We are two English lady seniors. We are flying to Vancouver for 3 days and taking the Canadian to Jasper, where we pick up a hire car. Then we want to drive to Banff, visiting all the scenic places and taking short hikes. From Banff we want to drive into Glacier NP and take "the going to the sun shuttle bus". I don't know how to drive from Banff to Glacier and back to Calgary. Can someone help who knows or has done a similar trip
Jasper to Glacier and then to Calgary
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With only 3 days just stay in Canada. Were you planning on flying back to Vancouver from Calgary?
The easiest way that I have found to get to Glacier NP Montana is to take the Amtrak Empire Builder from Seattle to Whitefish.
We are spending 3 days in Vancouver, then taking The Canadian to Jasper. It is from there via Banff and Glacier N.P, I need help with. How to get from Banff to Glacier N.P and then back to Calgary. we will have just over 2 weeks in total
I think this is what you are looking for. http://www.gonorthwest.com/Montana/northwest/glaciernp/visitorinformation.htm
With 2 weeks you should be able to see it all.
Try to make the hike down through Maligne Canyon.
Just to clarify, you want to visit the American Glacier NP? There is a Canadian one as well (east of Banff and Yoho NPs).
Sorry, above post should have been "west" of Banff and Yoho.
The going to the sun shuttle bus is at the American Glacier National Park, in Montana.
So that knowledge eliminates all the references to the Canadian Glacier National Park.
To the English ladies. Stay tuned. Good info will get here fairly soon, I'm sure.
Project One; when you make your rental car reservation, make sure the rental company knows you want to take the car into the United States, and then bring it back. Doing this should not be a problem, but there are insurance details to work out.
It's not as easy to drive from Banff to Glacier National Park in Montana as you might think, because the mountains get in the way.
If I was doing this (and I've been on most of these roads) I'd start in Banff and leave town driving east on The Trans-Canada Highway, also called highway 1. You'll be mostly surrounded by parkland and rolling hills, and eventually you'll be in Bow Valley Provincial Park. Seamless borders, and you may not notice you are in the park.
After leaving the park, drive toward Calgary, and turn right / south at big highway interchange 161 onto Highway 22 South, also called Bragg Creek Road.
Follow this, going more or less south, to where highway 22 ends at Highway 3, which runs east-west.
Turn left /east on highway 3, also called the Crowsnest Highway, and drive east until you reach Fort McLeod, and Highway 2 South.
Highway 2 will take you through Cardston and down to the border crossing at Carway.
When you cross the border into Montana, the highway number changes to 89, and this highway will take you to the Glacier National Park Entrance.
The roads above are to the best of my knowledge all paved, all have some traffic on them, but they are country roads, not big highways (for themost part) and they mostly run through cowboy country. You'll see mostly farms and ranches, and should see cattle grazing in the foothills of the Rockies, just like in a cowboy movie. Plus some oil wells, and a lot of pickup trucks.
The other choice is to drive from Banff into Calgary, and then take highway 2 south from there. More giant farms, fewer cattle ranches, wider roads, less interesting.
FILL THE CAR WITH GASOLINE as you leave Banff National Park. Lots of gas stations in Canmore. You do not want to worry as you drive in the country.
AFter glacier, just drive north on hgihway 2 back to Calgary.