Canada Ideas Please!

Sheel

spender wrote:

We stayed in Calagary, Banff, Jasper, Kamloops and Vancouver.

I'll be visiting all those places in September on a self drive tour. If you've any tips or suggestions for places to visit , eat etc , i'd be grateful

ringley

Sheel wrote:

I'll be visiting all those places in September on a self drive tour. If you've any tips or suggestions for places to visit , eat etc , i'd be grateful

In Banff we stayed in the Banff Park Lodge, who were doing rooms at about 60% off cos it was October low season. Really nice, 4* hotel, really good sized rooms and beds. In Lake Louise, we stayed in the Lake Louise Inn who had similar deals on. that was a 3*, but was also really nice. Our room had 2 Queen beds in it, which were fine for 2, but even better for one each! You'll find that most hotel rates are room only though, breakfast is an additional cost.

Unfortunately we never got to stay in Jasper, cos we only had a week and didn't get that far!

If you want to pre-book, try https://www.canadian-affair.com for hotels. Otherwise, most of the big hotel websites will have listings for hotels through the Rockies. Check out ratings for hotels on Trip Advisor before you book.

chalky_bertie

Sheel wrote:

I'll be visiting all those places in September on a self drive tour. If you've any tips or suggestions for places to visit , eat etc , i'd be grateful

Having just returned from Vancouver this week I found it an OK city but nothing spectacular. We stayed at the Holday Inn (howe st / hencklemen) which was lovely. We had a King Executive which was booked via Holiday Inn on the net and very nice - the bed was abosultely massive. We payed CAD$180 + tax which will probably not be the cheapest but we wanted to be near the town and just finishing a lovely cruise something nice. It was a 5 minute walk to Robson / Granville St which were the main shopping and eating places. Mrs chalky_bertie went into and bought from the obligatory GAP and Roots shops (but they did have a sale on I hear her say!)($70 trousers down to $20). There were lots of places to eat, mainly sushi and seafood restaurants which aren'y my cup of tea so we had trouble finding places but there were some if you look. If you go to Stanley Park it was a 20 min walk from our hotel to the bike hire place ($13.50 for 5 hours) which you will probably need for going around tha paths - BEWARE there is a one-way sytem for cyclists, rollerbladers) on the paths but good way to spend an afternoon. There are beaches around the far side. Also wen to Grouse mountain for the afternoon which was really nice. Tickets were about $30 each for the return trip. At the top there is a walk and a couple of shows - you must go to the lumberjack show (very funny) - and some statues plus a couple of orphaned bears and some wolves. We saw a woodpecker and a wild chipmunk just walking around. The tram was abit worrying but i'm not the best bloke in a cable car. Make sure you go on a clear day or you've had it! Didn't go to Capilano Bridge as it looked like there was the same things as at top of GM and it was the same price (you have to cross the wobbly bridge before you get to the "attractions" so it would be waste of $30 if you don't like it. To get to them both buy a day-pass for the bus, seabus and skytrain from the Tourist Info for $8 which will work out cheaper - seabus to other side then bus to GM, very well signposted.
If you are thinking about going to Vancouver Island and Victoria for the day then the only viable option is by plane, the bus takes 7 hours return!. Float plane leaves downtown for 30min flight which drops you right off in the harbour - very smooth and enjoyable. You could do plane one-way then bus and ferry return if you fancied it - we did ($140). Make sure you do a whale-watching trip in an inflatable dinghy-type-thing as this was very good. You will wear an attractive all-in-one waterproof suite to keep you dry and warm. There is an abundance of killer whales just off the island and we saw loads, you can't believe how quick and big they are (3 hours $90).

Just a final note we thought there were quite a few tramps in Vancouver begging - nothing to get worried about but you noticed them. Maybe it's beacause there aren't many in Wakey so we noticed them more.

Hope this helps.