Going to Canada!

[mr]

 

[SammyQ]

Banff? Go see the cableway up Sulphur Mountain and view Kicking Horse Pass. Lake Louise (5* hotel )and Morraine Lake are splendid. Jasper is a good base to see Mount Edith Cavell from - I saw the glacier there calve once......wow, drool......Vancoever is lovely, but recomend you cross on the ferry to 'the island' docking at Victoria and see Buchart Gardens...UNBELIEVABLE. Remember your bear bell for Jasper and all points West. "The Mountaineer" is beyond description. Edmonton, several hours East of Jasper, is quite a city. I still want to retire there.

 

[StarGazer]

Byron,

If flying into Vancouver, be aware that the Rocky mountains are a gentle 2 day drive east, it is worth doing this at least one way as the scenery is so spectacular (Cam loops, Glacier NP, humming birds on the bird feeders, Revelstone dam). We based ourselves intially near Banff, took a few days to visit Lake Louise (still ice covered) and do some shorter walks (still thigh deep in snow in May). Saw lots of black bears.

After leaving Banff we drove north on the Icefields Parkway, worth spending at least a couple of days over this, visit the columbia icefield, waterfalls etc then onto Jasper, we went walking and whitewater rafting in Jasper before driving back to Vancouver.

We visited mid-end May and this was really shoulder season, no good for skiing but too much snow for the walking trails to be fully open. The big advantage of this was that accomodation was very easy to find, we booked a fly-drive package with no accomodation and simply used guide books to locate a likely place and turned up and asked if they had spare rooms/log cabins etc.

hth

StarGazer


ps if you like trains, at Cam loops you can see the mile long trains (we lost count at over 100 wagons) with 6 engines (2 front, 2 middle, 2 end) exiting the big spiral tunnel before the tail of the train has even entered.

 

[ByronBlack]

Thanks to everyone for the fantastic information. I've now got a notebook full of locations and places to visit. I just need to sit down with SWMBO and work out an itinery.

Follow up question: What's the best time of year to go? I'd rather try and avoid hoards of kids and typical tourists, but I want to avoid complete white-out, am I asking for too much?

 

[RogerM]

Byron - my only personal experience comes from a 2 week trip in 2000. We went for the 2nd/3rd weeks of Sept. During the first week the temperatures on the ridges in the Cascades and Rockies was around 28C - shorts and t-shirts only. During our 2nd week a front came thru overnight and there was deep snow everywhere. We took the cable car up Sulphur Mountain (Banff) and the temperature on top in clear blue skies was -11C. We walked down the paths to the Bow River in bright sunshine with the Autumn colours against the snow, and I have to say it was one of those magical days we just never wanted to end. One of the top 5 days in the mountains I have ever had.

Apparantly this was very early for the first snowfall, but the locals did say that by the 2nd week of Oct the lakes would be frozen over. If you want to go into the mountains - and you will - there will most likely be too much snow around until mid June if you want to get off the main roads. This is also the case further south. Last year we went into Yosemite thru one of the northern passes and at 9500ft the pass had only opened the 2nd week of June, and this is California, best part of 1000 miles further south.

Others may be able to offer other advice - I just state it as I saw it!

 

[les chicken]

Byron

Excellent choice for a holiday.
Went to Motreal on company business in feb temp was -28f with wind chill -32f, bloody cold.
Returned in the june for holiday with Helen to Montreal then on to Toronto and Niagra falls temp at Niagra 92f lovely.

Arranged holiday through Air Canada very good prices and their planes have more leg room.

Les

 

[Stu in Tokyo]

School is back in session the last week of August or the first week of September, so I'd say that from then on, you will miss out on most of the crowds, and the weather is still VERY nice that time of year.

Couple of other bonuses you get by going the 2nd or 3rd week of September, the harvests are coming in, so you will get to buy all kinds of very good fruit at roadside stands, for good prices direct from the orchardists.

If I could choose, that is the time of year I'd go.

Cheers......... eh

 

[RobertMP]

Hey I'm an inspiration!



We booked everything ourselves. Flights with Zoom air. Car hire with Dollar and lodges/cabin/hotels direct online via websites and emails.

We flew from Gatwick to Calgary and stayed in calgary one night to recover but felt fresh enough to have driven further.

First stop was near Lake Louise for 4 nights

Then the magical drive along the icefields parkway to Jasper for 4 nights again. Jasper and the surrounding area was the highlight of the trip for me.

The next destination was Whistler but we broke the journey with an overnight stop in Kamloops. Journey to Kamloops was dull by comparison, but the next days drive to Whistler was surprisingly scenic.

Whistler was 3 nights. We had a deluxe suite with its own hot tub on the balcony at a good price as I guess it is low season. Weather was not kind so Whistler was not what it could have been.

Then for the final 4 nights we went to Vancouver. People rave about it. To me it was OK but I didn't see what the fuss was about. Give me countryside over town any day.

I have been putting all my various posts to the photography forum into one huge page for friends etc to see. Not finished yet but it you want to see an awful lot of pictures...

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/r.peacock53/ currently up to the end of Jasper.

 

[RobertMP]

Oh one thing to mention - you need a pass to drive in the national parks. You can buy them on the day which gets expensive or you can buy one that lasts a year for all parks for about £58 I think. I bought one from ebay (uk) with 5 months left to run for £25