Itinerary · 12 days · 50 places
12 Days in Canada
Twelve days from the Pacific to the Rockies: first Vancouver with Stanley Park and the suspension bridges of the North Shore, then Banff, Lake Louise and Yoho, and finally up the Icefields Parkway to Jasper and Maligne Lake.
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Photo: Roman Lukyanenko · Pexels
The route on the map
The plan, day by day
Day 1Arrival in Vancouver — harbour & Gastown
Arrival in Vancouver
Hotel check-in
A base in Coal Harbour between Downtown and the waterfront, from where Stanley Park and Gastown are within walking distance.
Canada Place & Coal Harbour Seawall
The sail-shaped cruise terminal and the waterfront promenade, with views of the floatplanes and the mountains of North Vancouver.
Day 2Stanley Park & Downtown
Stanley Park Seawall
The waterfront path around the city forest passes the Lions Gate Bridge, with views of the harbour, ocean giants and the Coast Mountains.
Totem poles at Brockton Point
Nine painted poles of the Northwest Coast First Nations stand on the headland, with the lighthouse behind.
Granville Island Public Market
Market hall under the bridge with salmon stalls, crates of berries and bakeries, where the little Aquabus ferries dock out front.
English Bay Beach
City beach with driftwood logs and the A-maze-ing Laughter figures, with freighters anchored out in the roadstead.
Vancouver Art Gallery
In the old courthouse hangs the largest collection of Emily Carr's forest scenes and totem pole paintings.
Evening: Robson Street
The shopping street stays open late, interspersed with izakayas and bubble tea shops of the Japanese and Taiwanese community.
Day 3North Vancouver — suspension bridges & Grouse Mountain
Capilano Suspension Bridge Park
The 137-metre suspension bridge sways 70 metres above the canyon, plus the treetop walk and the Cliffwalk along the rock face.
Grouse Mountain Skyride
The gondola climbs to 1,100 metres in eight minutes; at the top two grizzlies live in a refuge enclosure and the city spreads out below like a map.
Lynn Canyon Park
Free suspension bridge in the rainforest above Lynn Creek, with the swimming holes of the Thirty Foot Pool below.
Lonsdale Quay Market
Market hall at the ferry terminal with views across Burrard Inlet back to the Downtown skyline.
Evening: Shipyards District
The old shipyard is now a promenade with beer halls, water features and an illuminated crane jib on the quay.
Day 4On into the Rockies — Banff
Onward to Banff
Hotel check-in
Banff Avenue & Cascade Gardens
The main street ends with a view of Cascade Mountain; at its southern end lie the terraced gardens by the old administration building.
Bow Falls
Wide, roaring rapids below the Fairmont Banff Springs; a short riverside path leads right up to the spray.
Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies
Paintings, photos and climbing gear tell how railway builders and mountaineers opened up the valley.
Evening: Banff Upper Hot Springs
Hot spring at 1,585 metres; from the 40-degree pool you look out at Mount Rundle in the evening.
Day 5Sulphur Mountain & Lake Minnewanka
Banff Gondola up Sulphur Mountain
Eight minutes by gondola to 2,281 metres, with a boardwalk at the top to the weather station and a panorama over six mountain ranges.
Cascade Ponds
Small ponds with a wooden bridge and picnic spots beneath Cascade Mountain, popular with local families.
Lake Minnewanka boat cruise
One-hour cruise across the 21-kilometre reservoir to Devil's Gap, often with bighorn sheep on the shore along the way.
Two Jack Lake
Quiet neighbouring lake with a shingle beach, where Mount Rundle is reflected in almost unruffled water.
Evening: Vermilion Lakes at sunset
Three shallow lakes west of town; the road ends at jetties from which you can watch Mount Rundle in the evening glow.
Day 6Bow Valley Parkway & Johnston Canyon
Johnston Canyon Lower & Upper Falls
Steel catwalks cling to the narrow limestone gorge, with the two waterfalls after 1.2 and 2.7 kilometres.
Silverton Falls
Short, little-used climb from the Rockbound Lake car park to a narrow fall over dark rock.
Castle Mountain viewpoint
The battlement-like limestone massif rises 1,500 metres above the valley, with the Bow River meandering through gravel bars in front.
Morant's Curve
Canada's most famous railway view: the curve of track along the Bow River against the range of Mount Temple.
Evening: Bow River trail in Banff
The lit path from the Bow River footbridge to the road bridge, where beavers often swim and, in summer, elk graze on the bank.
Day 7Springs, canyon & hoodoos
Cave and Basin National Historic Site
Canada's national park history began in this sulphur cave in 1885; the rare Banff Springs snail lives in the warm marsh.
Sundance Canyon
Paved riverside path followed by a loop through a wooded ravine with small cascades.
Tunnel Mountain Trail
Switchbacks up the town's own mountain, with Banff spread out below in the valley between the Bow River and Mount Rundle.
Hoodoos viewpoint
Erosion pillars of cemented gravel stand above the Bow River, with a boardwalk running along the edge.
Evening: Banff Avenue at night
Once the day visitors have gone, sit out on the terraces of Bear Street with a view up the main street to the mountain.
Day 8On to Lake Louise & Moraine Lake
Onward to Lake Louise
Hotel check-in
Lake Louise shoreline trail
The turquoise glacial lake lies beneath the Victoria Glacier, and the flat path follows the shore to the scree field at the far end.
Moraine Lake & Rockpile
From the rock barrier above the lake you see the Valley of the Ten Peaks — the image on the old twenty-dollar note.
Fairview Lookout
Short forest climb opposite the Chateau; from the platform the whole lake lies below you.
Evening: Bow River Loop Trail
Flat riverside path on the edge of the village, where deer and elk come out of the forest to the river in the evening.
Day 9Yoho National Park
Spiral Tunnels viewpoint
From the information board by the highway you can watch a freight train disappear into the mountain and emerge again lower down.
Natural Bridge over the Kicking Horse
Instead of flowing over the limestone barrier, the river has bored through it, and the water shoots through the hole in the rock.
Emerald Lake
Five-kilometre loop around the greenest lake in the Rockies, with canoes for hire by the bridge.
Takakkaw Falls
A 254-metre free fall from the Daly Glacier, whose spray reaches the path long before the plunge pool.
Evening: Herbert Lake at night
Small lake with no street lighting at the start of the Icefields Parkway — a bench, silence and a very clear starry sky.
Day 10Icefields Parkway to Jasper
Onward to Jasper
Hotel check-in
Valley of the Five Lakes
Loop trail past five lakes, each a different colour from turquoise to ink blue.
Old Fort Point
Rocky knoll above the Athabasca River, from the top of which you see the little town, the river and the range as far as Mount Edith Cavell.
Pyramid Lake & Pyramid Island
A wooden footbridge leads to the small island in the lake, with the rust-red Pyramid Mountain behind.
Evening: Connaught Drive in Jasper
The station street with its totem pole, pubs and elk traffic on the edge of town — even in the evening Jasper remains a railway village.
Day 11Maligne Valley & Spirit Island
Medicine Lake
In autumn the lake drains away completely into an underground cave system and fills up again in spring.
Maligne Lake boat cruise to Spirit Island
90 minutes across the largest glacial lake in the Rockies to the tiny pine-covered peninsula in front of the mountains.
Mary Schäffer Loop
Flat shoreline trail to the spot from which the traveller mapped the lake in 1908, with panels telling her story.
Moose Lake Loop
Quiet detour to a pond in the spruce forest where moose really do stand in the mornings and evenings.
Evening: Lac Beauvert
Turquoise loop trail at Jasper Park Lodge, where wapiti graze on the neighbouring golf course in the evening.
Day 12Athabasca Falls & journey home
Athabasca Falls
Some 30 kilometres south of Jasper the Athabasca River squeezes through a narrow quartzite gorge and plunges 24 metres; walkways and bridges lead right up to the spray — Maligne Canyon has been closed since the 2024 wildfire.
Departure from Jasper
Make it your trip
Viatro AI opens this plan in the app — with map, travel times and opening hours. You change the days, pace and places yourself.
