Canada

[PipPippin]

We are looking to travel to Canada next year for either 4 or 6 weeks (depending on dates). We can go March - April or in the summer holidays (July-August).

We are a family with DCs aged 10 and 7. We can all ski so winter is an option but also quite fancy Summer time as kids enjoy being outdoors so kayaking / hiking plus beaches / lakes and maybe some city time would all be good.

Anyone have any tips to share?

Which part of Canada are you planning to travel to?

If you’re going to be there for that long you can see a lot. Way too long a holiday for my liking but anyway.
Kind of a vague post. What do you like? BC could keep you busy, but in honesty if I had that long I’d combine with the west coast of the states and drive down from Vancouver, unless you’ve visited those areas before.
You could combine with all the outdoor activities you could want there, but it’s really worth exploring the islands around BC and Washington- Vancouver Island (Ucluelet and Tolfino) and various other islands (Saltspring, anywhere around the Gulf islands).
It’s about 20-24 hours driving down to California. Easily do that over a few days and see a lot on the way.

Several years ago, DH & I spent a few weeks in the west of Canada/ US. Flew to Seattle, which is interesting in itself, then drove through Washington State, over to Montana, and then up to Alberta , through Calgary, Banff , Lake Louise , and did a loop back to Vancouver.
We did a lot of hiking, some kayaking, white water rafting ( on Kicking Horse river so it was exciting😁) , golf in the mountains (balls fly in that air) , mountain biking. Saw bears.
Just loved it.

What kind of tips are looking for? Tips on travel agencies to book with? Tips on airlines to fly with? Canada is huge so there’s little chance someone will have experience of every hotel in every town. A trip of that length needs a lot of planning and independence. Have you travelled much before?

Absolutely loved Quebec (two weeks) in the summer - gorgeous weather. Montreal, Quebec City and Sherbrooke. Hiking, zip wires, great restaurants and history. And that’s just one province. The Vancouver side sounds fab too.

Canada is awesome, been a couple of times. Toronto & Niagara Falls. Do it if you get the chance.

Canada is massive so I think you need to decide which province(s) you want to visit. We did a great trip to Ontario a couple of years ago combining the touristy Niagara Falls trip with wineries and then a city break in Toronto. We then spent 10 days in the Algonquin National Park with a guided canoe/camping trip up into wilderness - lots of wildlife, bears, carrying canoes from lake to lake. Lots of bugs though too - so be warned!

East or West coast? Or both?

You could do both coasts in 6 weeks but it will be fucking expensive. If you are planning on doing the Rockies over summer, you will need to book in advance - hotels book up completely months in advance in towns like Jasper and Banff.

Easter is a terrible time to visit - still icy in most of the national parks, lots of lodges on the east coast still shut, but not really snowy enough to do much skiing. Either go earlier and just ski (though six weeks is a long time to spend skiing), or go in summer when stuff is open.

It depends on how much you want this to be a road trip versus a stay in one area vacation. In six weeks, you can cover a lot of kilometers and country if you want to spend time on the road.

We’ve done a couple of trips in North America travelling by train. Started in Vancouver and travelled to Toronto, stopping in the Rockies for a few days and also going to Niagara Falls and Ottawa. More recently we did Toronto-Niagara Falls-NYC-Boston-Chicago-San Francisco-Vancouver it was a brilliant holiday. You get to see some amazing scenery travelling by train that’s not so easy to access by car.

We had a great 3 week summer trip in Canada which could be easily made longer.
We flew into Vancouver, then got the ferry to Tofino on Vancouver Island. We love it there - stay at Crystal Cove if you can - so haven't explored the rest of Vancouver Island, but I've heard it's definitely worth visiting. From there we took the ferry back to the mainland then a hugely scenic drive to Whistler- loved the place, we spent 4 nights there, but you could easily extend to a week.Accommodation is great value in the summer , as it's mostly designed for ski season.

Then drive up to the Rockies - we stayed en route in Shuswap which I wouldn't recommend, might be best just going for Kamloops.

We spent time in Banff, Lake Louise and outside Jasper. The Rockies are very busy in the summer, so actually although the scenery was stunning, DS seemed to much prefer the Vancouver end of the trip. But the Rockies are definitely worth seeing anyway.

Currently children can’t go if they’re not “fully vaccinated “ (2 doses) - well they have to quarantine, so I wouldn’t make any plans at present

@HermioneWeasley

Currently children can’t go if they’re not “fully vaccinated “ (2 doses) - well they have to quarantine, so I wouldn’t make any plans at present

That’s true for children over 12. For under 12s:

“ For the next 14 days, the children:

must take pre-entry, arrival and Day-8 tests (unless under the age of 5)

can’t attend school, camp or daycare

can’t attend large crowded settings, indoors or outdoors, such as an amusement park or sporting event

can’t take buses, subways, trains or other crowded transportation

must follow all the requirements in the children’s handout provided at the border”

So yes they can’t take the Rocky Mountaineer, but they can do a road trip.