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We're thinking of going late summer, doing it independently and not with a tour company like Trailfinders.
Anyone done it recently in the west, say Calgary to Vancouver?
Can you recommend a motorhome company?
Any campsites/towns/locations that are unmissable?
Yep about 5 years ago. Calgary, down to Rossland to see familly and back up to Calgary. Went again 2 years ago, but was only bike touring so no campervan.
Campervan; canadadream I think. Big thing slept 4 with a slidey out living room. Was pretty good. My sister used them a year ago and apparantly the bed was rank. So i would check the main bed straight away and stick you nose right in it to check and insist on new bedding mattress if rank.
Places I really liked; best was furthest campsite at Swan lake. 30 mile dirt road in but stunning and natural hotspring on way in. Also revelstoke for Frisby Ridge ride, superb. Fernie & local trails good. Rossland and local trails plus seven summits classic. Spray lake campsite south of Banff is also stunning. Also Minni****a lake nice as well.
Be bear aware - basically shed loads of noise at all times and you wont have a problem. Also bear spray and knowing how to use is worth it for peace of mind, but if making enough noise should not need it.
Lake Louise/ Banff.
Anywhere in the Rockies Between Calgary and The Coast. Go North if you really want some wilderness.
This has been covered before (if the search function worked). Personally I'm unconvinced of the merits of motorhomes. Campsites in the hot spots are even more booked up than hotels and by the time you've factored in fuel costs etc they aren't much cheaper than car plus hotel whilst being slower to drive and harder to park.
Kananakasis is much quieter than Banff NP. For me the only place in the parks that's unmissable is the Yoho valley (and Lake O'Hara if you can get there).
I actually think the route along the border (Highway 3) is better and less busy than Highway 1. Fernie, Nelson, Rossland to the Okanagan. Especially if you want to ride bikes.
Context: 10 years living in Calgary.
Not really about campsites or motor homes, but Fernie is a great spot. Rogers Pass is stunning too though a fair bit north. I also really liked Nelson. And try and find some of the smaller local hot springs to visit as well.
@sweaman2 - thanks, we're thinking of going last week of Aug for 3 weeks. Is it still really busy then?
Sorry my comments above I meant Whiteswan lake/Lussier hot springs
The first weekend in September is a Bank Holiday weekend. Schools also go back after then so it does get a bit quieter. Early September is a good time to visit as it is a bit less busy and the weather is often stable.
Did it with trailfinders, Vancouver / rockies/ Vancouver
Much preferred Banff/jasper area to whistler area
Ice fields parkway is a great drive (I wish we could have done it both ways)
Checkout motorhome mpg !!!
It’s a BIG country, even more so at 50mph speed limit snd 30 in towns on major roads and our Mhome was agricultural ..... so don’t be over ambitious distance wise
If you get a double rear wheeler take a strong strap(motorbike tie down etc) as on dirt you can wedge stones between the tyres and if a passing motorcyclist doesn’t stop and lend you his belt (big up Canadians) you’ll be stuck
Note that some town don’t allow rv in normal parking and provide rv specific parking
Tourist offices let you use phone and internet
We’re doing it this June.
3 weeks c25 (sleeps 5 but we wanted a bed that wasn’t over the cab and didn’t need ‘built’ each night) motorhome hire, flights from Glasgow - £2100 through Canada dreams.
We’ve got three nights in Banff, 3 in jasper, one in clearwater, three in whistler, 3 on Vancouver island, 2 in vancouver, 1 in kelowan, 2 in canyon hot springs and one in lake Louise on the way back to Calgary. Total cost for the campsites under £1000. All booked in advance.
There’s loads of stuff we’re planning to do as well that will add approx £1000 to that.
Got the campsites booked through Parcs Canada website - really easy. Booked others direct - again, really easy to do.
We did it a couple of years ago. We did a 1 way hire from Vancouver to Calgary over 2 weeks. We hired the camper from frazerway. We had a week in whistler before picking it up. We stayed in Barnaby to see Vancouver then went to kelona then Clearwater jasper icefield parkway, golden, canmore, then Calgary
We did Vancouver island, Whistler, Kelowna, Revelstoke, Jasper, Banff, Calagary
Highlights were Vancouver Island, Kelowna, Revelstoke.
Whistler, I wouldn’t bother, but Pemberton down the road was nice (depends what your after really)
Vancouver Island trumped everything and the only place we would return to but we were in the far north only accessible by boat.
Revelstoke was the hidden surprise. Lovely scenery, stuff to do. Missed out on heli biking. £250 ish for once in life time helli drop unfortunately timings didn’t work out. We drove Highway 6 from Kelowna to Revelstoke. Prob saw 5 cars driving all day long.
Best accommodation we had was through Airbnb, some stunning accommodation.
I would have hated a camper van. Distances so vast and if your in a camper van no possibility to overtake + official sites didn’t exactly give you that wilderness ‘alone’ experience.