Advice on Canada trip

[Johnogroats]

We are thinking of going to Canada in May/june…. Rough plan is to fly to Toronto, couple of days and visit Niagara, then fly to Calgary. From there hire a car and drive to Vancouver slowly with 2/3 stops, taking about a week. Then a few days in Vancouver/Victoria before flying back to London.

Does this seem a sensible plan? Any advice is welcome, x

I’d skip out the Calgary-Vancouver drive and fly instead. Canada is vast. Going to Toronto-Niagra, Calgary (plus presumably Banf, Jasper, Lake Louise?) and then Vancouver/Vancouver Island is loads for what I guess is a 2-3 week holiday. You’d regret spending a week of it in the car.

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It’s an amazing country so you’ll have a fantastic trip!

Vancouver and Vancouver island are possibly two of my favourite places on earth! If you do head over to Victoria think about doing a road trip whilst on the island. It’s amazing. We did some amazing things over there including zip lining and whale watching an we drove the island. If I had to choose I would spend more time on Vancouver island than Vancouver but we love to be outdoors and the hiking there was fab!

I'd skip Toronto and Niagara altogether, tbh, and just do the west coast.

@Sickallday

Can I derail the thread slightly by asking about the zip-lining (sorry OP!)?

We're going to Vancouver/Vancouver Island in June so I haven't started doing any detailed research yet, but we love a zip-line.

There’s a smashing zip line in Whistler ..
totally loved it !

I’m biased as we live in Montreal but my favourite area is the Maritime provinces on the Atlantic coast - Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. Best places in the world!

We went to Toronto with a trip to Niagara. Both amazing. Didn't feel the need to add humongous road trips as well

It was amazing! We went to Adrena Zip line adventures and loved it. we stayed in Victoria and road triples there

That's maybe a little ambitious with the time you have.

I would advise going close to the end of June, winters here are loooong, some tourist roads in Alberta don't open till mid-June and there is frequently snow in May, even into June. Whistler won't close this year until May 18th!

I would propose skipping Toronto, flying open jaw Calgary-Vancouver or vice versa. If you have kids with you Drumheller near Calgary is worth a trip. The outdoors in Canada is better than the cities, especially if you are used to European city breaks, the museums etc aren't as good or varied. Good Stops on the way would be Banff/Canmore and Kelowna the wine area. You could head north and come back to Van via Whistler but that's a ton of driving. Adding on Vancouver Island would be a pain, as you need a car to drive around there and by the time you have flown or taken the ferry (recommended as it's a beautiful trip) you've lost 2 days.

Alternatively, Fly straight to Van, head up to Whistler then come back to visit the Island. Both coasts are quite different with the pacific being wild and the east coast gentle with incredible tides, great for little kids.

I’d love to do this trip. Went to Canada in 2024 to see DC2 who was studying in Ottawa. Absolutely loved Canada and the Canadians. It’s much better to visit than the US IMHO. Hope to go back sometime to visit the Rockies/Vancouver etc

It sounds a bit tiring to me! Thats huge distances and I think you'll spend more time in a plane or car than out and about. I would choose either Vancouver/ Whistler and Vancouver Island or the Maritimes with or without Toronto.
Personally, I love the Maritimes - fly to Halifax, stay and see the Titanic museum, Citadel, Pier, day trip to Peggy's Cove and Mahone Bay. Then drive North to Prince Edward Island and maybe even New Brunswick.

@Sickallday

Just had a look - that's definitely getting added to the plan!

I think one whole day in Toronto is probably enough. You'd arrive mid afternoon, then you could go out in the evening, then a full day.

Next morning drive or take the GO train to Niagara. The fly to Calgary from Hamilton the next morning.

No idea about west but plenty of others do.

Thanks everyone - some great advice and lots to think about. Perhaps a little more context would be helpful - it’s just DH and me, although we may be meeting up with DS 21 who is a student in Montreal (end of his year). We’ve been to Montreal (fantastic city!) so could meet in Toronto or possibly over on the West coast. Also, I have some friends in Victoria, and could probably stay with them for a couple of days. Finally - it’s not the point of the trip, but we do love the mountains and a day or 2 skiing in whistler is quite an attractive option.

I’ve read that the c900 Calgary to Vancouver takes about 10 hours without stops…. Is that realistic? If so I think we would be fine (we do a lot of driving to and in the alps) but happy to be told we’re crazy!

Do keep the thoughts coming!

We had an AMAZING time in Montreal and Quebec in September. Loved it!!! And did think about starting a cross Canada trip in Halifax, but have concluded that would be too much, That said, I hope we will get there another time! Xx

We did the opposite way. We flew to Vancouver, hired a car and went to Vancouver Island, then back onto mainland and drove through the rockies all the way to Calgary. We did it over 2 weeks though and had 2 days at each stop. Otherwise it would have been a lot of driving and not enough sight seeing. We didn't go to Toronto though, I feel like its probably just like most other cities. Vancouver is a lovely city, Stanley Park is worth going to and hiring a bike to cycle round it. I wish we had spent more time exploring Vancouver Island. We only went to Victoria, which is also lovely!

Hard disagree with this.

OP will miss some of the most amazing scenery. Surely being in the mountains is part of the reason why she want to spend a good deal of her time in western Canada?

Thanks @donttellmewhaticantdo . We are thinking we might do that… would make a day or 2 at whistler more likely. And you’re right … we are both mountain obsessed!

We’ve booked to travel Calgary to Vancouver via Banff, Jasper and Clearwater this summer and have planned for it to take us 2 weeks plus then having a week on Vancouver Island so your plan sounds like too much driving vs not enough visiting to me.

We did this trip however didn’t go so far as Vancouver, we did Calgary - Banff - lake Louise - jasper then back down and flew back from Calgary.

personally if I did it again I would skip Toronto/niagra falls, I found it underwhelming compared to the rockies! I’d add a few extra days to the Rockies, a week isn’t long enough imo

Flew into Halifax, then crossed to Vancouver by train. We really enjoyed the sleeper train, and avoided most of the jet lag...

I flew into Halifax, then we did a road trip through to Niagara, onto the Martyn River then back to Haliax then the other way in NovaScotia to do whale watching in a place called Briar Island which I have to say is one of the most beautiful little fishing villages I have ever seen. I loved Nova Scotia, it is absolutely beautiful. Next time I go we are going to go to BC.

Nova Scotia is one of my favourite places - once the snow has gone we try and fly up for a long weekend every couple of months.

I absolutely loved it. So beautiful and quaint and just a wonderful place.

I disagree that you should skip the Calgary Vancouver drive as the scenery is (world-class) stunning.

Toronto, on the other hand, is a fairly dull, very large city. So I'd skip that if you need to drop part of your itinerary. Ottawa (the capital) is also boring. Calgary is a fantastic gateway to the Rockies but the city itself is not very exciting.

I agree with others that Montreal/Quebec City and the Maritimes are worth visiting. Rural Nova Scotia (including Cape Breton) very beautiful