My partner and I will be in Calgary (where we have relatives) for 9 days in early September. We will have 6-7 days to do a road-trip from Calgary and I have some questions:

1) what would be a good itinerary which includes lots of natural beauty and not-too-crazy driving distances?
2) this trip would be roughly between 5 and 11 September. Would we need to book hotels in advance or is this low season and will it be easy to find something?
3) what is a good and cheap car rental in Calgary?

I (but not my partner) have been to Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper before. I wouldn't mind going again.

Thanks in advance for any replies.