Canada in June

[WhoAteAllTheDinosaurs]

We are going to Canada in the early part of June - to Vancouver, Victoria and to Banff. How warm or not is it likely to be then? And what sort of clothes do we need to take with us? Footwear? I like to plan my holiday wardrobe early you see...

Also, any recommendations of things to see and do? We are definitely going whale-watching, and will have a car when we are in Banff, but not in Vancouver or Victoria.

It will be similar to the UK so take a variety. Are you going to go hiking? If yes then hiking shoes / boots if not then whatever you wear at home including a pair that can be worn if it rains.
You should drive the Icefield Parkway it is one of the most spectacular drives in the world and there are lots of places of interest off this one road. Obviously the area of Banff itself and Lake Louise. Are you driving between Vancouver and Banff or not? You should also get out of Victoria if you can and explore the island.

I've been in July and September, both times we had very mixed weather. Don't let that put you off though - it's such a wonderful country.

I'd second hiking shoes. I didn't bring mine and spent the majority of our trip in my trainers. I ended up buying some fleeces and proper walking trousers. If you forget anything they do have a great range of outdoor clothing and when we went last year the exchange rate was pretty favourable.

It's not a very dressy country. Most people go casual even to high end restaurants, so I'd bring a mixture of shorts, jeans, walking trousers, lots of layers and don't forget a rain jacket, or like me you'll spend a lot of time in a flimsy lightweight mac that wasn't really suitable.

If you're driving from Vancouver to Banff a fabulous place to stop at is the Revelstoke Sutton Place hotel. We had a disastrous one night stay in an overly cheap motel that I'd booked to break the journey and the Sutton Place was such an oasis.

I'd recommend some white water rafting if you enjoy that sort of thing and definitely hire bikes at some stage.

Tofino on Van island is one of my favourite places in the world, but may add too much mileage to your journey.

have fun .

We were there in July last year and on our last day it was 14 degrees in Vancouver - bloody freezing for us as we it's 35 in the summer where we live!
Recommend whale watching in Victoria also the Butchart gardens are nice. They are not in Victoria but there is a bus service to the gardens. Royal British Columbia museum in Victoria is excellent too.
Vancouver - gastown is nice for a wander and some good restaurants. Stanley park is lovely too.

You'll want to do some hiking in Banff. There's a couple of "easy" mountain hikes, especially Tunnel Mountain and Sulpher Mountain (view from the top of Sulpher is amazing). There's also the Banff hot springs, and a visit to the Fairmont Banff Springs is a must. As is the trip to Lake Louise.

Thanks all, I should probably have said that we will have our 3.5 year-old daughter with us, so probably only shortish, flattish walks that she can manage too.

We are flying into Vancouver, getting the ferry over to Victoria, then flying from Victoria up to Calgary and renting a car there, then driving to Banff etc, and flying home from Calgary.

So mixed weather... sounds much like the UK to be honest! Proper rain jackets that are warm as opposed to just waterproofs? My daughter has a fleece-lined waterproof that we were going to take for her - something similar for the rest of us? Not dressy sounds helpful, none of us are very dressy these days! And good to know that we can get stuff over there too if we find ourselves lacking.

Most of our holidays tend to be to the far east, so it's easy to plan for that as it's 35 degrees or so all year round!

Depending on where you want to go, it's worth pointing out that black fly season runs from end March to maybe August in some areas. They bite like horse flies and are most prevalent in wooded areas and around water. Which mean large parts of Canada.

Ok thanks!

When we went in July we weren't troubled by black fly --perhaps it was too cold-.

if you have proper raincoats it's worth taking them. I wasn't hugely cold, but if you get a gondola up to the top of any mountains, which you probably will at some point, then you will need additional layers.

I'd recommend the Banff Grizzly house if you're a meat eater and want a dinner to remember - fab exotic meat fondue or hot stone.