Lesa

Hi there, would appreciate any advice on the below itinerary for September. Including accommodation, activities or better travel options. We are on a round the world ticket so will be using Air Canada for internal flights, and a hire can in BC.

Thanks

Lesa
DATE LOCATION
22/9 Vancouver
23/09 Vancouver
24/09 Vancouver
25/09 Car to Whistler
26/09 Whistler - Kamloops
27/09 Kamloops - Jasper
28/09 Jasper
29/09 Jasper
30/09 Banff
1/10 Banff
2/10 Banff
3/10 Drive/Ferry to Tofino
4/10 Tofino - Sea Kayaking
5/10 Tofino
6/10 Tofino - Toronto - late flight
7/10 Toronto
8/10 Algonquin-3 day canoe trip
9/10 Algonquin
10/10 Algonquin - Toronto
11/10 Toronto
12/10 Toronto
13/10 Toronto
14/10 Toronto - Montreal - fly
15/10 Montreal
16/10 Montreal
17/10 Montreal
18/10 Montreal
19/10 New York- Flight
20/10 New York
21/10 New York - Flight home 9pm

Gavin

It looks like quite the trip. The thing that jumps out at me is 3/10. Do you really mean to drive from Banff to Tofino in one go? I think you need an overnight on this one. Getting from Vancouver to Tofino alone is a good day's travel. You could drop the car in Calgary and fly back to Vancouver to save time. This would likely be a separate one-way ticket. Another idea is to visit Tofino before Banff, drop the car in Vancouver and fly to Calgary and visit Banff and Jasper from there then fly to Toronto from Calgary. You miss the drive through BC though.

Camping in Algonquin could be chilly in October. I recall seeing photos of an October canoe trip in which the canoe was being used as an icebreaker one morning! Unusual but possible in October. That said the colours should be great and the biting insects are over and it will not be crowded.

Consider a visit to Ottawa or Quebec City at expense of time in Toronto/Montreal. Do your ticket rules permit gaps? For example fly Toronto to Ottawa then train or bus to Montreal then fly out of Montreal.

Borealis

Lesa - For 3/10, drive/ferry to Tofino (presumably from Banff) - that is going to be one very long day of driving, in fact, it'll be such a long day of sitting and driving, driving driving that you won't enjoy it at all - it's 9 to 10 hours Banff to Vancouver, count on a minimum 2 hours for the ferry from Vancouver to Nanaimo (might be longer, depending on whether you have to wait, and if you have reservations you'll have to arrive at the terminal at least 30 minutes before departure time, sailing time is 1.5 hours), then another 2 to 3 hours driving across Vancouver Island to Tofino.
My advice - do that part of your trip over two days.

Borealis

I agree with Gavin (didn't see his response before I posted mine) - it's a great idea to do the west coast all in one go (Vancouver, then Tofino), then drive to Jasper and Banff, and fly to Toronto from Calgary. I second that idea to visit Quebec City.

Wow!! What a trip!! You'll have to write a trip report when you get back home. . . . PLEASE!!!!!

Lesa

Hi there and thanks for the info. Sorry I should have been more precise with the Banff - Tofino day. We will be leaving Banff the day before and staying just outside of Vancouver and then head over to Tofino the next morning. We wern't sure how many days we would need in Toronto and Montreal, hence have left out Ottawa and Quebec but we can in fact fly from Toronto on to Ottawa and then Train to Montreal or Quebec and then Fly out of either down to NY. How many days would you suggest for Toronto and Montreal region?

We did consider flying around the west coast but wanted to get out in the open in a car so would like to do the loop so we don't miss anything.

Appreciate your comments and will definitely write a report on our return.

Cheers

Lesa

tom22

you should consider the ongoing "sea to the sky improvement project". The highway is partly closed (in most cases during night hours, after noon). Tourism Whistler recommends to check close before your departure for current status of the highway (updates are available vis the tourism whistler homepage).

I would not recommend to stay in Kamloops, as there is no much senic to see. Form Whistler it is an easy drive towards Clearwater/Wells Gray PP.

Septe/Oct is a good travel month (the bears are migrating into the valley's). Be prepared for snow fall on the mountains and cool temperatures.

Even from Banff to Vancouver (1000 km) is a long trip in October because of short daylight. There are some travel risks during night hours caused by increasing wildlife activties during the night. You should split this into two days.

Seakayaking in Tofino is nice. But you shoudl consider, that Pacific Rim NP is splitted into three independend part(long beach, Brocken Island group, west cost trail unit).

Tofino offers good access to the long beach unit, but is not recommended as location for the shortest access to the BI-unit and for the est cost trail unit).

Lesa

thanks Tom

We only have the 2 days and three nights on Victoria Island and are looking at kayaking, wildlife viewing. Is Tofino the best spot for us or should we stay somewhere else?

BAK

I guess you can get from Tofino to Toronto in one day, but you might want to double check the drive times, etc. from tofino to whatever airport is involved.

Unless it is part of some special airticket deal, I'd take the train from Toronto to Montreal instead of flying.

Trains go from downtown to downtown, saving the drives to and from airports to downtowns, and you get to see more.

Think about Toronto to Ottawa to Montreal, which works by train, too. Or even better by car.

Or... Toronto for a few days, Algonquin trip, then continue to Ottawa, then Montreal, then NY.

Lesa

We are taking an overnight flight from Tofino to Toronto, we leave around 10pm and get in the morning of the 7th.

We are a bit stuck on the East side because we can only get the Algonquin trip on the 8th (last one for the season), so need to get back to Toronto so see Niagra etc. We can then train to Ottowa and then on to Montreal.

We just thought that it is an extra expense as we are on a round the world ticket so flights are included and takes extra time on the train/car.

If you think it is definitely worth seeing Ottawa, then we could train or car there, just a matter of cutting a day of two out of Montreal and extra funds.

Thanks

Lesa

Lesa

That should read Vancouver to Toronto...sorry for the confusion.

tom22

@Lesa: I recommend to do seakayaking in Ucluelet (www.uclueletinfo.com). Many commercial operators offer kajak based tours form Ucluelet into the Broken Island Group combined with bearwhatching.

Tofino is also good for bear- and whalewhatching, but the commercial tours a boat based. The kajaking tours are not combined with wildlife whatching.

An alterternative on Vancouver Island is zeballos (www.zeballos.com), called the bear capitol of Vancouver Island.

You can also do bearwhatching tours in Whistler (early in the morning and late in the afternoon), but it might give a conflict with your schedule.