Canada Road Trip

Crossy

Hope someone can help me, I have spent most of this morning looking at itinararies for a 14 day road trip around West Canada for June next year, and am getting very confused.

Would it be better to go to Vancouver and come back from Calgary, or do a round trip from Vancouver?

Any suggestions for a good itinarary would be gratefully received

thank you:)

johnwey

Crossy wrote: »

Hope someone can help me, I have spent most of this morning looking at itinararies for a 14 day road trip around West Canada for June next year, and am getting very confused.

Would it be better to go to Vancouver and come back from Calgary, or do a round trip from Vancouver?

Any suggestions for a good itinarary would be gratefully received

thank you:)

IF i were you with 14 days . fly in and out of calgary , and divide your days up travelling and staying from Bannff to Jasper . research where you would like to stay and for how long in each area

DavidHayton

Lucky you! The whole place is a delight. It is also huge so do not worry about the places that you will not see. Having been to BC and Alberta several times, I think that one easy way to ruin it would be to experience a 5000-km marathon in order to see everything.
14 days is just enough for a round trip Vancouver - Calgary - Vancouver, though going one way will cut down the km and allow you to stop for a couple of days at specific places en route. Though no doubt you will know this already having been planning out itineraries. Canadian affair will sell you open jaw tickets, but watch out for one-way drop off charges for vehicles. These can be quite steep. We escaped this once with an RV by choosing to drive east (like you are planning). Turned out more people wanted to go west (and paid a $500 one-way fee). We did Cruise Canada a favour by taking the vehicle back to Calgary. Maybe they should have paid us a one-way fee (!!)
Going from west to east, these are the places that I would take in
Cultus Lake Water Park http://www.cultus.com/ (probably not that special, but my children think it is excellent)
Take Hwy 1 north out of Hope and travel up the Frazer Canyon. The scenery is excellent. I was amazed by the way in which it turns to desert north of Hells Gates http://www.hellsgateairtram.com/ (worth stopping at for a cuppa).
Last Spike at Craigellachie. Bit of history by the roadside http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Spike_%28Canadian_Pacific_Railway%29
Rogers pass summit - again good place to stop for a cuppa
Revelstoke public swimming baths (!!) http://www.cityofrevelstoke.com/pool/ You won't find this in the guidebooks I guess.
When travelling in an RV we use Provincial Park and National Park campgrounds. These are much nicer than the private sites, though it depends on what you are looking for. The mountains and scenery around the sites at Illecillewaet and Kicking Horse are stunning.
Athabasca glacier. First time we went to the Rockies, we didn't go there and regretted it. http://www.explorerockies.com/columbia-icefield/
Lake Louise. Again, the first time we didn't go to this "overhyped tourist trap" and got tired of explaining why to friends on our return. Not too far off the transCanada.
Banff. Another tourist trap, but you have to go there if you are passing. If you stop, do go in the (upper) Hotsprings http://www.pc.gc.ca/regional/sourcesthermales-hotsprings/itm2-/banff_e.asp
Finally at Calgary, consider going to Heritage Park. http://www.heritagepark.ca/ The guidebooks are mixed about it but we like it a lot.

Enjoy your trip,
David

Sendrine

It's a wonderful place to travel around but I would not be too ambitious. Western Canada looks far smaller on a map than it is when you get there. I would agree with another earlier poster who recommends flying in and out of the same airport. If you try to do too much and go too far you will simply find yourself stressed and driving the whole time. Focus on quality rather than distance I say.

matty17r

We went to western canada last year and it was absolutely awesome! We dont think we will ever experience anything like it again! We would not change anything we did (except wish we had longer there). Flew to vancouver (3 days) then ferry to victoria (2 days and did whale watching, a must imo) whistler (amazing) delta peeks (1 day) jasper (1 day) canmore (2 days included banff) and then calgary (3days). Hired car - lots of travelling but amazing scenery. Don't forget cashback sites if going through canadian affair - which we did! If you need any more info pm me. When we were organising our holiday people on mse were so kind and gave us loads of information which we took with us. See posts last year if you type in western canada you should find it hopefully.