Hello,
We have 2 young kids (2 and 4) and want to make a trip out to the island when we are in Calgary this summer. I guess it is about a 12 hour drive, is it safe to drive at night?

By that I mean are there high cliffs with no rails and animals wonderinig the road? Or is it a well traveled road at night and animals are now unlikely?

We hope to do it non-stop and with the young ones we would rather do it while they slept. Any advice or recomendations?

Thanks

Unfortunately, it's more like you fear. It's not so much like a interstate but is a winding highway (often 1 lane in each direction) through mountainous terrain. Animals on the road would be possible at night. I guess you could do it in 12 hours if you didn't stop for anything, but would figure closer to 14 non-stop from Calgary to Vancouver. If you get stuck behind a truck, you may be there for awhile.

We prefer to make it a 2-day trip (Kamloops is about midway), so we can better enjoy the drive, have time to eat and stretch our legs and not kill ourselves by spending that long in the car.

In the dark especially it can be a rather stressful and very tiring road, IMO.

Agreed with sludick.

This is NOT a fun drive in the dark. You pass through 4-5 mountain ranges between Calgary and Vancouver. To drive this in the dark would be incredibly stressful.

I'd look in a direct flight from Calgary to wherever you intend to go to on Vancouver Island. I believe there are direct flights to both Victoria and Comox via WestJet.

I would make going to Vancouver Island from Calgary a two day trip, even driving during daylight hours.

Calgary to Vancouver straight through (with only stops to re-fuel) is 11-12 hours going the speed limit. Depending on how much slower you go because you're driving at night, you would need to add some time.

Getting to the Island will add quite few hours to the drive time as you need to drive through the lower mainland to the ferry terminal (Horseshoe Bay or Tsawwassen), likely wait for the ferry and make the actual crossing (inluding embarkation and disembarkation time). Finally, you'll need to get to your ultimate destination from the terminal.

ShelliDawn pointed out what I did not, that the trip to Vancouver to Vancouver Island is a completely separate journey from the trip from Calgary. Hopefully you are already aware of that, but it is well worth pointing out. Where do you plan to overnight before crossing to Vancouver Island?

It does tend to be a quandary, how to travel between the Canadian Rockies and the West Coast on vacation. If you could share some timeframes and other vacation plans, perhaps we could add some helpful recommendations?

Thanks!

Sorry, I did not mention that we did plan to stay in Vancouver for the night before taking the ferry.

The time lines we have are:
We can leave Calgary after about 10:00PM Aug 2 (we were thinking we would leave at about midnight).
We have not yet booked a hotel for the night of the 3rd, we are looking in downtown Vancouver just have not decided yet.
The Ferry (Horseshoe Bay) is booked for Aug 4th at noonish and Aug 11th at 3:00ish to go back to Calgary. Not sure if we had to reserve but we did.
We have a reservation for a beach house in Parksvill from the 4th - 11th.


Thanks again

Aside from the distance from Calgary to Vancouver, there will be loads of deer on the roads as well as construction in spots. It is also the lead up to the August long weekend. As suggested, stay over night in Kamloops.

There's not much I can add to what has already been said except to say that I also do not recommend your current plan of driving nonstop overnight. It's possible theoretically but in reality it is neither safe nor practical especially when you have 2 kids in your car with you. The roads are trecherous at this time of year and yes it is cliffs and snow and icy patches and random deer running out of the woods and across the road .... all of this in the darkness of night too.

As suggested, break it up into 2 days and stay overnight somewhere along the way.

If you absolutely must do it in a single drive, best to leave predawn by an hour or so, so that you get sunrise by Lake Louise at the latest. That way, you can navigate the trickiest part in the daylight. Once you get to Hope, things flatten out considerably. On one of our trips from Banff to Vancouver, it was raining, and the section from Glacier Nat'l Park (past Golden) to Kamloops was hair-raising. Gotta hand it to those truckers.

We had intended to do the drive in one shot then too, but were done in by Kamloops thanks to the poor visibility and rain.

I do this drive all the time. It is better to drive this road at night in my opinion. Too much traffic, construction, and cops during the day.

Driving here is no different from driving any other road at night. The only exception is around Golden and through the tunnels leading up to Rogers Pass.

If you take it easy through those sections you will be fine.

This drive is 10 hours stopping only for fuel and driving 10k over the speed limit.

Just for your information, the day is about 15 hours long at the beginning of August (in Calgary/Banff through to Golden), and twilight adds another hour and a half of "daylight", so most of your 12 hour drive won't actually be in the dark, especially if you leave at midnight (twilight at ~5:20 am and sunrise at ~6 am).

Be especially aware that during those twilight hours is when you're most likely to see wildlife (deer or elk on the road) - so be alert. We know this first-hand (hit a deer that we didn't see until we were right on it - they tend to blend into the background).

Stay safe and break it up into 1.5 days - that gives time for stops and stretch breaks.