Hello ltillm,

I would suggest the following itinerary.

June 13 - Arrive Calgary.

June 14 - Look around downtown Calgary. (I know you didn't include Calgary in your wish list, and naturally you don't have to stop here, but I think the city has enough to capture a visitor's interest for a day.)

June 15 - Day trip to Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller. Highly recommended for its impressive dinosaur skeletons. Overnight in Calgary.

June 16 - Drive to Jasper, stopping to ride the Snocoach on the Athabasca Glacier along the Icefields Parkway between Lake Louise and Jasper.

June 17 - Jasper. (You can do kayaking here.)

June 18 - Jasper.

June 19 - Drive the Icefields Parkway to Lake Louise, stopping at scenic lookout points you may have missed on the way to Jasper.

June 20 - Moraine Lake, Lake Louise. This is one of the places you'd be able to do horse back riding.

June 21 - Yoho National Park. This is one of the places you'd be able to do white water rafting. Overnight in Lake Louise again.

June 22 - Johnston Canyon, Banff.

June 23 - Drive to Calgary through Kananaskis Country, as described in this thread:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=29&tid=34498929

Judging from the Coast Plaza Hotel's street address, it's conveniently located with respect to the airport, and would be a good spot to stay, particularly on your last night if you're catching a morning flight out of Calgary. I'm not familiar with restaurants near the Coast Plaza. Perhaps Bob Brown, who posts here regularly, would be able to suggest restaurants, as he likes to stay at the Greenwood Inn when he comes to Calgary, and it's in the same quadrant of the city.

For your intial arrival in Calgary, the Best Western Village Park Inn may be a better option. It has very easy acccess, via a quick train ride, to downtown Calgary. It also provides quick train access to the Sunnyside - Kensington area where there are interesting shops and restaurants.

If you do word searches for Jasper, Lake Louise, Banff and Calgary, you'll find numerous discussion threads with suggested activities, accommodations and restaurants.

Hope you have a good trip.

You don't really need 5 nights in Jasper; 2 or 3 is more like it.
If all you see is Banff and Jasper, you will miss the major attractions that Judy has listed in her reply.

Rafting is available in Jasper.

I hope you are successful in finding lodging. In mid June the crowds are starting to arrive, but nothing like you will find in late July.

I have no lodging selections to suggest.

Thanks for the help Judy & Bob. I like the suggestions. I did not include Calgary on my list as I did not want to spend a lot of time in big cities.
I searched for lodging in Lake Louise but have not found anything reasonable,250C with king bed. Is it possible to use Banff as a home base to do all (Yoho, lake louise, moraine lake)as day trips? If so, would it be better to change the itinerary?

Hello ltillm,

Although Banff is not quite as close to Yoho National Park as Lake Louise is, it is feasible to use Banff as a base for seeing Lake Louise, Moraine Lake and the sights in Yoho National Park (Takkakaw Falls, Emerald Lake, etc.).

I don't think this would require you to change your itinerary. Wherever the itinerary mentions overnighting in Lake Louise, overnight in Banff, but consider sticking to the itinerary's suggested daytime activities.

I checked Tekarra Lodge's website, and it does seem to offer a king bed for C$184. I'm not familiar with Tekarra Lodge myself, but I have a vague recollection of its having been mentioned in favourable terms around here recently. A word search would clarify that.

It's true that Lake Louise, being a small and popular village, is expensive. Banff, while it's larger and offers a greater variety of accommodation than Lake Louise does, does not seem to give out king sized beds cheaply either.

You mentioned Inns of Banff, with which I personally am not familiar. When I looked up its high season rates on the Internet, a room with king bed appeared to cost C$255.

Banff Park Lodge, with which I myself have been satisfied in the past, has a king room for C$228.

A king room at Best Western Siding 29 Lodge is going for C$220.50.

And so it goes.

You may want to try Canmore, 20 minutes' drive east of Banff townsite. For example, the very charming Lady Macdonald Country Inn, which includes a sumptuous breakfast, has a king room for C$180.

If you don't want to spend time in a city, I can understand your sentiments. If you don't look around Calgary, you might add that day to your base in Banff and use the time to visit Kootenay National Park.

I do highly recommend that you visit the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, though. I also recommend that you see it before the mountains, because the prairie scenery between Calgary and Drumheller would be an anti-climax after the mountains.

Hope this helps.

Hi Judy,
Thanks again. One more question. Can you tell me the advantage of going to Japer prior to Bann/Lake Louse area?

For Lake Louise, try Field.
The Kicking Horse Lodge is there.
Prices run about 120 C.
Until June 30, a room with 2 queens
will cost you 112; July 1 it costs you $142. (The summer crowds are arriving.)

That is cheaper than Lake Louise.
And the distance is almost immaterial because it is spectacular. You drive the Kicking Horse Pass and view the mountains around Field. It takes less than 25 minutes, usually, to make the trip from Lake Louise Village.

the turn to Takkakaw Falls is at the bottom of the Big Hill and Emerald Lake is a few miles toward Golden.

Given the relative cost picture, I suggest you check out Field.
Also, the Mt. Stephen Guesthouse is well worth looking at. Since I was there, the owners have put a queen bed in the bedroom.

You will not find many suites with King Beds at $200 C.
Welcome to the world of the Canadian Rockies. It is popular for a reason: You cannot top the scenery plus the access by paved road anywhere else in North America.

ltillm, I agree with Brookwood's suggestion about trying Field. I was thinking of coming here to write a post script to my previous message, but was beaten to it.

>>>>>>Can you tell me the advantage of going to Japer prior to Bann/Lake Louse area?<<<<<<

There isn't really a cut and dried way to do this, and you don't necessarily have to go to Jasper first.

Driving to Jasper first is a trick I learned from Borealis, who is a regular poster here. The theory is to get the single longest drive out of the way first, and then to meander back, travelling shorter distances and getting out to look at the scenery more often on the return journey.

Another advantage that I can see to getting the one long drive out of the way first is that it reduces the number of times one needs to change hotels.

In theory you can stay in Banff, leave there and head to Jasper, and then head back to Banff again. That's three hotel stays.

Or you can go all the way to Jasper and then return to Banff, which is only two hotel stays.

Another thing you can do to reduce hotel changes is to arrange a late morning or noon flight out of Calgary. In that case you could stay in Banff or Canmore right through your last night.

A comment about the high price of accommodation in the Canadian Rockies. You've mentioned white water rafting, horse back riding, and so on. In all honesty, while those activities are fun, the mountains are so gorgeous that, for me at least, the scenery is enough entertainment. Once you've paid for your national parks entry fee, accommodation, meals, rental car, and gasoline, there is not another thing you really need to pay for in order to enjoy the mountains. Walking on the trails, looking at the lakes and waterfalls, etc., is free. Just in case that's any consolation.

When we stay in the mountains, we bring a collapsible cooler with us. Just about all of our lunches take the form of picnics. We eat restaurant dinners every other night, and alternate them with picnic dinners. It stays light so late here in the summer that it's very feasible to have a picnic dinner. We buy cold cuts, cheese, salads, bread rolls and fruit from a deli or supermarket. Self-catering some of our meals cuts down on our costs. If you do this, just remember to bring a corkscrew for your bottle of wine!