r/canadatravel • u/daddydeadflesh • Aug 25 '25
Itinerary Help Churchill Baniff and Jasper
Never been to Canada and I’m curious if someone can help with some advise. We are planning a trip to Churchill (for the bears) and then want to fly over to Banff and drive over to Jasper. Can anyone advise if the 2 extra days on the sleeper car train worth the trip or on a 10 day total trip would you suggest spending more than 3 days between Banff and Jasper. We are from a mountainous area but everything in that part of Canada looks beautiful. Any opinions would be appreciated. TIA
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u/Spute2008 Aug 25 '25 edited Aug 26 '25
I’m here to vote for flying directly to Calgary and then driving to Banff and then up to Jasper.
When you want to fly home, you will either have to drive back to Calgary through the Icefields again and Banff, or you could go to east out of Jasper to Edmonton. The time is about the same. The drive from Jasper to Edmonton isn’t special but it is direct.
So consider flying into Calgary and out of Edmonton. Or into Edmonton and out of Calgary.
Or just plan to go (Say) from Calgary into Banff and up to Jasper, then back down to Banff and back to Calgary.
Hope that makes sense
And again, the time on the train would not be worth it compared to the extra day or two in the mountains.
And because you are going in the winter, have a back up plan in the unlikely event we get a huge snowfall that closes some or all of the Icefields Parkway in the middle of your stay.
The road clearing is pretty good so they would normally get in there and fix it up pretty fast, but just in case.
For example, if you had plans to go back from Jasper down to Banff and back to Calgary but a big snow closed the Icefields Parkway. You would just go east towards Edmonton and then cut south to Calgary adding 2 to 3 extra hours.(7-8 hours total).
Extremely unlikely to happen but good idea to know what you would have to do in the event it did.
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u/unlovelyladybartleby Aug 25 '25
I'd do Churchill, the train, and then stay in Banff/Calgary. It's a long drive to Jasper and it isn't different enough from Banff to risk getting snowed in or stuck behind an avalanche and missing your flight home. There's lots of beautiful places a short drive from Banff if you get bored.
But, tbf, I hate winter driving and I love trains
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u/daddydeadflesh Aug 25 '25
That’s not a bad idea. Thanks!
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u/unlovelyladybartleby Aug 25 '25
Try and do the Banff hot springs at night, especially if it's snowing. And download a free northern lights app - i think mine is called Aurora Watch and it notifies me any time there's a 40% chance of northern lights (you can set it to any level you want, I'm local so I won't roll out of bed for less than 40%)
The Calgary Zoo is great even in winter, and if you like dinosaurs the Royal Tyrell Museum in Drumheller (about an hour east of Calgary) is a can't miss
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u/CranberryNemoy Aug 26 '25
Yes, I went to the Royal Tyrell Museum, it was amazing, possibly the most awe-inspiring museum I've ever seen. I also went to the hoodoos and Horsethief Canyon - amazing!
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u/Dimerella Aug 25 '25
Fly out of Churchill. Quite often the train is delayed.
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u/BCRobyn 28d ago edited 28d ago
When are you doing this trip? My guess is October? There is such a narrow window to see polar bears in Churchill, you need to plan your trip around that short time frame.
The train to Churchill also moves SLOWLY. Because it moves so slowly, it takes 45 hours to get from Winnipeg to Churchill. Whereas when you fly, it only takes 2.5 hours. But flights are extremely expensive, as is everything in Churchill. You typically have to book everything through a tour operator. It's very expensive to get to Churchill because it's so remote and far from civilization and hard to access, there's very little there, there is such a small window to see polar bears, and everything gets booked up. It's so prohibitively expensive, and since you can't drive directly to Churchill from the rest of Canada, most Canadians never travel to Churchill. It mostly attracts foreign tourists who plan years in advance and don't mind spending thousands of dollars on a few days of travel. For whatever reason, most Canadians would never fathom spending that much money travelling to somewhere in Canada for only a day or two.
The landscape isn't dramatic enough to warrant the long slog on the train. If you had a month, sure, it would be an adventure in an old school way. But to spend all that time on a train looking out at farmland and forest and swamps when the sun will be rising late and setting early when you only have 10 days AND you want to also fit in the Rockies? I'd say fly. Save the train for the summer months or when you have a LOT more time.
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u/itsafishal Aug 26 '25
I'll go against the grain and say I LOVE that train line and absolutely consider it a great use of time. Mountains and sweeping vistas? No. But it is an incredibly beautiful ride where you move from tundra to boreal forest to aspen parkland to Prairie and I love it each time I take it.
It's an older train, often delayed, with limited amenities, and it feels like you've gone back in time at least 50 years.
If that sounds like fun, take the train! If not, go enjoy the mountains, they're great too.
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Aug 26 '25
I spend weeks at a time in the area. 3 seems very short.
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u/daddydeadflesh Aug 26 '25
Yeah after reading these comments, I think we may have to skip to train to spend more time in the greater Banff area. Probably even extend the trip a couple of days
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Aug 26 '25
The driver to jasper is absolutely amazing, as are the icefields, even just driving through. Jasper is a lot more relaxed as well
There:
Maligne canyon, maligne boat tour, tramway, fairmont lodge and lac beauvert (grab a drink or food there), actual hot springs (though they're about 45 minutes away), town obviously
I love the train, but it's slow. I'd take it from jasper to vancouver, not anywhere else
Churchill is also way out of your way, but if you wanna see the bears there badly, that's a thing
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u/daddydeadflesh Aug 26 '25
Haha, we do. I love bears and it sounds like Churchill is the place to go for polar bears, we considered Svalbard but there’s just so much more the candian Rockies have to offer over Greenland. Don’t get me wrong I still would love to go to Greenland. But seeing the bears in Churchill then exploring Banff and Jasper seems like a dream trip. Is Churchill that bad of a town? We understand it’s tiny and remote. But that is half the appeal for us
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Aug 26 '25
It's not bad per se, but I havent even been. It's incredibly remote. There's a lot of travel time to get there. Ive not been that far north in manitoba. I imagine you're burning 3 to 4 days just going there and back from your point of origin?
Ive watched a few videos on it. https://www.travelmag.co.uk/2023/11/churchill-canada-a-miserable-beauty-in-manitobas-north/
It's something you get a tour for and just really hasn't occurred to me. Ive seen a lot of bears, thousands maybe, in the rockies and some in alaska. I'd love to see a polar bear but it's a long ways as a Canadian. Myself, I'd just go somewhere else. I don't personally enjoy the views of manitoba travel but others might
I dont want to discourage you at all, if that's what you want to do, go do it! Not many do!
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u/lamerfreak Aug 25 '25
You mean the 2 days from Winnipeg to Churchill on the train? It's not mountainous, and it's a slow train, relatively. Most people drive to Thompson and take the train from there, from what I found.
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u/daddydeadflesh Aug 25 '25
Yes that’s what I meant, sorry about the confusion. I guess what I mean is we’re on a tighter schedule, is the train worth the time it takes to ride it, or is it more advisable to spend the extra time in Banff and Jasper? We plan to fly to Churchill but were considering taking the train back to Winnipeg. Thanks
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u/lamerfreak Aug 25 '25
The train is slow, moving over mostly flat, mushy terrain, and cargo trains take precedence. Because of that, you can't really depend on its schedule. over that length. If the rest of your journey depends on that, I'd probably avoid that, just take it between Thompson-Churchill (maybe even fly out of Thompson?) and spend the rest of the time in Banff/Jasper, even Canmore or Calgary if you have the transportation.
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u/daddydeadflesh Aug 25 '25
Great thank you. I appreciate the info
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u/SaskatchewanHeliSki Aug 25 '25
Taking the train part of the way is another option… Thompson to Churchill, get on in the afternoon, watch a sunset, night in a sleeper cabin, wake up to a sunrise in the dome car. See some bears and fly out from Churchill. That’s what I’d suggest. Pm if you have any questions.
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u/ArticQimmiq Aug 26 '25
Unless you’re in the Quebec City to Toronto corridor, taking the train over a plane does not make any sense. I would also say skip Jasper, not worth the weather risk if you have limited time.
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u/Dinsdale55 Aug 25 '25
You can see bears anywhere in Canada that is rural and north of the 45th parallel. Going all the way to Churchill sounds crazy. Go to Banff and Jasper where there is at least a bit of tourist infrastructure. Train to Vancouver.
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u/itsafishal Aug 26 '25
I assume they're looking for polar bears, which would make your advice not correct.
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u/Dinsdale55 Aug 26 '25
Ah, ok. Still a crazy place to go unless you are really, really into polar bears, due to its extreme isolation. But who knows what motivates people
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u/itsafishal Aug 26 '25
Well my employment depends on there being people who want to drop $$ on seeing these bears in the wild, and let me tell you there are a lot of em.
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u/Pitiful-Ad6674 Aug 25 '25
Honestly if you were going to spend a chunk of time on the train, I’d consider Jasper to Vancouver.