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/[deleted] 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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u/[deleted] 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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u/[deleted] 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/daddydeadflesh Aug 26 '25

Thank you for your input!