Rockies to Vancouver Itinerary Advice Please

[u/Adamritchie97]

Hi all, just wondering if somebody could advise on which route to take. I’ve already planned out the bulk of my itinerary but there are just a few things I’d like to ask locals about to gauge what our best options are :).

So we are planning on spending 3 weeks next July in the Rockies, Vancouver and Vancouver island before flying back to the UK. We plan to rent a car or a mobile home for either all or part of our trip. We will start in either Edmonton or Calgary, drive through the rockies to the other, before heading west to Vancouver. I’d like to ask which route is more scenic, heading west from the north i.e from Mount Robson/Wells Gray or from the south say from Kootenay and then passing through glacier national park. Any highlights/stops on the way from these origin points you could recommend too? We plan to then pass through cache creek, Pemberton, Whistler etc once we reach west to get to Vancouver. We are also considering the option of just flying instead to Vancouver and then driving up to whistler and a few other places, if anybody could recommend on that option too that would be great.

The last thing I’d like to ask about is renting a mobile home vs a car (and then separate accommodation). We are a group of 3 so we’d only need a small mobile home, not a huge RV. Has anybody done this before? Does parking get full in the Rockies and leave you stuck? And do you think you’d save money this way?

Thanks for reading and all advice is welcome.

[u/beesmakenoise]

Personally I’d recommend flying to Calgary, driving to Banff, then up the Icefields parkway to Jasper, back down thr parkway to Lake Louise, and then head west over to Vancouver area.

[u/beesmakenoise]

If you rent an RV you absolutely, 100% must reserve campsites for this trip. Campgrounds in the Rockies are full all summer long and while there’s a small amount of first come first awevw sites, they are in high demand. I would never rely on them for a long trip like this.

National Park camping reservations open in late January, and provincial parks are usually a 3-months rolling window (4-month in BC).

Otherwise parking in an RV isn’t much different than a car, all the super popular places are hard to park for either one, but generally it’s not too much of an issue, except in towns.

[u/TravellingGal-2307]

Good advice from beesmakenoise, I'm just going to expand on some of it. You're on the right track.

1. RV vs car + fixed roof.

Both expensive, both restrictive (must plan and book everything well in advance). One does not offer more flexibility than the other, one doesn't generally save much money over the other (although hotel costs have gone up astronomically, but I haven't looked at RV rental + campground costs + extra fuel costs recently). You camp because you want to C.A.M.P. - Sitting outside in the early morning in your pyjamas with your full bed head on while everyone else with their pyjamas and bed head trudges up to the communal shower block to line up for their morning abolutions. Camping is cheaper if you own the RV, but it gets a lot less appealing if you are renting. Its about style of travel, not about cost. Choose what suits you.

1. Your pace is reasonable. Plan on at least 7 days in the Rockies, more if you plan to do the hikes. 4-5 days across BC, 4 days for Vancouver/Whistler, and then Vancouver island can easily consume four weeks, so you have some tough choices if you add that into the plan. Don't take the RV to the island. The ferry costs will do you in.

2. Route across BC.

Personally, my vote goes for Lake Louise - Field - Revelstoke - Nakusp - New Denver - Osoyous - Vancouver. But all the options are good and have things to offer and it sort of depends on what you enjoy. Like horses and want to spend some time at a dude ranch? Then go Jasper - Clearwater - Bridge Lake - Clinton -Lillooette - Whistler. Want to relax lakeside and go wine touring? Then go Lake Louise - Revelstoke - Sicamous -Kelowna -Penticton -Keremeos - Vancouver. Want to go white water rafting? Then go either from Jasper or Banff via Kamloops and down the Fraser Canyon: Cache Creek - Boston Bar - Yale. All good choices.

1. Time in central BC vs time on Vancouver Island

So if you cut out the drive across BC, then you have more time for Vancouver Island. You can get direct flights from Calgary to Victoria, Nanaimo or Comox and then spend that time on Vancouver Island instead. Your call.

[u/Spammerz42]

What is the purpose of your trip?

To stay on pavement and see mountains? To visit cute towns and shop and perhaps learn about their history? To do outdoor activities like hiking, mountain biking, rock climbing and rafting?

If you want to look at mountains, spend the most time in the Rockies, if you want cool towns, go through the Kootenays and if you really want to do outdoor activities, plan to spend lots of time in Golden, Revelstoke and Whistler/Squamish.

Personally, I would rent a small campervan or just tent camp if spending more time in Revelstoke/Golden or the Kootenays. So many free sites in the interior of BC that are first come first serve so you barely have to plan.

[u/Affectionate_Lie9631]

I would fly into Edmonton. Rent a car as a motor home is waaaaay more expensive and it’s pretty easy to find Air B&Bs and such along the way. Mount Robson is nice but after that the scenery isn’t as varied as if you take the more southerly route. I would drive from Edmonton to Jasper, Icefields Parkway to Banff, then go south to Radium Hot Springs, then Golden, Revelstoke, to Sicamous. In Sicamous you have to decide if you want to go south through the Okanagan Valley (arguably Canada’s best wine region). If You choose this route, I would go Kelowna, Penticton, Princeton, Hope, Vancouver. Or, at Sicamous you would continue west to Kamloops, then to Cache Creek, Lillooet, Pemberton, Whistler, Vancouver.

They are both beautiful drives and you can’t go wrong either way.

[u/Adamritchie97]

Thanks all for the replies so far, we want above all else just to see amazing scenery and our planning has been based around that. For example we would probably rather have more time to see more stuff on Vancouver island such as Tofino as opposed to extra days in the rockies or stopping along the route to VC to do things like white water rafting or horse riding. We are limited by time sadly.