Of course there are. But specifically, if you want a cooler summer cruise, your answer lies in the vast wilderness of British Columbia – a land awash with boat-fresh seafood, hulking grizzly bears and breaching humpbacks.
The temperate Great Bear Rainforest is north of Vancouver (Photo: Robin McKelvie)
It’s late afternoon and the mercury is just touching 15°C.
This 88ft-long, charmingly converted old tugboat is operated by Canadian company Maple Leaf Adventurers as a boutique expedition ship for just 12 guests.
square CANADA Canada's epic wilderness that's quietest and most spectacular before summer
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But avoiding the deadly heat in Europe isn’t the only reason to join a cruise on this side of the ocean. The six-night “Great Bear Rainforest and Kitlope” voyage delivers much more.
The cruise also includes learning about First Nations culture (Photo: Maple Leaf Adventures)
As we enter Xenaksiala lands, he reads a passage from a book written by elder Cecil Paul on the magical Kitlope – a river, a lake and the name given to the area – as part of a small ceremony.
They also ask me not to publish locations of the much-revered totem poles we encounter, for fear of them being found and desecrated.
Calling it a channel is something of a misnomer; rather than being a single waterway, it has lots of arms and legs. It’s part of one of the world’s largest fjord systems, which sits largely within the Great Bear Rainforest.
A grizzly bear was one of many animals the author observed in the wild (Photo: Andre Boysen/Getty)We stop at Gil Island’s Cetacea Lab at Whale Point, where founder Hermann Meuter tells us about his remarkable work monitoring the whales of British Columbia as a humpback sleeps like a pet dog in the bay behind him. I’m certainly not missing the Med. The idyllic scenery around Gil Island is typical of the Great Bear Rainforest we’re exploring.
square CRUISE TRAVEL I go on two family cruises every year - these are the best for summer
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Great Bear’s 6.4 million hectares are home to numerous tree species, including Sitka spruce, western red cedar, western hemlock and amabilis fir, some examples of which are 1,000 years old.
Stanley Park is a good place to wind down after a cruise in downtown Vancouver (Photo: Sterling Lorence /Getty)
Not only is it BC’s biggest city, but surely Canada’s most engaging and cosmopolitan, too. Not to mention temperatures top out at around 23°C in summer. Hemmed in by mountains on one side and the Strait of Georgia on another, the city is outdoorsy and active.
The food scene, meanwhile, has been awarded a constellation of stars since the Michelin Guide launched here in 2022. At one-starred Published on Main, I take a bar seat and savour the freshest local produce – from Coho salmon and Dungeness crab to dry-aged Fraser Valley duck.
I get chatting to the restaurant’s manager, Aaron Sayomac, who praises BC both for its great-value and fuss-free dining, and for its climate. “British Columbia is cool in every way,” he says – and it’s hard to disagree.
How to get thereBritish Airways and Air Canada both fly from Heathrow to Vancouver; the latter flies onward to Terrace, a 45-minute drive from Kitamaat.
How to cruise thereMaple Leaf Adventures offers cruises in British Columbia aboard the Swell and two sister ships, sailing yacht Maple Leaf and cruiser Cascadia. The next Kitlope trips take place in June 2026 – book ahead as they sell out well in advance. From C$8,033 (£4,330) including fees and a C$200 (£107) sustainability tax.
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