Car hire from Edmonton to Jasper
 

A friend and myself are hoping to hire a car from Edmonton airport on Monday June 19th (we are visitng from England) and drive to Jasper and leave the car there on Friday June 23rd as we are catching the train to Prince Rupert. I can't find anyone who does this drive and leave service for this route - any advice would be really welcome.

I just did a test at National's website, and it appeared to let me do it:

http://www.nationalcar.ca/

Now admittedly the price they quoted me was shocking. I ran the test again, this time asking for a car to be picked up from, and returned to, Edmonton International Airport. It was orders of magnitude cheaper. They undoubtedly have a one-way frop off fee built into their Edmonton-Jasper rate.

If you have not already tried them, you also could try:

Avis
Budget
Hertz
Thrifty

If you want to use the airport code in the box in which you type your pick up location, type YEG.

If all the car rental companies ding you that badly for a drop off in Jasper, I can think of a couple of possible strategies.

One is that you can pick up a car at Edmonton International Airport on June 19th, drop it off in Jasper on June 20th, pick up another car in Jasper on June 20th and drop off that second car in Jasper on June 23rd.

While the rate for a Jasper-Jasper car is more expensive than the rate for an Edmonton-Edmonton car, it's still <b>way</b> lower than the rate for an Edmonton-Jasper car. By using the Edmonton-Jasper car for only one day, you'd take the &quot;hit&quot; for only one day instead of four days.

If you landed at Edmonton Airport in time to catch the 12.10 pm Greyhound bus , you could use it to get to Jasper. You'd change buses in the city of Edmonton, and reach Jasper at 6.00 p.m.

The next opportunity to catch a Greyhound bus would be 7.10 p.m., and it would get you into Jasper at 1.10 a.m. on June 20th!

Actually, come to think of it, the Greyhound bus really isn't worth it for two people. The fare is somewhere in the order of C$65 each. If you multiply that by two, you're looking at something along the lines of C$130. Although the exhorbitant car rental is even more than that, it's not <b>that</b> much more.

So I think my original suggestion of renting a car for one day and then renting a different car for the remaining days has some merit.

If you'll be staying at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, they have an airport shuttle for their guests.

The only other service of which I know is the airport limosine service operated by SunDog Tours, and that too is very expensive -- somewhere up around the C$400 mark for the car and driver.

Hope that helps.

You might also try Budget Rental Car and Thrifty Rental Car. I agree with Judy that it would probably be best to do just a one day rental from Edmonton to Jasper and then do a 3 day rental in Jasper. Thrifty was charging about $110/day if rented from Edmonton to Jasper, but only $50/day for a Jasper Rental (these prices were without any discount codes that may be available).

Over the last several years, I have always returned the car to the original rental office because of the drop fees.

I am curious. Why Prince Rupert?
I drove out there from Lake Louise via Jasper in the summer of 2004 and thought the whole trip after I left Mt. Robson to be uneventful. Lots of fir trees.
Would I do it again? NO.

Given the alternatives you have along the Icefields Parkway south to Lake Louise, I know which one of the two I would recommend in a heart beat.

The train to Prince Rupert is supposed to be wonderful. Have you priced taking the train from Edmonton? It may not cost that much to add Edmonton- Jasper onto your Jasper-Prince Rupert ticket.

Otherwise a 1 day, one way rental sounds like the best idea. The bus from Edmonton to Jasper is pretty dismal.

Would someone explain to me what is so wonderful about that particular train?

The tracks go approximately the same way the road does, and I saw nothing along the road I would go back for.

I don't mean to sound negative, but it is a long trip and I don't recall anything that rivals at all what you can see along the Icefields parkway.

I guess I have ridden enough long train trips in Europe that riding a train has limited appeal for me. I had the same reaction to the ferry from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy. After 4 hours I had visited all of the boat I could, stared at endless forests of fir trees, and watched the water go by. After lunch I took a nap.

Fortunately, the food was good!!