British Columbia and the Yukon (Lonely Planet Country & Regional Guides) [Paperback]

Having purchased a couple of more colourful books on British Columbia and Vancouver I felt a little short changed from the lack of information.

I bought this book and all information is concise and informative, maps detailed enough to be of use. There is information on all the usual tourist orientated stuff but also a lot of more 'local' information than is available in any of the other guides read.

If you take one book to British Columbia, make it this one.

Given a parallel existence, I'd spend it in BC. Eight visits to date and counting (nine if you count a day trip to Victoria from Port Angeles, WA; eleven if you include the momentary forays into BC when skiing at Lake Louise). But it wasn't until the seventh that I bought a guidebook, and it just had to be my go-to-guys at Lonely Planet.

As usual, if nothing else LP provide some excellent background history for the province which helps you understand why some things are where they are, why some things are what they are, and why some are how they are.

Given the size of the area it's understandable that they miss some of the detail I've accumulated over the years. For example, there's a sidebar about Brackendale, where the Bald Eagles go for the winter, but nothing about the excellent café just up Government Road from Eagle Run, at the General Store and Post Office, where they do the best breakfast ever for next to nothing to warm you up for the experience. For later in the day there's also now a bar'n'grill overlooking the river and viewing point. I regret I've never had time to sample the fare at the Eagle's Nest restaurant, situated between the two.

But they do mention some stuff that eight/eleven all-too-brief stays haven't given me the time to get to: I'd driven the Parksville-Port Alberni road four times (once in the dark, admittedly) without registering Cathedral Grove's monster trees, but that road is so well marked with sign posts you can't stop at them all, so it's good to have advice on where to stop. The place that always has me stopping in my tracks, though, is Kennedy Lake, and you don't need a sign post for that - the view itself is enough.

Frankly, the book didn't help me much with Whistler, but then after seven seasons I don't feel much in need of a guide book. Only one of the three hostelries I've stayed at is included, but all of the descriptions are so short that you're not going to choose them on that basis anyway. Go to the internet and holiday brochures. I wouldn't personally recommend any of the restaurants they mention, which doesn't mean they're no good. I assume they didn't have room for Ric's Grill, which has about the most comprehensive menu I've seen, or the Rim Rock Café, for which you will normally need a reservation well in advance. My copy pre-dates the 2006 opening of Morgan's, in Whistler Creekside, which may eventually challenge Rim Rock, at least for airs and graces.

The rapid development of Whistler, exemplified by Morgan's, not least because of the 2010 Winter Olympics, and the consequent expansion of the Sea-to-Sky highway to Vancouver, means a new edition is needed sometime soon. When they do, I suggest they leave more room by omitting the section on the Rockies, which are strictly speaking in the next-door province of Alberta, not BC. Where the book seems short on space for some BC things, it crams Jasper, Banff, Lake Louise and the Icefield Parkway into 31 pages. On the basis of three visits, I reckon I could write more, especially if the scope extended to Calgary, the principal serving airport for the area.

For Vancouver it's good for Stanley Park, and it's useful having Yaletown pinpointed as a place to eat/drink - it took me several visits to discover the area, despite staying in a hotel right on its edge since 2001. That hotel, like the other hotel I've stayed at in the city, is not mentioned, but then LP seem to have a thing about Best Westerns (my go-to hotel guys), as they don't mention the very presentable one in Tofino, on Vancouver Island, which has excellent views over the beach and the Pacific. The restaurant, however, is generally understaffed, so service is slooooow; it closes its doors at 8pm; and any level of capacity, low or high, always seems to take them by surprise.

LP do manage to mention the first hotel I ever stayed in at Tofino, the Maquinna Lodge, which is good but not as well situated as the BW. But there's also a less well equipped Best Western in Nanaimo which is Best Not Mentioned.

Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island gets a bigger mention than Rathtrevor Beach, which receives none, probably because the former has a town attached to it and the latter only a campsite, which is mentioned. But Rathtrevor is the one to visit for a walk, with some excellent views out over the Straits of Georgia with the possibility of sea lions, whales (so I'm told), various waterfowl, shorebirds and seabirds, and Bald Eagles, without the distractions of a road and promenaders behind. Practical advice like you need a couple of loonies to pump the parking machine would be useful. Additionally, a ranger (of all people) in Stanley Park once showed me that a British 2p coin will substitute for a loonie. Be warned. I never tried it, though it worked for him at the time, and that was in 1994.

Back in Yaletown, the restaurants LP mentions are good enough, but they're not ones I frequent. So take the advice, but also improvise a little. There's plenty to choose from. The exception would be about the places to avoid in Vancouver. I can definitely confirm that you should stay away from West Hastings Street; very funky, to say the least. One cold night I strayed that way and, realising my mistake, hastily boarded the first bus that came along, only to find I had insufficient cash for the fare. The driver let me off with what I had: Vancouver (and BC) public servants tend to be that way.

To conclude, clearly there's local knowledge, and then there's local knowledge. If you want to spend time building up your own, that's fine. I've enjoyed doing it. But there's always more to learn, always more to squeeze out, and this book will help you augment what you find out for yourself with the knowledge they have acquired professionally.

Very good travel guide which prepared me well for all my travels throughout BC in Canada. Well written with lots of tips and excursions recommendations - good one.