How it works
Go at your own pace. There is no set route or single place to begin
Watch videos and receive a traditional welcome
Take part in Nation-created challenges designed to deepen your understanding of the territory around you.
Learn and earn digital badges
Collect badges as you explore locations and experiences across the Trail to show your Allyship.
Explore Self Guided Tours
Whether you stop at one location or spend days exploring multiple communities, the Trail is designed to help visitors connect more meaningfully with the places they are travelling through.
Ways to experience the trail
Whether you have an afternoon in the city or a multi-day coastal road trip, the First Welcome Trail is designed to move with you, and help you travel in a good way
Many Trail locations are walkable or accessible by transit, especially throughout Metro Vancouver and surrounding communities. Open the app and discover experiences close to where you already are.
Many Trail experiences are connected through BC Ferries routes linking coastal territories, the Sunshine Coast, and Vancouver Island. The journey itself is part of the experience.
Some locations are a little farther to reach, including communities on Vancouver Island and in northern coastal regions, such as the Wei Wai Kum and Wei Wai Kai Nations in Campbell River.
Visit one location, spend a day exploring a region, or follow a Nation-led itinerary across multiple communities.
Whether you are visiting British Columbia for the first time or have lived here your whole life, the Trail offers a different way to experience the places around you.
Featured Nations
Each Nation on the Trail has chosen how their stories, places, language, and teachings are shared through the experience.
Before you Go
The First Welcome Trail was created to help visitors move through these territories with greater understanding, awareness, and connection.
- Download the app before travelling
- Bring headphones for audio experiences
- Respect all cultural sites and community spaces
- Some locations may require ferry travel or driving
This is only the beginning.
Today, the First Welcome Trail features Nation-approved cultural sites across coastal British Columbia including Vancouver, the Sunshine Coast, Sea to Sky, the Fraser Valley, and Vancouver Island.
Our vision is to invite all First Nations across BC, connecting communities, cultures, and stories through a province-wide cultural trail that welcomes visitors to experience Indigenous territories in a good way.
Are you a First Nation interested in participating?
Help us grow a connected cultural journey across British Columbia.
Download the The First Welcome App
Indigenous Tourism BC acknowledges that it is situated on operates on the unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam Indian Band), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh Nation).
