mikeamend5312

My wife and I will be spending a few days in Vancouver and then take 2 days to drive to Banff for another few days in September. We'd love some feedback on a possible itinerary for our drive to Banff. We understand it's about a 9.5 - 10 hour drive. We'd love your suggestions on what to see along the drive (towns, hikes, side trips, etc). For now the most critical part is "where to stay". I'd like to nail that down first but other suggestions are very appreciated.

To give you some idea on what type of things interests us... Revelstoke looked like a really beautiful place that hit a lot of our wish list items... sitting in the mountains, smaller town, nice hotels, hikes nearby, etc. Having said that, we're novices to the region and know there are many other possibilities. We'd want to stay at a decent hotel as well.

Any thoughts and advice would be appreciated.

Thanks all!

janisj

Welcome to Fodors. "We understand it's about a 9.5 - 10 hour drive. " Maybe Google Map strikes again?? I'd count on a minimum of 11 hours - 10.5 if you're lucky. I've only driven it once and in the reverse direction -- hopefully some of out Can/NW US Fodorites will see your questions.

I personally think Revelstoke might be too far for the stop over because it is about 7 hours from Vancouver -- but we stopped in Kamloops and just drove through Revelstoke so I don't really know much about it. We thought Kamloops would be good but it was more than six hours out of Banff and we probably should have stopped earlier. (Maybe in Revelstoke )

mikeamend5312

Thanks for your reply and thoughts.

T4Tim

If two days is all you have and are ok with being windshield tourists, then Revelstoke makes the most sense for the over night. At least you get to spend half a day in the town that caught your attention, before the three hour, or so, drive to Banff.

IF you think Revelstoke is too far, which to most BC folks is not, then look at Salmon Arm or Sicamous.

Kamloops is only a bed stop, nothing else and most hotels in Revelstoke are decent; they have to be or social media would kill them.

BC_Robyn

There are dozens of ways to get between Vancouver and Banff and each one has pros and cons, but mostly pros.

Personally, I would take Hwy 1 from Vancouver east through the Fraser Valley and then to the retro town of Hope and then choose Hwy 3 (known locally as the Crowsnest Highway) through Manning Park in the Cascade Mountains (a fantastic hiking destination but you can use it as a picnic stop), then descend out of the mountains into the beautiful arid Similkameen Valley (excellent wineries and fruit stands especially in September) and then into Osoyoos in the Okanagan Valley, an area famous for its lakes, hot summer weather, fruit orchards and wineries. Again, a gorgeous place to spend an evening in September. Spend the night in Osoyoos somewhere like the Watermark Beach Resort and have dinner at their 15 Park Bistro. Or have dinner at Tinhorn Creek Winery's restaurant, Miradoro, a short drive away.

The next day, head east along Hwy 3 up out of the arid Okanagan Valley and back into the forested Monashee mountains of the Kootenays through the historic town of Greenwood and over the Columbia River in Castlegar and then a short distant east, spend the night in Nelson, one of the most charming mountain towns in all of BC. I prefer it over Revelstoke. Fantastic restaurants, cafes, breweries, art galleries, quirky shops and over 100 historic buildings on Kootenay Lake. It has a wonderful energy, a real strong community of artists and outdoorsy lifestyle folk, and some great little hikes nearby, like Pulpit Rock.

The next morning, get out on the road early and head east along Hwy 3 to Cranbrook and drive up Hwy 3 to the Columbia Valley in the Rocky Mountain trench all the way up to Radium Hot Springs. For a short hike on this drive, I always like the quick walk up to the Fairmont Hoodoos. Connect to Hwy 1 and Banff is the next stop.

In short, Vancouver to Osoyoos (spend the night) then Osoyoos to Nelson (spend the night), then Nelson to Banff. I find this route much more interesting than taking Hwy 1 to Kamloops and up to Revelstoke to Banff.

There is no bad route, just quicker routes, slower routes, and so on. Vancouver to Hope to Kamloops to Revelstoke to Banff is the main trucking route and is the well-travelled beaten pathmand it's faster so people often do it all in one day. Hwy 3 is a bit slower but more interesting so it's a trade off and totally doable at a leisurely pace over two days. Three summers ago I drove from Vancouver to Nelson in one go, stopping in Osoyoos around lunch to get gas and arrived in Nelson by 4pm.

But regardless of the route, when you travel west to east through British Columbia, you're driving up and over many different mountain ranges, and as you descend out of the mountains and into the next valley, you enter a new ecosystem with a different climate than the previous place, and the landscapes are always changing. Whatever route you choose will be beautiful and scenic with hundreds of hikes and towns to explore and things to see and do. You'll have to come back again and again and again to see it all. You could spend literally weeks between Vancouver and Banff exploring all the different valleys, towns, cities, parks, hikes, etc.

Finally, take a look at Destination BC's new Rainforest to Rockies webpage. It's basically an entire webpage devoted to all the routes you can take between Vancouver and Banff (or Jasper) in the Rockies: https://www.hellobc.com/places-to-go...st-to-rockies/

Enjoy!

p.s. I linked to all the official tourism websites for these places in case it helps give you more ideas!

janisj

BC_Robyn: So much great info -- I'm going to bookmark that and file it away for my next visit

However just for my clarification and maybe I misunderstood . . . but your route is a two night / three full day journey and I took the OP to mean they are doing it in just one night/two days??