Another trip out west (fly/car), need suggestions

[regder]

All of these BC trips have me wanting to go. Due to time limitations and obvious weather, I'm going to fly out to Calgary, rent a car and explore from there. Nothing is booked, and I have never been out west so could use all the suggestions possible.

Flying out next Friday night to Calgary, flying back Thanksgiving Monday, so about 9.5-10 days on the ground. Plan is to rent a car and go west. Maybe spend a day in Calgary, couple days in Vancouver, probably a few days in Vancouver island. Haven't decided yet whether I should drive back to Calgary to fly home, or fly out of Vancouver.

Thanks!

 

[J_F]

1) sea to sky highway - #99, is a must

2) southern interior - Okanagan Valley, from Vernon down to Osoyoos

my 2 cents

 

[MacDoc]

Well from Calgary you want to go to Banff and up the parks to Jasper, Bow Valley for sure ...then go west to Lilloet and down 99 to Vancouver.

 

[shanekingsley]

If the weather and time cooperates, then see if you can maybe take the inside passage ferry from Bella Coola to the north tip of the island (Port Hardy) and then drive down to Nanaimo or Victoria with some stops along the way and ferry back to mainland.

Flying home out of Calgary allows you to do a loop in BC while never driving on the same roads twice. If you drop off the vehicle and fly home from Vancouver it may cost for the one way rental and you also may skip a tons of excellent stuff. If you are into hiking and stuff, then maybe not doing a loop will give you more time outside the vehicle to do stuff instead of looping back to Calgary.

Many BC roads that are mountain passes and on the island have winter tire requirements from Oct 1st onward. Designated Winter Tire & Chain Routes

 

[sburns]

Lake Louise

 

[MacDoc]

I like Moraine Lake | Banff Alberta | Banff & Lake Louise Tourism instead ...much less touristed than Lake Louise ( it's not far away ). But then with the light tourist load you can do both and the cable lifts are wonderful.

 

[regder]

Finally getting around to posting about this trip. Funny how catching up on work after vacation sucks all the positivity and relaxation you get from going on the vacation.




Got super lucky with weather, was sunny and warm for most of the trip. Only got rain closer to the end.

Oct 2, flew out to Calgary. First time flying this year, very strange seeing Pearson so empty. Most stores in the terminal were closed. Flight was completely full though, so much for spacing people out. Air Canada gave out a nice Covid package with a mask, hand sanitizer, bottle of water and bag of peanuts. One flight attendant was going a bit overboard yelling at passengers to put their mask back on in-between bits/sips.

Spent the evening and following day exploring Calgary. Could just be the fantastic weather I had, around 20C, but I loved Calgary. Had a great youthful energy, something I really wasn't expecting based on preconceived notions. Started thinking to myself that I could see myself living here.

Late afternoon, started heading west. Stayed the night in Canmore. Canmore is a lovely town. Touristy in that it's full of boutiques, restaurants, knick knack stores, but didn't have an overly touristy feel. The kind of sensation like a resort, where everything is manicured and designed to appeal only to visitors and not locals.

Driving west from Calgary, mountains!

View from Three Sisters Parkway outside Canmore

Not a bad view while eating dinner in Canmore

Drove a bit up 742 at night. Seemed like it would be a nice drive away from civilization. Unfortunately, the road quickly turns to rough gravel and my rental Jetta was not happy at all, had to bail and turn around.

Nice view though (no idea why I didn't take this with my proper camera)

- Next day I left Canmore at sunrise. Unfortunately a few stops I had planned for this day were closed because of Covid. 1A was closed from Banff to Castle Junction. Lake Moraine filled up while I dawdled at Lake Louise and I was denied entry. Peyto Lake was closed for Covid. Was planning on having breakfast in Banff, but way too touristy for my liking, just did a quick drive through.


https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Canmore,+AB/Morant’s+Curve,+Improvement+District+No.+9,+AB/Lake+Louise,+AB/Athabasca+Glacier,+Improvement+District+No.+12,+AB/Kamloops,+BC/@52.4260691,-120.0458728,6z/data=!4m37!4m36!1m10!1m1!1s0x5370c59595456331:0x46b6315f9e1e692e!2m2!1d-115.3441856!2d51.0899934!3m4!1m2!1d-115.941897!2d51.2814313!3s0x53774ef950e3efa3:0xfce3a3994763c51a!1m5!1m1!1s0x5377433649807513:0x282d883cf1c35b44!2m2!1d-116.1287241!2d51.399644!1m5!1m1!1s0x53775d28a0e1ce11:0x3c373c7b6365bce6!2m2!1d-116.1772552!2d51.4253705!1m5!1m1!1s0x5377fee52d26aa55:0x3c5ddc282519d267!2m2!1d-117.2578207!2d52.1897234!1m5!1m1!1s0x537e2cd33d0d3b31:0xd23e96aa9a6945e7!2m2!1d-120.3272675!2d50.674522!3e0


Morant's Curve

Lake Louise, a bit overcast, but truly gorgeous. Decent amount of tourists, but not overbearing

I forget what this pass is called

Athabasca Glacier, the Glacier tour was closed for Covid

I love being in the mountains

Got to Kamloops for the night... Could just be me and super crappy hotel I got (worst of the trip), but what I saw of Kamloops is that it's a dump. The area surrounding Kamloops seemed nice, but the city itself is a pass.

- Next day was Kamloops to Vancouver. Highway 1 west from Kamloops was gorgeous. 99 between Lillooet and Pemberton may just be my favourite road I have been on. Very little civilization, zero traffic, just gorgeous views and beautiful road. South to Vancouver was still nice, but the traffic, touristiness, and development of it all kinda killed the experience.

Kamloops to Vancouver

www.google.com

Between Kamloops and Lillooet

Lillooet is beautiful, hope no one tells them they could become stupid rich off tourism

Just west of Lillooet

Stopped for a coffee in Whistler with a nice view

Between Whistler and Vancouver. The guardrails and high traffic kinda ruin what would be a great road

 

[regder]

- Vancouver, beautiful city, loved the Kitsilano and North Vancouver neighbourhoods, loved Stanley park. Started wondering what I needed to do to afford living here. Spent two days just hanging around Vancouver.


From the top of Mount Seymour

Beach west of Kitsilano

From Cypress Mountain overlooking Vancouver

At the end of the second day, took the ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. Nanaimo is a dump. Really regretted this decision, as it ended up I didn't get to spend any time in Victoria. Spent two days on Vancouver island, it was overcast/rainy and I can't say I liked it much. Could just be the weather or my itinerary, just seemed to be a lot of forest with some ok views of the coast. The road to and from Port Renfrew would have been amazing on a bike though. The road to Tofino was nice as well going through the rainforest.

Nanaimo to Tofino



View from Horseshoe Bay waiting for the ferry to leave

Just outside Port Renfrew

Spent the night in Tofino at the Zed hotel, definitely my favourite hotel on the trip, perhaps ever. Older hotel that was freshly redesigned to have a through and through 70's theme. Velvet and wood covered walls, bright colours, lounge is inset a few feet from the floor. Just way too cool.



Tofino itself was nice. Had a good meal at Shelter restaurant. Next day drove around the beaches watching the surfers have fun in the drizzly rain and cold weather. Found my favourite cafe at the Wickaninnish Inn which is a 5 star hotel, but you can drop in for just a coffee. Wood fireplace, floor to ceiling windows overlooking Chesterman Beach, could spend all day here.

View from inside the cafe

From Tofino, I quickly checked out Ucluet. Seemed like a cool working town, decently nice and nowhere near as touristy as Tofino. From there drove south to Victoria, and then Swartz Bay for the ferry. I screwed up my timing and didn't get to spend anytime in Victoria, just a quick drive through town.

Tofino to Swartz Bay

www.google.com

From Vancouver, I doubled back to Lillooet. Hoping that leaving early in the morning would give me a better experience on the Sea to Sky to Whistler. Nope, still too much development and traffic.

Thankfully from Pemberton to Lillooet was still just as beautiful. Saw a bit of snow/slush on the road at elevation, hope the pair of riders I saw going the other way later on were prepared.

Vancouver to Oliver

www.google.com

From Lillooet, I turned south towards Hope. Beautiful road in a different way. Flat valleys surrounded by mountains, near zero civilization again.

Got stuck in rain about halfway to Hope and halfway from Osoyoos

Just outside Osoyoos

 

[regder]

This was Thanksgiving weekend and everything half decent was booked in Osoyoos, stayed in Oliver down the road and drove back to Osoyoos for dinner. For a touristyish town I was really disappointed at the lack of half decent restaurants. Had dinner at a French bistro which was simply ok.



From Oliver went north to Kelowna and then on to the Trans Canada. Stopped for a coffee in Kelowna, very cool vibe and city, could see myself living here. The road on the west side of Okanagan Lake going north of Kelowna was awesome. Super jealous of all the bikers I saw having fun on it. Made a pitstop in Revelstoke which is nice, I understand why my brother in law goes skiing here every year. Stopped off in Radium Hot Springs hoping to visit the Hot Springs, but there was a massive lineup. Couldn’t find a decent hotel in Radium so went onto Invermere.

Oliver to Invermere

www.google.com

View from downtown Revelstoke

On the way to Radium Hot Springs

This day was the last day and had to run back to Calgary for my flight at noon. Mountains got their first snow of the year and it was very pretty, though couldn’t see much through the fog

Invermere to Calgary

www.google.com

 

[shanekingsley]

Nice! Love that winter pic.
Can't wait to go back.

 

[bigpoppa]

The pics are gorgeous, I wonder how much of BC is snow-free in the winter?

 

[Priller]

The pics are gorgeous, I wonder how much of BC is snow-free in the winter?

The southern coast is mostly snow-free, but not guaranteed. Usually snows here and there, with a few week-or-two-long dumps that stay on the ground. When that happens, driving is super treacherous for four reasons: first, the municipal snow clearing gets quickly overwhelmed; second, the temp is usually just below freezing, so the snow and ice are slushy and extra slippery; third, there's lots of steep hills; and fourth, many locals don't bother with winter/snow tires and have no idea how to drive in the white stuff, so slide through stop lights on the regular. It's a game for some to camp out at intersections located at the bottom of steep hills after a fresh snowfall and count the number of BMW's on low-profile summer tires that slide through backwards.

Many/most motorcyclists ride from May/June (depending on rain, as spring can be relentless) until their 6 months of insurance runs out. There are outliers who push the limits, but it's really no fun with the constant rain. For me, I would ride maybe a month longer than I do here, but the real benefit there is the surplus of incredible roads with a lot less traffic.

 

[sid_for_speed]

Gorgeous pics! Amazing ridge draft for those who glide!

 

[Priller]

Looks like it was a great trip. Agreed on Kamloops not being a great spot to visit, as it's a working town without much to offer visitors. As you discovered, Kelowna is a must better destination, with all the interior tourism nearby. There's a Zed Hotel there, too (and one in Victoria, I think?)...

It's a shame you missed Victoria and had a poor experience on the island. Nanaimo isn't so bad, but really isn't worth much of a visit, either. There's some fun stuff between Nanaimo and Victoria on the east side of the island, though, including Coombs, Qualicum Beach, Goldstream park, and a some other odds and ends. Victoria itself is great, though definitely touristy downtown. I would happily live there, but have zero desire to return to Vancouver...

 

[regder]

Looks like it was a great trip. Agreed on Kamloops not being a great spot to visit, as it's a working town without much to offer visitors. As you discovered, Kelowna is a must better destination, with all the interior tourism nearby. There's a Zed Hotel there, too (and one in Victoria, I think?)...

It's a shame you missed Victoria and had a poor experience on the island. Nanaimo isn't so bad, but really isn't worth much of a visit, either. There's some fun stuff between Nanaimo and Victoria on the east side of the island, though, including Coombs, Qualicum Beach, Goldstream park, and a some other odds and ends. Victoria itself is great, though definitely touristy downtown. I would happily live there, but have zero desire to return to Vancouver...

I have a feeling the gloomy weather shaded my experience in Vancouver Island, I've had many friends repeat their love for the island time and time again.

Will definitely give it another try in the future.

You are right, there's a Hotel Zed in Victoria. I quickly drove by it though it looked a tad rundown. The one in Tofino just opened up a few months ago I think, so everything seems fresh and new.