Canadian Road Trip, Vancouver to Vancouver
Discussion
Hi all,
Just wondering if anyone had done a road trip around the Rockies? I'm planning on visiting family out there and was thinking of doing a 10 day (could be a bit longer) road trip along the west coast and Rockies. Has anyone done one or could recommend a good site to plan (copy) an itinerary?
I also want to go to Great Bear Rain-forest but not sure on the best way to visit it. Can it be done from Vancouver island?
Cheers!
Just wondering if anyone had done a road trip around the Rockies? I'm planning on visiting family out there and was thinking of doing a 10 day (could be a bit longer) road trip along the west coast and Rockies. Has anyone done one or could recommend a good site to plan (copy) an itinerary?
I also want to go to Great Bear Rain-forest but not sure on the best way to visit it. Can it be done from Vancouver island?
Cheers!
Following this as we have a similar plan.
Suggest you look at flying into / out of Vancouver and Calgary. This way you’d avoid a loop back which could waste some time / miles (think it’s minimum 12hr drives from e.g. Banff to Vancouver ?).
FWIW - our plan is into Calgary, head east to the dinosaur national park, loop up into Banff then Jasper. Potentially drop the car here and jump on a train to Vancouver. Or keep the car, down through the wine valleys then onto Vancouver Island.
Still planning but hoping that can be done, in a relaxing manner, across 2.5 weeks. I might be wrong.
Suggest you look at flying into / out of Vancouver and Calgary. This way you’d avoid a loop back which could waste some time / miles (think it’s minimum 12hr drives from e.g. Banff to Vancouver ?).
FWIW - our plan is into Calgary, head east to the dinosaur national park, loop up into Banff then Jasper. Potentially drop the car here and jump on a train to Vancouver. Or keep the car, down through the wine valleys then onto Vancouver Island.
Still planning but hoping that can be done, in a relaxing manner, across 2.5 weeks. I might be wrong.
Last time we were that way we did Vancouver, Victoria, Whistler, Penticton, Banff and then flew out of Calgary, that was two weeks bearing in mind we’d done Vancouver, Whistler and Banff before.
Vancouver island itself just didn’t really do much for me. The first time we went we stayed in Tofino which people rave about, honestly I was quite underwhelmed. Sure it’s beautiful but then much of Canada particularly BC is. Second time was Victoria which is nice but again, there’s so much natural beauty in Canada it’s almost a crime to spend time in a city.
My advice would be not to put too much into the itinerary. We definitely did that the first time we went and ended up having to drive on by places like Joffre lakes which is a massive shame. Have a look at google maps and work out what you’re prepared to do in terms of travelling in a day and how much there is you want to see along your prospective route and then work back from there. It’s vast, it’s stunning and it’s impossible to do in a short trip. Just pick your key items and then accept you’re definitely going to be returning because trust me it’s inevitable.
Vancouver island itself just didn’t really do much for me. The first time we went we stayed in Tofino which people rave about, honestly I was quite underwhelmed. Sure it’s beautiful but then much of Canada particularly BC is. Second time was Victoria which is nice but again, there’s so much natural beauty in Canada it’s almost a crime to spend time in a city.
My advice would be not to put too much into the itinerary. We definitely did that the first time we went and ended up having to drive on by places like Joffre lakes which is a massive shame. Have a look at google maps and work out what you’re prepared to do in terms of travelling in a day and how much there is you want to see along your prospective route and then work back from there. It’s vast, it’s stunning and it’s impossible to do in a short trip. Just pick your key items and then accept you’re definitely going to be returning because trust me it’s inevitable.
Ten days for the Rockies and BC is... not a long time! Best to pick a few places you really, really want to visit, then start stringing them along an itinerary. To give you an idea of the distances, a straight shot drive from Vancouver to Banff is 9-10 hours without stops. Add in a Jasper stop (which you really, really should!) to make a triangle back to Whistler/Vancouver and that's over 24 hours driving again without stops. In a ten day trip, that could break down to four days travelling/only six days on location.
I've travelled to BC many times in nearly 25 years. Every winter and most summers I'm there. Ask away
ETA you mention the Great Bear Rainforest. Getting there and getting back may take a day each way. This isn't a short distance from Vancouver and there isn't public transport you may have to take two or even three planes, ending with a float plane for a fair distance especially if you're staying at any of the off grid lodges.
I've travelled to BC many times in nearly 25 years. Every winter and most summers I'm there. Ask away
ETA you mention the Great Bear Rainforest. Getting there and getting back may take a day each way. This isn't a short distance from Vancouver and there isn't public transport
you may have to take two or even three planes, ending with a float plane for a fair distance especially if you're staying at any of the off grid lodges. Edited by Whoozit on Wednesday 17th January 22:41
Whoozit said:
Ten days for the Rockies and BC is... not a long time! Best to pick a few places you really, really want to visit, then start stringing them along an itinerary. To give you an idea of the distances, a straight shot drive from Vancouver to Banff is 9-10 hours without stops. Add in a Jasper stop (which you really, really should!) to make a triangle back to Whistler/Vancouver and that's over 24 hours driving again without stops. In a ten day trip, that could break down to four days travelling/only six days on location.
I've travelled to BC many times in nearly 25 years. Every winter and most summers I'm there. Ask away
ETA you mention the Great Bear Rainforest. Getting there and getting back may take a day each way. This isn't a short distance from Vancouver and there isn't public transport you may have to take two or even three planes, ending with a float plane for a fair distance especially if you're staying at any of the off grid lodges.
Cheers!I've travelled to BC many times in nearly 25 years. Every winter and most summers I'm there. Ask away
ETA you mention the Great Bear Rainforest. Getting there and getting back may take a day each way. This isn't a short distance from Vancouver and there isn't public transport
you may have to take two or even three planes, ending with a float plane for a fair distance especially if you're staying at any of the off grid lodges. Edited by Whoozit on Wednesday 17th January 22:41
The rain forest and the ice fields parkway were two I really wanted to do, Banff in summer (as I've skied it) as well. Will look into the driving and see what we can fit along it.
We're planning start/end in Vancouver as my in-laws now live on Vancouver Island, so going to be staying them before/after the travelling.
jimKRFC said:
Cheers!
The rain forest and the ice fields parkway were two I really wanted to do, Banff in summer (as I've skied it) as well. Will look into the driving and see what we can fit along it.
We're planning start/end in Vancouver as my in-laws now live on Vancouver Island, so going to be staying them before/after the travelling.
To add to your thinking, Vancouver to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island takes at least 2.5 hours from downtown Van -> Horseshoe Bay onto a ferry -> the ferry ride. Going to Victoria via Tsawwassen will take longer. The rain forest and the ice fields parkway were two I really wanted to do, Banff in summer (as I've skied it) as well. Will look into the driving and see what we can fit along it.
We're planning start/end in Vancouver as my in-laws now live on Vancouver Island, so going to be staying them before/after the travelling.
Add on driving the other side. Ferry rides best to have a reservation.
As an alternative to the Great Bear Rainforest, and since you will be on Vancouver Island anyway, consider going to Tofino/Ucluelet/Bamfield and taking bear + whale watching tours?
Thought I should update on this - the trip was done without incident, though it did get a bit longer than originally planned. We ended up spending 28 days out in Canada. The trip was was done in two legs with a loop in an RV into the Rockies and then a stay on the Island.
After flying you need to spend 24 hours before you can pick up an RV so spent the day going round Vancouver. Started by the cruise liner docks (Canada place) and then walked round a lot of Stanley Park. The route we went took in the totem poles, Brockton Point, Beaver lake (didn't see a beaver), across to 3rd Beach (kids went in the sea), then back through town (via Davie St and Burrard) to get the water bus to The Shipyards, water bus back, Gas town for dinner (MeeT - very nice it was to) and back to the hotel. When in Gastown be careful not to go onto Hastings Street East/Main St as it's where all the addicts are (police will only go in groups of 4+).
RV stuff:
Picked up the RV from Fraserway (rented via Authenik Canada and was cheaper than going direct) which included a free collection. The collection is from specific hotels, I didn't realsie when I booked so had to get an uber to the right place, but think this is typical of most RV places. The RV we had was 30ft long and actually pretty easy to drive & manouver. It does help to have someone spotting when reversing into camp spots but managed it wasily enough with no assistance. It was a 200lt tank so from $350-380 dollars to fill. Over 2500km I had to fill it 4 times. When you collect it make sure you get a long poop tube and connector for the campsite sewer pipework. I didn't get a connector and had to hold the tube in place with rocks. The longer the tube the better - ours was quite short and it meant we had to park a little more carefully to make sure it reached.
A good tip I got was to flush the toilet & pipe before leaving. With the poop pipe in the sewer, connect your RV water tank to the mains water, have someone press and hold the flush. This will rinse the loo, the septic tank & the sewer pipe. Then the last thing before discontecting is to dump the grey water. This should leave a fairly clean poop pipe to dsiconnect and pack away.
Campspots:
Really important - the national park campsites book out fast. Really, really fast! The dates open in January in BC and go quickly. I got luck and had an unserviced site in Banff (Tunnels 2), but there were no powered/watered spots anywhere. Inside the national parks there are only the governement sites. The Banff sites were ok and there's a bus into town. I was recommended the Monarch Campground as the best in the area for wildlife and scenery.
Private campgrounds need to booked in advance, I went abit OTT and booked a complete tour in advance. However, massive fires by Jasper (it got pretty much destroyed) changed the plans. In the end I found a website (campspot.com) that meant I could book the next day or day in advance and gave us more flexibility. I found worth the extra for power, water and sewerage but there were 6 of us in the RV.
Vancouver to Vancouver (via Banff).
Vancouver - Hope - Mara lake - Golden - Banff - Radium - Revelstoke - Lake Country - Hope - Vancouver
Plenty of places to stop along the way and was trying to balance hours driving with time to see/do stuff. I found that htere was enough on the way from place to place, or at the stops, that the kids were kept busy and there was stuff for my wife and I do to. I did find that 3 hours was as much driving as I wanted to do though as the RV moves alot in the wind so found it quite tiring.
Banff was heaving! Been there skiing and it's a ghost town compared to summer. We didn't bother with Lake Louise and Moraine lake as you can't drive there and the trips cost a bomb. We did do Bow lake and Pato lake, both a lot quieter and an easy drive up the Icefields parkway. The walk up from Pato lake to the Bow lake summit is fantastic and not busy (we were there in August).
Emerald lake is good but get there early as it gets rammed! A really nice walk, and not too busy, was Marble Canyon which is just after the continetal divide on the way down to Radium (worth a visit, the springs are great and can't be booked on-line so not too busy).
Revelstoke is lovely as well, my favourite town on the tour I think. Had a free music festival on wile we were there (unplanned by me) and the local beer was good! Lamplighter campground was a good spot to stop and nice easy walk into town.
Mara Lake, Whispering Pines Campground, worth a visit nice lake and not busy. Saw nesting Bald Eagles here and there chicks.
Lake Country, Wood LAke RV Park and Marina - nice place to stop. Busy little camp ground but a beach by the lake was really good for the kids plus you can hire boats here.
That's a brief summary of the first leg.. Will add Vancouver Island later.
After flying you need to spend 24 hours before you can pick up an RV so spent the day going round Vancouver. Started by the cruise liner docks (Canada place) and then walked round a lot of Stanley Park. The route we went took in the totem poles, Brockton Point, Beaver lake (didn't see a beaver), across to 3rd Beach (kids went in the sea), then back through town (via Davie St and Burrard) to get the water bus to The Shipyards, water bus back, Gas town for dinner (MeeT - very nice it was to) and back to the hotel. When in Gastown be careful not to go onto Hastings Street East/Main St as it's where all the addicts are (police will only go in groups of 4+).
RV stuff:
Picked up the RV from Fraserway (rented via Authenik Canada and was cheaper than going direct) which included a free collection. The collection is from specific hotels, I didn't realsie when I booked so had to get an uber to the right place, but think this is typical of most RV places. The RV we had was 30ft long and actually pretty easy to drive & manouver. It does help to have someone spotting when reversing into camp spots but managed it wasily enough with no assistance. It was a 200lt tank so from $350-380 dollars to fill. Over 2500km I had to fill it 4 times. When you collect it make sure you get a long poop tube and connector for the campsite sewer pipework. I didn't get a connector and had to hold the tube in place with rocks. The longer the tube the better - ours was quite short and it meant we had to park a little more carefully to make sure it reached.
A good tip I got was to flush the toilet & pipe before leaving. With the poop pipe in the sewer, connect your RV water tank to the mains water, have someone press and hold the flush. This will rinse the loo, the septic tank & the sewer pipe. Then the last thing before discontecting is to dump the grey water. This should leave a fairly clean poop pipe to dsiconnect and pack away.
Campspots:
Really important - the national park campsites book out fast. Really, really fast! The dates open in January in BC and go quickly. I got luck and had an unserviced site in Banff (Tunnels 2), but there were no powered/watered spots anywhere. Inside the national parks there are only the governement sites. The Banff sites were ok and there's a bus into town. I was recommended the Monarch Campground as the best in the area for wildlife and scenery.
Private campgrounds need to booked in advance, I went abit OTT and booked a complete tour in advance. However, massive fires by Jasper (it got pretty much destroyed) changed the plans. In the end I found a website (campspot.com) that meant I could book the next day or day in advance and gave us more flexibility. I found worth the extra for power, water and sewerage but there were 6 of us in the RV.
Vancouver to Vancouver (via Banff).
Vancouver - Hope - Mara lake - Golden - Banff - Radium - Revelstoke - Lake Country - Hope - Vancouver
Plenty of places to stop along the way and was trying to balance hours driving with time to see/do stuff. I found that htere was enough on the way from place to place, or at the stops, that the kids were kept busy and there was stuff for my wife and I do to. I did find that 3 hours was as much driving as I wanted to do though as the RV moves alot in the wind so found it quite tiring.
Banff was heaving! Been there skiing and it's a ghost town compared to summer. We didn't bother with Lake Louise and Moraine lake as you can't drive there and the trips cost a bomb. We did do Bow lake and Pato lake, both a lot quieter and an easy drive up the Icefields parkway. The walk up from Pato lake to the Bow lake summit is fantastic and not busy (we were there in August).
Emerald lake is good but get there early as it gets rammed! A really nice walk, and not too busy, was Marble Canyon which is just after the continetal divide on the way down to Radium (worth a visit, the springs are great and can't be booked on-line so not too busy).
Revelstoke is lovely as well, my favourite town on the tour I think. Had a free music festival on wile we were there (unplanned by me) and the local beer was good! Lamplighter campground was a good spot to stop and nice easy walk into town.
Mara Lake, Whispering Pines Campground, worth a visit nice lake and not busy. Saw nesting Bald Eagles here and there chicks.
Lake Country, Wood LAke RV Park and Marina - nice place to stop. Busy little camp ground but a beach by the lake was really good for the kids plus you can hire boats here.
That's a brief summary of the first leg.. Will add Vancouver Island later.
Vancouver Island leg
So after dropping the RV off I collected a car to do the second leg. I hired a full size SUV, via Turo, from UGT hosting. I got a Lincoln Navigator XL - it was huge! Fitted 6 of us a month luggage with relative ease. The kids all had plenty of leg room and the middle row of seats were massging chairs. The fuel econmy is not great though...
Route for this leg was a little more relaxed though with a few days Victoria visiting local sites (Sooke Pot Holes, tour of the town) onto Ucluelet for 4 nights, , staying right by Terrace Beach (the Cabins, lovely little place), so we had time to go Tofino and visit all alround the area. On the drive over stopping at The Goats on the Roof (good value donuts) and Wally Creek for some swimming and jumping of rocks into the pools (great spot, dodgy parking). On the way back stopping at Cathederal Grove (very pretty, massive trees - terrible toilets).
From Ucluelet it was up to Saratoga beach (stopping at the Goats on the roof for donuts) for a few days relaxing on the beach and whale watching. We went from Browns Bay which is a fantastic little place. My kids had a seal come up to see them as they had their hands in the sea (about 6 inchs from their hands). Whale watching out in the islands was amazing, we saw a couple of Orca pods and 3 or 4 humpbacks.
Then we went to Nanaimo - avoid, not a great place. But from here we went to watch the local rodeo. That was brilliant! The events were a lot of fun and the bull riding was seriously impressive. The Lincoln Navigator XL was the smallest car in the parking lot...
Mount Washington was good as well.
Then we finished up in Victoria for a few more days with the in-laws going up to Mystic Beach (lovely walk, cool water fall).
A great area to go visit and loads to see/do there. Canada is not cheap though so if you are going be prepared to spend a fortune or think carefully about what you do want to do.
I've left loads out but happy to help if anyone is thinking of going!
So after dropping the RV off I collected a car to do the second leg. I hired a full size SUV, via Turo, from UGT hosting. I got a Lincoln Navigator XL - it was huge! Fitted 6 of us a month luggage with relative ease. The kids all had plenty of leg room and the middle row of seats were massging chairs. The fuel econmy is not great though...
Route for this leg was a little more relaxed though with a few days Victoria visiting local sites (Sooke Pot Holes, tour of the town) onto Ucluelet for 4 nights, , staying right by Terrace Beach (the Cabins, lovely little place), so we had time to go Tofino and visit all alround the area. On the drive over stopping at The Goats on the Roof (good value donuts) and Wally Creek for some swimming and jumping of rocks into the pools (great spot, dodgy parking). On the way back stopping at Cathederal Grove (very pretty, massive trees - terrible toilets).
From Ucluelet it was up to Saratoga beach (stopping at the Goats on the roof for donuts) for a few days relaxing on the beach and whale watching. We went from Browns Bay which is a fantastic little place. My kids had a seal come up to see them as they had their hands in the sea (about 6 inchs from their hands). Whale watching out in the islands was amazing, we saw a couple of Orca pods and 3 or 4 humpbacks.
Then we went to Nanaimo - avoid, not a great place. But from here we went to watch the local rodeo. That was brilliant! The events were a lot of fun and the bull riding was seriously impressive. The Lincoln Navigator XL was the smallest car in the parking lot...
Mount Washington was good as well.
Then we finished up in Victoria for a few more days with the in-laws going up to Mystic Beach (lovely walk, cool water fall).
A great area to go visit and loads to see/do there. Canada is not cheap though so if you are going be prepared to spend a fortune or think carefully about what you do want to do.
I've left loads out but happy to help if anyone is thinking of going!
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