Some really excellent advice here. SYLady, I noticed that you plan to avoid long torturous drives and you have some familiarity with driving in the US. One thing I'll put out there is not to expect US-style freeways. Expect roads to be slower, more winding, etc., and factor in a generous allowance of extra time in your estimates.

And, since the scenery is absolutely spectacular throughout much of where you will be, this will give you the time you will want to pull over and stare. Take lots of pictures.

Thank you all so much. From all this most helpful information we will be planning with great care our driving trip around BC/Alberta. Kelowna and Okanagan is also of interest to us as suggested by Borealis and yes we will definitely be looking at B&B's. Your time and effort has been overwhelmingly appreciated, especially the detail as by Northwestmale. Love all your input and we are 2 very excited Aussies. Cheers to all.

I live in Edmonton and have been to WEM literally hundreds of times. Every visitor that I've ever taken there is always amazed by it and I don't think you'll be disappointed. And last time I was there I didn't see any 'empty storefronts'.

Glad you piped-up loru100...

The spectacle of the W.E. Mall IS its appeal. If you need a certain garment in a certain size, of course there are lots of places all over (the world) you can go to find just that.

And the nearer one lives to the W.E.M., the less-in-awe of it they tend to be, since it's always THERE. Those coming from far away, who can put themselves anywhere close, are sure to enhance their travels and memories with a trip to the WEM.

Additionally, when you travel with others of various ages, the W.E.M. always has SOMEthing of considerable interest to ALL age groups. (so the one person who might be disenchanted about recent goings-on along your path, can have every reason to find SOMEthing interesting or amusing at the mall).

TO THE OP: IF by chance you need more detail about Priceline.com for securing good rates on Vancouver hotel rooms, speak up. (in brief, these rooms might be listed for, eh, I dunno, $180 to $250 a night, and ideally you can land them for a base rate of $80 to $100 a night, PLUS taxes and fees that might bring a $100-per-night base rate to $340 or $360 FOR A THREE-NIGHT STAY.)

(the catches are, that you do NOT get to know WHICH "downtown" area hotel you will be at, until you're committed, AND that it is non-refundable <unless you buy the 'travel insurance' for an extra $5 per night - which isn't BAD if you're coming all the way from OZ> and charged IMMEDIATELY to your credit card )) (Vancouver is quite suitable for this, as the downtown area is somewhat compact, mostly FLAT, and all worth seeing, so it doesn't matter too much just WHERE you're staying when you KNOW in advance it will be at least a 3-star or 4-star hotel)

(as mentioned earlier, another catch is that you are likely to land a hotel which has mandatory valet parking at perhaps $40 PER NIGHT - which makes for a good idea to arrange your car rental return to coincide with your arrival in town)

(clarity: ...drive with your luggage TO the hotel, drop off your luggage, and then go and return your rental vehicle withOUT keeping it overnight in Vancouver) (by then you'd already KNOW whether you were facing a giant parking charge IF wanting to keep the vehicle overnight)

Our plan is flight from Honolulu to Vancouver, train to our hotel and then 5 nights and 6 days touring around Vancouver city including a day trip to Vancouver Island. On the 6th day in the afternoon board our boat for Inside Passage cruise for 7 nights. On arrival back in Vancouver pick up our hire car early morning and head east or wherever our fancy takes us.

Looking at all the various posts, here is my personal suggestion:

After the cruise, you should be well rested and ready for the road trip. Head east towards The Coquihalla Highway (Highway 5), and stops at Kamloops either for a late lunch or depending how slow you are going, for dinner and possibly an overnight stay. It also depends what time you leave Vancovuer. My suggestion, leave Vancouver after lunch so you will have the sun on your back while driving. (Note: Coquihalla is a toll road, high mounatin road, could get windy at times, and may see snow, even in mid-May)

Nexy stop would be Jasper. I would suggestion that you stay there for 2 days and explore the surrounding area. Leave Jasper after supper and head out to Edmonton.

Stay in Edmonton for 2 days, West Edmonton Mall and Fort Edmotnon Park would be my top 2 stops. The legislative building and grounds, Provincial museum, river valley, down town art district, Telus World of Science are all secondary stops if you have time. If teh Riverboat is running, have lunch there.

Day 6, leave Edmonton after supper and heads south towards Red Deer. (2 hours max) Stay over night at Red Deer and have an early start the next day, you will head west towards David Thompson highway (highway 11) and go back towards the Rockies (Sasketchewan Crossing). Stay overnight at Sasketchewan Crossing (or all the way to Lake Lousie if you wish). Suggested stop around the crossing: Columbia Icefield. (But then after seeing the Alaska Glaciers, Mendahall etc, you can take a pass)

Head south towards Lake Louise from Sasketchewan Crossing. With all the sights around Lake Louise, I recommend 2 days to explore the surrounding area.

Head south towards Banff and stay 2 days there. Option is to stay in Canmore and drive back to Banff area. Other option is spend a day at Kananaskis (extra day)

Depart from Banff and heads towards Golden/Revelstoke, then Salmon Arm and then Kelowna, overnight either at Salmon Arm or Kelowna. Tour the Okanagan Lakes area (wine country and some of the best wine in Canada) for a day or 2, but don't go furtehr south than Penticton (over night at Penticton would be good).

From Penticiton, you can head back to Vancouver via highway 3 to Hope, then highway 1 and into Vancouver. You can drive straight through (not recommended) or you can stay anywhere in between.

A better alternative would be heading back north to Vernon, then Kamloops, then back to Vancouver (via highway 1 if you have time and via highway 5 if you are late) Highway 1 from Kamloops to Vancouver is more scenic and much slower and will take more time (almost double).

If you overnight at Vernon instead of Penticton the night before, you can be in Vancovuer same day if you have an early start. I persoanlly prefer the Vernon-Kamloops-Vancouver over the Penticton-hwy3-Hope-Vancouver route.

This trip should maximize what you will see in 2 weeks Vancouver round trip through the Rockies. The drive through the David Thompson (Highway 11) is the most under-used gateway to the Canadian Rockies, especially for tourists, as most will go into the Nation Park via Banff (from Calgary) or Jasper (from Edmonton)

To summarize, the whole trip is only 14 days so you have a day or 2 extra to play around if there are places that you wanted to stay a bit longer, or there are delays for whatever reason.

day 1 Vancouver - Kamloops (or just a bit beyond)
day 2 Kamloops - Jasper
day 3 Jasper area
day 4 Jasper - Edmonton
day 5 Edmonton area
day 6 Edmonton - Red Deer
day 7 Red Deer - Sasketchewan Crossing (Canadian Rockies)
day 8 Sasketchewan Crossing - Lake Louise
day 8 Lake Louise area
day 9 Lake Louise - Banff
day 10 Banff area
day 11 Banff - Godlen/Revelstoke/Salmon Arm
day 12 Salmon Arm - Penticton
day 13 Penticton - Vernon
day 14 Vernon - Vancouver

You will still have to do some homework and find out what places you want to see in each area, and the driving distance between places.

Canada uses a metric system and the speed limit is in Kilometeres. 100 Km is 62 miles, approxiamtely 1 hour of driving disatnce.

BC speed limits varies from 90-100 Km per hr. Alberat Speed limit varies from 100-110 Km per hr. The mountain Park speed limitrs varies, can be as low as 50 and as high 90.

For time calcualtion, use 80-90 Km per hr as a guide line for BC, 90-100 for ALberta. For the Mounatin Parks, you will be stopping all over and take side trips, use 50 Km per hr would be good.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

One more time, most have said calgary is a must stop as it is along the way. If you are driving from Edmonton, I beg to differ. The post I made above suggested David Thompson Highway, a seldom used 2 lanes divided highway towards the Rockies from Red Deer.

The other option is to by pass Calgary and travel through Cochrane (highway 1A) which is much more scenic. The Highway 1A was the original Highway 1 and sometimes called the old coach road (a reference to the old stage coach, perhaps?)

Just a few notes. . .

-last time we drove the Coquihalla, it was no longer a toll highway (that was 1.5 years ago).

- I don't know anyone who drives 100 to 110 km per hour on Alberta highways :) you'll have vehicles whizzing by you going at least 10 to 20 km per hour faster !!!!

I still don't see the attraction of Edmonton which is an oil town on the prarie far from the beautiful Rocky Mountains.
I have spent a few nights at the Jasper HI Hostel-some with my wife. http://www.hihostels.ca/westerncanad...-Jasper.hostel
There are other hostels further south near Banff that I have not stayed at.
While staying in the Jasper area, be sure to see the Maligne Valley and Patricia Lake.

Edmonton is not on the prairie - it's actually in the aspen parkland region - a transition zone between the boreal forest and the prairie. It's beautifully set on the North Saskatchewan River valley, and has the longest urban parkland in North America (along the river valley, which is deep and has woods along the banks). It's not unusual to see deer in Edmonton; we've seen coyotes sauntering down our street, and on one occasion a young cougar was found relaxing in a tree in a residential area (actually next door to where my son lives!!)
Edmonton is the provincial capital, has an enormous university campus, a whacky-looking new art gallery next to the arts district downtown, and of course, West Edmonton Mall.

By the way, "refinery row" where all the petrochemical industry goes on is actually not in Edmonton, it's to the east of the city in Strathcona County. And the oil industry headquarters are 300 km to the south in our Alberta rival city - Calgary.

Borealis, sicne I have not driven the Coquihalla for a few years, I didn't realize the toll booths are gone. I guess they were removed in 2008.

You are correct that people will zoom pass you if are doing 100 or 110 (especially on QE2).

My reference to the 90-100 was my suggestion for calculating time needed to travel purposes, and not actual driving speed. You shoudl always adhere to the speed limit and the road condition.

Speed limit in ALberta is 110 (100 on secondary highway), and 90 for the Icefield Parkway, plus the stretches of highway leading to the Jasper/Banff town sites from the Park Gates. The speed limit is anywhere between 70 to 90 and even lower at certain sections.

As you will make frequent stops (wildlife and scenic view points) or slow down for whatever reason. And yes, people will whizz right by you at much higher speed, even on the Icefield Parkeay.

Just a matter of trivia, but the 1A is not known as the "old coach road". There is an Old Banff Coach Road on the western side of Calgary that heads west and meets up with the #1 highway (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberta_Highway_563).

The 1A is also known as the Bow Valley Trail although it is rarely referred to that by locals. We just call it the 1A.

There is the Bow Valley Parkway and then there is the section almost twined to the east of the current Hwy 1, going through Cochrane, Ghost Lake, Morley, Exshaw etc. Taht's the Hwy 1A that I am referencing to.

The Highway 563 that you made reference to maybe under construction now for all those new subdivisions and it was (still is?) a range road (Is it also called the Big Hills Spring Road?), not the old highway 1 from more than 50 years ago before the current highway 1 to Banff is built.

That's the same 1A I am referring to. Crowchild Trail in Calgary becomes the 1A highway outside the city limits heading west to Cochrane. This is also known as the Bow Valley Trail and merges onto the #1 (Trans Canada Highway just east of Canmore). Again, most Albertans refer to the 1A as "the 1A" and not "the Bow Valley Trail".

The Bow Valley Parkway (not Trail) begins west of Banff and heads towards Lake Louise where it merges with the #1.

Highway 563/Old Banff Coach Road is an old road and the subdivisions have been developing along side. The community of Coach Hill was named after the road if I recall correctly. This road is mainly south of the #1 and has never been referred to as Big Hills Spring Road.

Big Hill Springs Road is another name for highway 567 which is north of Calgary and Cochrane. Big Hills Spring Trail is a short road off Big Hill Springs Road which goes into the Big Hill Springs Provincial Park.

All of this is easily viewable on a map: http://binged.it/GHEhpW

We are only a week away from our trip to Canada via Hawaii, so excited and looking forward to taking in all the advice everyone has given us on this site. Will let you know how it all goes and want to thank everyone again for all the help, it is so gratefully appreciated.

SYLady, I hope your vacation is wonderful!

I had forgotten your overall itinerary and the time of year - what a contrast in temperatures!! Perhaps in your trip report you will comment on how you packed to accommodate that difference? It's a challenge and you could offer some interesting insight.

Bon Voyage,

Sandy

I stayed at the university of Alberta dorms with bed and breakfast instead of a hotel in Edmonton. I drove (after using the public buses for my tours around town) to Banff, did not stop in Calgary. Did spend big money at lake Louise hotel... Worth it! Did not spend lots of money on Jasper but stayed longer at cheaper place. Again, worth it. Ice field is spectacular full stop. Enjoy!

Two more Aussies here, travelling in August. Edmonton is our reason for going to Canada, (international sporting competition supporters) so for us that's a definite. We arrive in Vancouver, head up by train to Jasper, get across to Edmonton by some mode of transport or other then have about 5 days afterwards to head back to Vancouver. A four hour drive through farming land is nothing for us, so that might well be on the cards to get to Edmonton in the first place. We are up to doing public transport too in any of the areas. We're not planning on having a car in Edmonton, as our accommodation is within a 15 minute walk or commensurate bus trip of the field. We're thinking of maybe overnighting in Victoria just before we head home and Lake Louise is on my list of things I'd like to do.

This has been a great thread and I'll be taking careful note of it when we're planning. Any more ideas for us though?