Wandering through West-Canada: Travel Tips

Summer is barely over and if you’re anything like me, you’re probably already dreaming and/or planning your next vacation. If Canada is on your bucket list, this blogpost might just be your next travel inspiration.

The first two weeks of September were all about the Canadian Rockies. Together with my boyfriend , I spent my time being on the roads and in the woods of West-Canada. Some roads were covered in snow, while others were covered in wildlife, but all roads were surrounded by beautiful nature. Pretty impressive when coming all the way from Belgium where urbanization is becoming a national concept.

Travel itinerary :

(Belgium)
(Paris)
Calgary
Banff
Jasper – Hinton – Jasper
Revelstoke
Kelowna
Vancouver
(Paris)
(Belgium)

Travel tip: Make sure to check when it is the best time to book your flights. An easy way to do this is through the Hopper app. This application predicts when airfare prices are at their lowest, and notifies you when the timing is perfect to book.

Since starting off our journey in Paris was cheaper than flying out of Belgium, we added a little citytrip to our travel schedule. After a lovely stroll downtown Paris we hopped on a plane towards Calgary, got our rental car and after a good night’s sleep we were ready to start our journey. Off to Banff National Park!

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Banff National Park

To reduce costs, we decided to camp the first week. We stayed at the Two Jack Lakeside Campground the first night, close to the village center of Banff. The other two nights we spent in Banff National park were at the Lake Louise Campground. There are plenty of campgrounds all around the national park.
Travel tip: If you’re looking at camping, you can find and reserve your spot on forehand by checking the Parks Canada Reservation Service website.

If you follow me on Instagram you might have already seen that we got caught in a little blizzard. Due to the snowfall, and freezing temperatures, we cancelled the following nights of camping and booked ourselves some hotels. Even though I wasn’t keen of camping before leaving, I was a little disappointed we couldn’t continue our little outdoor adventure. The registered camping sites are well equipped, nice bathrooms and hot showers. When the weather co-operates, camping is the ultimate road trip experience.

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To Do:

Lake Moraine The first lake that probably comes to mind when you hear about West Canada, is Lake Louise. But truth be said, Lake Moraine is worth mentioning before Lake Louise. Personally, I thought this was the prettiest lake I’ve ever seen before. The icy blue water, the mountains surrounding it: a picture perfect setting. If you’re planning on canoeing, this is the place to do so. Prices are not cheap, but the view you get from the lake is worth it. The hike we did here was Larch Valley, know for its yellow colored trees. Travel tip: Make sure to wake up and leave (very) early. Parking near the lake is limited. If can’t get a spot, no worries, there is an overflow parking that works with shuttle busses.

Lake Moraine

Larch Valley

2. Lake Louise

Waking up early is recommended as well when wanting to visit Lake Louise. There is more parking available than at Lake Moraine, so if you want to sleep in just a (very) tiny bit this is the lake to be.
A hike worth doing is ‘The plane of six glaciers’. You start off at the edge of the lake, make your way through the woods, all the way up to the top. The entire hike, round tour, takes about 5 hours. The view up there is incredible, and if you’re lucky (like we were) you might even see an avalanche in the valley. Travel tip: Be aware of sudden weather changes when doing this hike. Since the great climb in altitude, the weather down at the lake can be drastically different from the one at the top. Wear layers, take a raincoat with you, and certainly don’t forget your water bottle.

Lake Louise

Plane of six glaciers

Jasper national park

The Icefield parkway will get you all the way from Banff to Jasper. As I said before we had our fair share of snowfall, which made it feel like a winter wonderland, but also had us change our plans. We were planning on visiting the Athabasca Glacier on our way to Jasper, unfortunately we had to reschedule this. Since we were returning the same way, we decided to visit the glacier on our way back to Revelstoke.

Maligne canyon

This canyon is more than 50m deep. All around the canyon are trails that will guide your way through the woods. This is a very easygoing hike with a nice view, perfect when wanting to take a break from all the intens hiking.

2. Maligne Lake

Want to spot wildlife? Start your day off early by driving towards Maligne lake. This road is known for spotting wildlife such as moose, goats and even bears when lucky (like we did!!). Be careful when driving, since a lot of the wildlife enjoys licking the salt off the roads.

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black bearUp for a hike, The Bald hills Hike will keep you busy for quiet a while. An 11km round trip that offers the best views of Maligne Lake (when the weather is clear and not foggy that is indeed). Since it snowed very hard the night before we did this hike, the path wasn’t always that easy to follow, luckily there were plenty of arrows in the ground guiding the way.
Fun Fact : The bald hills are called ‘bald’ since there are almost no trees when crossing a certain height.
Travel Tip : don’t be fooled by a name, this hike might contain the term ‘hill’ but don’t underestimate the trip. You will end up on top of an actual mountain with steep ridges, so watch your step and enjoy the view!

maligne lake

bald hills

3. Miette hot springs

What better way to relax after a long, tiring day than to soak your muscle pain away in one of West-Canada’s hot springs? Up for a little thrill, jump into one of the cold water pools.

4. Athabasca Glacier

This glacier is located along the Icefield parkway. There is a giant visitor’s center where you can book a glacier adventure trip. During this trip they’ll take you up on the glacier, where you have time to walk around and take in nature’s beauty. Travel tip : When you do this trip it’s recommended to take the first trip of the day. You’ll be alone on the glacier, afterwards a ton of tourists will join you. The view is better without a hundred people trying to get in your way.
After your glacier tour you’ll travel in group to the glacier skywalk. A glass bridge that hangs over the valley. Not for people who are afraid of heights.

Revelstoke

We spent 2 nights in this town and slept in an incredible guesthouse, Journey’s Perch Guesthouse. Since we were a little exhausted from the past days we mostly just drove around to take in the surroundings. We did a couple of short hikes near Pyramid Mountain and the Giant Cedar boardwalk trail, but other than that we just relaxed. The weather wasn’t that great either otherwise we probably would have ended up going to an adventure park.

Kelowna

The must do thing in the Kelowna region is visiting a vineyard. Okanagan valley is know for its wineries and fruit orchids. We visited the Vibrant Vine winery, and after our very first wine tasting ever we ended up going back to our hostel with two bottles of great wine.

If you’re up for a hike, Myra Canyon is a great spot. It’s an easygoing trail that will guide you over the canyon. The fun part is that the bridges are made out of the old rail-tracks that used to be there.

Vancouver

We all know the saying, saving the best for last, but unfortunately this wasn’t the case. Vancouver was my least favorite stop of our travels. Maybe because the weather wasn’t cooperating the way we wanted, but also because it wasn’t the cleanest city I’ve been to. A lot of homeless people were gathered in groups along the sidewalks, bothering you every second if you had some spare change for them. When the night fell I wasn’t feeling safe while walking around the city.

Gastown, Vancouver’s oldest neighborhood, was the highlight in this city. This part of town was very clean, in comparison to all the rest. The neighborhood felt alive and the Victorian buildings created a certain vibe that I wish to have seen all over Vancouver.

We also rented a bike for the day and took off to the largest Public park of Vancouver. Stanley park is a huge public park that has a lot of walking and biking trails. This is definitely an activity I would recommend. In an hour or two can cross the entire park and there are many stops and look out points. We also had a whale watching trip planned but this unfortunately got cancelled due to bad weather. Make sure, if you want to do one of these tours, to book on forehand and check the weather.

Stanley Park

Gastown steam clock

Stanley park

If we had more time we would have probably added Vancouver Island to our trip. We’ve heard (and read) great things about it, but since I had to go back to school this wasn’t possible. Seems like I have to go back another time!

Travel tip: Not fond of camping? Then the Samesun Backpackers Hostel might be your thing. We stayed at this Hostel in both Kelowna and Vancouver. It’s a really nice hostel I would surely recommend. They have accommodations all over West-Canada, which means you can do this trip and stay at their Hostels the entire time. They also have a lot of prescheduled activities, which is great when you don’t know what to do a day.