Fly drive - West Canada - planning stages

da4

Hi all,

We are in the early stages of planning for a possible trip for a fly drive in Canada. We have been looking at starting in Edminton or Calgary, moving onto Banff then Jasper then onto Whistler and finishing in Vancouver (with a possible trip to Seattle).
Has anyone done a trip like this before? I'm unsure if it's cheaper to drive and hotel or motorhome it? What is also a good time weatherwise? I don't want to go thousands of miles to find everything is closed! Haha

Any help would be great.

Thanks
Darren

hollie.weimeraner

The vehicle hire may cause you some problems if you go to Seattle as you are crossing borders.

da4

Maybe a train to Seattle might be a better option if there is such a thing?

richardw

https://www.worldtravelguide.net/guides/north-america/canada/british-columbia/weather-climate-geography/

isplumm

da4 wrote: »

Maybe a train to Seattle might be a better option if there is such a thing?

There is a train that goes every day - twice in fact - see https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/public/documents/timetables/Amtrak-Cascades-Schedule-022016.pdf

There is also a ferry - but we actually paid for a car to take us from Seattle to Vancouver - not cheap - but flights from Seattle to Vancouver were of a similar price. Web address https://www.timelimo.com

Mark

isplumm

da4 wrote: »

Hi all,

We are in the early stages of planning for a possible trip for a fly drive in Canada. We have been looking at starting in Edminton or Calgary, moving onto Banff then Jasper then onto Whistler and finishing in Vancouver (with a possible trip to Seattle).
Has anyone done a trip like this before? I'm unsure if it's cheaper to drive and hotel or motorhome it? What is also a good time weatherwise? I don't want to go thousands of miles to find everything is closed! Haha

Any help would be great.

Thanks
Darren

Earlier this year we did Seattle - Vancouver - Jasper - Banff - Calgary. We did Seattle because we were using Avios to get free upgrades - but I am not sure that I would recommend Seattle - also we did Calgary because of the Stampede - but again not sure I would recommend it otherwise.

For me I would look at flying into Vancouver - doing Vancouver Island - maybe think about doing some form of whale watching / bear watching (assuming right time of year), then drive to Jasper along the icefield highway, then Banff.

Look at brochures for ideas - eg. http://www.trailfinders.com/tours/canada-and-alaska/western-canada-and-alaska

Have fun - we had a great time!

Thanks Mark

EssexExile

Everyone will have their favourite way of doing it. We don't like cities so we flew into Calgary then drove to Canmore & spent a fortnight going up the Trans Canada Highway/Icefield Parkway to Jasper & back. We did it in September but evidently spring is good too.

John259

The Icefields Parkway between Lake Louise and Jasper is fabulous. It can be driven in one day, but it's far better to give it two days so you'll have plenty of time for stops and some short walks.

From Saskatchewan River Crossing (roughly half way along the Icefields Parkway), the David Thompson Highway runs east to some towns with motels. After the overnight stop you have to drive back west to the Parkway but that's not a problem on a scenic road.

Most of the other roads in southwestern Alberta and southern British Columbia are in the mountains and very scenic.

Banff and Jasper are touristy towns but there are alternatives fairly nearby such as Golden in the south (on the west side of the Kicking Horse Pass) and Hinton in the north (east of Jasper on the Yellowhead Highway) if you prefer.

HHarry

We did this trip, Vancouver to Calgary, earlier this year. A fantastic holiday - you'll have a great time!

We went in late May to middle of June. Weather wise we had blazing sunshine and 28C in Vancouver and snow and 1C in Banff. With rain in the middle? Later in the year may be better, but you're going to get a range of weather.

I had hoped to average £100 a night for hotels, but ended up at about £160. I was surprised at how expensive it was. There are cheaper options available, but they didn't look that nice. Certainly in the National Parks, you'll be paying a lot of money for not a lot.

redpete

We've driven Calgary to vancouver island (with a few days with daughter on the way) and back to vancouver, then train through the Rockies to Jasper, driving back down to Cranbrook and returning Calgary.

Also flown into vancouver and driven in the reverse direction, this time through the wine region.

Both great trips.

Staying in mixture of hotels & b&bs not too expensive, motor home hire can be costly.

Early Spring is a good time to go, still snow in the mountains but rivers and streams have plenty of meltwater. Some of the higher lakes were still frozen. Saw a number of bears out of hibernation, including cubs, and other wildlife.

John259

The Canadian national park service web site has a lot of good info. Here's some links:
http://pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/ab/banff
https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/bc/kootenay
http://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/ab/jasper
http://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/bc/yoho
https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/ab/waterton

If you're going down as far as Waterton Lakes, then Glacier National Park in Montana is also well worth a visit. The Going-to-the-Sun Road over Logan Pass is fabulous:
https://www.nps.gov/glac/index.htm