FASO in the Pacific Northwest & British Columbia
TOUR HIGHLIGHTS • Prime tickets to two concerts at the Seattle Chamber Music Society’s Summer Festival • Privately guided tours of principal sites in Seattle, including Pike Place Market and the Seattle Waterfront, Volunteer Park and the Asian Art Museum, and the Museum of History and Industry • A private glass-blowing demonstration and a guided visit to the Chihuly Museum of Glass • Half-day excursion to Snoqualmie Falls and Salish Lodge
top: Chihuly Garden and Glass below: Seattle Chamber Music Society
• Two nights in Victoria, British Columbia, with guided visits of the Butchart Gardens and the Royal BC Museum, and High Tea at the Fairmont Empress • Deluxe accommodations in both cities
Join FASO for an 8-day, 7-night tour of Seattle and
• Fine dining in some of the region’s best restaurants
the breathtaking Pacific Northwest, which includes two
• Breakfast daily, 4 lunches and 3 dinners
concerts by the Seattle Chamber Music Society at their summer
• Transportation by high-speed ferry between Seattle and Victoria
festival home of Town Hall, with renowned violinist James Ehnes performing (music program TBA). The trip also features a half-day excursion to Snoqualmie Falls and famed Salish Lodge and two-nights in the picturesque city of Victoria, Canada at the exquisite Fairmont Empress
LIMITED TO 25 PARTICIPANTS
Hotel. Deluxe lodging, fine cuisine, world-class music, spectacular natural scenery—don’t miss the opportunity to experience two of North America’s most unique and beautiful cities. Bounded to the east by Lake Washington and the foothills of the Cascade Mountains and to the west by Puget Sound and the Olympics, Seattle is blessed with one of the most striking natural settings of any city in North America.
July 18-25, 2026
Mt. Rainier
Monday, July 20
Lake Union and Snoqualmie Falls
After a brief tour of Seattle’s Museum of History and Industry on Lake Union, we take a short coach ride to the foot of the Cascade Mountains, the snowiest range in the world, and the second largest in the United States, to lunch at famed Salish Lodge and enjoy the breathtaking views of Snoqualmie Falls and the white-capped peaks of Mt. Rainier and Mount Baker. Back in Seattle late afternoon, enjoy the evening free. TGT staff and the hotel concierge will be on hand to advise on dinner options in the area.
Tuesday, July 21
Gardens of Glass and Music at Town Hall
Renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly has been instrumental in making Seattle one of the most important hubs of glass-blowing art in North America. Today, we’ll attend a private glass-blowing demonstration and tour Chihuly’s fabulous Museum of Glass. Afterwards, we’ll lunch in the area of the iconic Space Needle and Seattle Center. The afternoon will be free, and in the evening we reconvene for our second SCMS summer festival performance at Town Hall (music program TBA).
Daily Itinerary
Wednesday, July 22 / Victoria
Beautiful British Columbia
Pike Plaece Market
Saturday, July 18
Seattle
Upon arrival in Seattle, check in to the Fairmont Olympic, one of Seattle’s finest luxury hotels and just minutes on foot to Town Hall, Seattle Chamber Music Society’s summer festival home. After a Welcome Reception at the hotel, our Welcome Dinner will be nearby
Today we board the Victoria Clipper and enjoy a 2.5-hour ride through the waters of spectacular Puget Sound on our way to Victoria, one of Canada’s, indeed, one of North America’s loveliest cities. Orca and other whale sightings are possible during the trip. And if the skies are clear we’ll have stunning views of two separate glacial ranges at once, the Olympics to the west, the Cascades to the east. After depositing your bags at the elegant five-star Fairmont Empress, enjoy lunch on your own. Meet up at the hotel to check-in officially before taking a short coach ride to the beautiful Butchart Gardens in the late afternoon. We’ll have dinner together that evening near the hotel.
Sunday, July 19
Pioneer Square, Pike Place, Music at Town Hall
Breakfast daily at the hotel. After a short coach ride to Pioneer Square, Seattle’s oldest neighborhood, our expert guide will introduce us to the city’s fascinating rough and tumble early history, then accompany us to Pike Place Market for a tour of one of the largest, oldest, and most colorful fish and vegetable markets on the West Coast. After lunch in the Market, the rest of the afternoon will be free. Early evening we’ll meet in the hotel lobby and proceed on foot to nearby Town Hall for the first of three performances by the Seattle Chamber Music Society (music program TBA). Seattle Asian Art Museum
Butchart Gardens
Thursday, July 23
Natural History and Old Victoria
We start the day in Victoria with a guided tour of the Royal BC Museum, a small but diverse and beautifully curated natural history museum located across the street from the Fairmont Empress. We then follow our guide on a walking tour of Victoria’s picturesque old town. After lunch, you’ll have time to relax, shop, or sightsee further on your own, before gathering at the hotel in the late afternoon to take part in the popular tradition of High Tea at the Empress. The evening is free, with TGT staff and the hotel concierge available to advise on dining options nearby.
Friday, July 24
Asian Art and Public Parks
We say goodbye to our neighbors to the north and return by highspeed ferry to Seattle. After a few hours of free time to relax, we are off to Volunteer Park (one of more than 30 in Seattle designed by the Olmstead Brothers, whose most famous work is New York’s Central Park) for a guided tour of the highly regarded Asian Art Museum featuring significant ancient and contemporary collections of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean art. The tour concludes with a Farewell Dinner at one of Seattle’s most iconic restaurants.
Fairmont Empress
Saturday, July 25
Departures
top: Fairmont Empress below: Fan Tan Alley
The tour ends after breakfast and return flights to the US.
Snoqualmie Falls
Seattle’s Pioneer Square
Seattle Since its incorporation in the 1860s its economic landscape has been marked
TOUR
R E G I S T R AT I O N
by a continuous cycle of boom and bust—timber put Seattle on the map, the goldrush doubled its population, ship-building made it relevant up and down the Pacific, and Boeing during and after WWII turned it into an important player on the world stage. Seattle’s art scene was slow to emerge. The Seattle Symphony had been founded in 1903, the Seattle Art Museum in 1933, the Frye Museum in 1952, and by the 50s the city was already an important hub for Jazz (Ray Charles and Quincy Jones had met there as teenagers in the late 40s), but it was only after the great boom of the 80s, with such industry giants as Microsoft, Starbucks, and Costco buttressing the economy, that the Arts in Seattle rose to prominence. By then, the Seattle Opera (1963) and the Pacific Northwest Ballet (1972) had developed national reputations for innovative programming, a vibrant theatre scene had taken root, and the Pilchuck School of Glass, founded by Dale Chihuly in 1971, was making Seattle an international center for the study of glass blowing art. The emergence of the Early Music Guild, Seattle Chamber Music Society, and Seattle Baroque further cemented the city’s reputation as a hub for world class
Tour Cost: $5,975 per person, ground only, double occupancy. Single supplement: $1,575 Deposit: $1,000 per person first come, first served. Tour limited to 25 paying participants. Balance Deadline: Friday, May 15, 2026. After that date, call for availability. To reserve your place, send registration form with check or credit card information for the deposit amount to: FASO Seattle & Victoria Tour The Grand Tour, PO Box 274 Peterborough, NH 03458. Questions? Contact The Grand Tour: 800.727.2995 / info@ thegrandtour.com, or Paula Abernethy: xxx.xxx.xxxx / paula.abernethy@gmail.com The Seattle & Victoria tour is an exclusive presentation by FASO Travel Program, and is organized by THE GRAND TOUR Travel Company, Peterborough, New Hampshire.
music. At the same time Seattle was becoming a culinary mecca as chefs eager to make a name for themselves flocked to the city, even as movie houses, bookstores, and cafes seemed to pop up on every corner.
Seattle skyline
Gone were the days (at least for the time being!) of the bust and great exodus of the 60s, when anyone leaving the city might have seen a billboard erected along Interstate 5 by a pair of despairing real estate agents with a wry sense of humor: Will the last person leaving Seattle turn out the lights.
Itinerary subject to change. Meals in bold included in the price of the tour.