driving tour through Canada..one week.. where to go
 

Hi ..starting out on this search.. Would have a week.. Have been to Montreal.. looking more for a scenic stay and wonderful hotels, resorts,etc on the way.. enjoying the drive.. things to see each day...

Canada is fairly big.

Does your one week include getting to and from the area you wish to visit?

Do you plan to do that by boat, plane, train, or car.

Where are you starting from?

BAK

We will fly from San Diego.. Not counting the week with that...so probably start on west side? could do a train ride..boat etc? (I think thats east coast though)that was interesting...we are open to all suggestions! I was actually born in Montreal and visited for the first time last year..thinking of summer...

One could easily spend a week in Nova Scotia. The Cabot Trail is one of the world's great scenic drives. The Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland could also occupy a week quite nicely.

The Canadian Rockies are stunningly beautiful. You could easily spend a week in that area. Lake Louise, Banff, Jasper, etc.

Although you are starting from the Pacific Ocean, the Canadian Pacific coast is very, very different from down where you are.

I see three logical scenarios.

Fly to either Seattle or Vancouver, and drive in a sort of circle, up to Vancouver, east into the mountains ner the US border, up a bit and back to Vancouver, over to Vancouver Island, and eith back to Vancouver or, via ferries, to the Olympic Peninsula of Washington, and back to Seattle.

The difference between arriving in Seattle or Vancouver relates to plane fares and car rental fees.

But don't try to rent the car in one country and drop it off in another.

Second scenario: fly to Calgary and visit Calgary, Drumheller, try to find a small rodeo, and up into the Rockies at Banff and Lake Louise.

Third is, as already suggested, the Canadian maritimes. Fly to Halifax and visit the Nova Scotia coast, up into Cape Breton, and perhaps over to pastoral Prince EDward Island.

BAK

If it's the east coast that appeals, the Cabot Trail should be high on the list. There's just so much to do, especially on the northern end, at what's called the Top of the Island. Cycling, hiking, paddling, whale watching, galleries, photo ops , museums....

There are just too many superlatives out there from the likes of National Geographic, Conde Naste, Travel and Leisure, Bicyclng Mag and the likes.

A good start is www.northerncapebreton.com

Good luck

Hmmmmmmmmph,

Yours is one of those puzzles that it would be fun to have. That because you've listed very little which would dictate your path. The proverbial sky is the limit for you, and that is why it isn't easy to offer suggestions.

As San Diego is one of the more ideal settings in the U.S., I too think you should include Vancouver on your path. That would certainly suggest making it a western journey in what is the 2nd largest country in the world.

Now I love Nova Scotia as much as the next person, but it is quite remote to San Diego and if you (born in Montreal) have yet to ever see Vancouver (???) then I think a western tour is in order.

I suggest flying to Vancouver or Seattle (depending on costs when combining air and car fees), spending a day in Vancouver at the start, and then driving off to the east.

Vancouver to Hope, BC, then due north on scenic Hwy #1 before going east through Kamloops, Salmon Arm, Revelstoke, and into the Cdn Rockies near Banff, Alberta.

From that point begin a loop in the direction of your choosing which includes Calgary, Edmonton, Jasper, and the Icefields Parkway.

Night #1 Seattle/Vancouver
Night #2 Eastern BC somewhere
Night #3 Maybe Calgary
Night #4 Maybe Edmonton
Night #5 Maybe Jasper, Alberta
Night #6 Maybe Kamloops area
Night #7 Vancouver

Yikes, see, even a week isn't quite enough time to take this tour appropriately.

Ideally you'd have two nights in Vancouver on the end, and maybe even time for a daytime journey up to Whistler, BC, where part of the 2010 Olympics will be held.

As an alternative, eastern Canada would just add thousands of miles round-trip and probably additional travel hassles as well.

My nightly projections as listed above certainly wouldn't allow for too much leisurely dawdling but maaaaaaaaaaybe you could push a little bit more at key points and squeeze out one extra night for the end of the trip, to be spent in Vancouver.

I hope this gives you ideas.