advice on a Canada trip - british columbia

scaty

Hi
going on a trip for relatives' 80th birthday to Canada, around the british columbia , alberta area in mid july.

We are thinking of a 3 week stay - could do with advice on What to see, do, as cheaply as possible.

looking at the cheaper flights, hiring a car/camper van and the area around Jasper and the rockies.

trip of a lifetime - well mine anyway. please help:T

Teazel

Hi
Our trip of a lifetime too - we hope to go back next year for another visit. We went from Vancouver to vancouver island, whistler, jasper and then moraine lake. Best places for us were Vancouver, staying on an island off vancouver island (amazing wildlife), jasper for the animals and morraine lake is beautiful but full of tourists during the day. There's a glacier to visit on icefields parkway which was good too.
You can do one car rentals without extra cost usually if you go Vancover to calgary route. We booked all our own acomodation as fly drives seemed to cost more and stay only 1 night in each place. Stayed in hotels and self catering sourced from the internet but the dollar rate was better a few years ago. There was still snow/skiing in Whistler in July. We used a charter airline which was fine. Hope this helps.

little_miss_messiah

We flew to Vancouver using Canadian Affair - they were using Mytravel at the time but have now been taken over I think by Thmsons - £500 or so return but the upgrade to premium economy (much more legroom, choice of meals, wine, leather seats) was well worth it at £99 each way, you also get 5kg extra baggage and premium check in

Vancouver is a fab, friendly clean and safe city with plenty to do, Stanley park there is lovely as is Grouse Mountain. We also hired a Mustang convertible and travlled the length if the Icefields PArkway, also to Jasper, Banff, Whistler, Hope (where they filmed First Blood, it hasnt changed AT ALL, apart from the bridge was lost to a landslip)

Other Must sees would prob be Lake Louise and Maligne Lake, both breathtaking

scaty

Thanks for the replies I have been loking at the maps etc. and it all looks soooo wonderful.
Little Miss messiah
How much was your mustang? and where did you get the car from? Good idea about the upgrade - my friend is well over 6 foot and while I can easily fit into a seat he cannot.

Thanks for the replies

withabix

We visit BC quite regularly (annually and will be emigrating) and my advice would be as follows:

Don't hire a campervan - it works out cheaper to hire a decent sized car (£200/week all-in) and stay in hotels/motels. £200 per week will get you an SUV (Ford Explorer) from Avis with no excess or extras. Book via avis.co.uk website and NOT .ca or .com, as those sites cost more and involve big excesses. You should be able to find a discount code you are entitled to use. Try W300012 if you bank with Barclays (or even if you don't - that code doesn't require proof). Also, pay on return of car, not in advance.

Don't plan on doing more than 100-150 miles per day, otherwise you won't see much, although traveling up to Jasper will probably involve a long 1-day drive as will Jasper to Banff, unless you stop overnight en-route.

Good hotels can be had for £50-£70 per night if you go through the booking websites rather than direct. Tripadvisor is your friend. PM me if you want some recommendations for hotels and sightseeing from our road trip last summer and previously. Don't forget Quidco as well.

Don't assume that Canadian Affair or Globespan will be the cheapest for flights. People assume they ARE, hence at busy periods, their prices can be higher than scheduled airlines. Visit www.kayak.co.uk for the best flight search engine at the moment. Using scheduled airlines means you can fly on any day of the week when you want, rather than the one day per week that the charter airline operates.

Consider flying to Seattle instead - this can be done for under £400 return with scheduled airlines. Cars hired in Seattle can usually be taken into Canada without any issues - in fact, many of the cars you will get at Vancouver airport car hire depots witll be on USA plates anyway!!

You can get return flights to Vancouver for £500ish if you fly with KLM via Amsterdam - don't dismiss flights via European hubs if you are considering flying from a UK regional airport - it will be just as quick as getting to Heathrow anyway and will cost you LESS. You will also be on a 747 with scheduled carriers, rather than someting a lot smaller and less pleasant with the charter airlines.

little_miss_messiah

NOt sure exactly but the Mustang was under £400 for the fortnight unlimited mileage etc - we got it from the Avis desk, didnt prebook it, Altho we went in May we still had the top down a fair bit and it gave us the opportunity to take in the awe inspiring scenery - bit dodgy when pulling over to the roadside for bearwatching tho... Also, not great luggage space obviously which meant that once we got somewhere as the bags were on the back seats we we sure to find a room quick to stash the bags in.

We only booked the 1st 2 nights accomodation and winged it the rest of the way, am pretty sure we could have saved some $s by booking ahead by expedia, tripadvisor etc but it was more of a free form adventure which ended up with us getting lost a few times (ended up in Merritt - the home of country and western, apparently) but also a little at the mercy of hotel owners when rocking up tired looking at 7pm or so

Those 1st 2 nights we booked through expedia at the Met on Robson in Vancouver - absolutely fab location at £100 a night inc valet parking - the room tarriff on the door was over $400 for the room we got! However we made the mistake of dining there - apparently the restaurant is one of the finest in north america and i'm sure it is very good, but $15 for 1 pint and a jack and coke should have warned us it was going to be v expensive, then the meal with local house wine came to over $200 for 2 and we found it a bit too fancy (and nouveau - ie not much on your plate) for our uncouth northern palates. However there are many and great places to eat - a lot of what they call 'pacific fusion' (????) which was not to our taste, but just about every type of cuisine is coverd - once we'd found 'The Keg' a no nonsense steak house and bar we were sorted - and saw Lewis Hamilton get his 1st F1 win on the big screens in there - A lot more civilised than what we would call a 'sports bar' in the UK

A little tip in central vancouver is that hotels often get booked solid in the week due to the Convention centre in Canada PLace having all sorts of expos etc, try to hit it of a weekend as you may not have much choice of where youre staying, unless you book ahead of course. The Visitor centre and tourist information place near canada place is extremely informative and they will book accomodation for you, but again just turning up on spec you may find theres not much left

withabix

'The Keg', Tim Horton's, A&W, White Spot and others will keep you filled up on your travels!

Many, many places do great breakfasts on route as well - don't worry about getting that at your hotel! Breakfast is the second national sport in Canada after hockey. Coffee is drunk in eye-popping quantitites - will keep you awake 24/7 if you're not careful.

If you want tea, take your own UK teabags or ask for two teabags in your cup. Weak Canadian tea with cream (!!!!) is best avoided - unfortunately that's how they drink it, if at all.