The Canadian Rockies are extraordinarily beautiful; we always tell everyone to travel to the Canadian Rockies and Yellowstone only after visiting all other national parks, as these will spoil you so much that everything else you see later will pale in comparison. We went to the Rockies with our parents during the Memorial day long weekend of 2015 and taking a couple of extra days leave.

General tips:

– August-September would be the ideal time to visit; all the roads ought to be repaired and open by then, and the elks and moose will have grown their majestic horns.

– Book the hotels very very very early, ideally by January at the latest; bookings go very fast during the peak season. You can always cancel them later if plans change anyway.

– We would highly recommend purchasing the GyPSy tour guide app for Banff, Jasper and Yoho Natonal Parks (costs $15 with over 500 commentary points); it can be downloaded in wifi and then works just on GPS and gives you a very detailed overview of the entire region, its history, geography, attractions, interesting anecdotes et al. It also does a perfect job guiding you on the routes to be taken, where to stop and what is skippable. An absolute must have app.

– Our first stop for every national park is the Visitor Center; it is very useful and the rangers give up-to-date information about weather and accessibility, as also timings of ranger talks and treks, if any.

– Food is not the focus of interest here; there were hardly any memorable meals and we will not focus on the culinary delights of the Rockies in this post.

– We did not purchase a sim card; most of the national parks were anyway unlikely to have good network and our Garmin GPS had Canadian maps for navigation.

– The itinerary can be completely reversed depending on flight and hotel costs.

As usual, we are sharing our itinerary on our google maps page. Here is the link:https://drive.google.com/open?id=19SJaI5kG6-Ad6l3pJR5xsYbg-d4&usp=sharing. Select the label ‘Canadian Rockies’.

Our itinerary:

Day 1: Seattle – Valemount

We left Seattle early morning and drove to Valemount (around 11-12 hours including immigration and food and rest stops). We stayed overnight in Valemount since it was much cheaper than Jasper (approximately 50-60 CAD vs 120-130 CAD) and we had driven enough for the day anyway!

Stay: We stayed at the Premier Mountain Lodge and Suites; coincidentally the attached restaurant had a Bermudan chef who was of Indian origin and cooked us a lovely hot vegetarian Indian dinner, besides also packing a vegetarian lunch for us the next day.

Tips: If you want to fly in, the closest airport to Jasper is Edmonton (4 hours drive) while the closest airport to fly out from Banff is Calgary (1.5 hours).

Day 2: Valemount – Jasper

We left early morning and enjoyed a beautiful 1.5 hour drive to Jasper. The Jasper town itself is very picturesque and has a lovely feel to it. After a stopover at the visitor center, we went to the beautiful Medicine Lake and Maligne Lake (1 hour drive one-way). There was a ranger talk scheduled at Athabasca Falls in the evening, so we then went to the falls, which are absolutely gorgeous. These however can also be done the next day as they are on the Icefields Parkway.

Stay: We stayed at Maligne lodge; relatively inexpensive, clean and efficient.

Tips: There are three other major attractions around Jasper. Mt Edith Cavell’s access was closed in the early summer, but is a must do. The Miette Hot Springs are an hour’s drive from Jasper. People enjoy them more when it gets cold towards the winter, but they are just a half hour detour if one is driving from Edmonton to Jasper. The Jasper gondola ride is supposed to be beautiful but is not inexpensive ($40). Thus, there is more than enough to do to spend another day at Jasper.

Day 3: Jasper- Icefields Parkway – Banff.

Icefields parkway is the highway connecting Jasper and Banff and is amongst the most beautiful drives in the world, and the commentary of GyPSy adds even further to the experience. Must-do attractions along the way include Athabasca Falls, Sunwapta Falls, Tangle Creek Falls, Weeping Wall, and of course the highlight- Columbia Icefields.

We had lunch at the Icefield and trekked upto the base of the glacier. We decided to skip going to the Athabasca Glacier on the Glacier Adventure Tour (it takes a lot of passengers to the glacier on an ice explorer, basically a snow bus of sorts). The glacier appeared nice but very worn out with tourists, and comparing with the glaciers we had seen back home in the Himalayas, it didn’t seem worth the $80 tag. However, it is certainly the most popular thing to do on the Icefields Parkway, particularly if you haven’t seen a lot of snow.

Driving further towards Banff, the Bow Lake (photo below; it was partially frozen) and Peyto Lake are spectacular. The Peyto Lake is a short trek but completely worth it and gives a breathtaking view of the lake and its glacial blue colors (photo below). We left Lake Louise for the next day.

Stay: We stayed at Inns of Banff, a good and inexpensive hotel.

Tips:

Instead of the Glacier Adventure Tour, the more adventurous people can book the 3 hour snow trek to the glacier. It is slightly more expensive but sounds much more fun. Also, since the walk happens in the morning, there are lesser people on the glacier. Here is the link: http://www.icewalks.com

Booking the Glacier Adventure Tour in advance may save some time. You do not want to reach the Columbia Icefield at 2 pm and be told that the earliest available tour is at 4 pm!

The entire drive is full of wonderful overviews, short treks, and longer hikes, besides numerous animal sightings. It can be quite confusing to decide what to see and what to skip. We found GyPSy to be very reliable in its suggestions on where to stop and what can be skipped.

The most famous hotel in Banff is Fairmonts Chateau Lake Louise with a spellbinding view of the lake; expensive but totally worth the view. If live in the US and have a good credit score, you may apply for the Fairmont Chase credit card which gives you two nights free at any Fairmont hotel- use those nights here. There are other similar lodges near Bow lake as well.

Day 4: Banff – Yoho – Kelowna

We left early in the morning and drove to lake Louise via Johnston canyon (50 min drive; GyPSy will tell you all about the route). A walk along the beautiful Canyon is a must-do. After a lovely walk along the rim of Lake Louise (one can kayak on the lake too),  we went to Moraine Lake. The climb to the viewpoint is worth the awesome view of the ‘Ten peaks’ around the lake. We then drove to Yoho National Park to enjoy Emerald Lake (aptly named) (30 min drive). Lunch was at a cute little restaurant called Truffle Pigs Bistro at the town called Fields near Yoho. The Spiral Tunnel viewpoint is a short stopover en route to see human ingenuity at work as the train loops back to come on top of itself! We then drove to Kelowna (about 5 hour drive) for overnight stay; there are multiple similar options depending on how far you want to drive on your way back.

Tips: The other attraction in Yoho National Park is Takakaw falls, the highest in the region, but the access road was closed and we couldn’t enjoy it. It can easily done the same day.

It would be helpful to know the train schedule beforehand for the Spiral Tunnel Viewpoint to avoid staying there for a long time patiently for a train to come.

Day 5: Kelowna – Seattle

We decided to drive along a slightly longer but more scenic route for a change of scenery. The shorter drive along I5 south takes around 5 hours, while the one we took takes closer to 7 hours. The drive south from Kelowna is along the beautiful Okanagan Lake with multiple orchards and wineries en route. We took a short detour of 15 min to see the Spotted Lake, a unique patchy lake which demonstrates interesting colors due to variable mineral concentration (see photo). It is completely fenced, with a small viewpoint. Google maps took us there accurately; the GPS was not spot on in this regards.

We then drove further south to enter USA and drove along US2 rather than I90 as it is a more beautiful drive and takes about the same time.

Tips: Leavenworth, an idyllic ‘Bavarian’ town with beautiful boutiques and famous for its Oktoberfest and for being America’s most ‘Chritmasy’ town in winter, is en route on US2 and a possible stopover if interested.  We skipped that as we have been there the past Christmas.

For quite a few days after our trip, all we saw when we shut our eyes were blue lakes and the untouched serene landscapes. The Canadian Rockies is one of those places which we’ve promised ourselves another longer trip to…this one has given us beautiful memories to savour until then.