hello there (excuse my english writing i'm not that good not my primary language)

So, I had a chance of a lifetime and I obtained tickets to travel by train on the Canadian (Toronto-Vancouver). My dad's is almost 60 and not too healthy and this is going to be probably his last chance to travel (We never had the chance to visit Western Canada). I want to make this ride quite unique and just the two of us will spend those moments together.
this is some kind of last minute thing and i would really appreciate your suggestions. We are going to leave Montreal next week-end by train and then we have the opportunity to arrange a one stop over along the way. I was thinking about visiting the town of Jasper and maybe spend 2-3 days out there. Then we'll take the train to our final destination Vancouver and stay another 3-4 days.
Jasper seems to be a wonderful place to visit but my father can't do demanding efforts such as hiking etc... Is this worth the stop? If everybody knows if there's some kind of bus tour rides to major sightseeing?
My other idea is when We ll reach Vancouver is to visit the city and museums and find a place where we can watch whales in a zodiac. Is 3 days in Vancouver is too long? All of your suggestions will be more than welcomed !

If your father isn't up to hiking I would suggest you spend no
more than 2 days in Jasper and save the other day for BC. I know you are planning to spend your time in Vancouver but for the best museum in Canada and a lovely city to visit where you can get zodiac whale watching tours - go to Victoria. The Royal BC Museum is world class
http://www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/

Here are a couple of websites for whale watching.
http://www.seacoastexpeditions.com/
http://www.princeofwhales.com/victoria_tours_1.html

You can get the bus from downtown Vancouver directly to Victoria Inner harbour which is the centre of tourist attractions etc and the whale watching tours leave from there as well.

Here is the website for the bus http://www.pacificcoach.com/

Do you have a set return date to your home? I would allow at least 2 days in Vancouver and 2 in Victoria.
Post more questions if you have any and we would be happy to help you plan your trip.

It is wonderful that you and your father will have this time together so we must make sure he loves every minute of it!!!

Thanks traveller69 for your excellent tips and links. That link for the bus to the island is so great! No need to rent a car unless we want to visit some interesting areas not accessible by bus or train. I double checked the options with Via Rail and actually, the train leaves from Jasper every 2 days so Ill take your advise on this and 'll spend just 2 days in the city. Otherwise, we're gonna be there for 4 days.I also found a tour bus from Brewster and we'll probably visit the park and falls. We'll take the 5 hours tour ..

We don't really have a set return date but the 3-4 days stay in Vancouver-Victoria seems to be an excellent option. I've read some posts about a town on the island called Tofino... I know my dad would love to go to a one day fishing trip on the ocean. Is Victoria offers more options than that other town in terms of fishing trip, whale watch etc?

I have some other questions in mind now. If you have any suggestions for hotel in Jasper Vancouver Victoria or somewhere else approx $100 night please let me know.

Dom I am happy to help you so I will get back to you with more suggestions. Tofino is a lovely place on the west side of the island but it takes several hours to get there and I think you need to have more time. Victoria has the best tours for whale watching and I will talk to some friends regarding a fishing trip to get their recommendations. I do think that Tofino is not an option at this time - I think traveling so much will be tiring for your Dad. Have you ever used Priceline for finding hotels? You can get some very good deals by bidding and I can guide you on how to do it as far as the areas of the city go etc. Hotels in Vancouver and Victoria are quite expensive so perhaps using Priceline would be a good idea. I will post again with some ideas for you but please ask any other questions you may have. I just think that if your father is not in the best of health the train can be a bit tiring so limiting the visit to Vancouver and Victoria with the stop in Jasper is all you should do.

Hi traveller69. After reading your post, i decided to call my Dad just to make sure that i'm not fillin up our time too much, so i asked him which tour he would like to get in Jasper, museum and all that and he simply replied that he simply wants to have the chance to see the Pacific Ocean and spend a day fishing the salmon. I take your advise and the idea to visit Torino will be probably too much for him, so I was rethinking about our itinerary. Should i skip the stop in Jasper and that 5 hours bus tour in the park and simply continue on to Vancouver (Victoria) so that way we can have the chance to take this trip more relax? The good thing with the train is that we'll have our own double bedroom onboard with meals and everything, so my dad will have the chance to take some rest often along the way adn get to the other dome cars and dinng car. When arriving in vancouver, maybe we can take the ferry to the Vancouver island and have our hotel booked in Victoria for the next 3-4 days we'll spend in BC (thank you for your link for Priceline, i checked with expedia but Priceline found me more hotels to choose from and better fares (I've found a deal of $98 per night Comfort inn in victoria for next week i havent booked it yet.) The next day, maybe we can spend half the day fishing in a fishing boat docked in Victoria. If everything goes well, another day, we can stop in the museum or even rent a car for a day to visit some wineries on the island (thanks for your link to Pacific Coach lines i've found that info on their site and it been said that Bc wines are pretty good too) and we both loves wine. Maybe our third day we can book one Whales watching ride before we leave. Do you think this would be a better itinerary than my original plans?

Dom - Please don't book a hotel yet. The Comfort Inn is not located right downtown and there are other good hotels that you can bid on rather than pay the price that is listed on Priceline. Why don't you email me at [email protected] and I will help you find a hotel with priceline that is in a better area and suggest what to bid for it. Also I will do more research on the fishing - June isn't the best month for big salmon but there are other types of salmon and I think your dad would just like to be out on the salt water and enjoy that. Please email me the exact dates you thinking of and yes, I think under the circumstances you should skip the stop in Jasper because you dad has expressed the wish to be on the ocean. I will make some other suggestions also - so please send an email. I will look forward to hearing from you.

i'll have my set dates confirmed by tomorrow night .. I'll send you an email for your hotels recommendations... Thanks again for all your help