prince rupert

Going to Prince Rupert next month. Any suggestions of things to do?

I read an article in Cruise Travel Magazine last month about the Grizzly Bear Sactuary. I'm going thru Celebrity. I hope to hear from someone who has been there.

Jim

Prince Rupert has a rich history and plenty of opportunities to explore the Canadian Wilderness. You might want to check out either of these websites for more information:

www.cruisetoprincerupert.com

or

www.tourismprincerupert.com

Make sure you check out the Museum of Northern BC, explore Cow Bay, and spend some time on the patio of the Crest Hotel (overlooking the harbour). The rest depends on your sense of adventure and how active you want to be.

Cheers.

WE are renting a car and want to know whre to go explore. Would liek to drive along the skeena river and see Butze Rapids. Is that doable with a car?

bump

Our NCL cruise stopped at Prince Rupert a couple weeks ago. It's a nice change from the other ports. Here you won’t see rows of the mega shops like Diamonds International, but local craft and tourist shops each with its own flavor. The US dollar is worth about 1.30 here, nice discount off the tagged price J When you leave the ship don’t go straight up the hill into town, but turn left onto Cow Bay Road for the cute shops, eateries, and marina/mountain views. Go down Cow Bay Road to the Visitor’s Center where the action starts. Get a city map from the Center, it’s better than the ship one, has walking routes marked with spots that have totem poles and views, and they will mark on the map any stores or sights you are looking for. Follow the shops past the marina up Cow Bay Road till it reaches 3rd Ave, then go down 3rd. Cheapest net café we ever saw was Ziggy’s on the right side of 3rd Ave, a few blocks from Cow Bay, $2.50CAN for an hour, fast connection, about 8 computers. You get 3 minutes on the ship for that. Another net café is further along, a little more money.

There’s plenty of time to do the town as well as a tour. We did the Butze Reversing Rapids Trail, 3 miles total, very easy walk through a mossy forest, lake views, rapids views, rocky coast, lovely. The ship offers it for $40, but we did it on our own for $1.25 by catching the local bus (Port Edwards route). You can also take a cab for $12 each way. This bus leaves downtown at 9:10 across from the Chevron Station on 2nd Ave, look for the bus pole signs w/ route numbers, it will say Port Edwards. It stops at the Butze Trailhead, but tell the driver that’s where you’re going to make sure, it’s out on the highway, a 10 minute ride. It returns to town from Butze at 1:00.

The tour people were moving very slowly on the trail, and didn’t do the side paths to the rapids etc, or the Grassy Bay extension trail, examining every leaf as they went, so we were glad to be on our own. We were done in just over an hour. If you want more walking, the Mt. Oldfield trail (1800 ft) is across the highway. The Butze trail is marked on the map from the Visitor’s Center.

We knew we’d be done well before 1:00 and arranged for a cab to get us at noon to save time. While waiting for the cab we ate sandwiches we ordered from room service before we left the ship, and drinks from our cabin, and enjoyed the nice view halfway down the parking lot. Two of the ship tours where there, and I’ll bet the driver would take you back to the ship if you showed him your ship card, said you were stranded or something. That would make a good story, why doesn’t someone try it, the “Free Tour” story. If he says no, you have the backup bus at 1:00. The Prince Rupert Transit System bus schedule is on the Net: http://www.busonline.ca

-Bob

Thanks for the info about the trail and helpful hints about the town. We don't get in until afternoon and are there until 8 or 9 at night. hopefully the shops will be open in the evening after we do our hike. We also wanted to drive along the Skeena River Valley.

The shops might shut down at dinner time, it's a bit of a squeeze for time. If you're there mid-afternoon it would be doable. With travel time the Bitze Rapids hike would take 1.5 hours, the cab would have you there in 10 minutes, then an easy hour hiking, then prearrange for a cab 1 hour later, then back to PR in 10 minutes. Do you have a cell phone, you could get the cab company's phone number in case you need to remind them to come, but they were right on time coming to get us, and took our name so they didn't pick up someone else.

-Bob