Canadian Rockies by Road: Vancouver, Whistler, Jasper and Banff

1. Day 1: Arrive in Vancouver

   Vancouver International Airport to your hotel in downtown Vancouver

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Vancouver
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Vancouver International Airport (YVR) and a driver meets you in the arrivals hall for the drive into the city, about 14 km and half an hour, to your central hotel for the first two nights. The group meets in the early evening, so landing by mid-afternoon leaves time to settle in. If you arrive early, walk the seawall around Coal Harbour, where floatplanes take off and land below the North Shore mountains, or wander the brick streets of Gastown, the oldest part of the city. At about 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide gathers the group for a short briefing on the twelve days ahead: how the drives are paced, what to pack for cold glacier mornings and warm interior afternoons, and how the easy and active options work on walking days. Then we walk to a restaurant nearby for a welcome dinner together, a first chance to meet the people you will share the road with.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Vancouver International Airport (YVR)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the early-evening briefing

   Activity: Plan to land by about 3 pm; the exact meeting time comes with your final itinerary.

2. Day 2: Stanley Park and the Museum of Anthropology

   Stanley Park to the University of British Columbia, then Granville Island

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Vancouver
   Day 2 details

   After breakfast we start in Stanley Park, the forested peninsula beside downtown. The van drops us at Brockton Point for the totem poles, and we walk a stretch of the seawall towards Lions Gate Bridge, with freighters at anchor and the North Shore mountains across the water. From there we drive across the city to the University of British Columbia and the Museum of Anthropology, where the Great Hall holds carved poles, canoes and house posts from First Nations of the Northwest Coast, below tall windows facing the mountains. Your guide explains whose land this is: the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples. We finish around lunchtime at Granville Island, where the Public Market is the easy place for lunch on your own, and the afternoon is free. Take the small ferries across False Creek, rent a bike for the seawall, browse Gastown, or simply rest before the road begins tomorrow. Dinner tonight is your choice.

   Included

   • Stanley Park with your guide: the Brockton Point totem poles and a walk on the seawall
   • Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia
   • Drop-off at Granville Island

   Optional experiences

   • Capilano Suspension Bridge Park
   • Bike hire on the seawall

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free in Vancouver

   Activity: About 2 hours on foot, on flat paths and museum floors.

   

3. Day 3: The Sea to Sky Highway to Whistler

   Vancouver to Squamish on the Sea to Sky Highway, then Whistler

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Whistler
   Day 3 details

   We leave mid-morning, after the commuter traffic, and take the Sea to Sky Highway north along the cliffs above Howe Sound, a fjord where the Coast Mountains drop straight into the sea. First stop is Shannon Falls, a few minutes' walk from the car park to a waterfall of about 335 metres. Next door, the Sea to Sky Gondola lifts us about 885 metres above the water in roughly ten minutes. At the top there are viewing decks over the sound, the Sky Pilot Suspension Bridge and easy forest loops, and we sit down to lunch at the summit lodge with the view. Back on the road we stop at Brandywine Falls, which drops about 70 metres into a basalt canyon, then roll into Whistler in the late afternoon: about 125 km and two hours of driving in all. Your guide leads a short walk around the car-free village, built for skiing and a co-host of the 2010 Winter Olympics, and the evening is free.

   Included

   • Shannon Falls
   • Sea to Sky Gondola in Squamish, with lunch at the summit lodge
   • Brandywine Falls
   • Orientation walk in Whistler Village

   Free time: Evening free in Whistler

   Activity: Short walks only, about 1.5 hours in total.

4. Day 4: Whistler: PEAK 2 PEAK and the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre

   Whistler Mountain and Blackcomb, then Whistler Village

   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Whistler
   Day 4 details

   We go up the mountain first, while the morning air is clearest. The Whistler Village Gondola carries us up Whistler Mountain, and from the Roundhouse we ride the PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola, about 4.4 km across the valley to Blackcomb and back, with the peaks and glaciers of Garibaldi Provincial Park to the south. Up top you choose your pace: the gentle loops near the Roundhouse, or the High Note Trail with your guide, about 9 km along a ridge above the turquoise Cheakamus Lake once the snow has cleared. We are down in the village by early afternoon for a guided visit to the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre, which introduces the two Nations who share this valley through carved canoes, weaving, a pit house and a longhouse, and whose café serves bannock. The rest of the day is free: swim at Lost Lake, see the Audain Art Museum, or find a patio on the Village Stroll and watch the mountain bikers come down.

   Included

   • Whistler Village Gondola and PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola
   • Guided visit to the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre

   Optional experiences

   • Audain Art Museum
   • Bike hire on the Valley Trail
   • Zipline tour

   Easier option: Stay on the short loops near the Roundhouse and ride PEAK 2 PEAK twice, once in a glass-floored cabin if you like.

   More active option: Hike the High Note Trail with your guide, about 9 km on a rocky alpine path, usually open from about mid-July.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free in Whistler

   Activity: Alpine paths at about 1,850 to 2,200 m; it can be cold and windy at the top even in summer.

5. Day 5: Over the Coast Mountains to Clearwater

   Whistler to Pemberton and the Duffey Lake Road, Lillooet, Marble Canyon and Kamloops, then north to Clearwater

   • Drive about 6 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Clearwater
   Day 5 details

   This is the trip's one long driving day: about 440 km and roughly six hours at the wheel. We could have split it with a one-night stop in Kamloops; we chose a second night in Clearwater instead and break the drive into short stretches. We leave Whistler at about 8:30 am, pass Pemberton and climb the Duffey Lake Road, steep and winding, with a stop on the shore of Duffey Lake. Near Lillooet we look down on Seton Lake, then sit down to lunch in Lillooet, Mile 0 of the old Cariboo Wagon Road of the gold rush. After lunch the country turns dry: sagebrush, benchlands and the limestone cliffs of Marble Canyon, where we walk to the shore of Crown Lake. Past Cache Creek we follow Kamloops Lake, then turn north up the North Thompson River to Clearwater, arriving around 5:30 pm. Dinner is included tonight.

   Included

   • Stops at Duffey Lake and the Seton Lake lookout
   • Sit-down lunch in Lillooet
   • Walk to Crown Lake in Marble Canyon Provincial Park
   • Kamloops Lake viewpoint
   • Dinner in Clearwater

   Activity: Longest drive of the trip, about 6 hours over the day with four stops, a sit-down lunch and no stretch longer than about 2 hours. The Duffey Lake Road has steep grades; tell us if you get carsick and we will seat you up front.

6. Day 6: Wells Gray: Spahats, Dawson and Helmcken Falls

   Clearwater up the Clearwater Valley Road into Wells Gray Provincial Park and back

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Clearwater
   Day 6 details

   A whole day for Wells Gray Provincial Park, a wilderness of old volcanoes, lava canyons and waterfalls north of Clearwater, reached on the paved Clearwater Valley Road, about 45 km each way to Helmcken Falls. We set off at about 8 am, before most day visitors, and stop first at Spahats Creek Falls, where a creek drops into a narrow canyon cut through layers of old lava flows. Further in, Dawson Falls spreads about 100 metres wide over a lava ledge, a short walk through the forest from the road. Then Helmcken Falls, where the Murtle River plunges about 141 metres into a bowl it has carved, one of the highest waterfalls in Canada; on sunny mornings rainbows hang in the spray. We come back to Clearwater for a sit-down lunch, and the afternoon is yours: rest, paddle on Dutch Lake at the edge of town, or hike with your guide to Moul Falls, where the path leads behind the curtain of water: about 130 km and two and a half hours of driving in the day with the Moul Falls trip. Dinner together.

   Included

   • Spahats Creek Falls
   • Dawson Falls
   • Helmcken Falls
   • Sit-down lunch in Clearwater
   • Dinner in Clearwater

   Optional experiences

   • Canoe or kayak hire on Dutch Lake
   • Rafting on the Clearwater River

   Easier option: Stay at the falls viewpoints in the morning, then take the afternoon off in Clearwater.

   More active option: Hike to Moul Falls with your guide in the afternoon, about 5 to 6 km return through forest, and walk behind the falls.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Clearwater

   Activity: Short walks to the three falls, about 2 hours on foot in the morning; the viewpoints are fenced but the paths can be uneven.

7. Day 7: Mount Robson and over Yellowhead Pass to Jasper

   Clearwater to Valemount and Mount Robson, then over Yellowhead Pass to Jasper

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Jasper
   Day 7 details

   We drive north up Highway 5 along the North Thompson River, through Blue River to Valemount, with the Monashee and Cariboo mountains closing in: about 320 km and three and three-quarter hours of driving, broken into three parts. Lunch is a sit-down stop in Valemount. A few minutes beyond, a short walk at Rearguard Falls leads to the rapids where, from about mid-August, chinook salmon try to leap upstream at the end of a journey of about 1,200 km from the Pacific. Then the Mount Robson visitor centre, below the highest peak of the Canadian Rockies at 3,954 metres; the summit is often in its own cloud, so we give it time. The road climbs gently to Yellowhead Pass and the Alberta border, where clocks go forward an hour and we enter Jasper National Park. We reach Jasper in the late afternoon, with some slopes near town still showing the 2024 fire, and the evening is free.

   Included

   • Sit-down lunch in Valemount
   • Rearguard Falls
   • Mount Robson visitor centre and viewpoint
   • Jasper National Park admission

   Free time: Evening free in Jasper

   Activity: Clocks move forward one hour at the British Columbia to Alberta border.

8. Day 8: Maligne Lake and Spirit Island

   Jasper to Medicine Lake and Maligne Lake, then back to Jasper

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Jasper
   Day 8 details

   After breakfast we drive the Maligne Road into the valley east of Jasper, where elk often graze along the verge. We stop at Medicine Lake, which has no surface outlet: it drains through sinkholes in its bed into an underground river, and by late summer it can shrink to mudflats and channels. At Maligne Lake, the largest natural lake in the Canadian Rockies, we board the cruise to Spirit Island, a small wooded island and a sacred place for the Stoney Nakoda, with peaks and glaciers on every side. Back on shore, the easy Mary Schäffer Loop follows the water past signs telling how Schäffer reached the lake in 1908 using a map drawn for her by Samson Beaver, a Stoney Nakoda hunter. Lunch is your choice at the lake. We are back in Jasper by mid-afternoon, and the rest of the day is free to walk the town, ride the SkyTram up Whistlers Mountain, or rest. Maligne Canyon was closed in 2026 after the fire; we confirm before departure.

   Included

   • Medicine Lake viewpoint
   • Maligne Lake cruise to Spirit Island
   • Walk on the Mary Schäffer Loop

   Optional experiences

   • Jasper SkyTram
   • Athabasca River float trip

   Easier option: The cruise and the flat Mary Schäffer Loop, about 3 km.

   More active option: If Parks Canada has the trail open (we confirm before departure), hike the Bald Hills trail above Maligne Lake with your guide, about 10 km return and 500 m of climbing, then take a later cruise; back in Jasper by about 5 pm.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Jasper

9. Day 9: The Icefields Parkway and the Athabasca Glacier

   Jasper to the Columbia Icefield on the Icefields Parkway, then Bow Summit, Bow Lake and Lake Louise

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Lake Louise
   Day 9 details

   Today is the drive: 233 km of the Icefields Parkway south along the spine of the Rockies, about three and a quarter hours at the wheel spread across the whole day. We stop at Athabasca Falls, where the river pours into a narrow gorge it has cut through hard rock, and at Sunwapta Falls, then climb to the Columbia Icefield, which feeds the Athabasca Glacier you can see from the road. Here you choose, and both are included: the Columbia Icefield Adventure, an Ice Explorer that drives onto the glacier for a walk on the ice plus the glass-floored Glacier Skywalk, or a guided icewalk of about three hours on the glacier with a certified glacier guide. Lunch is at the Icefield Centre. In the afternoon we cross Sunwapta Pass into Banff National Park, walk up to the Peyto Lake viewpoint near Bow Summit, the parkway's highest point at about 2,070 metres, and stop at Bow Lake below the Crowfoot Glacier before Lake Louise.

   Included

   • Athabasca Falls and Sunwapta Falls
   • Your choice: Columbia Icefield Adventure with the Glacier Skywalk, or a guided icewalk on the Athabasca Glacier
   • Lunch at the Columbia Icefield
   • Peyto Lake viewpoint and Bow Lake
   • Banff National Park admission

   Easier option: The Columbia Icefield Adventure: the Ice Explorer drives you onto the glacier, and the Skywalk is a level walkway.

   More active option: The guided icewalk: about three hours on the Athabasca Glacier with crampons supplied by the guides.

   Free time: Evening free in Lake Louise

   Activity: It is cold and windy on the glacier even in midsummer: bring a warm layer, gloves and sunglasses.

   

10. Day 10: Moraine Lake at first light, Lake Louise, then Banff

    Lake Louise village to Moraine Lake and Lake Louise by Parks Canada shuttle, then down the Bow Valley to Banff

    • Drive about 1 h
    • Breakfast
    • Stay in Banff
    Day 10 details

    An early start, and worth it. Private cars cannot drive the road to Moraine Lake, so we leave the hotel at about 4:30 am for the Lake Louise lakeshore and board a Parks Canada Alpine Start shuttle at about 5 am; Parks Canada releases the exact slots in spring and our team confirms yours. We reach Moraine Lake as first light reaches the Valley of the Ten Peaks, before the day crowds, and climb the short Rockpile trail for the view down the water. A packed breakfast comes with us, and a warm layer is essential: dawn at about 1,885 metres is cold even in July. The Lake Connector shuttle brings us to Lake Louise by mid-morning, below the Victoria Glacier. Now choose your pace: walk the flat lakeshore path, or hike up with your guide to the Lake Agnes Teahouse for tea and soup beside a small lake below the Beehive. Mid-afternoon we drive about 58 km down the Bow Valley to Banff, our base for the last two nights, and the evening is yours.

    Included

    • Parks Canada Alpine Start shuttle to Moraine Lake for sunrise
    • Lake Connector shuttle to Lake Louise
    • The Lake Louise lakeshore with your guide

    Optional experiences

    • Canoe hire on Lake Louise
    • Tea and food at the Lake Agnes Teahouse (paid there)

    Easier option: Walk the flat lakeshore path to the far end of Lake Louise and back, about 4 km.

    More active option: Hike to the Lake Agnes Teahouse with your guide, about 7 km return with about 400 m of climbing.

    Free time: Evening free in Banff

    Activity: The only pre-dawn start of the trip. Carry cash for the teahouse.

    

11. Day 11: Johnston Canyon, the Banff Gondola and the hot springs

    Banff to Johnston Canyon and back, then Sulphur Mountain

    • Drive about 1 h
    • Breakfast and dinner
    • Stay in Banff
    Day 11 details

    We leave Banff at about 8 am and drive half an hour up the Bow Valley to Johnston Canyon, still quiet at that hour. A paved path and steel catwalks fixed to the limestone walls climb gently about 1.1 km up the narrow canyon to the Lower Falls, where a short tunnel through the rock brings you into the spray. Keen walkers carry on to the taller Upper Falls, about 2.6 km from the trailhead, while the rest stroll back at their own pace. Back in Banff we ride the Banff Gondola up Sulphur Mountain, where a boardwalk along the summit ridge leads to a stone weather observatory built in 1903, with the town, the Bow River and Mount Rundle spread below. The afternoon is free, and your entry to the Banff Upper Hot Springs is included: the springs on this mountain are why Canada's first national park was created here in 1885. In the evening we sit down together for a farewell dinner.

    Included

    • Guided walk at Johnston Canyon
    • Banff Gondola up Sulphur Mountain
    • Banff Upper Hot Springs entry
    • Farewell dinner

    Optional experiences

    • Lake Minnewanka cruise
    • Canoe hire on the Bow River
    • Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies

    Easier option: Walk to the Lower Falls only, about 2.2 km return on a gentle path.

    More active option: Continue to the Upper Falls, about 5 km return from the trailhead.

    Free time: Afternoon free in Banff

    Activity: If the eastern Bow Valley Parkway is closed to vehicles, we reach Johnston Canyon by the Trans-Canada Highway and Castle Junction.

12. Day 12: Lake Minnewanka and out to Calgary

    Banff to Two Jack Lake and Lake Minnewanka, then east on the Trans-Canada Highway to Calgary International Airport

    • Drive about 2 h
    • Breakfast
    Day 12 details

    After breakfast we drive ten minutes out of town to Two Jack Lake, where on a still morning Mount Rundle stands reflected in the water, and on to the shore of Lake Minnewanka, the largest lake in Banff National Park, held behind a dam that drowned a small resort village in the 1940s. Bighorn sheep often wander along this road. Then we head east on the Trans-Canada Highway past Canmore and out through the mountain gap, where the Front Ranges end abruptly and the foothills roll down to the prairie. It is about 160 km and an hour and three-quarters to Calgary International Airport (YYC), arriving around 1 pm, so please book a flight leaving after 3 pm. If you are staying on in Calgary, your guide can drop you in the city instead; ask when you book. Your See Sight Tours guide sees you to the terminal and says goodbye.

    Included

    • Two Jack Lake and Lake Minnewanka
    • Drop-off at Calgary International Airport (YYC)

    Activity: Book a flight leaving Calgary after about 3 pm.

Wildlife and weather: Summer days in the valleys are often 20 to 25°C and Kamloops and Lillooet can be hotter, but dawn at Moraine Lake and the wind on the Athabasca Glacier are cold even in July, so pack layers and a rain jacket for afternoon showers. Smoke from distant wildfires can haze the views on some days in July and August. Snow can linger on high trails into July. Elk are likely around Jasper; black bears, grizzly bears, mountain goats and bighorn sheep are possible from the road but never guaranteed, and chinook salmon reach Rearguard Falls from about mid-August.

• Vancouver2 nights
• Whistler2 nights
• Clearwater2 nights
• Jasper2 nights
• Lake Louise1 night
• Banff2 nights