My husband and I will be flying into Seattle on Sept. 17th and will need to be in Banff on Sept. 25-28th and will then fly out of Calgary. I think I would like a train adventure but my husband doesn't mind driving. Any suggestions of must see or do's will be appreciated. Who to rent a car from, where to go. eat, coupons and/or discounts. We are outdoors people but will be somewhat limited with hiking due to knee trouble. Adventures,yea. Thanks!

We've taken the train between Banff and Vancouver so I can't help with drive info, but there have been several fairly recent threads about driving that route. A quick search on here should turn up lots of info.

You don't say where you're planning to rent the car. If it's from Seattle, many companies won't let you cross the border and won't let you rent in US and return in Canada, so just read the fine print and make sure you know the restrictions. If you're renting in Vancouver and dropping off in Calgary also check drop off fees - some can be quite high.

betsyh

If you can make other arrangements to get to Vancouver (bus, train or fly) you could do a car rental from Vancouver to Calgary or Vancouver to Banff. The drive from Van to Calgary takes about 10 hours of driving by the shortest route. You might consider breaking it up into two or three days and visiting the Okanagan Valley (Penticton, Kelowna for example). The area is very nice and by September most of the summer heat will have gone.

It takes about 3 hours to drive from Seattle to Vancouver.

I agree with dfr that crossing the border in a rental is not a good idea.

tC

Thanks for the info. We plan to take the ferry to either Victoria or Vancouver and rent a car there. My husband had nixed the idea of the train so we will be driving. First check on car he did tonight was well over a thousand dollars with Hertz! He did not use any codes, coupons promos. I will try to narrow things down tomorrow. It is getting close and I am getting excited! How about unique fun places to stay in Vancouver, Victoria and Whistler?

betsyh

Whistler tends to be expensive. You may choose to use Priceline or similar to choose accommodation in that spot. It is an easy day trip driving from Vancouver so you may not need to stay over. I was in Whistler about 2 weeks ago and it is about a 90 minute drive. You might be interested in doing the "peak to peak" gondola ride. It is a neat experience. Cost is about $40.

Renting a car from Van to Calgary is extraordinarily expensive. If you can access any discounts through credit cards or clubs the cost becomes more reasonable.

Remember to include the cost of taking the ferry between the island and the mainland. It is about $75 for a car and two passengers.

I have never taken the ferry from Seattle to Canada, so have no suggestions on that leg of your trip.

tC

tC

again check with different rental companies and different vehicles because sometimes they have a lot of people driving the opposite way that you are coming and have a lot of vehicles that they have to pay to ship back to Calgary. I remember a few years ago when we wanted a car from Victoria to Vancouver they didn't charge us for a one way ride becuase they had 2 many vans in Victoria near the end of the season. The Johnston Canyon hike outside of Banff is a easy hike with steel bridges mounted to the side of the canyon walls for the first 1.5 miles. The trip to the Karst in Kananaskis is also easy with only a little uphill at the end to get to the place where the river exits the face of the mountain. It is located near Shark Mountain cross country ski area.

Use expedia.ca or priceline as the rpice of car rentals are all over the place. My son found a website on line that he gets discount codes for hotels and cars but I don't know what it is.