We are making a circle from Seattle to Glacier to Lake Louise to Vancouver to Seattle in 10 days at the end of June.

I have two full days at Glacier NP Mont. and tried to find less expensive lodging near
Lake Louise with no luck ( I like to stay under $100. per night. Thus I am thinking of doing Lake Louise in one day and add a day in Vancouver to go over to Burchart Gardens. I will have had two days in Glacier with similar views to Banff.
Question 1 Would you make the trade.
Question 2 If not suggest lodging around Lake Louise (not interested in Banff city).

I currently have motel reservations near Radium Hot Springs that would take me from Glacier to Kootenay NP to Banff NP to Yoho NP in one day. I could drive from Glacier MT to Calgary and skip Kootenay. We like mountains more than cities.
Question 3 Which route would be better.
Question 3 Hope I haven't confused you with the three related issues or insulted you with our pauper travel mentality.

Hi jrbnrnc,

I'm neither confused by the 3 related issues nor insulted by what you call your "pauper mentality" (join the club ).

What does make it challenging to answer your questions is not knowing your itinerary in more detail. That makes it more difficult to figure where, if at all, you could introduce more efficiency into your route.

First of all, on as tight a trip as you'll be doing, don't go through Calgary. Even if you travel up the east side of the Canadian Rockies from Montana's Glacier National Park, which is a valid option to consider, you can bypass Calgary.

Secondly, if I had another day to spend in Vancouver, there would be many wonderful ways to spend that day. I think it's worth going over to Victoria only if you've had 3 days to do some sort of justice to Vancouver and have an extra day to spare. Another thing to consider is that, while it's possible to go to Victoria on a day trip from Vancouver, it does make for a long day. Also, since you've mentioned the budget issue, it would add considerably to your expenses. There would be the ferry voyage across the Georgia Strait, and there would be the admission fees to Butchart Gardens. If you're really into gardens, you can see beautiful Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver for free.

How you should travel from Montana's GNP to the Banff / Lake Louise area depends on the side of GNP from which you'll be emerging. Since you will have travelled from Seattle to GNP, it seems to me it might make sense for you to drive the Going to the Sun Road in an easterly direction, emerge from GNP in the vicinity of Saint Mary, Montana, and then make your way northwards through Alberta's Waterton Lakes National Park, through the eastern foothills of the Canadian Rockies, to Canmore.

Highway 22, which travels through Alberta's eastern foothills, is known as the Cowboy Trail, and it's a charming route. When you reach the town of Longview, you would be advised to turn west onto Route 541. That will go through the beautiful Highwood Pass, turn north, and become Hwy #40, which will take you through Kananaskis Country.

Canmore is a mountain town just ouside of Banff National Park, about 15 minutes from Banff townsite. It has quite a large stock of accommodation in a variety of price ranges. Someone just recently gave me a good review of their stay at Bow Valley Motel in Canmore. The town also has a hostel that I understand is excellent. I've heard you can get private rooms there (although I imagine bathrooms are shared). But I hear that the hostel gets booked up. Still it may be worth a try.

Then you could drive westwards through the Banff / Lake Louise area and on to Vancouver (without or without going through Jasper).

Since you will be travelling to a tight schedule this seems to me to be quite an efficient route. But I'm guessing it would be convenient for you only if you travelled through GNP in a west to east direction.

Whether or not you should include Jasper in your itinerary is a really tough call. I like Jasper a lot, and the Icefields Parkway, the road that connects Lake Louise and Jasper, is very scenic. However, I think there is a danger that, with only 10 days to do all this, you will be rushed, and you'll end up feeling "mountained out."

I think in your case it might be better to take the day that you would have spent driving to Jasper and using it to make your trip from Banff to Vancouver just a little more leisurely. For example, if you decided to stop in Canmore for one night, you could stop in Revelstoke the next night. That nominally is a 4-hour drive. But that stretch of road is packed with good scenery (Moraine Lake, Lake Louise, Takakkaw Falls, Emerald Lake, Rogers Pass). If you followed that route, you probably would have time to take an extra 1.5 hours and make a detour to see Peyto Lake as well. It's up the Icefields Parkway, about half an hour from Lake Louise.

Between Golden and Revelstoke you would drive through British Columbia's Glacier National Park. The opportunities for confusing the parks of the same name was the reason for my referring to the other GNP as Montana's GNP.

I hope that helps.

Postscript.

The Vancouver page of my website provides my own thoughts on how to spend time in Vancouver and also provides links to wonderful websites that Vancouver residents have created:

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

If you choose to include a day trip to Victoria, this page describes all of the options for getting there and back:

http://groups.msn.com/CalgaryandCana...ortation1.msnw

You seem to have done a lot of research, but just in case you have not covered some of the logistical issues, the TIPS section of my website has links to practical topics like weather, what to pack, driving distances and times, Canadian national park entry fees, maps, other informative websites, etc.

Here is my page about budget travel. I'd be glad if you would share with me tips for budget travel that I have not identified:

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

thanks, Judy for the info.Here is the whole trip.
1. Fly to Seattle and drive toward Portland.
2. Drive through the Columbia River Gorge and up to Spokane
3. To St. Mary Mont. via Going to the Sun
4. Also at St. Mary Mont.
5. Drive back across Going to the Sun if day 3 was rainy. If we had a good Going to the Sun day we would go up via Waterton NP, the Head Smashed In Site, then across to Windermere. I will consider the route to Canmore that I think you are saying would be more attractive than Kootenay NP and allow more time for a day from Canmore to Golden.
6. To Lake Louise, Takakkaw Falls, to Golden
7. To Vancouver
8. Day in Vancouver
9. Over to Burchart Gardens
10. To Seattle for a quick day trip and to airport for a red eye to NC.

As for Victoria, my plan was to take the Tsawwassen-Swartz Bay ferry as a pedistrian and a local bus to Burchart Gardens. Is that possible and will I be able to park at Tsawwassen for the Day. This would give us a boat ride for our trip. thanks

Hi jrbnrnc,

Thanks for providing your itinerary. I think you've made good use of your 10 days. But I still think there is merit in travelling up the eastern flank of the Rockies to Canmore.

When it comes to Butchart Gardens, I guess the good thing about it is that you don't have to decide how you'll spend that day until the last minute. I mean there is no hotel reservation hanging on the decision. If you go across without your rental car, you don't even have to reserve the ferry.

It's true that the Butchart Gardens are beautiful, that downtown Victoria is charming, and that the crossing of the Georgia Strait through the Southern Gulf Islands is pretty.

Traveller69 posted a useful message about transportation from downtown Victoria to Butchart Gardens:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34811145

According to BC Ferries' website, it costs C$12 / day to park at the Tsawwassen ferry terminal.

The ferry fare for an adult (defined as anyone aged 12 and over) is C$11.30 each way. The fare for a child aged 5 - 11 is C$5.90 each way. A child up to 4 years of age crosses for free.

You've probably discovered BC Ferries' website already, but in case you have not, it is www.bcferries.ca .

It's possible to use public buses to get from the ferry terminal at Swartz Bay to Butchart Gardens. However, it is not possible to do the trip on a single bus. You would need to switch from the #70 bus (which connects Swartz Bay to downtown) to the #75 bus (which connects downtown and Butchart Gardens). As far as I can tell from BC Transit's website, you would not need to go all the way into downtown Victoria, as the two bus routes appear to intersect with each other. But I don't know where you would transfer. If someonne here at Fodor's doesn't tell you, I'm sure it's a question that the bus driver is asked many times a day. He/she undoubtedly would be able to advise you.

The most economical bus option on the island would be to use public transit all day. If the time table was acceptable to you (it does vary from week days to weekends), you could buy an all day pass (C$6 per adult and C$4 per youth aged 6 - 18). You could use that pass to catch buses from Swartz Bay to Butchart Gardens, from Butchart Gardens to downtown Victoria, and then from downtown Victoria back to Swartz Bay.

You can get more information about Victoria's transit system here:

http://www.busonline.ca

Admission to Butchart Gardens is C$23 per adult, C$11.50 per youth aged 13 - 17, C$2.50 per child aged 5 - 12.

http://www.butchartgardens.com/

So, if your travel party consists of 2 adults, fares and admissions for the day to Victoria would cost C$115.20. That consists of C$12 for parking, C$45.20 in return ferry fares, C$12 in public bus passes, and C$46 for admission to Butchart Gardens. If you were accompanied by children aged 10 and 12 respectively, fares and admissions would add C$47.40, bringing the total for the day to C$162.60.

Hope that helps.

Hi if you go onto the bctransit web site then victoria regional district they have all the transit info you need. From Shwartz bay you can get bus #81 to and from Butchart gardens. They reccommend calling transit info because they change the times from the gardens alot the Ph # for transit info is 250 382 6161. At Tsawassen terminal they also have cheaper $7/day parking on the indian land just before the causeway and a shuttle bus to the terminal.