Combine Vancouver & Lake Louise-8-9 day trip?
 

My wife and I plan a trip to Vancouver. We are considering adding 2 nights in Lake Louise area. Is this possible in a 7-9 day trip? If yes:
1. How do we get from one to the other--rent a car---take a train/bus?
2. Can we fly into one (from Boston) and back home from the other?
3. Can we get affordable accomodations at Lake Louise for mid/late August?

Vancouver to Lake Louise is 792km, or about 490 miles. First 360km to Kamloops is freeway, which can be done in <4 hours. The rest is mostly 2-lane highway, and will take about 6 hours. While possible to do it in a day, it's probably better to stay overnight somewhere in between.

At the actual lake, there's the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, but most people visiting the area stay at Banff, another half an hour east. Lots of lodges and hotels there, though not cheap. Further east is Canmore - some chain hotels and more affordable.

The closest major airport for Lake Louise/Banff is Calgary. Check with your airline to see what are the open-jaw fares, and check with rental car companies to see how much it cost to rent from Vancouver and drop off in Calgary, or vice versa. That will save you 9-10 hours of driving.

On the assumption that your car is a rental, check the drop cost.
I looked up that cost last year and decided that it was prohibitive. My wife and I could have flown from Vancouver to Calgary for less.

Affordable lodging around Lake Louise?
No. The cheapest place I know of is the Mounteneer Motel and it is expensive for a rather ordinary room.

This time of year, a queen bed (1) will run you $185 Canadian. Two double beds are $180. At the current rate of exchange, that is about $155 to $160.
Not my idea of reasonable.

The rate of the day at the Chateau Lake Louise is $500 C for a standard room. That is a little more than $400 US. If your pockets are that deep, then to heck with it, get a suite at $1,049 C a day.

It is 500 miles from Vancouver to Lake Louise and it drives longer than that.
If you can make it in 10 hours, you have pushed it. The quickest way is to drive the Coquihalla Freeway (toll road) to Kamloops and slug it out from there over Rodgers Pass, through Golden and over Kicking Horse Pass (good road over the pass)

I never tried to drive the whole way in one day. We called a halt one day in Hope, BC. going to Vancouver. That was enough.

To: rkkwan and Bob Brown Thank you so much for the information. BTW, is there a train from the Vancouver area to the Lake Louise area?
Have a good summer.
B

Only passenger train between Vancouver and Calgary (and therefore Lake Louise/Banff) is the Rocky Mountaineer, a luxury train.

Regular VIA Rail passenger service goes through the northern Jasper/Edmonton route.