Itinerary...starting and ending in vancouver
 

looking for some advice and guidance of itinerary for 2 weeks, next June.

would like to get out to Banff, Calgary, Jasper part of the world.

thinking maybe a couple of days in vancouver to get over jet lag, then get on the road out east and then blitz the drive back to vancouver, or do half on the way out, half on the way back.
or should we look at flying out to say calgary and getting a one-way rental back?

any advice on what is going to be a decent amount of time to spend in each area and along the road.
would like to do a bit of hiking, nothing extreme, a bit of canoeing, some relaxing, something fun for a kid aged 7
also anything that is recommended avoiding

thanks!

Just did this a couple of months back but we were travelling by land yacht a.k.a RV/motorhome. It's sort of home for us (we just never get out to that part of the world often living insularly on the coast) so we won't do the same stuff as a 1st timer would.

Check the O/W car rentals first. Said to be cheaper in one direction than the other. If you can book through Canadian Affair, it'll be better (includes insurance and lower rates due to matching O/W rentals or some such). I would say easier to fly one way, and some say to just do a round-trip out of YYC and skip the rest. Drive from Vancouver to Banff can be done in a _long_ day, not that I would do it. If it's Jasper/Banff/Calgary, Rocky Mountains you want to see, I'd just go from there instead of via Vancouver (unless it's just a change of flights). You want to drive between Lake Louise and Jasper in both directions and dedicate a day to each direction. Add 2 days in Jasper, and at least 1 day each in Lake Louise and Banff (if not more) so you're up to a week already. Hope you have a healthy budget as accommodation is hideously expensive; lowest grade room at Emerald Lake Lodge in Yoho NP was $800/nt in mid June, and the Fairmonts in Lake Louise and Jasper were something more astronomical (my wife checked for kicks). Cheaper hotels are not cheaper by much. Even home stays in Jasper (not much accommodation compared to Banff) are $300 a nt. Even with gas at C$1.70-2.20 / litre then, and the land yacht getting just over 3 Km / l, our 4,200 Km trip was reasonable due to accommodation prices.

Just note that there is ongoing road construction (highway bridge being built on a steep and unstable mountainside) just east of Golden which has required complete road closures for almost a month over the past few years. Some stretches of highway leading to/from Vancouver were destroyed late last year by floods and a few are still being rebuilt (causes delays during busy travel periods of which there should be non unless in late June), and may well experience such flooding again.

thank-you YVR Cockroach!

i done quite a bit of reading last night and that bit about needing to get accommodation sorted ASAP is firmly ingrained, as soon as the flights are ticketed, i'll get booking :-)

the one way hire was $1k extra from a quick check, will need to look a bit more at that too

This is a great trip! This part of Canada is amazing.

I’d also really recommend considering the one-way drive option. Even if it’s more expensive it might be a much more enjoyable trip depending on how your kid does in the car since it’s just a lot less driving time.

If your kid loves outdoor things (canoeing, hiking, parks, playing outside, etc.) there’s a *ton* of stuff to do. If he’s not into it, or you need to mix it up, there’s still a ton to do but might need a bit more advance planning.

Edit: Just re-read your post and I’d fly in/out of Calgary. If you’re not that interested in the British Columbia side you can save a ton of time just coming from Calgary. Either spend a night in Calgary or head straight to Canmore/Banff for your first night. We always like to find a simple place with a pool and walkable restaurants our first night someplace because it makes things easier with the kids.

Very good recommendations YVR Cockroach but have some thoughts to add.

Banff is also a much larger town and major tourism hub compared to Jasper so it naturally offers more accommodation. To many the appeal of Jasper is it isn't Banff and in Summer isn't as crowded in town and the surrounding national park sights.

There are some good value, quality hotels/motels in Jasper for around $300 with some advance booking which is far less than the ultra-luxury Fairmont hotels which start at CAD$1000/night in Summer without breaking a sweat and not for the top view rooms either so that's quite a bit cheaper to me.

I'll second the suggestion to fly into Vancouver and out of Calgary or vice versa as driving roundtrip is just too far/costly/time consuming but I'll offer a different transportation option between Jasper and Vancouver as Via Rail runs a 23-hour one-way rail journey with sleeper cars. Yes, it's not quite like driving where you can stop for breaks and visit small towns at a leisurely pace but seeing the mountains by rail has a certain romance to it. The one-way Jasper - Vancouver takes you through the mountains during the day so would suggest it over the Vancouver - Jasper route.

Thank you all! :-)

Flights are unfortunately now fixed Vancouver to Vancouver - made using airmiles and challenge to get anything and hence why it is booked a year in advance.
Had option of adding an internal flight, but for the family, luggage and the extra one-way charge for hire car, was around $1000 Canadian more than a pick up and drop off at same place and doing the extra 800km return.

So that leads to the attached.
Thoughts?

We all, including son absolutely loves all things outdoors, so really excited for it.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d5d9032fa9.jpg

Is there anything you particularly want to see in Calgary? If not, I'd give it a miss.

You can get up to Jasper in 2 good days. Unfortunately there is not much choice in non-camping accommodation past Kamloops. Clearwater is often cited because it is by default the only other place midway.. Note, the stretch between Hope and Merritt is being rebuilt. Not sure when completion is scheduled for. Also check the status of the Kicking Horse project for the stretch between Field and Golden (highway might be completely closed - doubtful in June - with a lengthy detour.

Not much accommodation choices between Jasper and Rocky Mountain House other than at the glacier ($$$$) and at Saskatchewan River Crossing (probably $$$ and not very good) and rather boring to Calgary.

Might suggest looking at posts at Tripadvisor for suggested itineraries. There are certainly other ways, even interesting ones, to get from Lake Louise to Vancouver. Come up with a day-to-day proposal and we'll sort you out.

Also, try not to rent at the airport or Richmond due to various surcharges, and drop-off at airport with city pickup shouldn't cost extra. And don't plan on a travel day to get to the airport for a same day departure.

I did a similar trip awhile ago and we did Vancouver for a few days without a car and then rented from a cheaper non-airport location for pickup the day we were leaving. No need for a car in the city itself or when seeing some things in the area (like the Capilano suspension bridge).

I’d second skipping Calgary. Nothing against the city but doesn’t seem worth it given where you’re flying.

I’d also consider skipping Jasper and staying in Banff/Lake Louise area and doing the bus trip to Columbia Ice Fields. This is much more subjective but it saves some driving and I think you have enough good stuff to see already. Depends on the type of traveller you and your family are though. You can also do Kamloops one way of your drive and Kelowna the other to mix it up a bit.

i'm getting strong vibes to give Calgary a dodge :)
the reason it was on the list was just from other routes i have seen, but was happy to cut it out, but now we have found out that Calgary Stampede is on when we are there...so think we might do a night there, day at Stampede, night there and then leave the next day. it doesn't look 'our kind of thing' but enough new experiences to maybe make it worthwhile. we don't have much like that in Scotland, so intrigued.

thanks for the tips so far, doing a hell of a lot of night time reading at the moment. almost any stop we look at, comes with a "you could spend a week here" so far we need about a year to do the trip, so we'll just need to be a bit brutal with our planning.

only thing we are roughly set on, is 3 or 4 nights, without a car in Vancouver to start. We'll have been traveling for 20+hours and will be 7 time zones out, so a bit of time to acclimatise and see what looks like to be an amazing city.
Probably not going to do vancouver island this trip, as we are short on time and it looks like there is a lot to do, as we will be back in the west coast in the next few years.

thanks!

I will say that the Stampede would change my calculus. It’s unique enough for the time it takes to see it, imo.

I’d skip Jasper then. Nothing against it, just a matter of limited time.

https://www.cruiseamerica.com/rv-rental-locations

You can rent RVs in Vancouver or Calgary...RV rental vs accommodation might work...dunno.

As a FYI, Cruise America which owns Cruise Canada has the reputation of having the worst-maintained RV fleet. Not sure if Cruise Canada is as bad as its parent but the configuration of its RV fleet is pretty basic. Better to rent from Fraserway (and its Four Seasons sub-brand) or Canadream.

Might make sense with high accommodation prices but bear in mind they're slow gas-guzzlers (guzzle even more gas if you try to go faster due to barn-like aerodynamics), can't be driven comfortably as far in a given day as in a regular vehicle, need to make parks campground reservations far in advance (pretty much as soon as reservations open), and there's lots of places you can't go in an RV (unless it is a 24' or shorter which may be tight depending on age and size of the OP's family). There's also pretty much the loss of a whole day or two given pick-up (usually after 1P) and return times (usually before 10A)

Pretty set on a car and 'static' accommodation.

Tried the RV thing before and found the driving to be completely exhasuting. Not just the driving slow, holding up traffic when it is twisty, but when in towns and parking at attractions...quite stressful when busy. It's was a monster of a vehicle to be fair, but I'd rather a little more spent to stay in a hotel and drive in a nice car for a few days :-)

Don't leave until you've had your free pancake breakfast.

Calgary advice and Highway 3
 

Calgary is a bit of a hit and miss. Beyond the Stampede, I recommend the folk festival in Princess Island Park (Alliuson Russell was the standout this year). Otherwise, give iut a pass.
Driving to and from Vancouver us not a problem. There are alternate routes fthrough the mountains. My PF? Highway 3 via Nelson.