Vancouver to Calgary
 

I am planning a trip from Vancouver to Calgary. Flying into YVR on May16th
and departing YYC on May24th. I need help planning an itinerary, and I am not sure how much time to allocate along the way. I am Hilton Diamond and Starwood Gold and have a ton of points in each program, and would prefer using these properties when possible.

Here is what I have come up with so far.

May 16th: Fly into YVR, rent car and drive to Victoria. Overnight at Westin Bear Mountain. My concern is that Westin is away from downtown, and I am wondering if 1 night is enough here? Want to see downtown, Butchart Gardens etc,

May 17th and 18th: Vancouver, either Westin Bayshore or Hilton Burnaby. Do we need two nights in Vancouver? Want to see downtown area, Capilano Bridge, Grouse Mountain

May 19th and May 20th Whistler, Hilton Whistler again wondering if 2 nights here is too much or better spent somewhere else.

May21st Kamloops? as overnight stop, or drive straight to Banff?

May 22 and May 23 Jasper, Lake Louise , Banff. Was considering staying 2 nights at Fairmont Lake Louise or splitting it 1 night Jasper 1 night Lake Louise.

May 24th Drive to Calgary, fly home.

In my opinion you´re trying to do far too many places considering that you´re planning about a week for your trip.
I´d rather try to spend a little more time at fewer places, I´m sure you´d appreciate not having to change hotels every day.

Anyhow, just a couple of thoughts:

- is there a particular reason you want to go to Whistler? It´s a great place, but as you´re also doing the Rockies in Alberta it might be worth to save that place for a later trip
- spend a minimum of three days in Victoria and Vancouver
- Kamloops isn´t that exciting, if you don´t mind driving YVR - Jasper in one day I´d probably do that
- both Jasper Park Lodge and Chateau Lake Louise are fantastic properties, I stayed at both hotels last summer and had a great time
- it´s only a 20-30min drive from Lake Louise to Banff, so you can easily combine both places

As mentioned above, I´d really consider limiting yourself to fewer places, e.g.
3 days in YYJ/YVR
1 day driving from YVR to Jasper
2 days in Jasper and driving the Columbia Icefields Parkway
2 days in Lake Louise and Banff

If you have any additional questions, feel free to ask.

Have a nice trip!

Where are you flying in from? Depending on your zone, you may find it's not a lot more money to fly into Victoria.

Is there any reason in particular you want to stay way out there? Are you a golfer? Victoria is a small city and you can certainly do the gardens and downtown in a day, but it would be much easier if you stayed downtown as opposed to way out at Bear Mountain.

Yes.

As Jasper has said, if you're going to Banff, you could skip Whistler. Or alternately, if you want to get a sense of the place, drive to Jasper via Whistler.

If you wanted to consider this I'd do Vancouver -> Whistler -> Kamloops in one day, then Kamloops -> Jasper (-> Banff even, via the icefield parkway)

Map: http://tinyurl.com/y9ep2zy

I'll echo everyone else here. Overly reliant on bouncing around. Central Victoria is a better choice than Bear Mountain for the "touristy" stuff. I'd also look at the whole car situation since you might be able to rent a car in Victoria and drop in YYC as easily as from YVR and starting in Victoria would save you time and money. Removes one extraneous ferry trip and the 4+ hours needed. For the ferry, avoid coming back on a long weekend and you shouldn't need a reservation.

Vancouver easily has a few days worth of stuff to do. I'd recommend going to Lynn Valley/Canyon rather than Capillano. You get a free suspension bridge in a place that locals actual go to. The Canyon is connected to the North Shore hiking trail network, so you can turn it into a short walk/easy hike if you want. All for gas money.

Whistler is nice but with Banff already part of your, not sure the extra time/money is worth it.

Any particular reason you chose these properties?

Hilton Burnaby is located right beside Metrotown. Wouldn't call this place a great hotel in comparision to the others available. Its not downtown, the skytrain runs right beside it.

Given the two choices, Bayshore will be my choice, its beside Standley Park, just over the bridge to the North Shore which includes Grouse and Capilano Suspension bridge however there are other choices. Sheraton Wall Centre which places you right in the downtown core, near Robson Street.

Just to throw in my two bits which will echo some of other people's thoughts and not...

Generally speaking, I think the place to stay in Vancouver is downtown'ish (ie. Bayshore) because of the higher concentration of stuff (restaurants, shopping, etc). Hilton Burnaby is about 20-30mins to downtown and you may have to fight a bit of traffic to get back. You do get a couple of malls (Metrotown and Crystal Mall) beside it. The Hilton Burnaby is newer (~<10yrs? vs the Bayshore which has been around for a while (when was it last reno'ed?)) and I would consider staying there if got a notably better rate.

I think you can fill two days worth of interesting stuff in Vancouver as you haven't mentioned some of the other "big attrations". Plus, the stuff you might want to see in Vancouver is pretty spread out so you might be spending quite a bit of time communiting.

I don't see the attraction of staying in Kamloops if you have limited time. It's a bit of drive but I'd try to make it directly to Banff.

Ditto about cutting time in Whistler if Banff is in your itinerary. I do like gglave's suggested routings thru Whistler if you want make a stop there.

During our trip a few years back (first time), we routed thru Banff, Lake Louise, Icefields, and Jasper in just a few days. We had enough time to get a taste of the parks so we weren't disappointed with the time we spent there. Didn't really feel rushed. We just didn't have a chance to do a lot of exploring.

Don't underestimate the length of time necessary to do this. From YVR you'll need to drive to the ferry docks then you need to wait for the ferry, then you need to cross, then you need to drive to YYJ. THe two cities are geographically close but don't think you can drive from one to the other in an hour or less - you can't.

Banff National Park is a jewel. Ditto Jasper. Don't shortchange yourself here. It's easy to spend a week in these 2 parks alone, not to mention Yoho which is a short drive from Lake Louise. Also, assuming the road is open then, you'll want to see Lake Morraine while you're in the Louise area.

Jasper to Banff is about 300 km. Banff to YYC is about 130 km or so. And once you approach the YYC area, you need to navigate through semi-suburban roads (they aren't really highways all the way) so it does take time to get to the airport. It would not be unreasonable to estimate 4-5 hours to get to YYC (airport) from Jasper. Suggest you consider leaving from YEG instead as this will save quite a bit of driving.

Thanks for all the great suggestions. When I booked the tickets into YVR I had not planned on going to YYJ, but now wife really wants to see Butchart Gardens and downtown area. I am looking into changing tickets to YYJ as this would be much easier and we would only have to deal with one ferry crossing. I picked the Westin Bear Mountain because I was going to book an award night, but I did not realize how far it is from the downtown. What hotel would you recommend that would be more centrally located?

I did not really have a reason to visit Kamloops, thought that it could be a stopover from Whistler to Jasper. I like the idea of driving through Whistler, to at least see the area. If we do this, would Kamloops be the best place as an overnight? Would highway 5 be the best way to go?

some driving suggestions
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/canad...vancouver.html

Any of these: http://tinyurl.com/yaaa9r3

Probably, yes. Assuming you left Vancouver, drove to Whistler, perhaps stopping along the way at Shannon Falls (http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/exp...rkpgs/shannon/), had some lunch at Whistler Village and tromped around a little bit then drove to Kamloops.

If you chose to drive to Alberta NOT via Whistler, then I'd press on past Kamloops as it would likely be too early of a stop.

In my opinion, yes. It's more scenic than Highway 97. Another good (very scenic) route from Whistler to Jasper would be this one:

http://tinyurl.com/yfky23s

...but it will have fewer accommodations options than the Kamloops routing.

Too much stuff - too little time. It will be a blur and the driving will be hectic. Plan on driving from Vancouver to Calgary with points along the way that suit your particular interests. The mountains have beauty wherever you go and exploring one area will have its rewards as you become familiar. I'd stay in Vancouver a couple of nights and skip Whistler - unless you want to ski. Then go to Jasper via Nelson and stay there. Down the Icefields Parkway to Lake Louise and Yoho and stay in Banff. Then catch your flight. Still a ton of driving and you need to go slow to see anything - and stop often= and walk!

Jasper via Nelson, BC? Is this a typo? :confused: You seem concerned about a lot of driving, then make this suggestion? Lethbridge, Alberta via Nelson I can see, but Jasper?!?

If Victoria is a must, you might want to consider one of the float plane services (i.e. Harbour Air). It will set you back a bit (starting from $110 each way) but instead of a 4 hour journey via ferry you do it in a 20 minute flight. Plus, if you're staying at the Westin Bayshore, the downtown Vancouver float plane terminal is just down the street, and in that case you could do Victoria as a day trip and not have to stay overnight.

On the drive to AB, I personally like the Fraser Canyon route (Hwy 1), though it does take a bit longer than Hwy 5 (but not as long as going through Whistler). Once you get to Alberta, the icefields parkway (Jasper-Banff) is a definite must do. After that stay in either Banff or Lake Louise and visit the other, no need to stay in both as they're only a 40 minute drive away. Choose Banff if you want a bustling town with lots to do, or Lake Louise if you want to be a bit more secluded.

Depending on weather, the float plane can get a little rough. Though more expensive, a far more comfortable option is the helijet.

I would suggest taking Via Rail from Vancouver-Jasper. It will be less stressful than driving. You could leave Vancouver at 8:30PM and be in Jasper about 4PM the next day. In Jasper I would suggest renting a car to drive to the attractions and out to Lake Louise/Banff.