I am hoping that a more sophisticated traveler than I could advise us about the following: My husband and I would like to travel between Seattle {Olympic National Pk.,Vancouver Island, Victoria} and the Canadian Rockies. Will it break the bank to fly into/rent a car in Seattle, and then fly home/return the car in either Calgary or Spokane? This plan would make for a more relaxing trip with less driving. Or does it make more sense to do a loop, enjoying more scenery? Thanks for any advise you can offer.

How much time do you have, and what time of year?

There are several great loop possibilities. If you do go one way, though, dropping the car in Spokane is probably a cheaper alternative than internationally.

Not knowing where you are starting and ending makes it hard to advise, but you can try pricing an open jaw on expedia and travelocity. Also, if there are budget airlines, like Southwest or Frontier, they usually have cheaper one way fares. Cannot advise on car rental between US and Canada. I agree it sounds more relaxing to do the open jaw and drive one way.

Driving from Seattle to Calgary is a looooong drive. Look in to horizon flights, they are cheap. I make this flight often. By the way, the ONP is the greatest place on earth.

Thanks so much for your tips. We will be going in late June or July, flying into either Seattle or Vancouver. It is most convenient for us to fly out of Boston, so I'm assuming that a US flight to Seattle will be cheaper. We followed several helpful Fodor threads describing a choice of good drives to the Canadian Rockies, probably ending in Banff, where we hope to do sme hiking in the alpine. From the sound of things, we won't be alone!

We have 2-4 weeks, very flexible!

Driving time from Vancouver to Banff (for example) takes a day, Banff to Seattle via Spokane a day and a half. That being the case, everything else is gravy. With two weeks you will obviously need to manage your time more carefully, but your itinerary can be completed without great difficulty. With four weeks you could either hunker down in two or three places for several days, or add additional destinations, even a part of the Inside Passage (Vancouver Island to Prince Rupert on the BC ferry) if you so choose.

I would certainly suggest a loop, because the variety of scenery to be had between the Pacific coast and the Rockies is so varied that there's little danger of seeing the same things twice.

Thanks again, John. Your advise, both in mine and other threads, has been invaluable to me in planning our trip.I have also learned that the alpine trails in the rockies are usually open, but not always navigable until mid July, so we will have to allow extra time for crowded touring. I do believe that we'll do one of the loops you have suggested, taking into consideration the potential ferry/border delays and allowing extra time for this as well. Thanks to your tips, we know to do this, so we won't be nearly as stressed. Your help is greatly appreciated.

if you are dropping off the car at a different location, it would be better to do between vancouver-calgary (one country) but there will be a drop off fee.
personally, since you have the time, i'd plan on doing the loop arriving and departing from seattle or vancouver.

Thanks, "xxx". Yes, I agree with your advise to travel a loop. We'll see more, and it should be less expensive.

We did that loop last year in 17 days and included Canadian Rockies, Glacier (only 1 day because of snow) and Yellowstone. We drove 4600 miles, but had a wonderful time. Would do again in a heartbeat!

April, I'm glad to know that you liked traveling the loop. We're saving Glacier and Yellowstone for a seperate trip in favor of Olympic N.P. and Vancouver Island.This will give us a few days of ocean scenery, which we crave, living in the interier northeast. We'll unfortunately also miss Mt. Rainier and Mt.St. Helen this trip - SO much to see in this area of the country! I'm curious to find out how the Canadian Rockies compares to Glacier and the rest of the American Rockies. We haven't yet visited either.

You can go from Vancouver to Whistler, and I see there is a road through to Kamloops from there. (Travel not advised in winter) It is probably a very scenic drive. Consider that...

Stop at Craigellachie (?) the spot where the last spike was driven on the CPR, the first trans-Canada railroad. Not much to see, but a piece of history.

Yes, Whistler sounds like it'll be on our route, and we'll look into seeing the historic railroad -I'm not even going to try to spell it! Thanks, Maurice!