One week trip from Calgary
 

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.

It's an obvious answer, but the drive from Banff/Lake Louise to Jasper along the Icefields Parkway truly is among the most scenic drives in the world. Another option would be a loop from Banff south/west on Highway 93 to Radium Hot Springs, then north through Golden and back east on Highway 1 to Lake Louise. You'd go through three national parks in this case (Banff, Kootenay, and Yoho).

Most of my trips to the area are during ski season though so I'll leave it someone else to detail the best things to do in late summer. Keep in mind that September 4-6 is a holiday weekend in Canada so you will likely want advanced reservations for the start of your trip at least.

Have you been to Vancouver? You'd have more than enough time to do the drive to Vancouver (very scenic drive) in a one-way rental, then fly back to YYC.

hotwire . com has the cheapest car rental prices from YYC airport.
Even if you are not... choose USA as country of residence for the lowest prices on car rentals.

If you are into hiking, I suggest the free Peter Lougheed provincial park (Mt. Indefatigable) as a day trip. Take the Kanankasis Exit before Canmore and head south about 1/2 hour.

I agree driving the Icefield Parkway from Banff/Lake Louise to Jasper is your best bet. (I´ve taken that route a dozen times and it´s always been a fascinating trip)
Prepare for any sort of weather, it should be pretty nice/warm in the afternoon, but there´s also a chance for temperatures to drop below 0 at night, personally September is my favourite time of the year in the Rockies.

I´d definitely recommend booking a hotel in advance as the Rockies are still pretty busy in September (though not as bad as July/August).

Because you have a bunch of time, I would recommend combining both options. Day 1 drive to Radium (3 hrs), stay a day or two, then go to Golden (1.5 hrs) for a night, then head to Jasper for a couple nights (3-4 hrs, plus stop at the Columbia Icefield), then head back to Banff/Lake Louise for a couple days (3 hrs), then back to Calgary (1 hr).

You get to see all of the best parts of the Canadian Rockies, with some varying scenery (eg. desert-like in Radium, heavy mountain forest/glacier in Jasper), and go through 4 national parks. There is a ton to see and do, especially if you like outdoorsy stuff.

Do you wish to have this a strictly driving holiday?

How many days would you like to hike/swim or any other outdoorsy activities?

Also, in addition to some of the suggestions above, I would strongly consider the Waterton lakes area, and perhaps the badlands.

Here´s a link that you may want to have a look at. This is an experience, if you can work it out!!

http://www.vacationsbyrail.com/canad...nff/#route_map

Definitely do the badlands and the Tyrell. Easy half day trip and memorable for a European I'd think.