spellinbee

We're coming from Hong Kong and know nothing about calgary, banff, LL and Jasper. Can anyone help us in pointing us to the right direction in regards to hotel/places to see?<BR>Budget is limited and we are not really into hiking.<BR><BR>We hv 2 weeks for the whole trip, and we planned to arrive in Vancouver, drive to calgary (dont know which route is the best though), then fly from cal to toronto to visit my friends. Any advise will be appreciated!!!<BR>

x

"know nothing about calgary, banff.ll and jasper"<BR>pick up a book and do some research on your own. then come back with more specific questions. i can't imagine saying i'm going to "this area that i know nothing about". don't be so lazy.

Susan

X is partially right, in that it would be a good idea to pick up a guide book for Canada and do some reading. (Too bad X was so rude though!) <BR><BR>I assume that you are planning to rent a car in Vancouver and then drop it off in Calgary. I tried to do something similar last year and I was surprised at how high the drop off fee was. <BR><BR>Scenery can be amazing on the trip between Vancouver and Calgary. I've driven it a few times although not the whole way for several years. I think it takes about 14 hours or so to drive, if you're driving straight through. You'll want to stop along the way, I would think. If you allow yourself 2 or 3 days in Vancouver, then a couple or 3 days in Calgary and Banff, you've already used up almost a whole week. How much time were you wanting in Toronto?

Susan

Hit the post button too soon. You might want to consider flying from Vancouver to Calgary and then renting a car in Calgary to do your trips to Banff, etc. That way you avoid the drop off, although you don't see all the scenery in between. You could fly from Vancouver to Toronto, with a stopoff in Calgary.

spellinbee

Hi Susan,<BR><BR>Thansk for the advise. In fact, i have done quite a lot of research..perhaps too much!! and now i am Confused!<BR><BR>X was right, i should post more specific questions. What i really want to know are choices of hotels in LL and Banff, I dont want to spend a fortune but i would be willing to spend 1 nite in an extravaganza hotel (for my bf's bday celebration!). Would you recommend using an internet booking svc or the hotel direct??<BR><BR>Thank you for your reminder on the drop off fees for OW car rental. We have looked at many possibilites (to see the most within a week) like mountaineer trains, via rail..etc, but not sure which route i should be taking as they all look similar?? and If i were to fly to vancouver, drive to calgary , how should i be arranging the driving route, should it be Vancouver-LL-Banff-Jasper?<BR><BR>Thank you.

Doug

If you insist on driving there are not many different routes you can take because of the montain passes. Check the map. You would be driving in the mountains and I suggest that you take the train. The train is somewhat well known in tourism circles and uses observation cars ( lots of windows ) in order to see the scenery in the mountains.

margo

Your trip sounds like it would be fun but two weeks is not enough time to achieve all your dreams and fly back home. Canada is a very LARGE, WIDE country and from Vancouver to Banff is over mountain terrain which will slow the driving. Flying within Canada itself is very expensive (even for Canadians, in fact it is cheaper to fly to Europe from Canada). I welcome you to our great country, but somehow I feel you will be so rushed, you will return home exhausted and will have spent most of the time flying.

klam

I agree with Margo, that you might not have enough "vacation" time if you want to drive to all your destinations. <BR><BR>I have family & friends that drive Van to Calgary, and they can do it in about 10 hours, of course with more than one driver. However, even for the experienced ones, they prefer to a one-night stopover somewhere. <BR><BR>I like Susan's idea of flying and driving to Banff, Jasper, LL. You can get "cheap" flights from Van-Cal on WestJet, for about $80; and the flight is only one hour-plus. They also fly "discount" Cal-Tor, check them out at westjet.com<BR><BR>For more info on B/J/LL, do a search under this Talk forum, and a lot of recent info should come up from other posters.<BR><BR>You could do your vacation with 3 days in Vancouver, 4 days around B/J/LL, 3 days in Toronto, and the remaining days as your travel days. <BR><BR>Have a great trip to Canada!

James

You'll find most of what you need in the L.L./Banff (Canmore) &amp; Jasper areas at this website.<BR>http://www.discovercanmore.com/