Canada itinerary with preschool aged DC

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We have 1 DC who will be almost 4, and planning to travel to Canada in May. Keen to do a long-ish haul adventurous holiday whilst we can still avoid school holidays.

We would love to fly to Vancouver and stay there a few days and also visit some other places, see some wildlife etc.

I've looked at some expensive companies who build itineraries for families and it seems do-able - some even go as far as Toronto towards the end of the trip, although that might be biting off more than we can chew.

But I'd be very interested to hear first hand if anyone's been to Canada with little ones, and if you have an itinerary we could copy / take ideas from?

We have 14 days or thereabouts, a bit of flexibility.

Niche but bumping hopefully

I would contain yourselves to British Columbia. Fly into Calgary then Banff, Glacier Park, Kelowna and Vancouver. We spent a week on Vancouver Island alone staying in Victoria, Parksvillle & Tofino. If you want to see and do things then you need days with no driving. A lot of the hotels have mini kitchens in the rooms so you can easily self-cater/eat at odd times and have hotel comforts.

Thanks. Did you drive across those locations?

We did a holiday in British Columbia with pre-school kids. We hired a campervan for a week and drove up north west to stay in the National Parks. The following week we went to Vancouver Island and based ourselves in Tofino for kayaking, whale watching etc. It was a very successful holiday and I would recommend.

We've done it in two separate holidays so first was Calgary, Banff, Lake Louise, Glacier Park etc but then back out of Calgary. Lots of wildlife. Second trip was family in Vancouver then Vancouver Island which has that remote feel (but plenty to do) once away from Victoria. Whales, bald eagles, seals so different to the Rockies. Drove hire cars both times.

Bear in mind that Canada is BIG. It is a 9 hour drive from Banff to Vancouver. A flight from Vancouver to Toronto is 4.5 hours.

I agree with a PP - stick to the West. Possibly a circular route from Calgary - Canmore or Banff, Vancouver, the island, Jasper, Icefields Parkway and back to Calgary.

Yes fully aware how awesome and massive Canada is! The only reason I even mentioned including Toronto was because I saw a n itinerary which included an overnight train journey.

Has anyone used tour guides or companies who will arrange elements of your trip?

Following as interested in holidaying here too!

We haven't been to Canada but we did drive from LA to Washington DC when our eldest kids were 1 and 3 - took six weeks but it was too fast even so. They hated being strapped in the car seats after a week or so and the highlight of the trip for them were hotel pools and air conditioned Macdonald's (many had children's play gyms)!

I'm currently speaking to a tour company about organising a trip too canada and alaska, so far they seem good to work with and the parts we've spoke about so far they're similar price too arranging it all ourselves and obviously less hassle.

We went to Vancouver with preschoolers as BIL and his wife were living there (they then moved back to Ireland but are now back in Vancouver forever).

We went for 3 weeks. Dd1 was 3y6m and ds 18 months (I was 5m pg with dd2). We spent a week in Vancouver, doing museums and shopping (kids market on Granville Island), play parks all over the city are great, breakfast out at Sophie's Cosmic Cafe in Kitsilano, lots of water parks in the city parks, Stanley park and the aquarium. There's a great book called "Vancouver with Kids" which we used.

We spent several days with an old school friend of mine on Vancouver island, and a couple of days on Victoria. The Bug Museum was a great hit! On a different trip we went to the far side of Vancouver island and stayed in Tofino for a few days of beach and fish and chips!

In the first trip we then hired an RV big enough for us all and went to the rockies. It was a 2000km round trip (dh and BIL split the driving) but totally worth it. We went to Jasper, up the Icefields Parkway, Banff, Lake Louise, then Kelowna and the Okanagon on the way back to Vancouver. Kids had a ball walking on a glacier and everywhere had the amazing Canadian public parks and water parks, plus lots of lakes to splash about in.

Rates as a top holiday for all of us! Hope you go, and I hope you have a great time!

Definitely stick to British Columbia if you're flying into Vancouver. The driving distances are massive and you don't want to spend all your time on the road. I have now planned 3 15/16 day RV holidays in BC & Alberta. It's definitely possible to do it yourself but be aware that if you plan to do specific activities/stay in campsites (in the National & Provincial Parks especially) they often have release days for booking and these can be insanely quickly booked up. Canadians start their summer holidays earlier than us so don't get caught out!

Thanks all.

@weegiemum your suggestions are helpful, thank you. Also would you recommend hiring a car if we stay in Vancouver and Vancouver Island? Not sure if public transport is any good.

Also we were looking at hotels but then thought an apartment might be easier where we are not all on one room since LO will go to bed early.

If we only do Vancouver and the Island plus maybe a short trip to Whistler are we really missing out on nature? I LOVE the idea of Lake Louise but don't think my child / we could face a drive that length plus it's only me who drives.

Also Garibaldi Lake looks incredible but don't think you can drive close to it, and our 3 yo not yet up to a long hike sadly.

Vancouver Island is amazing for wildlife - you can go whale watching, see humpbacks and orcas, there are sea otters, ospreys, eagles, cougars, bears and coastal wolves plus deer, elk etc. There are no moose or coyotes there. Obviously you're not guaranteed to see all of those but you aren't guaranteed to see tons of wildlife in Alberta either.

We're back in the UK now but my DH is Canadian and I lived in Calgary for several years. I love the Rockies, Banff, Jasper etc. but Vancouver Island is one of my favourite places in Canada, it's absolutely stunning. With 14 days and a young child I would second the pp suggestion of staying in Western BC so Vancouver, Sea to Sky Highway, Whistler, maybe Squamish and Vancouver Island. You won't run out of things to see and do! You'll definitely need a car. In the city you're OK but outside of the big cities public transport isn't great (if there even is any).

Thanks @Vetoncall all really really helpful!
Do you think Garibaldi Lake is out of the question / too remote to see with small child? Would love to visit a beautiful lake scene like that!

We did a three week campervan holiday when DC was 5yo. They hated the long journeys and only liked the campsites. Yes, it was beautiful and there were good bits, but I wouldn't do a touring holiday with an only child again.

You could definitely visit Garibaldi Provincial Park but the lake itself is a decent hike in. I've done it once and camped at the Taylor Meadows campground. It is beautiful but it's a long hike to do in a day with a child, 18km out and back and it's nearly all uphill on the way to the lake. The AllTrails site is generally pretty reliable and they rate it as hard AllTrails It would be tough going with a small child.

Your other option is to fly to Calgary, hire a car and visit Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper etc. You can drive over to Vancouver but it's a long drive and with a small child you'd have to break it up so you're losing a lot of time from the main attraction areas in just a 2 week trip. The Okanagan is beautiful to stop in though, warm and sunny most of the time, big lakes and tons of gorgeous wineries - although again that's probably not small child friendly! I wouldn't even consider Toronto unless you tag a couple of extra days on and fly across. Distances in Canada are truly vast.

Canmore, Banff and Jasper are beautiful. Lake Louise itself is OK, it has the very blue water etc. but it is always ALWAYS insanely crowded. You'll literally be looking at it in a crowd of hundreds of people. There's a gigantic car park and gigantic hotel right next to it and coachloads of people arriving all the time, it's not a beautiful wilderness experience. Moraine Lake is in that area and is stunning - again it's busy but not as mental as LL because it's not as accessible, there's one long road in. Unfortnately they've stopped cars accessing that road in the last couple of years and you have to get a park and ride bus which I've heard a lot of complaints about - no parking spaces, crazy queues for the buses etc. There's some fabulous day hikes there though, Larch Valley and Valley of the Ten Peaks from Moraine Lake are spectacular.

There are endless options in that part of Alberta though if you want to see lakes. Grassi Lakes is a lovely, relatively easy hike from Canmore. Take the gondola up to Sunshine Meadows, Johnston Canyon is another beautiful and fairly child friendly hike near Banff. Maligne Lake in Jasper NP is beautiful and has loads of walking/hiking options.

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. It's all such useful information from everyone.

I think we are narrowing the trip down to visiting as follows:

Vancouver
Vancouver Island
Whistler

In May. We have some flexibility so could do 14 days or perhaps tag on a few days extra.

Seattle is also a possibility as there's a special interest to our family but we are not wedded to it and this would be as an add-on visit after the 2-week holiday.

As far as the main 3 locations go, does this sound feasible with 3 (nearly 4) year old?

We would love to explore the city, see lots of nature, and have time to swim etc.

Vancouver, Vancouver Island and Whistler are definitely doable and you'll find loads of family friendly things to see and do. I would highly recommend hiring bikes to explore Stanley Park and the Seawall, there are totem poles and other cool things to explore. Grouse Mountain and the Capilano Suspension Bridge are both worth a visit. There's the Sea to Sky gondola en route to Whistler. In the city, the Vancouver Aquarium is fab, and definitely a walk around Chinatown. The ferry trip to VI is very scenic and there are so many stunning beaches and forests on Vancouver Island, and epic whale watching/wildlife tours Tofino Victoria is a lovely city too. You'll have a fab time!

Thank you so much @Vetoncall ! Can I ask you how many days you would recommend staying in each location if we assume a 14 day trip? We will no doubt need a day or so to recover from jet lag - very worried about that with our 3yo. So anticipate starting in Vancouver.

I think you've made the right decision on locations, we're doing a similar trip (also in May) and originally wanted to do Vancouver, Vancouver Island, Jasper and Banff, but with only 14 days it wasn't feasible to do it all (and that's with no kids). We swapped VI for Whistler, but with a child I think your itinerary sounds better.

Have you tried Trailfinders? We went in and spoke to someone and he was really helpful, really knew his stuff. We have booked through them, we could possibly have spent a little less going direct but we're getting a lot for our money and it's peace of mind. I had a long haul trip booked in 2020 that I almost booked all separately - thank goodness I didn't.

@kintra thank you. Trailfinders sounds interesting - what sort of cost uplift are we talking about if you don't mind me asking? I have never used any kind of travel agent / company before so not a clue what to expect.

I would suggest at least 2 nights in each stay spot - as when we roadtripped in the USA my older daughter hated the one night stays.