The Canadian Rockies
One of the most dramatic vistas I have ever seen is the first views of the Rockies as you approach them from Calgary .It is truly breath-taking. The majesty of the mountains is the perfect place for a walking activity-based holiday.
Practicalities
Travel to Canada
You don’t need a visa to visit Canada from the UK or EU but you do need to get an electronic Travel Authorization. This costs just CAD7 and is easy to do online
Passes
You need a pass to enter Banff, Jasper & Yoho National Parks. You can do this in advance. If you are spending more than 7 days in the parks it is worth buying the Discovery Pass which gives you access to all of them
Climate
Despite being there in August it still gets cool in the morning and evening (4-5°C) so you need to pack warm clothes for the evenings and for hiking
Plugs
Canada uses the same plugs as the USA type A or B. The RV’s have plug sockets and you can use either plug in them – ie the 2 flat pin type A or the 2 flat pin and one round pin Type B, the type A 2 flat pins will fit into a Type B socket. The RV’s also have USB sockets and therefore phones/ipads can be charged directly from those sockets.
Transport
Calgary is the airport that you fly into. In my opinion the best way to explore the Rockies is in a Recreational vehicle or RV as they are known. The Rockies are perfectly set up for RV’s and the campsites are ideal places to stay. This is also coming from someone who is not a great fan of camping but the RV actually added to the whole enjoyment of the trip.
There are lots of rental options we used Canadream and they served our needs very well. Transfer at the airport was efficient – They picked us from the airport and took us to their depot where they showed us all we needed to know before setting off. We were a couple and the Deluxe Van Camper was ideal.
Campgrounds
As we had an RV we stayed in campgrounds (Parks Canada and Privately owned). There is a big difference between the two – Parks Canada are all well looked after, and there is a ample space between each RV. To stay at Parks Canada campsites, you’ll need to find out when the booking for the campsites places go live (from memory they launch for the high season in March) and be on the website as soon as they become available (a similar experience to trying for Glastonbury tickets!). You need to create an account before reserving so it is worth doing that before the bookings go live. The slots get booked up in a space of minutes so have your itinerary planned first and act fast, because if you cannot get your campsite this may impact the route of your trip. We were booking at peak time at the height of summer but I imagine spots are in high demand all year round.
Hiking
Walking is certainly one of the reasons to come to the Rockies. For planning routes AllTrails are very easy to use. In the basic form this is a free app to sign up to and which shows lots of walks with information about distance, elevation and degree of difficulty. The paid version allows you to download the map onto your phone to avoid the worry of losing signal in the mountains.
