Western Canada Roadtrip! - suggestions & info

[havoc]

Pierscoe1 said:

excellent tips! Thanks.

So far I'm looking at:

2 Nights Vancouver
2 Nights Victoria
1 Night Hope (after driving from Vic > Nanaimo, ferry, Horseshoe > Hope, for example)
1 Night Revelstoke
4 Nights Jasper
4 Nights Banff

Do you guys think it'd be better to add a night to Victoria Island, and just get the ferry back to Vancouver (rather than Horseshoe) and do a big drive to Revelstoke in one day?

(6hrs from Van. ferry terminal to Revelstoke... LONG day, plus the ferry crossing (how long is that?))

Victoria to ferry terminal is <1 hour, ferry crossing wasn't that long from memory - hour-ish? Add check-in / disembark and no more than 3hrs from Victoria to Vanc ferry terminal. Not that bad a day driving, to be fair...

The # of nights everywhere else feels about right...

[Pierscoe1]

What are people's thoughts on Victoria in general?

I've got a thread going on TripAdvisor where most people are saying reduce Victoria to 1 night, and add one onto Vancouver...

I think we're too short on time to really explore Victoria Island, so maybe a boat-day-trip from Vancouver to Victoria City and use the nights elsewhere?
Okanagan, for example?

[anonymous-user]

Pasted from a similar-ish thread previously:

Symbolica said:

Just come back from exactly the same trip in 14 days - it's absolutely stunning. My route was Vancouver -> Kelowna -> Revelstoke -> Lake Louise -> Jasper -> Calgary. Later popped up to Banff, which I really liked and would recommend inserting that in between Jasper and Calgary, which would also remove the hassle of a 5 hour drive between them. My advice:

• Budget a lot more time for Vancouver than Calgary. The former is brilliant whereas I really didn't like Calgary very much - flat terrain, mile upon mile of strip malls and petrol stations and just generally a tatty looking place (though some might disagree with me).

• In Vancouver, I did Stanley Park, Grouse Mountain and the Capilano Suspension Bridge. The latter two were expensive but worth it, especially Grouse Mountain. Have a look around Downtown and Gastown. I also wish I'd budgeted some time for Granville Island.

• Kelowna was a pleasant stop-off for a day, main activities are either watersports or wine tours so if you don't like either then don't budget a huge amount of time.

• Revelstoke was a very charming small town, plus the views from the top of Mount Revelstoke were some of the best on the trip - well worth going up even if you don't stay in the town, it's right on Highway 1. The next major town you hit eastbound is Golden, not far after this it's worth a stop to see the spiral tunnels - where trains enter one part of the mountains and pop back out at a completely different level. There's a prominent viewpoint here with lots of info.

• Lake Louise and Moraine Lake - beautiful. Not much in the way of activities (other than renting a boat), but you can spend hours hiking around and just looking at the scenery.

• Jasper - a must do. The drive up from Lake Louise on the Icefields Parkway (c. 3 hours) is mesmerising and passes the Columbia Icefield centre, Sunwapta & Athabasca Falls. All are worth a stop. It's also the only place where I saw bears close-up. Jasper itself was also a nice town and had a few decent restaurants. Spend at least 1 night and then you can spend the next morning blasting back down the Parkway.

• Banff - much like Jasper in that it's a small town in the middle of a National Park, but it's a bit bigger and more touristy. A very pretty place though and no shortage of activities in the area. I also spent some time in Canmore, which is about 10m south of Banff and broadly very similar.

• Calgary - did the downtown area, which was pretty good. Apparently the zoo is also a decent trip out. Also went out to Drumheller and the Royal Tyrell dinosaur museum (a huge number of fossils have been found in that area), which I found really interesting.

Get a big car with cruise control, I wouldn't worry about anything else in terms of make or model. I had a Ford Escape (Kuga over here) and it was a perfectly nice place to spend the trip. I ended up with the car for the Vancouver section of the trip, but didn't really need it and it stayed parked at the hotel. Public transport in the cities is cheap and efficient, and taking the Seabus in Vancouver is a much more pleasant way to cross the bay than on one of the congested bridges.

Pierscoe1 said:

good info, cheers...

won't be crossing over into the US for this trip. Have added micro-breweries to the research list though

Steamworks brewpub, Vancouver

[anonymous-user]

Pierscoe1 said:

What are people's thoughts on Victoria in general?

I've got a thread going on TripAdvisor where most people are saying reduce Victoria to 1 night, and add one onto Vancouver...

I think we're too short on time to really explore Victoria Island, so maybe a boat-day-trip from Vancouver to Victoria City and use the nights elsewhere?
Okanagan, for example?

It's worth a day. High tea at the Empress is worth it.

If you're doing a day trip though, do it by floatplane from downtown Vancouver. Massive time saving.

[Leithen]

The Okanagan is near the top of the list of places I'd happily up sticks and move to if the opportunity arose. Stunning lakes, vineyards, mountains. Great weather, lovely people.

Whether it's a good holiday stop on a road trip probably depends on how close to the lakes you can stay and whether you can choose a designated driver to visit all the wineries with....

[calgarytrainnut]

Hi,

Just bumped into this thread this morning (my time!). Happy to hear you're coming to my neck of the woods.

Heck of a trip. Was just out to Vancouver for our May long weekend; 2500 km over 6 days for the British car shows in Vancouver and Whistler in an open TVR. Great way to see the mountains. Saw crows, ravens, one scraggly bighorn and nothing else for wildlife except a hawk from a back porch. Happens.

On Vancouver Island my personal favourites are Butchart Gardens and Tofino/Uclelet/Long Beach/Pacific Rim National Park. And do the whale watching. Tripadvisor will be better than I for who is best at that. Lot's of choices. If you're on the Island and do both places, use the ferries and travel in a circle; Vancouver/Horseshoe Bay then Victoria/Tsawwassen back. Or opposite. The ferry terminals are on the north and south side of greater Vancouver on the mainland side. Horseshoe Bay dumps you onto the TransCanada right away too. Tsawwassen is a long way from the highway. Google maps are your friend on this one. All the "Highways" except the TransCanada might be better described as city streets by and large. #1 moves unless there is an accident or it's rush hour.

I should mention how we measure distance and travel time out here. It's by the hour. Then just add in any time for when you stop and do anything. ie. it's an hour and fifteen minutes to Banff from my house. It's 2 hours to Lake Louise, 3 hours to Golden, 4 hours to Revelstoke. In round figures. When travelling in BC figure on 85 to 90 km per hour unless you're on the Coq from Kamloops to Vancouver or the connector from Kelowna to Merritt. Moves faster.

Personal interests and time of year for a visit would be good to know to steer you too. Can move offline or ignoring me on this one won't upset me either. I have a hardcore downhill biker in the next office I can ask questions of if that's your thing, for example.

I'd stay in the Okanagan over Revelstoke too, unless there is something that really catches your eye and interest in Revelstoke. Google Myra Canyon to visit from Kelowna. The lake is pretty nice for a chance to splash around and then catch a winery to enjoy for a while in the afternoon.

Ask away for any questions.

Gotta get back to work.

Cheers!

Michael

[calgarytrainnut]

Forgot to ask:

Tenting or hotels/motels?

Opens up some choices....

Michael

[Tonsko]

There is a beautiful village at the bottom of Vancouver Island, called Ucluelet. We stayed in a B&B who's garden went down to the pacific.

Vancouver - Calgary via Highway 1, stoping off in Kamloops, And Banff, Jasper etc. CAlgary was a sthole (compared to the rest of BC), then we drove south to come back through Crows Nest Pass, back through Nelson, Kelowna, then to VI, Ucluelet and back to Vancouver.

Enjoy your trip!

[chrisga]

Pierscoe1 said:

excellent tips! Thanks.

So far I'm looking at:

2 Nights Vancouver
2 Nights Victoria
1 Night Hope (after driving from Vic > Nanaimo, ferry, Horseshoe > Hope, for example)
1 Night Revelstoke
4 Nights Jasper
4 Nights Banff

Do you guys think it'd be better to add a night to Victoria Island, and just get the ferry back to Vancouver (rather than Horseshoe) and do a big drive to Revelstoke in one day?

(6hrs from Van. ferry terminal to Revelstoke... LONG day, plus the ferry crossing (how long is that?))

Not sure about Revelstoke, but if we were going again we'd do less time in Jasper. We went in winter for the skiing and didn't rate Jasper as being as nice as Banff/Sunshine/Lake Louise. We found it uglier with the big railway sidings pretty much in the centre of town. It also seemed more militant. In Banff/Lake Louise there were signs and notices telling you what you could do but Jasper everywhere we turned there were signs saying don't do this, don't do that...... But having said that we have friends that really liked Jasper.

The drive along the Columbia Icefields parkway from Jasper to Lake Louise is awesome though. Make sure you stop to see sights like this:

Snow covered Mount Chephren under a bluebird sky by Chrisga, on Flickr

[calgarytrainnut]

As mentioned several times. The parkway from Lake Louise to Jasper is stupendous. One of the drives in the world that lives up to the hype. Take it up to Jasper and return. Don't worry about the other routes.

And Calgary is not Vancouver but it's not either:

[Tonsko]

We both really weren't impressed with Calgary. Also thought Victoria was a bit rubbish, but it was an overnight stop to get to Ucluelet, which was brilliant. Changed our plans and stayed an extra night there it was so nice. Deer in the hostel's garden, Pacific over there, hammocks in the evening sun... Was lovely. Kelowna and Nelson both nice, although Nelson thought quite a lot of itself. We were there in spring, which might make a difference to other times of year... It was exactly the time I was after with BC waking up from winter. Amazingly got 3 weeks of sunshine, which according to or friends in Van was pretty much unheard of!

[Pierscoe1]

One more question about Victoria...

if we end up just going over there for the whale-watching trip, is there any point in taking the car over? Is it easier to just use public transport to get from the ferry terminal into town, to wherever the whale watching goes from, etc etc?

[anonymous-user]

Pierscoe1 said:

One more question about Victoria...

if we end up just going over there for the whale-watching trip, is there any point in taking the car over? Is it easier to just use public transport to get from the ferry terminal into town, to wherever the whale watching goes from, etc etc?

Now corrected:

No need for a car. The ferry comes into the harbour, which is where the floatplanes land and the whale watching departs from. And where the Empress is. And all the sights/shops/restaurants you might want to visit in a day trip are clustered in the blocks around the harbour.

I'm sure there's more to Victoria than that, but there's plenty to keep you busy for a day and no need for a car.

Edited by anonymous-user on Friday 19th June 16:46

[calgarytrainnut]

Short answer yes. It will be crowded and relatively slow. Google "public transit victoria to vancouver" for good directions and choices. Roughly $90.00 (not sure about the 1% surcharge or if the GST is included in the published fare) for a car and 2 people. Roughly $125.00 for Pacific Coach downtown to downtown for 2 people. $50.00 for transit for 2. Then double these for round trip. Your time, your money is the real choice. If you stay in the harbour area, as we did last time, our car was parked as we walked everywhere except to Butchart.

[calgarytrainnut]

That's the old Black Ball Line ferry from the States that comes into Victoria harbour. Very convenient for our American neighbours. BC Ferries terminal is in Swartz Bay.

[anonymous-user]

calgarytrainnut said:

That's the old Black Ball Line ferry from the States that comes into Victoria harbour. Very convenient for our American neighbours. BC Ferries terminal is in Swartz Bay.

Ah yes - my addled old mind must be playing Friday tricks on me.

[havoc]

As above - car will make life a lot easier...

[Pierscoe1]

Symbolica - Excellent set of tips, thanks!

Leithen - good to know re Okanagan. Might add a day there somewhere...

calgarytrainnut - good info, cheers. Revelstoke is on there really just to break up the drive, as Kelowna>Jasper is best part of 7hrs! We'll be in hotels/motels.

Ucluelet sounds great, but I'm not sure we have time... it's quite a trek from say Victoria, so would need an extra night or two to enjoy, and don't know where I'd take them from.

Just been googling the transport... ferry terminals seem quite a way from town at both ends, so seems pointless to pay for busses etc when we will have the car (although it'll cost a bit on the ferry I suppose)

So I think we'll cut a night from Victoria, and just add it to Vancouver, as there's lots there I want to see.

Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver
Victoria (ferry over in the morning, then whale watching trip)
Kelowna (after catching ferry back)
Revelstoke
Jasper
Jasper
Jasper
Jasper
Banff
Banff
Banff
Banff
Fly Out

Maybe swap one of those Jasper nights for a bit more time in the Okanagan area? maybe...
would love to squeeze in Ucluelet, but it'd mean ferry + 2.5hr drive from Nanaimo to get there, one afternoon there, then 4hr drive back to Victoria the next day, where we'd have to squeeze in the whale watching in that afternoon... that seems a lot of effort and travel for an afternoon.

THanks again everybody... really appreciate all the input

Edited by Pierscoe1 on Friday 19th June 19:26

[Tonsko]

O'Kanagan's is a nice place...

I just found it funny to give it an Irish name. The Canucks loved it.

[anonymous-user]

Symbolica said:

Pierscoe1 said:

good info, cheers...

won't be crossing over into the US for this trip. Have added micro-breweries to the research list though

Steamworks brewpub, Vancouver

Another one that I've just remembered - Doc Willoughby's in Kelowna. I had a few excellent pints and some superb grub there. Walked out into 38-degree temperatures (they were having a mini-heatwave this time last year) and staggered back to my hotel feeling rather groggy