Canadian RV trip - Vancouver to Calgary - Help needed please !

[rookiemater]

We're looking at doing a trip to Canada next Summer with our 9 year old DS, probably starting in Vancouver, taking in Vancouver Island, then hiring an RV from Vancouver and heading gradually over 14 days to Calgary, taking in the big places such as Whistler (maybe), Jasper, Lake Louise and Banff.

I know some of the RV sites are very popular, what I don't know is how to find out which ones these are and get a recommended route.

If anyone has any guidance on what would work well for us and/or any reading material/ good websites for RV sites and how to plan a route, I'd be very grateful. It all seems quite complicated but of course brilliant if we get it right!

we spent 3 weeks in Canada this year. van island is huge bigger than Ireland so need to plan your time carefully. also whilst the RV's are a good idea we did find a few routes up to tourist attractions where you couldn't take them because they are so big hence the reason why people tow cars behind them. we stayed in 4 different places and travelled out. pm me for fuller details. you will have a fab time but beware the mosquitos we were like chocolate to them!

i did this as a family when i was 17. my only tip is not to let anyone buy a panpipes instrumental CD to play for the hours and hours of driving. your child will be scarred for life.

Thanks for the advice mm am not looking at fabulous accomodation in sechelt!
nevergoogle I discussed music with DS this morning, he erroneously believes that Capital FM will be available in Canada, I quite like his choice, but am not allowed to move my head, sing along or make any "lame mom" dancing style moves. DH will bring along his "Dad Rocks" CD and play it too loudly.
maybe I should go away and look at that luxury 2 week AI med cruise that's coming out at half the price again.

This from Tripadvisor may assist you:-

www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Travel-g154922-c120076/British-Columbia:Canada:Driving.Between.Vancouver.And.Calgary.html

(Vancouver Island is not larger in terms of area than the country of Ireland).

Thanks Attila

A lot of the places you want to stay will have a provincial campground - these are usually MUCH nicer (and cheaper) than private campgrounds. They take online reservations but can book up fast. Provincial sites take bookings 3 months in advance, national parks (like Jasper) take them a bit more in advance I think.

www.pc.gc.ca/eng/voyage-travel/reserve.aspx

Thanks Shake - do any of the campgrounds have things like communal hot tubs, or am I overreaching there ?

< arf > yeah, little bit

You'd need to find a hotel for a hot tub I'm afraid, but most of the big hotels will have one if you fancy a night of luxury.

Provincial campgrounds often just have a firepit and picnic table in each site, nothing else, often not even a shop. But they will be next to the town/tourist attraction so you're not in the middle of nowhere. And you get a decent sized pitch

Private campgrounds usually have water/power/sewer hook up but you pay more and they squeeze you in.

Jasper has full hook up sites and Lake Louise has some powered ones. All have taps to fill your water and most have dump stations to have a 'clean out' when you leave

Ah ok, good job our plan is changing shape. After discovering that it's actually more expensive to stay in an RV than a luxury hotel, we're thinking that we'll only RV for a week - DS will love it though.

on the music front, we did an RV holiday this year and each person (5 of us) got to select 10 songs for the family 2014 playlist...altho in retrospect, I should have insisted on a veto, as DS1 had 10 eminem songs which all pretty much said "I fucking hate my mum/dad/granma...."

It's good fun - Canadians are big campers....you'll be agog at some of the setups you see. We don't slum it

Oh and Canadian radio is shite, just so you know lol

LOL! Shake is correct. Unbelievably shite - and, for long sections of the route you're planning, non-existent. I see you've already reached the conclusion I was going to mention. Renting an RV is ridiculously expensive (and they're real gas guzzlers!) Your idea of part RV, part hotels/B&B, is much better. If you want any advice for the BC/AB Rockies border portion of your trip, feel free to PM me. :-) I live nr Mt.Robson and used to operate a B&B but came to my senses so I still have connections in the Jasper/Mt.Robson tourism area... :-)

Apologies for the rogue smilies

You will be spending lots of time in whatever you rent, so make sure it's comfortable. The roads are nowhere near as busy as the UK, except for in the cities.
Check your trip doesn't clash with any Canadian statutory holidays, or book early!

We're in Jasper at the moment . We thought we'd be driving for 8 hours to get to the snow. Turns out we left it at home!
Hotels here are quite big on the suite thing, so they come with a kitchen. The more upmarket ones will have laundry facilities too.
Kamloops is a nice place, as is Kelowna. Jasper is great, especially if your son likes trains! White water rafting would be enjoyable from there. Lake Louise can be done in half a day if you're just looking at the view. Banff is ok, but I prefer Canmore. They're pretty close together, so I'd stay in Canmore and visit Banff.
Vancouver is one of my favourite places. Lots to do to keep you all amused. I'm sure some other a Western Canada Mumsnetters will be along with help :)

We did a similar trip (without the RV) about seven years ago when we were scouting out BC/Alberta to decide if it was somewhere we wanted to live. It was a great trip and we're just coming up to six years living out here.

We flew into Vancouver and then drove across to Calgary and back again and then spent about a week on the Island. There are great drives both ways. We took the 3 via Princeton to Kelowna and then followed the lakes up to Revestoke up to the Kootneys, through the Rockies to Calgary and then back on the 1 via Kamloops, then the 99 through Whistler to Vancouver, across to the Island where we rented a house in Nanaimo as a base to explore the Island. If I did it again I'd do it the other way because the Sea to Sky route is I think better than Sky to Sea which is what we did. The Fraser Canyon is another great route. Oh and spend less time on the island and more time in the interior.

An alternative is to drive further north, go from Banff to Jasper, then take the route out via Mount Robson and drive to Prince George and then across the Prince Rupert and take the ferry to the Island (although I'm not sure how often it runs now).

So many beautiful drives here! One thing to bear in mind is that although distances are bigger driving is much more relaxing, especially if you get an easy to drive vehicle. I'd recommend something that sits quite high as you get a much better view. We have a pick up truck and it is a really easy drive, so much so that I did a there and back trip from Kamloops to Vancouver this summer (8 hours drive all in) and although it was tiring it wasn't stressful or difficult apart from the getting to the airport and out without hitting Vancouver traffic bit.

I recommend story tapes and comedy pod casts for long trips in the cart.

Some more great ideas here, I like your thoughts on the story tapes nooka.

So what we're roughly thinking about now ( when I'm not thinking that a luxury cruise would be easier and half the price) is arriving Vancouver, rent car few nights Sunshine Coast , Whistler, Clear water, then Jasper and Lake Louise - one night at the infamous hotel, we stayed there before DS was born, then on to Calgary hire RV and do Banff and maybe Canmore.
Does that sound sensible? Any recommendations for good accomodation in any of the first few venues welcome - preferably lodge with separate sleeping area for DS.

Alpine Village in Jasper. There's also a place which has just reopened after renovations and looks pretty smart called The Crimson.
If you go to Canmore take a look at places like Solara or Rundle Cliffs. A bit more expensive but they're fully equipped suites. Rundle is closer to the town centre.

Oh, and we've stayed at Glacier House in Revelstoke too. That was lovely.