Best travel agent for Canada

[HikingHeidi]

Hi, I hate booking big holidays. But we want to visit Canada for 2 weeks in 2023.

Can anyone recommend an agent / website??

Thanks

We've used Dial a Flight for years now, including many trips to the US. They've always been fantastic.

Sorry should have added, they take all the worry put of a big trip as they deal with it all. Only ever paid a deposit when first booking and balance closer to the time.

I would be interested too.

We would love an RV trip through Alberta & BC for 2 weeks.

We did a big road trip in Alberta this year but I did all the planning. Just an fyi if you’re doing an RV, campsites need to be booked early as they fill very quickly, often the day booking opens. Also this year a lot of the mountain campsites were still closed mid July as summer was very late and many of them were still snowbound with no water etc.
If taking kids or teens I’d really recommend Dinosaur provincial park, 2ish hours from Calgary - they have a campsite, interpretative centre and guided hikes which were absolutely amazing.

Canadian Affair- used them for an incredible trip in 2019 and they were excellent. Canada is wonderful you'll love it!

Another vote for Canadian Affair. Had fantastic holiday through them several years ago. Flights and car hire booked through them plus some hotels (which were cheaper than any other advertised prices) but other places I booked independently. Flew into Calgary and out of Vancouver

All depends on your itinerary. I booked ba to Vancouver, took the metro to a hotel in downtown Vancouver, picked up a rental car the next morning from the hotel basement (chosen for ease, thought an overnight was sensible after a long flight and avoided the airport surcharge). I then booked accommodation independently based on where I wanted to stay

We’ve used Canadian Affair twice and they were great. Put a package together for us including internal flights, ferries, transfers etc cheaper than we could do it ourselves.

Following with interest. We're planning similar, just BC (Vancouver, Vancouver Island, a bear viewing lodge, and Whistler). Initial quotes for family of 4 in 2 rooms with hire car but no flights have ranged from 12k-18k!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have tried Discover the World, My Canada, waiting for Little America, but will look at Canadian Affair now. Plus just doing it independently! Although that takes time, a lot of time...

We are going to Canada next week. It is booked through Canadian Affair. We are doing East to West for three weeks. One week in Toronto and Niagara, one week in Banff in the Rockies and one in Vancouver.

Thank you everyone! How bloody exciting!!

Canadian Affair sounds exactly what I wanted.

@Cornishclio have the best time and come back and tell us all about it x

stinkingbishop we stayed in Pan Pacific Whistler Village Centre and Pan Pacific Vancouver Waterfront. Got a deal by booking both. They were our most expensive stays. We stayed in a lovely little guest house in Tofino on Vancouver Island wouldn’t be suitable for you as too small but I am sure there would be plenty on Airbnb.
The amount you have been quoted seems very high

trailfinders do great tailor made packages for Canada

Did a 23 day tour of Canada (east and west) some in RV through trailfinders. Would recommend although you do need to book RV parks yourself and as pp said they book up v quickly.
Fave campsite was Crystal Cove at Torfino, and one at Banff that had a free bus into the town.

Before we booked our Canadian trip I worked out an itinerary and chose some flights and hotels and costed it up as if we were booking independently. I also costed up the gold leaf Rocky mountaineer trip and other things we were interested in seeing or doing like a trip to Vancouver Island, the CN tower in Toronto, Niagara Falls boat trips and whale watching in Vancouver. I then went to our local travel agent who got Canadian affair to do an itinerary and quote us. They got the quote £1k lower than I could get it independently and added a lot of sightseeing trip vouchers in which was also free. For reference we are paying £9k for two of us for 22 days. All 4 star hotels, gold star Rocky Mountaineer and three flights and all transfers. Only food is on the Rocky Mountaineer. We booked in December 2019 to go September 2020 and it has been rebooked twice but Canadian Affair has honoured the original quote. Trail finders is also supposed to be good.

Another vote for Trailfinders. We have booked with them for next year. They do RV trips, tours, self drive hotel stats etc and can package to your needs. They were cheaper than specialist Canadian companies.

We did a trip round BC this summer (Vancouver Island, Vancouver and Whistler) and booked everything ourselves. It was very expensive as the exchange rate is not in our favour at the moment but it was fantastic. We did use Canadian Affair for car hire as they were a really good price. We did get a trip costed up with Trailfinders first but I didn't like the accommodation they chose, but they were very good.

Trailfinders, basically for everything long haul, including Canada.

They were absolutely superb when our big April 2020 was cancelled. N fact cancelled it before global lockdown, and we got every single penny back, no quibble, in about 6 weeks.

Following with interest as I'm currently looking at booking things myself. Flights have gone up a lot though so hoping they will fall a bit - maybe dreaming.

We go to Canada every year, except during pandemic, and have always used Canadian Affair, for over 12 years now. They were always much cheaper for our car hire than anywhere else, even though we always compare prices. Wouldn’t book with anyone else

We did it ourselves just over £5k total including everything execpt food. for 4 of us 17 nights into Calgary - Banff - up to near Jasper, Whistler with a stop at Kamloops and Vancouver - included hire card, loads of trips and a variety of accommodation and food awesome holiday (July/Aug 2019).

Worth looking at Dublin and Amsterdam as your start points - just done a weekend in LA and was £400 cheaper through Dublin than going from Manchester or Heathrow (if nothing else you save the air passenger duty)

@somewhereovertherain wow £5k is great that's what I'd like to spend but currently the flights coming up at £4k.
Thanks for the Dublin tip.
I am currently looking at going out of Gatwick via Toronto to save money but back into Heathrow. It's the flights out that are bonkers money at present.
I am not sure whether we will be able to go but I have held a Banff hotel on booking.com as all the ones I liked were getting sold out! Also wanted to go to Lake Louise and stay at the Fairmont. When I looked last year it was £500 a night. This year £1000! Any tips of Banff and Lake Louise things to do, restaurants etc appreciated. The hotel I have held is Ptarmigan but also looking at Moose for a couple of days.

Canada is amazing!
we have booked independently before and got good deals.
second the tip on Dinosaur provincial park, it’s absolutely amazing!
we’ve stayed in Banff a few times and liked the Banff Aspen Lodge- big rooms and great breakfasts with some great deals. Sauna and 2 outdoor hot tubs too plus the best coffee in town at the white bark.
Juniper hotel great for a nice meal, chucks steakhouse is lovely and the pub on the main st ( brew pub) does good pub food. There is a great bowling alley which has offers on beer during the week and free popcorn which our son loved!
Canmore is lovely too; 15 mins down the road from Banff, grassi lakes hike is lovely and food wise communitea great for lunch, where the buffalo roams is yum and the pizza place is nice as well. Great leisure centre there with fab pooland climbing wall.
the cable car is fun and really nice restaurant at the top oh and banff hot springs. Lots of lovely walks, the lakes are stunning. It’s my favourite place on earth I think! Hope you get there

I liked the hot springs, Canyon and Miette.

Canmore is lovely. I also like Revelstoke and Vancouver is amazing. I have a pal in Victoria but never made it there. I'd like to go to the east coast too, sometime.