We have fifteen days. Are flying into Bozeman (family of four, two boys, good travelers). How does this sound?

Day 1 -- drive from Bozeman down through Yellowstone to Colter Village in the Grand Tetons, spend night in Colter Village (tent cabins)

Day 2 -- Grand Tetons, Colter Village

Day 3, 4, 5, 6 -- Yellowstone (camp or cabin)

Day 7 -- head to Canada (what route is most direct to get to Banff?), stop somewhere on the way for the night (hotel or hostel -- where?).

Days 8, 9, 10 -- Banff area

Days 11, 12, 13 -- Waterton, Glacier

Day 14 -- spend night somewhere closer to Bozeman, St. Ignatius area? Butte? Suggestions?

Day 15 -- Fly out at night

Okay, please tell me what you think!

That is a long drive from Yellowstone to Banff. It will take you all of a very long day.

Here is how I would do it:
Depending on where you are spending your last night in Yellowstone, drive north to I 90 either near Bozeman or Livingston.
Go west on I 90 to state route 69 to "cut the corner" to I 15. Follow I 15 all the way to the Canadian border.
(take your passports if you have them!!)
Follow Alberta route 4 to Lethbridge.

From Lethbridge take route 3 to Ft. McCleod. From Ft. McCleod take route 2 north to Calgary.

(Actually I take rt 23 north and dodge around Ft. Mcleod. And cut over to Rt 2 when I junction with route 520.)
South of Calgary, turn west on Anderson Road to 14th street. Turn right (north) on 14th and follow it to the intersection with the Glenmore Trail.

Follow Glenmore to the Sarcee Trail.
Turn north and follow Sarcee to the trans Canada Highway. Head west to Banff.

If you miss Anderson Road, stay on 2 and turn left on Glenmore and follow the above.

Route 2 gets full of traffic lights!

I would not want to drive it in one day.
Think in terms of spending the night in Lethbridge. I suggest you phone ahead for reservations. Lethbridge may seem like it is out in the middle of nowhere, but in the summer it is the center for soccer meets and rodeos that fill up the town.

Calgary in my opinion is not a good motel town. I stay at the Greenwood for flying in and out purposes, but that excellent hotel is on the northeast side and you want to go west!!

I would spend the night coming back in Helena. I dislike the motel situation in Butte.

I think you may be allowing too much for Waterton and not enough for Banff.

Banff, actually, is a place I avoid.
But there is plenty to do around that area. Surely you should allow time for Lake Louise and a drive up the Icefields Parkway. I have done both, and will do Waterton for the umpteenth time this summer, but I would not swap it for the Icefields Parkway.

The Icefields Parkway is the most scenic paved drive in North America.

Thank you, Brookwood, for your very detailed answer. I was thinking that it might make sense to spend an extra night in Banff, and one less in Glacier. Why do you avoid Banff? Do you mean the town, or the park? And one more question -- since we're seeing Banff and Glacier, should we still decide to see Waterton? Is it different enough from the other two to warrant a visit? (When I said, Waterton, Glacier, I meant one night in Waterton and three in Glacier -- wasn't specific.)

>>>Why do you avoid Banff? Do you mean the town, or the park?<<<

I am sure Brookwood was referring to Banff townsite and not to Banff National Park.

Moraine Lake, near Lake Louise, is one of the most attractive lakes in the Canadian Rockies, and it's in Banff National Park.

I suspect Brookwood's objection to Banff townsite is similar to mine, namely, that it's what I think of as a "touristy" town.

That said, it's in an attractive setting, and I think it's worth a brief look.

People who enjoy a town that has a "buzz" (pubs, etc.) seem to like Banff townsite.

Here is a map of Calgary that will help you to follow Brookwood's directions for bypassing Calgary's major traffic:

http://www.visitor.calgary.ab.ca/tra...p_calgary.html

Actually, you could be even more radical about bypassing Calgary if you wanted to avoid a city.

Here's a map that shows the "Cowboy Trail" (the north-south, paved, secondary Hwy #22). (Click on the map at least a couple of times to get it to enlarge.)

http://www.thecowboytrail.com/map.jpg

You could, for example, drive west from Lethbridge to Fort Macleod on Hwy #3, as Brookwood has suggested. Then you could keep going west on Hwy #3 to Pincher Creek, turn north onto Hwy #22. At Longview turn west onto Route #541. This turns north and becomes Hwy #40. It takes you over the Highwood Pass and through Kananaskis Country. Where Hwy #40 meets Hwy #1 at Seebe, turn west towards Canmore and Banff.

In terms of mileage, that route is less efficient than Brookwood's, but it is scenic, and it is not very heavily travelled.

Hope that helps.

I should have been more precise.
I avoid the town of Banff.
To me it is very commercial. It is full of stores that don't interest me. I can go shopping at home!

I was in Banff last summer because it is one place west of Canmore that has real banks. Lake Louise Village does not!

Banff NP as a whole has many, many beautiful areas. Afterall, both Moraine Lake and Lake Louise are in Banff Park.
So is Castle Mountain and a few dozen other beautiful peaks.
South of Banff town, along the Spray Lakes Road out of Canmore, there is even more awesome scenery.

So my specific avoidance is of the town. Although I will admit that it does have some needed services for those of us who cannot totally leave the modern world alone for a few days.

I don't know for sure how to advise you on Banff - Waterton - Glacier.

Waterton geologically has the same Rodinian (ancient) rocks as Glacier. They are really part of the same massive thrust fault that pushed up the mountains. What makes the peaks of both parks so unusual is that the rock beds got slid over younger beds. The old ones have no fossils with bones. That is how ancient they are -- pre Cambrian by several hundred thousand years.

Waterton Lake is beautiful. But some of the scenery around Banff, particularly Lake Louise and Moraine Lake and some of the mountains are special.

I would hate to chose between them, but if you force me, I will say: Banff, particularly if you enter at Peter Lougheed and drive north along the well maintained (dirt) Spray Lakes Road.

We visited Waterton for the first time in 1986. Banff came the following year.
Since then I have been back to both more than once. I would not willingly sacrifice either, knowing what I know now.

But, with present knowledge, I would opt for Lake Louise, Moraine Lake, and some of the other spectacular views over Waterton. At least today I would.
Tomorrow might being a different answer.

Just so you will know a little more.
I have reservations now to do both Banff and Waterton this August! So Vacillation is my middle name.

My son has a different slant on it.
Do one well. Go back and do another.
Go back and do a third. And so on.
He finally got back to Banff and the Icefields Parkway last summer for the first time in a while. All 4 of them were thrilled.

So let me conclude this by saying that regardless you will be like my 14 year old grandson last summer.

We hiked to Twin Falls Chalet, then the next day, he went over the Whaleback Trail and returned to the chalet with my son and his mom. (I did not make it all the way.) Jordan fell in love 3 times rather quickly. First, the scenery.
Second, staying at the lodge was a 14 year old blond from Edmonton. Third Fran served chocolate cake for dessert, a nice teenager sized piece.

By the way just when are you making this trip. Yellowstone's cabins are filling quickly. I doubt if you will find 4 consecutive nights at the same place anywhere in the park. (Perhaps if you take a room without a bath you can. But I doubt if Canyon or Old Faithful can fit you in. Tarry no longer.)

Thanks for all the great information! We'll be there in August, and are tarrying no longer! I've booked a room in Claresholm, which is not too far from Lethbridge. Now I'm wondering this --- if we want to spend four nights in Banff/Jasper, where would be the best place to do it? We are thinking of camping, but are worried about how cold it might get. So, I saw these guest homes (where you actually stay in people's homes, kind of like bed and breakfasts in Scotland, which we enjoyed -- any experience with this?) in Jasper on the internet, which would fit within our tiny budget. Also some hostels all along the way between Banff and Jasper, with the one at Beauty Creek (is that right? Beauty something) being the most economical, or so it seems. Should we head for Jasper that first day, and then toot around from there? Or should we stay two nights in Banff and two in Jasper? And will it make too long a day to drive from Jasper to Glacier on that last day if we leave early? Thank you, thank you, thank you! Oh, or if we do decide to camp, we'd want to settle in to one place. Where should that be?