10 Stops You Can't Skip Along the Sea to Sky Highway, BC

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A lot of lists miss this one, but it's a great first stop before you leave the city. Whytecliff is a small marine park in West Vancouver. It's technically before you even hit the Sea to Sky Highway properly, but with rocky shoreline, tidal pools, and views across Howe Sound, it's a great first stop and really shows how much nature is literally at the city's doorstep.

It's popular with scuba divers, but you don't need to be one to appreciate it. Walking the rocks at low tide is worth the detour on its own.

Time needed: 30 to 45 minutes

Porteau Cove sits right on Howe Sound with a pebble beach, a dock, and mountains dropping into the water on every side. It's also a campsite, so if you're turning this into an overnight trip, it's worth knowing about. It can be a quick stop to stretch your legs, or you can take a dip in the sound and take your time. 

It's become an accidental tradition of mine that every time I need to drop my wife off in the city for the day, I stop by Porteau Cove on the way back to Squamish for a quick dip and a coffee. 

There are no coffee shops, though, so where does the coffee come from? It comes from my #1 BC road trip recommendation. If you have a camp stove already, make sure it's packed for every trip and also bring some coffee and a French press or some Nescafé. Being able to stop literally anywhere and whip up a quick cup of coffee is the best part of a road trip for me, and it takes almost no equipment or time.

Time needed: 20 minutes to an hour, depending on how long you linger and if you take a dip.

The old Britannia copper mine sits right off the highway at Britannia Beach and is a kind of historical, boring/interesting mix. Did I drive right past this massive museum dozens of times in my 20s? Absolutely. Does it also have a fascinating history that I appreciate now in my 30's? Absolutely. 

The Britannia Mine Museum covers the history of what was once the largest copper producer in the British Empire. It operated from the early 1900s through to 1974, and the site is now a National Historic Site. The museum is well set up and doesn't feel like a dry history lesson.

Here's what's included with admission:

• Underground train tour: You board a mine train and ride into an early haulage tunnel, where guides demonstrate actual working mining equipment and walk you through what conditions were like. The tour runs about 75 minutes and departs 30 minutes after your admission time, so don't be late checking in.
• BOOM!: a multi-sensory light and sound show inside the historic 20-storey Mill No. 3 building. It's better than it sounds.
• Gold panning: a crowd favourite, especially with kids. You keep what you find.
• Self-guided exhibits: cover the social history of Britannia Beach and the wider mining community.

Hours are 9 am to 4:30 pm, with the last tour entry at 2:30 pm. Reservations are strongly recommended, so book online up to 12 hours before your visit, or call ahead for same-day availability. Budget 1.5 to 3 hours, depending on how much you want to explore beyond the guided tour. Parking is free on-site.

Note that the underground tour is not wheelchair or stroller accessible, though the rest of the site is.

If you can't be bothered going inside a museum on a beautiful day, I recommend still stopping but hitting up the general store and/or the bakery instead. 

The Britannia Beach General Store is top-notch. Huge selection of fun drinks, snacks, beers, and even proper fire-roasted pizzas. It's also around the halfway mark on our journey today, so it's a perfect pit stop. If you're craving something sweeter, head to Beaucoup Bakery and Cafe for a full array of sweets and some great coffee.

This is a stop that I almost always skip just because it's only about 10 minutes from where I live, so by the time I'm passing it, I'm just trying to get home. But I end up here almost every time someone comes to visit, and without fail, I catch myself saying, "Wow, I should come here on my own more often". Spoiler alert: that solo date has yet to happen.

Time needed: 1.5 to 3 hours, depending on whether you do the full museum tour.

This is a small but excellent Provincial park just before Squamish. For a quick stop, it has a little walking path around a lake and a picnic area with tables, garbage cans, and washrooms. 

There is a big parking lot, but it fills up quickly in the summer. Some people are here for a dip in the lake, others for a picnic, some are taking on some of the best beginner climbing in the province, and others are tackling some of the more challenging trails with the more rewarding viewpoints.

I've been doing these stops in order as you drive north, but for this stop, if you want to hike up to one of the viewpoints, I would recommend doing it on the way back down the highway and trying to line it up with sunset.

The two best viewpoints are accessed by the Murrin Park Loop. We have a full guide for these trails since there are a few options for how to approach them, and different sections of the trail are suitable for vastly different skill levels.

Time needed: 0.5-2 hours, depending if you want a picnic or a hike.

Read Next: Murrin Loop & Jurassic Ridge Trail, Squamish (2026 Local Guide)

This is the last stop before Squamish, and it is essentially in Squamish. Shannon Falls is one of BC's tallest waterfalls, and it's literally steps from the highway, which is both its best feature and the reason it gets absolutely packed in summer. The main viewpoint is a short, flat walk from the parking lot.

Go early if you can. And keep walking past the first viewpoint where most people stop. The trail gets noticeably quieter the further up you go.

Time needed: 30–45 minutes for the main viewpoint, longer if you continue up the trail

Squamish is the most underrated stop on the whole highway, and the one most people shortchange (sorry if I'm biased, but I have a soft spot for my hometown). The town sits at the base of the Stawamus Chief (one of the largest granite monoliths in the world) and is surrounded by world-class climbing, hiking, mountain biking, and windsurfing. Downtown has good food, coffee, and an iconic outdoorsy feel.

If you're only making one real stop on the drive, make it here. A couple of hours is enough for a coffee and a look around, but Squamish can fill a full day easily. We've put together a complete Squamish day trip itinerary that covers exactly how to spend a full day, so you can pull some stops from there, or if you feel like getting a walk/hike in, you can pick from one of the many we go over in our Squamish hiking guide.

Here are some top recommendations for a quick stop:

• For Coffee and a Snack: Fox & Oak is the vibiest coffee shop downtown. The coffee is good (not the best in town), but the donuts are what people really line up for.
• For Brunch or Lunch: Fergies in Brackendale. Amazing food and atmosphere, but be warned that the wait times for peak weekend brunch can be over an hour.
• For an easy walk:Mamquam Spawning Trail
• For a moderate hike: Brohm Lake Loop
• For a challenging hike: Slihaney Peak
• For a beer with a view: House of Lager brewery. Take in views of the Chief, the Sound, and Shannon Falls all from the back deck of the brewery.
• For a beer with an amazing meal: Backcountry Brewing. This one's in a bit more of an industrial area, but the pizza is worth the drive from the city by itself!
• For a beer with a chance of an eagle sighting: Watershed Grill. Iconic pub in Brackendale sitting right next to an incredible walking path that follows the Squamish River and offers great Eagle spotting opportunities on clear days.
• For a swim: Alice Lake Provincial Park.
• Time needed: 2 hours minimum, full day if you have it

Read Next: Squamish Day Trip From Vancouver: The Perfect One-Day Itinerary

A few kilometres north of Squamish, there's a pullout on the side of the highway with a clear sightline to the Tantalus Range. This is a jagged row of glaciated peaks that looks almost theatrical against the sky. By this point in the drive, you will have seen some pretty sweet mountains, but this range will still really shock you. 

I've passed this viewpoint hundreds of times, and I still stop on nice days. It's one of the best viewpoints I've seen in BC, and that's including views I've hiked 2 days to get to! 

Caution: You can't turn left into the viewpoint while heading northbound. So either continue on and turn around at the next U-turn opportunity, or save this for your drive back down.

Fun Fact: From the viewpoint, you can look to your left and see the Squamish valley stretch out and fall into the Howe Sound. Following the mountains with your eyes from the water back over to the right to the snowy-tipped Tanatalus range, you will notice a gradual increase in the ruggedness of the mountains. Closer to the sound, the mountains are a bit rounder and softer and look more like mountains from the Scottish highlands than the typical sharp and pointy BC peaks. 

This is because 15,000 years ago, those mountains on the left were completely covered in ice. YES! Nearly 2 km of glacial ice used to cover this entire valley. And when you start seeing those sharper peaks, those were the tippy tops of the mountains that were sticking above the ice thousands of years ago and saving themselves from the erosive effects.

Time needed: 5–10 minutes

Brandywine has an incredible effort-to-payoff ratio. Yes, there are more impressive sights in the Coast Mountains that are harder to get to, and yes, this is a pretty "on the rails" viewpoint. But you can just park in a big paved lot just off the highway, and it's a quick and mostly flat walk. It's one of the easiest stops you can make, but the walk ends at an incredible viewpoint above a 70-metre waterfall dropping into a volcanic canyon. 

There are informative signs put up along the path. I remember them being really interesting, but I couldn't tell you a single fact anymore. Next time I pass, I will make notes and make an update!

This is one of the most impressive accessible nature attractions on the highway. So if anyone in your party has mobility issues that stop them from getting too deep into the wilderness, this is a great spot to take them. Realistically, you are actually quite deep into nature; there just happens to be a new highway right next to it. 

Time needed: 45 to 60 minutes

Just before you hit Whistler Village, Function Junction is Whistler's industrial-arts pocket of breweries, coffee roasters, and local businesses that don't show up on most tourist itineraries. 

• If you're on the way up: stop at Forecast Coffee for an excellent pick-me-up.
• If you're on the way down: stop at Whistler Brewing Company Taphouse for a locally brewed beer.
• If you're here for lunch, stop by Functional Pies for some fantastic pizza.

Creekside is the quieter, older side of Whistler with the same mountain access and significantly less foot traffic than the main village. It's a mini-Whistler, but it's actually the original village.

My typical visit to Creekside is Ed's Bread for a coffee and a sweet treat to go, then a quick lap of the village before taking the goods over to the docks behind Nita Lake Lodge.

Dusty's is the go-to patio right at the base of the gondola.

And if you're just looking for a cheap bite to eat, The Creekside Market is the local grocery store, and they have a pretty solid hot-to-go section with wraps, samosas, sandwiches, sausage rolls, and a solid set of soups.  

If you've been to Whistler multiple times, these are a fun way to switch it up. 

Time needed: 1 to 2 hours

The obvious endpoint (or is it… our Pemberton guide is on the way). 

Whistler Village is basically an adult Disneyland. Whistler and its locals are actually scattered over quite a big stretch of the highway in several neighbourhoods, but the village itself is a small, walkable, and pedestrian-only area composed almost entirely of hotels, bars, restaurants, and gear/rental shops.

Whistler is home to world-class skiing and snowboarding in winter, and some of the best lift-accessed mountain biking on the planet in the summer.

And if you're not up for a weekend of extreme sports, there are plenty of lower-stress options.

Hit the trails. The area around Lost Lake and the Valley Trail in general is flat, easy, and great for a casual morning on foot or by bike. If you want a bit more of a challenge, there are dozens of great hikes in and around Whistler that range from a quick 45-minute grind up to a viewpoint, all the way to multi-day, multi-peak adventures reserved for the experienced and well-prepared.

Ride the gondola. You don't need to ski or ride in order to get a ride up the mountain. The PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola connects Whistler and Blackcomb peaks and holds the record for the longest unsupported gondola span in the world. The single ride ticket is a bit pricey, but the season pass is a great value. We break down whether the pass is worth it in detail in this guide:

Read Next: Is the Whistler Gondola Worth It in Summer? (2026 Guide)

Book a spa day. Whistler has a solid lineup of high-end spas, with the Scandinave Spa being the standout. It's an outdoor hydrotherapy circuit, with hot pools, cold plunges, steam rooms, saunas, and total silence. The whole spa is set in the forest just outside the village, and there is a strict no speaking rule, so all you hear are the sounds of the forest and the flow of the water through the spa. It's worth booking well in advance, especially on weekends or during peak season.

Eat and drink your way through the village. Every building in the village that isn't a gear store or a hotel is a restaurant or bar, so the options are nearly endless. The only downside is that these are both Canadian and tourist prices, so your food can add up fast!

I'm in Whistler so often that I never really consider going for an upscale meal or waiting in a huge line, so I usually find myself re-visiting:

• La Cantina: for top-notch burritos that don't break the bank. You can expect big portions and high quality.
• The Alpine Cafe: for coffee, great atmosphere, and great standard breakfast options.
• Earl's: for happy hour. Be warned that this is a chain restaurant in a busy tourist village staffed by a steady turnover of temporary Aussie workers. So the quality is hit or miss in some aspects, but I'll still see you there for happy hour on the patio this summer.

There are so many other options that I recommend taking a long look at Google Maps and browsing around for some menus that stand out to you.

We go over your options more thoroughly in our Whistler Guide, but just a quick personal top recommendations are:

In the summer, my top 3 picks are:

• Lake day at Lost Lake
• Ride the Peak to Peak and do an Alpine Hike
• Float down the River of Golden Dreams (If the conditions are safe)

In the winter, my top 3 picks are:

• Snowshoeing around Lost Lake
• Skiing!
• Ice skating in the village

Time needed: Half day minimum, easily a full day or more

• Getting there: Highway 99 runs north from West Vancouver through Squamish and on to Whistler. From downtown Vancouver, you're about 15 minutes to the start of the scenic section and about an hour to Squamish and one and a half to Whistler.
• Time needed: You could technically do Vancouver to Whistler in under two hours without stops. Realistically, if you're hitting most of these, budget a full day. Some stops are five minutes, others will take closer to an hour, and others deserve all the time you can give to them.
• Conditions: The Sea to Sky is a winding two-lane road with significant elevation changes. In winter and early spring, it can ice up quickly. Check DriveBC before you leave if there's any doubt.

Driving Tips for the Sea to Sky

A few things worth knowing before you get on the highway, especially if you haven't driven it before.

• The left lane is for passing only. The highway switches between one and two lanes throughout the drive. When a second lane appears, it's just a passing lane. Use it to get by slower vehicles and then move back right. Don't cruise in it. If you're braking in the left lane, you're in the wrong spot. The one exception is through Squamish itself, where it becomes a standard two-lane town road with intersections and left turns. Just slow down and treat it like a normal street until you're clear of town.
• Watch for the flashing prepare-to-stop signs. At major intersections along the highway there are overhead signs that flash before a light turns red. If they're flashing, the light is about to change and you won't make it through, so start slowing down even if you can still see green. At highway speeds, people can't react fast enough to a standard yellow, so these give you the early warning. Don't try to beat them.
• No left turns off the highway. You can only turn left where there's a dedicated left-turn lane. At viewpoints and pullouts without one (including the Tantalus viewpoint), you can only pull in heading southbound. If you miss it heading north, there are well-signed U-turn lanes further up the road.
• Winter tires are mandatory from October 1 to March 31. All seasons don't count. You need the mountain/snowflake symbol on the sidewall. The highway climbs to over 600 metres, and conditions can shift fast. There are random checkpoints, and if you're caught without them, you'll get a ticket and be turned around. If you're renting, confirm winter tires before you book.
• Variable speed signs mean it. The large lit overhead signs throughout the drive post weather-dependent speed limits. If they're displaying a reduced speed, follow it, because these go up when there's ice or snow on the road, and the conditions usually justify it.

We've done this drive in basically every configuration. Early morning with coffee in a thermos, mid-summer with a car full of visitors, mid-winter in the snow, and everything in between. It never gets old, and there is something unique to every season and type of weather.

A rainy day through Howe Sound still looks incredible. A rushed version where you only stop at Shannon Falls is still a good drive. But the best version is the one where you leave early, don't rush any of it, and stop as many times as you can.

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