holymoly

My husband and I (both 29 yo, live in LA) have 2 weeks in early August for a vacation and are considering the following ideas:

1 - two weeks traveling the Canadian Rockies, flying into Calgary and from there visiting Jasper, Lake Louise and Banff

2 - two weeks traveling thru Quebec, spending time in Montreal, Quebec City (and the region around it) and Mont Tremblant

3 - spending one week in the Canadian Rockies (option #1), then flying to Montreal and spending one week in that area (option #2)

As for us - we both love spending time outdoors (we're not necessarily huge hikers our outdoors-people, but we love being near water, taking walks, being among beautiful views and scenery) but we enjoy big cities with great restaurants, culture and history almost as much. Really for us a vacation must be relaxing and I could see us enjoying ourselves immensely in both areas.

I'm inclined to go with option #3 and just try to get in as much as possible. We really only take 1 bigger vacation a year, so I'm all for doing as much as possible during that trip. Am I crazy for thinking this? If we go with option #1, will we be bored after a week? Or with option #2, will we kick ourselves later for missing the Canadian Rockies?

And thanks to the many posters on this forum - I've read thru lots of posts on this website and have learned so much about both areas already!

TobieT

If you want a vacation to be relaxing, then I tend to think option #3 is not for you. But there is no reason why you can't combine #1 The Rockies with a visit to Vancouver/Victoria for the city aspect of your trip---complete with culture, restaurants and a gorgeous location.

Or you could expand the Montreal and Quebec visit to take in more of the Gaspe or the Maritimes, giving you the ocean, views and nature you want. Even a side trip to Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor is a great alternative from Quebec City.

But I would definitely not try and do both #1 and #2 in the same holiday. You would be missing too much of each destination with only a week, and travel days.

A great planning device for the Rockies trip (or Rockies/West coast) is a website by JudyinCalgary, a contributor here:

http://groups.msn.com/CalgaryandCana...ineraries.msnw

There isn't anything similar that I know of for the Quebec trip, but there is lots of information available on this and other forums should you decide to make that your destination.

Good luck!

Daniel_Williams

Hi Holymoly,

While option #3 is feasible, I think it would be a bit tiring. The only way I would say "OK, do #3" would be if you were coming from somewhere far-flung like Sydney Australia and you thought this would be your one and only trip into Canada.

Since you live in LA and are young, you're likely to make it back up to Canada again. Instead of trying to "do it all", I agree with TobieT. Savour life and don't rush, savour each distinctive part of Canada for a more meaningful experience.

Tobie T has great suggestions... fly into Vancouver instead, spend some time by that drop-dead gorgeous coastline and drive to the Rockies from that direction, maybe stop at a winery in the fertile Okanagan Valley on the way. Ah Beautiful BC! I still drool looking at my pictures from my first visit there last year...

#2. If you do this option, skip Tremblant (very artificial-feeling) and pick somewhere else in the Laurentians (Val David, St. Donat, maybe Ste. Agathe)... TobieT has some great suggestions if you wish to visit eastern Canada, to which I'd add Tadoussac for whale watching or Ottawa if you want to experience another of the nation's cities. A Quebec-Maritimes trip I'd recommend, more d

Daniel_Williams

Sorry hit POST MY REPLY by mistake...

Coming from LA, the Québec-Maritimes would be more "dépaysant" (loosely translated as feeling of being in a different culture) as we say in French than Vancouver-Rockies and more historic (on a North American European conquest scale). While Quebec/Maritimes has some gently beautiful rolling hill and coastline scenery, Vancouver-Rockies has a more eye-popping scenery.

Enjoy as you choose! Cheers! DAN

semiramis

Option 1 or 2 - mainly because Option 3 is more tiring and you would basically lose a day travelling between the two areas.
Option 1 - best scenery
Option 2 - most culturally interesting

holymoly

thank you everyone for your immense help! as much as i hate to hear it, i agree that option #3 is too much for us, so now i have the horrible decision of which itinerary (#1 or #2) to pick!

my husband and i actually spent a week and a half traveling thru and around vancouver/victoria/whistler two summers ago, but it was one of our most memorable trips, so we'd be open to flying to vancouver again and this time driving east towards the canadian rockies. what is this drive like? how long should i expect it to take? can you give me recommendations of where to stop?

and i love the idea of traveling to montreal and spending some time in montreal/laurentians/quebec city, then driving south towards bar harbor. what is this drive like? how far from quebec city to bar harbor?

TobieT

Since I mentioned the Quebec-> Bar Harbor option I thought I'd also tell you that I've done that trip from Toronto via Boston, but not from Quebec.

That aside, I still think it would be a great combination of history, cities, and scenery. Have a look at:
http://www.mapquest.com/
for routes and distances, but it looks to be about 6 hrs. from Quebec City to Bar Harbor. and another 5 hrs. to Boston where you could fly home from. The only factor with that is the rental car fees to leave the car in Boston. Another 6 hrs will take you to Montreal if you wanted to do the loop. The drive from Bar Harbor to Boston is gorgeous with lots of places to stop, and if you haven't been to Boston, it is a city with history and culture to enjoy too. I love Canada, but there you have option #4....just what you need!

If you wanted to rent and return the car in the same place with less time management, then taking in Montreal, Quebec and the Gaspe would be lovely and very relaxing for 2 weeks. Tadoussac is well known for whale watching and there are many types of accomodations to choose from in the area.

For an idea of routes and times for the Vancouver to the Rockies trip, once again have a look at Judy's website for possible routes and days in each place.
You could visit wineries in the Okanagan and then go north to Kamloops enroute to Jasper, south through the spectacular scenery of the Icefields to Banff, and then fly out of Calgary. It is an amazing trip, whether you have been to Vancouver before or not.

I'm not sure if you've looked at any Canadian tourism websites, but here's some to check. It might help make the decision too.

http://www.quebecweb.com/tourisme-ba.../introang.html

http://www1.travelalberta.com

I guess my personal favourite trip is still through the Rockies, but it too would involve a fair bit of driving over the 2 weeks so if you want less of that, and more of a slow, meandering holiday, spending the entire time in Quebec would be the way to go.

ltt

i think we can give you better details once you pick which side of the country you want. either trip would be wonderful.
since you've done vancouver area, you could plan on a week in the rockies and spend the other week enjoying other parts of bc - nakusp, kookney area, okanagan

east coast - enjoy quebec for a week and then head to halifax, nova scotia area for a week or the bar harbor, maine area for a week.

NorthwestMale

With your second dose of information (about having previously BEEN to Vancouver and surrounding areas)... I think that, at 29, you should take the plunge and go to the far east of Canada for the whole trip.

I would probably fly to a U.S. airport in the northeastern U.S. (match airfares and car rental prices to see which one best suits you) and then plan to cover Montreal, Quebec City, and New Brunswick and Nova Scotia!

Because you're so far removed from them, geographically... this is a great time to visit those places. Among the best things about Nova Scotia is that it isn't on the way to anywhere (except Newfoundland)... but for tourists, that is also a cause to resist seeing it.

When you're 29 it's a great time to cover the far-flung spots. You have a better chance at Calgary and the rest of Alberta later on.

You can probably hack a round-trip car rental for 2 weeks at some strategic airport and then cover the territory from Montreal, up the St. Lawrence to Quebec City... and later the Gaspe Peninsula if it appeals to you... then through New Brunswick and on to Nova Scotia.

I live in the far west too... so I've had to take each opportunity to get to Nova Scotia when possible. The "outdoors" there is impressive and there are many enjoyable sights and places along the path from Montreal to the Maritimes.

Let us know what you end up planning.