Canada Itinerary

[CJDoesTheJackal]

Hi all,

We've booked flights for August. We're flying into Calgary, and flying out of Seattle 15 days later. A friend has suggested the below (her notes in brackets) but they went for 3 weeks. My question is, Jasper and Clearwater seem a fair distance away. Would we better off missing those and having more time in Whistler or Vancouver or elsewhere? Trying to strike a balance between not fitting in too many bitty stops, but seeing as much as possible. We are a family of 4: me and DH, and 16 and 14 year old DSs.

2nd – 1 night Calgary (assuming you fly in late and don’t feel like driving)

3rd - 2 nights Banff (I liked Banff, was pretty)

5th - 1 night Jasper (not so pretty, but most want to stop here)

6th - 1 night Clearwater (ideally need to break the journey)

7th - 3 nights Whistler – great fun, we could have stayed longer

10th - 2 nights Vancouver

12th - 3 nights Tofino – wild beaches, coastal bear watching…

15th – 1 night Victoria (really nice town from where Ferry departs)

16th – Ferry to Seattle for last 2 nights

TIA. Never been to Canada before. Any other tips appreciated!

I've travelled this part of Canada a fair bit but each time we have spent at least 3 - 4 weeks doing this itinerary. It will be a fair amount of time in the car and you might feel a bit rushed but your timings look ok. I would definitely recommend white water rafting on the kicking horse river (from Banff) my teens loved it (so did we). Also the zip lining from Whistler is awesome. I would thoroughly recommend staying at Alpine Meadows Resort in Clearwater,. We loved Jasper as there is a lot of sight seeing to do using this as a base, but wouldn't spend 3 nights in Whistler. Wouldn't bother doing the bus excursion to the Icefields, but loved canoing Lake Louise. It really is a beautiful country,!

Not a bad itinerary, we drove up to jasper then down back to calgary and flew to nanaimo on vancouver island to avoid the long drive from jasper to the west coast.
We liked jasper, not pretty but a lot to see and do.
Don't miss yoho national park, we stayed at Lake louise to be able to visit the Banff area and yoho, good choice but less lively feel than banff.

Thanks both of you.

We did Vancouver - 2 nights, not enough as hideous jet lag!
Then picked up hire car and drove to Tofino. (You need to book ferry in advance to Naniamo. It takes a whole day to get over there. 4 nights is better and then you can plan beat watching, whale watching and fishing is also great. Accommodation books really quickly in Tofino.

We then drove to Whistler for 4 nights, for some mountain biking.
Distances involved are quite big, so i’d Spend a bit longer in each place than your friend did.

then we actually went to Niagra Falls, which was awful - but spectacular, think Blackpool with the most amazing natural wonder. (I don’t recommend doing that bit.)

It was an amazing holiday and we’d love to go again, but with an Alaska cruise tacked on too.

You are not really staying long enough in any area to value it. I would ditch Seattle and spend longer in Canada. Seattle is better combined with Alaska.

Thanks guys. Yes, this is my worry, not spending long enough in each place. Can anyone recommend a better way of splitting our time please?

Bubbles we are flying home from Seattle because it's a relatively short drive and £800 cheaper to fly home from!

There isn’t a better way because you have huge distances. You have 16 nights which isn’t much for this itinerary. You will be arriving in some places and them moving swiftly on. It might be cheaper to fly back from Seattle but you won’t see much of it. The Canada itinerary is compromised because of this. There isn’t an answer if you want to see all of this and Seattle!

I'd take out whistler and spend 2 extra nights in banff and 1 in jasper, there is just so much to see and do in the rockies. You must do the white water rating at the kicking horse river, it's amazing.

I seem to remember it being a really long drive up to Jasper I'd suggest sticking to 3-4 bases - we loved Whistler btw rather than trying to squeeze in so many locations.

Tofino is awesome btw . Stay at Crystal Cove - although they're probably fully booked by now - it's a magical place.

We did more or less your itinerary but took 3 weeks. We did have 5 nights in Osoyoos though chilling by the lake.

Clearwater for us was just a night stop between Jasper and a glamping / white water rafting area so didn’t see much of it.

Personally I’d spend longer in Vancouver. 2 nights is simply not enough. It’s fabulous.

Oh and we flew into Calgary and drove straight to Banff (about an hour and a half). We flew out of Vancouver.
We didn’t do whistler.
Travelled with an 11 year old and tried to spend not too long travelling. However, the roads are great and the stopping places along the way are lovely. Often with nice picnic areas and short trails - so we traveled with plenty of stops.

Thank you for the all the advice. Have spent several hours on this over the weekend had some very helpful advice from the locals via Trip Advisor forum too. We've settled on the following (number is number of nights). We land at 8pm and we're staying near the airport in Calgary. Apparently the city isn't all that, so we'll had straight to Banff after a night's sleep. We'll get the train to

1 Calgary
3 Banff
3 Jasper
2 Revelstoke
2 Penticton
3 Vancouver
2 Seattle

My DH is from Penticton! The place itself is a bit tired as it has struggled to compete as a summer resort, but, but, but please don't let this put you off. It's a pleasant enough place to explore. The Okanagan valley, which Penticton sits at the bottom of is stunning. The lake is gorgeous. Penticton has a beach with an old historical ship moored up. Here there is a string of lake front motels and restaurants (Saltys Beach House is nice). Also Skaha beach is nice, but there are loads and if you travel a little up the coast to Summerland and Peachland (yes they are real actual places!) there are some nice spots.

If you like wine you are in the right place. This is wine country. There are some newer wineries in Naramata, but the bulk of the best are in West Kelowna which is about a 30 minute drive from Pen. We love Mission Hill (they often have summer concerts) and Quails Gate. The restaurants at both are fabulous with gorgeous views.

Not surpringly for a place that grows vines, this place has amazing fruit and you are going at the right time. You will see fruit stands on the roadsides. It is well known for its peaches and cherries.

Oh that's reassuring Normandy. Thank you. It was a toss up between Penticton and Kelowna but someone on Trip Advisor said P would be good.

If you're into second hand books, there is a fantastic used bookshop in the main road in Penticton.
We have family who live near Penticton and have visited many times, it is a great place to use as a base while visiting the Okanagon.
Tickleberries ice cream at Okanagon Falls is worth a visit.

I would say that Banff is only an 90 minute drive from Calgary so I would press on there if you can on arrival so you get the whole day there.

If you stay at the Revelstoke mountain resort you can do a package that includes a gondola up to breakfast and a great pool and hot tub. it's a little pricey but DS loved his cubbyhole separate room.

Thanks for this we are doing a similar trip in July though planning on doing 3-4 nights in 3 places rather than trying to squeeze it in. Flying into Calgary and out of Vancouver

Sorry to jump on the thread, but we're planning a very similar itinerary in 2020. What kind of weather would you be expecting in August? I presume cooler up in the mountains, but would it be boiling hot in Vancouver/away from the mountains? Don't cope well in the heat!

In Victoria I stayed in the Union club which was really different to your average hotel.. loved it.

Also Knight inlet lodge is a devil to get to but amazing

We were there in August and it was warm but not too hot to do walks or anything, not oppressive heat at all.
It was as hot in the rockies as vancouver and vancouver island.

Thanks all. I'm not so worried about the heat, but more worried about the potential for smoke.

Also, those who have done this trip would you recommend pre-booking things like white water rafting and canoeing?

We booked the white water rafting before we travelled, we had to pay a small supplement to our travel insurance as we did level 4 rafting, we'll worth it and your children are old enough. It was absolutely amazing.

If you just want a casual canoe for an hour around a lake then I wouldn't bother to pre book the canoeing.

Hi OP
I'm a bit late to this party, sorry. We did a similar trip some years ago, pre-DC and in July this year return to do it in reverse, and with DC.

Last time we flew into Calgary and home from Vancouver, taking in Canmore, Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper, 100 mile (to break journey), Whistler, Tofino, and Vancouver. Our weather was mixed, some sunshine but never hot. There was still snow on the ground in higher parts. It was early July.

This time we fly at the end of July to Seattle and stay there 3n, then train to Vancouver, (3n), Whistler (2n), a lodge north of Clearwater (1n), Jasper (2n) as a base for activities, Lake Louise (1n), and then Banff (3n). We will spend the day at the Olympic Park in Calgary on flight day, as the flight home is late.

When there last time we walked from Lake Louise, which is nice (just be on bear alert), and this time will get out onto the river from Jasper, do some horse riding from Banff, zip treks at Whistler, the Icefields Parkway, and generally take in the magnificent landscapes any way that we can.

Have a great time, please update the thread if you can, once you're back!