a small group with authorized operators who follow responsible viewing practices. The setting is hushed, with the smell of rich soil and tidewater, light rain on your hood, then a movement, a pale shape between the trees. Nothing is guaranteed, and that is exactly what makes the moment so precious.

7. Slow down in Prince Rupert, the northern gateway to the Inside Passage

Prince Rupert is often passed through too quickly, but it deserves a real stop so you can feel the pulse of the North Pacific. Colorful houses cling to the hillsides, the air is crisp, and the docks move to the rhythm of fishing boats. Visit the Museum of Northern British Columbia to better understand the coast’s maritime history and cultures, then end with a simple fish and chips, facing the gulls.

Add the Inside Passage to your tailor-made trip to Canada

With Evaneos, you’ll work directly with a local, English-speaking expert based in Canada. They’ll guide you, respond quickly and clearly, and share their favorite local places, the ones you won’t find in guidebooks, all based on your pace, budget, and travel style.

Dreaming of sailing the Inside Passage, between misty forests, fjords, and coastal villages? Your local expert will design a tailor-made trip, then fine-tune it as your ideas take shape, from the Rockies to the Maritimes, while keeping the season, distances, and key experiences in mind.

Inside Passage: practical information for travel

For a stop along the Inside Passage, the easiest option is to base yourself in Prince Rupert, an ideal gateway if you’re arriving by ferry and a great jumping-off point for exploring the north coast. Farther south, Bella Coola offers a wilder immersion among fjords, bears, and Nuxalk culture. Port Hardy, on the northern tip of Vancouver Island, is another excellent base before traveling up the channels.

Evaneos’ local experts know these stops inside and out. They’ll point you toward responsible, small-scale places to stay, a family-run lodge facing calm waters, a fishermen’s inn, or a cabin tucked into the rainforest, while prioritizing the right seasons and places that respect local communities and nature.

In the Inside Passage, meals follow the rhythm of the tides, with gentle smoke, sea salt, and pearly-fresh seafood. Here’s what to try:

Grilled or smoked wild salmon, with crispy skin, juicy orange flesh, and a bold flavor that blends river and ocean.
Dungeness crab, cracked and served still warm, with sweet, almost buttery meat that sticks to your fingers.
Pan-seared halibut, tender white flakes just cooked enough to keep the center soft.
Spot prawns, firm, sweet, and briny, best served simply poached.
Kelp salad, crisp and lightly salty, with a fresh green note that calls to mind wet coastal rocks.

To reach the Inside Passage in Canada, the simplest route is to fly into Vancouver, then take a BC Ferries crossing to Vancouver Island, arriving in Nanaimo or Victoria. From there, head north to Port Hardy and board the Inside Passage ferry, advance reservations are essential. Another reliable option is to fly into Prince Rupert via Vancouver, then take a ferry to nearby islands or to Haida Gwaii. In Alaska, the Inside Passage is easy to access from Juneau by floatplane or via the Alaska Marine Highway. If your route crosses between Canada and Alaska, make sure you have a valid passport and check current border requirements before you travel.

What our travelers think about their stay

The Inside Passage is a coastal route for oceangoing vessels that connects British Columbia with Alaska while offering absolutely beautiful landscapes. It's also a paradise for canoeists and kayakers!

My suggestion

If you want to - and if you have the time - don't miss the experience of crossing from Seattle (in the lower 48 states of the USA) to Skagway (Alaska), in summer, sleeping on the bridge of a ferry - it's a unique, unforgettable experience!

Inside Passage Vacations