Obviously I am biased at this point, but if there’s one road trip I would recommend anyone to put on their bucket list, it’s the drive between Vancouver (British Columbia) and Calgary (Alberta). I’ve had the pleasure of driving it twice, once from Calgary to Vancouver and once from Vancouver to Calgary. In this post I’ll share a 10-day itinerary for you to copy or to draw inspiration from for your own trip.
If you are planning a vacation to Western Canada, please consider a roadtrip through the Canadian Rockies! Let me help you by outlining an example itinerary with some of my personal favourites and recommendations.
Where to start?
If you’re planning to fly to Canada, you might be wondering which city to start from. A couple of considerations:
- Coming here in the summer (end of June to end of August)? Then I would recommend to start in Calgary and make your way to Vancouver. Vancouver gives you mountains as well as beaches and the ocean, which makes summer in this area a dream. You’ll have more options for activities here. Calgary is… Eh, I don’t like Calgary as a city that much 🙂
- For the shoulder seasons, it might be nicer to start in Vancouver and end in Calgary instead. There’s more rain in Vancouver, which may impact your experience.
- Something to keep in mind for budgeting is that renting a car in one city and returning it in the other is pretty expensive. If you have the time, doing it as a loop (start and end in the same city) might turn out to be cheaper. Do your research, and/or consider camping to lower costs.
- If you’re a camper kind of traveller, that’s definitely a popular choice, but it might not be cheaper than doing Airbnbs, hotels, and/or car camping. Again, do your research, and see what suits you best!
My most recent trip was early June from Vancouver to Calgary. This itinerary will be based on that route.
Day 1 | Vancouver to Kelowna
I’m going to start this itinerary with the first bit of driving toward the Rockies, but if you are starting (or ending) your vacation in Vancouver and have the time, please do consider taking a couple of days to explore Vancouver and the area! If you only have one day, here’s one way to spend it: One day in Vancouver: False Creek Ferries. For this post though, I’ll focus on the roadtrip-part.
For your first day of driving, you’re going to be headed to Kelowna. You’ve got two options here:
- If you have the time, I recommend taking the southern route: Vancouver – Hope – Princeton – Penticton – Kelowna. Without traffic, this will take you about 4-5 hours. (457 km). What a drive.
- For a quicker route to Kelowna, take the route through Merritt: Vancouver – Hope – Merritt – Kelowna. This will be about 3-4 hours (391 km)
As you can see, both routes go through Hope. It’s a great place to stop for a pit stop.
Blue Moose Coffee House
Make sure to make a stop at the Blue Moose Coffee House in Hope. I've stopped here for every trip to Kelowna. Great spot to order a coffee and a quick bite to eat. They have great sandwiches and pastries. Address: 322 Wallace Street, Hope, BC V0X1L0.
Day 2 | Morning hike and afternoon wine
After a good night’s sleep, get in your comfy walking or hiking gear. On the north side of Kelowna, Knox Mountain gives you a nice opportunity to see the surroundings from above. If you’re up for a workout, this 7K (2,5 hour) hike is a nice introduction to the area: 🥾 Paul’s Tomb, Ogopogo, Pavilion, and Apex Trails. I’d recommend doing this in the morning, then go and refresh yourself. Next, go to Sprout or Curious Café for lunch. Make it a big lunch, because you need to fuel up. Why? Because wine.
The Okanagan region is known for its great wines. I recommend booking a wine tour for the afternoon – I’ve done it three times and can’t wait to go again! It’s great fun being brought from one winery to the other, trying a few different wines at each stop. You visit a set of curated places, each one offering a different kind of wine experience. I’ve seen everything from fancy and decadent vibes (such as FRIND) to rural and quirky (such as Off The Grid where you can pet the goats and bunnies, or The Hatch which is like a shed/barn) and even Peaky Blinders vibey (specifically Crown & Thieves). If you go for a 3 PM tour, you’ll be brought back to your hotel/Airbnb by 6 or 7. From there, see how you’re feeling about food! The first time I came back from a wine tour with VIVID Tours, we went on Uber Eats and had a pizza delivered to our Airbnb.
The second time I did a wine tour, I actually stayed in Vernon, a bit north from Kelowna, and toured with Sip Happens. There are various businesses offering tours in different areas in the Okanagan, such as West Kelowna, East Kelowna, or Lake Country. Depending on where you stay, choose one that does pick up in the town your hotel or Airbnb is located in.
If you’d rather not go on a full tour, you can pick out specific wineries to visit and do tastings. There are also beer/cider tours, if you prefer that more.
Vivid Tours
I've done a wine tour three times, two of those with Vivid Tours. They pick you up at your hotel or Airbnb and drive you to a selection of wineries. I've done a West Kelowna wine tour and an East Kelowna wine tour. The last time I did one in June 2024, I called them just a day before and they happily accommodated us for the next day. Us three girls got picked up by Fred in his bus that seated about 12 people. He took care of us and three other groups. As you can imagine, the last ride from the final winery back into Kelowna involved lots of laughter and singing to the music Fred let us play in the bus. Great time!
Day 3 | Chase waterfalls in Wells Grey Provincial Park
After your time in the Okanagan, you’re going to get up early and drive north west for a bit, into the heart of British Columbia: Wells Grey Provincial Park. Known for its stunning waterfalls, I was excited to go into this area for the first time!
We picked out a place on Booking.com in the town of Clearwater. On the way there, we left highway 5 to go onto Dunn Lake Road. After a bumpy ride with no cell reception whatsoever, we finally made it to the Dunn Lake North Recreation Site. When the lake came into view, my mouth dropped. It was so quiet, serene, and humungous. There was not a soul around, just us and this huge chunk of nature. The sheer size is impossible to capture on camera, but below is my beautiful friend Melissa on the Dunn Lake dock.
The drive from Kelowna to Dunn Lake is 3.5 hours. From here, it’s another 40 minutes to Clearwater. After checking into your place, it’s time to chase some waterfalls!
🥾 Spahat Falls | Not really a hike, just find the parking lot and follow the signs to the falls and lookout. You’ll feel as small as an ant standing up there
🥾 Helmcken Falls Rim Trail | When I was there, the north side was closed. We did a different trail on the other side of the water which was a nice trail. Fantastic views over the waterfall!
If you’d like to go for a more elaborate waterfall adventure, there are plenty of hikes around. I haven’t done this one, but this 4 hour hike looks pretty cool: 🥾 Birch Bluffs Trail, and this is a 1,5 hour loop that goes by Bailey’s Chute and Marcus Falls: 🥾 West Lake Loop via Bailey’s Chute.
Hop 'n Hog
Done exploring and worked up an appetite? If you're into meat and barbecue, go to Hop 'n Hog for dinner. You might find a queue when you arrive, but it's worth the wait!
Day 4 | Drive to Jasper
Wells Grey Provincial Park is pretty cool, but it’s time to jump back into the car and go on route to the real deal… The Canadian Rockies! You’re going to drive north and cross the border from British Columbia into Alberta. When you do, keep in mind that you’ll move into a different time zone, so you’ll lose an hour of your day here.
On your way to Jasper, make a stop in Valemount, a cute railroad town. We had a delicious baguette at thee Valemount Bakery (1020 Main St, Valemount, BC V0E 2Z0). Not long after this town, you’ll take a right turn past Mount Robson and into Jasper National Park.
Going into the National Park, you’ll reach what looks like border control booths where you’ll be required to purchase a pass for the duration of your stay in the area. Just tell them how many days you’ll be spending time in Jasper and Banff, and then hang your pass on your rearview mirror.
You may have heard that Jasper suffered devastating wildfires in the summer of 2024. One-third of the town of Jasper burned down in what was the largest wildfire in Jasper National Park in over 100 years. By August, the fire covered 34,000 hectares and firefighters lost a brave colleague and friend. As the community, town, and nature recovers, please do your research before you go. I’ll share my recommendations based on my trip, but unfortunately I am not sure for all these locations how things are there at the moment. For hikes, check reviews on AllTrails to find out what recent hikers have said about the trails and surroundings.
Where to stay?
Staying in and around Jasper is terribly expensive. We stayed in Hinton (Days Inn by Wyndham Hinton) which meant lots of driving back and forth, but it was cheaper and gas was also very cheap there. With the changed circumstances in Jasper, check what's available and feasibly for you - if you can, consider supporting the locals by staying and/or eating and shopping local.
Day 5 | visit Maligne Lake
Jasper National Park is a one of Canada’s most renowned natural treasures, known for its stunning landscapes and wildlife. It’s the largest national park in the Canadian Rockies and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. As you can imagine, it’s a wonderland for hikers. I prefer Jasper National Park over Banff National Park, but it’s hard to put my finger on why that is. Something you’ll have to go and see for yourself!
On my second trip to Jasper, I saw Maligne Lake for the first time. I couldn’t believe my eyes when we pulled up on this little bridge on our way to the hike we wanted to do. It looked like a painting, but to prove I was really there, here’s me blocking the view as I look over the Maligne River.
From here, you can take a boat ride on the lake, enjoy the restaurant by the lake, take in the beauty around you… For us, the activity was going to be a hike.
From this bridge, it was just about a minute further to the Bald Hills Trail, which we chose after considering several other options. It was still early in the season, which meant many hikes were still covered in snow. Based on reviews on AllTrails, we decided to go for Bald Hills – we knew there would be snow and we might not be able to do the full thing, but we agreed to go up as far as we could and just turn back if it got too challenging – the views on the way would be great either way.
🥾 Bald Hills Loop on AllTrails
In the end, we managed to get to the Overlook point and then looped back down. The hike to the summit was impossible for us to complete without snow gear. But that was fine, because this view was already such a treat!
Funny story, when we reached this viewpoint, a German couple also arrived, and we offered to take pictures of each other. As I was focusing the man’s camera on them, I said “wait a minute… haven’t I taken a photo of you before?” Turned out, just a few days prior we also met this couple in Wells Grey Provincial Park and we took photos for each other there too!
Day 6 | spend another day in and around Jasper
Take the Jasper Skytram
The Jasper SkyTram is an aerial tramway that takes you from the valley floor near the town of Jasper to the upper station on Whistlers Mountain. The tramway is the longest and highest guided aerial tramway in Canada with panoramic views of the surrounding mountains, lakes, and valleys. On our 7.5 minute ride up, a charming 20-year old English guy performed his well-timed and joke-filled presentation about the tram, the area, and the mountain.
🚡 Jasper Skytram (Whistlers Road, Jasper, Alberta, Canada T0E 1E0)
One of the interesting facts he shared was how this mountain gets its name from the whistling sounds made by the hoary marmots that inhabit the area. They use their whistling calls as a form of communication, particularly to alert others of potential danger. But how do they survive here? The mountain is pretty rocky and bald save for some sparse spurts of grass… The guide requested everyone to stay on the trail – hoary marmots are well-adapted to the alpine environment of Whistlers Mountain, but let’s not make it any harder for them by stepping all over what little vegetation there is. (Just a note that this place should not be confused by the town Whistler, which is a skiing/mountain biking paradise 2 hours north from Vancouver, though that place is probably also named after the marmots 🙃).
Tickets for the Skytram are $67.00 for adults. Pretty steep, but we wanted to do one gondola on our trip and picked this one over the Banff gondola. The views were incredible. Looking at these pictures again, I can’t believe I was up there.
Day 7 | Drive the Icefields Parkway toward Banff
Here comes another highlight! The Icefields Parkway is often referred to as (one of) the most scenic drives in the world. I can’t say it’s an exaggeration – really, it is pretty incredible. On this route, there are many note-worthy places for you to stop. I’ll share here a few of my faves in chronological order as you make your way from Jasper down to Banff.
Valley of the Five Lakes
If you’re starting in Jasper, this would be one of the first things you pass. A very accessible and easy start of the long drive, the Valley of the Five Lakes is a family-friendly hike, looping along 5 beautiful lakes. They’re relatively small, the walk doesn’t have much elevation, and yet you can enjoy and marvel at the gorgeous shades of blue and emerald 💚
🥾 Valley of the Five Lakes | Make sure you check if it’s open when you go. It’s directly south of Jasper town so it was affected by the wildfires.
Athabasca Falls
“The 23-metre Athabasca Falls is not very high by Canadian Rockies standards, but the size of the river makes it one of the most powerful falls to be found in the mountain national parks.” (Parks Canada)
Your next stop could be the Athabasca Falls; if not to be impressed by the waterfall, then just to get to know the main river that flows along this route. The river starts at the Columbia Glacier, which you will drive past later on. Here, at the falls, it has another 1425 kms to go until it reaches Lake Athabasca (wayyyyy north in Alberta), where the river ends.
You won’t spend all that much time here; after all, this is only 30 minutes from the Valley of the Five Lakes. Take it in, take some pics, and hop back into your car. On to the next stop!
Random stops
Keep your eyes peeled for viewpoints where you can pull over for a bit to enjoy the views.
This one was called the Goats & Glaciers Lookout, absolutely loved this scenic spot! You can get out and do a little short trail. Keep your AllTrails app handy to check where some nice trail opportunities are hiding off the highway,
From here, you’ll pass Sunwapta Falls, and a bunch more other scenic spots. You might notice that the weather starts to turn though. Or at least that happened twice when I was there; the closer you get to the Athabasca glacier, the colder and potentially wetter it seems to get. The direct area around the glacier is very touristy, with buses driving onto the glacier (which I really wish they didn’t do that). There’s a skywalk and some other tour options.
Peyto Lake
This is one of my favourites. When you arrive at the parking lot for Peyto Lake and follow the signage to the busy viewpoint deck, don’t be too quick to leave. There’s a really cool other viewpoint more to the left of the deck which is where this photo was taken.
If you need some help locating it, use the AllTrails link below.
From here, you’re very close to Lake Louise and Banff. The thing is, Banff is such an expensive place – kind of like Jasper – and so I recommend finding accommodation options in surrounding towns. For me, that was Golden, which is 1,5 hours from Peyto Lake and – surprise! – is located in British Columbia. Don’t worry though, as it’s so close to Alberta, Golden follows Alberta’s timezone, so you don’t have to go back and forth when it comes to your clock.
Where to eat?
If you're staying in Golden, The Wolf's Den is a nice and cozy place to eat! We went twice, because the other restaurants we looked at couldn't beat the menu 😊 I also had dinner at Reposados the first time I was in Golden, which was a nice Mexican place with a lovely patio.
Day 8 | Hike in Banff National Park
You’ve now made it to the Banff side of the Icefields Parkway. And when you’re in Banff, you visit Lake Louise. Sigh… What can I say? It’s incredibly touristy, but it’s popular for a reason. If you’re reasonably fit and up for a little more adventure, here’s what I recommend: don’t go to just see the lake. You’ll be one of hundreds, you’ll get frustrated with how many people there are and how people won’t get out of the way as you try to take your photo. Instead, prepare for a hike visit that goes further than the rest of the crowd.
Getting a Lake Louise shuttle bus pass
To control the big crowds, visitors need a shuttle bus pass to be able to get to Lake Louise. You can reserve a pass two days prior to your visit, at 8 AM local time, so you will have to decide when you go exactly. Remember, if you are not in the Alberta time zone yet, you need to double check what time time slot reservations open. The slots can be gone in just a few minutes. The link you need is: https://parks.canada.ca/pn-np/ab/banff/visit/parkbus/louise
Scroll down to Parks Canada Shuttles, hit the Reserve Now button. On the white box you get next, click on “Day Use” and pick “Shuttle to Lake Louise and Moraine Lake”. Next, you’ll get a map. Click on Shuttle.
Next, you’ll get time slots for Lake Louise and for Moraine Lake. Pick the morning OR midday option, but preferably the morning. If the Lake Louise options are full by the time you get to this screen, an alternative is to start at Moraine Lake (again, morning or midday). In this case, you will take the shuttle to Moraine first, have a look around, and then hop on the shuttle to Lake Louise. This option is more than fine as well.
If you ask me, Moraine Lake is even more beautiful. It’s gor-geous. For that reason, I’d recommend to save it for after Lake Louise, but it’s not terrible to start at Moraine. Lake Louise just suddenly might seem a tad less impressive. But that’s just my opinion 😊
Getting to Lake Louise
On the day, drive to the Lake Louise Park & Ride. Make sure you have your reservation ready on your phone, avoid having no reception to load your shuttle booking! Once you’re there, try not to wince too much at how many cars are already parked. From the parking lot, make your way to the tents, where you can line up to check in and join the queue for the next shuttle to Lake Louise.
Enjoy a hike
Lake Louise is a wonderful sight to see. When you arrive, the first thing you’ll want to do is stare at it and take some photos. That’s what everyone else is doing too, you’ll see 😉 Here are some of my photos from August 2023 and June 2024. When I was there in June, the lake had only just melted, so it was super clear and crisp and there was still lots of snow in the background. What you don’t see on these photos is that behind the photographer there’s a huge Fairmont hotel that looks like a Disney castle.
Walk alongside the lake toward the right, and follow the signs for the Lake Agnes Trail. The first lake you’ll reach is Mirror Lake. It’s pretty steep, so you’ll work up a sweat quite quickly. You’ll notice that until here, it can be quite busy. Most people continue the trail toward Lake Agnes, perhaps followed by the Big Beehive. However, what we did was go further up to Mount St. Piran.
A challenging hike with 937m elevation, but 100% worth the effort. We followed the advice of many reviews on AllTrails and turned back the same way after reaching the top. Apparently, going down the other side is very steep and dangerous. On the way back, we stopped at Lake Agnes before making our way further down back to the parking area. Though it was a tough one, the scenery on this hike was amazing as you can tell from the pictures below.
The shuttle pass gives you access to both Lake Louise and Moraine Lake, so after Piran we hopped on the shuttle to Moraine Lake. Exhausted from the hike, I didn’t go up onto the rocks that first time in August 2023, but strolled by the side of the lake. Wonderful views, and with the early evening glow the light was so beautiful.
The second time around, we only went up to Mirror Lake and then turned back around (it started to get tricky with patches of snow from that point), so plenty of energy left this time to see Moraine Lake from a higher angle. I was baffled by the color of the water in June; it’s soooooo bright! Just like Lake Louise, the lake had only recently melted, so it really had that icy blue quality to it. And seeing the backdrop with the snow… Magical. If you have the chance to go twice, do it and go experience the difference! The pictures don’t do it justice at all.
Day 9 | Yoho National Park
A highlight of Yoho National Park is Emerald Lake. Especially on a sunny day, the color of this lake is just so special! You can choose to just do a loop around the lake, but if you want to see a bit more, there are several trails surrounding the lake.
🥾 Emerald Basin and Emerald Lakeshore
We chose the Emerald Basin Trail, which got us up close to the Emerald Glacier.
Day 10 | visit banff & Drive to Calgary
Visit Banff
Now that you’re in Banff National Park, of course you can’t skip Banff itself. Banff is a resort town with a population of about 8,000 people. It’s also one of Canada’s most popular tourist destinations, so it’s always pretty busy around there. That said, it’s a cute place, and nice to explore for its restaurants and shops. When you’re there, consider paying a visit to the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel too – it’s a gorgeous castle-like luxury hotel. Even though you’re probably not going to be sleeping there ever, you can still go in and look around. You’ll feel a little bit like you’re walking the halls of the Harry Potter castle. Definitely something to experience!
Lake Minnewanka
Just 20 minutes away from the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel you’ll find Lake Minnewanka, a glacial lake with one of those super picturesque mini islands on the water. Another gorgeous place! We did a short trail there in the canyon to the south west of the lake, but if you have a bit more time, try the lakeside trail instead.
🥾 Stewart Canyon Trail (5.8 km)
🥾 Lake Minnewanka Lakeside Trail (15.6 km)
You can also take a cruise on the lake and learn more about the history of the place.
Drive to Calgary… Vancouver to Calgary roadtrip complete!
All good things come to an end… Are you ready to leave the mountains? As you head from Banff to Calgary you’ll pretty quickly see your surroundings change to flat lands.
I can’t say much about Calgary as I haven’t spent much time there. I think a day or two would be more than enough if you want to end with a little city trip – if not, then just go for the airport 😉
As I mentioned at the start of this post, if you have a longer vacation you could loop back to Vancouver from here, so you can return your rental car at the same place. If not, it’s time to say goodbye to the most beautiful side of Canada!
If you’re going to venture out here, please feel free to shoot me a message for more recommendations. Happy trip planning!
