CANADA 2019 august

[MischiefManaged]

Hi all,


I am currently pricing Canada up for this August looking on flying to Calgary and driving around the national parks for two weeks. Does anyone have any recommendations for best prices? Best itinerary?

Any companies that do fab packages?

Appreciate all the help we can get and thanks in advance xxx

[dizzymcfarlane]

We’ve used company called Canadian Affair before. Very good.

[janey2000]

Just for info, if you are thinking of Banff you might find accomodation will be booked out already, it seems to book up super early for summer season.

[jocat]

Originally Posted by janey2000

Just for info, if you are thinking of Banff you might find accomodation will be booked out already, it seems to book up super early for summer season.

See more...

We found the same for Jasper.

To the OP, do you definitely want to book a package or are you interested in booking your accommodation separately? If separately, I’d try to plan out a rough itinerary and have a look for accommodation in those places asap.

We struggled for choice in some places several months in advance (mainly Banff and Jasper), but we did want to stay in the towns themselves, so we could walk out to restaurants in the evenings. If you’re happy to stay in surrounding towns though, you should be able to find somewhere suitable.

We did DIY for our trip, but you can look at custom building a trip with BA holidays. We’ve done that before. You can add car to it plus pick and choose dates for individual hotels, leaving gaps for any accommodation you can find a better price for elsewhere.

[katiec68]

Canadian affair always seem to be very good - although ive not used them myself I do look at their costings and they seem reasonable.

Having done that area a lot in the winter summer is a completely different ball game - especially in August.

You'll probably find its 100% occupancy everywhere - have you seen the famous video of the Tokyo crossing where its rammed each way?
Its like that!

We've been told you can even see the pavements in the summer.

To give you an idea - there is a teeny tiny Pandora shop - its soo small its within the front window of another shop! It is THE biggest selling Pandora shop in the WHOLE OF NORTH AMERICA!

If you can put your trip back to September it will be cheaper and quieter.

IT is the most beautiful place in the world - we've been 7/8 times and absolutely love it.
We love Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper - there are a couple of really good threads on what to do and where to go.

xx

[brindle]

We have booked it all diy. Flights with airtransat. Hotel in Canmore and Airbnb for other nights.😊

[Gunna]

We did DIY last July - absolutely amazing place, stunning scenery and one of the best trips we’ve ever done.

We did book hotels in some places over 12 months out, it gets booked quickly and you may find not much choice left in some towns as you get nearer to August. We did a mix of hotels, apartments and condos. This allowed us to eat out and in and worked well plus we were able to do sandwiches for lunchtimes.

In some places it was busy but I wouldn’t say it was rammed. Certainly not on a par with a busy Disney day. If you plan well and are organised I’m sure you’d be able to see lots but you need to book some things in advance.

There is a link to my trip report in my signature and both Jocat (posted above) and another dibber called parisdisneyfan wrote a couple of really good trip reports too.

Feel free to ask any questions. We flew Air transat who were great and everything we booked ourselves worked out fine.

[MischiefManaged]

Hi,

we are all booked now using your advice we decided it was best to a DIY holiday. Prices were ok. got flights from manchester with 1 stop for roughly 700pp. We have decided on two nights in Vancouver, 2 night stop over in Kamloops, 4 nights in jasper, 4 nights in Banff and 2 nights in Calgary. I am so excited. We have a mix of hotels and b&b's. We too wanted to be close to town to go for a bite to eat and a few drinks in the night time. Very excited. Still a choice for accodmation. Happy overall. Thanks everyone xxx

[katiec68]

Originally Posted by MischiefManaged

Hi,

we are all booked now using your advice we decided it was best to a DIY holiday. Prices were ok. got flights from manchester with 1 stop for roughly 700pp. We have decided on two nights in Vancouver, 2 night stop over in Kamloops, 4 nights in jasper, 4 nights in Banff and 2 nights in Calgary. I am so excited. We have a mix of hotels and b&b's. We too wanted to be close to town to go for a bite to eat and a few drinks in the night time. Very excited. Still a choice for accodmation. Happy overall. Thanks everyone xxx

See more...

What hotels did you decide on in Banff and Jasper?

Jasper - we love siting in the window of the Bear Paw bakery opposite the rail station and just taking it all in.

You can also walk up from town to the Fairmont! Ot goes round the back of the town rather than the bus route - ITs a lovely walk x

[MischiefManaged]

Originally Posted by katiec68

What hotels did you decide on in Banff and Jasper?

Jasper - we love siting in the window of the Bear Paw bakery opposite the rail station and just taking it all in.

You can also walk up from town to the Fairmont! Ot goes round the back of the town rather than the bus route - ITs a lovely walk x

See more...

We are staying in Bear cub Lodging in Jasper and Blue mountain in Banff - fitted to our budget and really good reviews. Im so excited! I will definitely have to check that cafe out. We bought a GO PRO 2 years ago with the hope of going, always been a dream x x