jillsmags

We are arriving in Vancouver from Australia on July 6th. Have been looking at hiring a campervan/motorhome to travel from Vancouver - Calgary - Banff - Jasper, but there do not seem to be any companies that will hire one-way at a reasonable rate. Why is this? The extra cost for picking up at one city and dropping off at another is totally prohibitive. We will now start looking at hiring a car and staying in accomodation. Pity, because we want to go to visit these places at our leisure and then catch the Skeena train from Jasper to Pr Rupert, seems unnecessary to hire a camper from, say, Calgary and have to take it back there. Anyone any ideas?

jillsmags

We have been advised by our Canadian cousins that campervan/motorhome is not necessarily the way to go. Very expensive and they are big, so parking and viewing can be tricky. We have opted for hiring a small car in Calgary and sightseeing Banff, Lake Louise etc and staying in accomodation.

leuk2

I expect it is expensive because the company now has to fly someone to the drop-off city and have them drive the motorhome back. They are not like car rental companies who have a depot in every city.

jillsmags

It is tricky deciding what to do as regards travel the Banff, Jasper area. We are almost decided now to hire a small car from Vancouver, travel around the Rockies and back to Vancouver, would this be too much of a hike do you think. Would need to get accomodation on the way, but at least with a car we can get out of the cities a bit. Hoping to get a ticket or two to the Calgary stampede, sounds great, has anyone done this, any tips out thre?

ltt

how long are you travelling for? a motor home is an extremely expensive although lovely way to travel. planning on renting a car in vacouver and doing a circle route is the least expensive, most flexible plan. accommodations in banff area are very expensive. there are some hostels you could consider but they'd need to be booked soon. accommodations in campgrounds and motels/hotels around the calgary stampede are probably already getting book up (the city of calgary is probably already almost booked up).

fabuloous, fabulous road trip but a very popular one so some places are best to be booked early. there are occassionally some rental car companies that have low or waive the drop off fee between vancouver and calgary. if you could swing a motor home, that would be ideal as there are some FABULOUS places to camp in bc & alberta.

Eschew

Boring drive from Vancouver to Jasper. Not much action unless you want to take the scenic detour down south and arrive at Radium and then Banff and then up to Jasper.

Suggestion: Take train from from Vancouver to Jasper. Rent a car in Jasper and do the loop Jasper-Lake Louise-Banf and back. Hop back on the train and onward to Pr. Rupert.

Tootsall

How many people will be travelling? If only two or three then a pick-up truck mounted camper or a "campervan" is the way to go. Most of the rental companies have them and the cost (and fuel expense) will be lower. Am surprised that they have a pricing problem with one-way though: the primary market is for folks from overseas who want to do exactly what you plan in one direction or the other. Typically Calgary sees more rental and "fly-in, fly-out" traffic than Edmonton. It's about a 3 hour drive (on a 4-lane, divided highway) from Edmonton to Calgary and the rental operations are all on the road from the airport to downtown.

The global economy seems to be indicating that there might be some real deals available this year: don't give up too easily!

taggie

Eschew - What???? The Trans Canada from Vancouver to Banff, and the drive continuing up the parkway to Jasper, is gorgeous. Boring?? That's simply untrue.

Stampede is lots of fun - the whole city gets into it. Calgary on its own isn't the greatest tourist destination but with Stampede on it's definitely worth a couple of days.

Eschew

Taggie,
Read my post again. I said the drive from Vancouver to Jasper is boring, and suggested the alternate route.
Stampede is over-hyped. It is a county fair, just slightly bigger and lots of marketing. I would avoid Calgary during Stampede week. Over priced, over crowded, not my idea of vacation.