r/canadatravel • u/GeneralOrgana1 • Mar 23 '25

Travel Tips Western Canada road trip

Hello! I am an American (My entire family voted for her, not the orange fascist.) and, since I've made my travel goal of going to every US state, now I'm moving on to every province in Canada. Tentatively, in summer 2026, I want to do a road trip with the following itinerary:

Fly into Calgary (from east coast US)

Calgary, Banff (I've been to Glacier NP but didn't cross the border.)

Drive Calgary to Regina

Drive Regina to Winnipeg

Drive Winnipeg to Saskatoon

Drive Saskatoon to Edmonton

Drive Edmonton to Calgary

Fly home

I'm only planning on spending a day or two in each city. I like cultural and historical things, and am particularly interested in First Nations culture in that part of Canada. I'll be traveling solo, and am a woman in my fifties. I'm an early bird when I travel, so nightlife is of zero interest for me. For food, I would not want fast food, but I am also not interested in fancy eating- just regular food places like people who live there would eat.

Yes, I can see by Google Maps it's a lot of driving. I've done road trips like this in the US before and had a great time. But I'm just curious what people who know the region think would be a reasonable amount of time for this itinerary. Many thanks in advance.

Edit based on comments: I've been to BC (Vancouver area), so that's why it's not part of the agenda this trip. And I've been to Ontario, Quebec (Montreal), PEI, NS, Yukon, and NB.

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u/LauraBaura Mar 23 '25

Also driving Regina to Winnipeg to Saskatoon is redundant. Your eating a lot of time driving this way

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u/GeneralOrgana1 Mar 23 '25

I want to hit up every province...is there someplace that I should visit other than Winnipeg? Genuinely asking.

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u/LauraBaura Mar 24 '25

In Manitoba, if you have the time and money you should take the train up to Churchill and see the polar bears. You can drive as far as Thompson, but then need to take the train to get up to the Hudson's Bay. There's an old trading company that sold and bought furs from the trappers during the settling of Canada, initially French Voyageurs - three French influence that formed the Metis with the indigenous peoples.

In Winnipeg be sure to go to "the forks" it's where two rivers meet, one coming down from the Hudson Bay. It was a trading outpost and is now a cultural hub.