Rockies 

Vancouver and Victoria 

Secondly I have to say what a great tour manager Brian Croft is and also our Canadian coach driver John was brilliant too. They both had us all in stitches laughing and became part of the group with us. Also Brian is super organized and efficient with everything and kept us entertained (when he wasn't making us laugh) with reading out facts about the places we were visiting and the wildlife etc. Also with pointing out places to eat and suggestions as to what to do with our free time.

This holiday was amazing, probably the best holiday I've ever had. I love mountains and the scenery in the Rockies was absolutely breathtaking.

Banff

This was our first stop for 3 nights in a nice hotel about 15 mins walk from the centre of town. Banff is a lovely place, so clean with the mountains as a backdrop at the end of every street and even though its geared up for tourists it wasn't busy at all really. We were driven round to see some of the sights like Bow Falls and the Hoodoos and then had our first optional excursion.

Banff Gondala (cable car)- Definitely worth doing this, its only a little 4 seater thing but the views at the top were amazing, looking over the mountains and down to Banff.

Helicopter ride- This was one of the highlights of the trip. It was my first time in a helicopter and I almost didn't go because it is so expensive but I'm so glad I did. They were only small, 4 people + the pilot and took us right into the mountains, over the pristine white snow, where we saw still frozen and azure lakes. It really was a once in a lifetime thing to see the mountains from the air like that.

Lake Louise- Our 2nd day was another optional trip to Lake Louise although I think everyone went. I thought it would just be the one lake but we stopped of at soooo many places on this excursion, its such good value for money. This included my favourite sightseeing place on the holiday, Moraine Lake. This place is just breathtaking. The road had only been open for a few weeks because of the harsh winter they had, and the lake was still partly frozen, which just added to its stunningness, with a patch of ice in the middle of the turquoise water surrounded by the mountain peaks. Lake Louise in contrast seemed alot more busy and touristy and the turquoise colour was only really visible after walking about 30 mins to the opposite end of the lake.

Jasper

The next day was the drive up to Jasper where we stayed for 2 nights, the hotel was a bit further out although still within walking distance of the town, although we didn't really get time to look round after doing all the optional excursions. On the way there we stopped off at the Columbia Icefield. The weather had closed in and it was misty and rainy/sleety and freezing cold, although that didn't really matter with the ice explorer ride.

Ice Explorer- Another optional trip and another I'd recommend. You go in the huge 5ft high wheeled buses right out onto the glacier, although its limited where you can actually walk for safety, being able to say I've walked on a glacier is not something alot of people can say though I would think. On the drive there the driver told us all about how the glacier carves its path out and where the water flows, which was really interesting.

The next day we had a short tour around the lakes, with Patricia Lake being another of my favourites. Even though it was still cloudy the reflections in the lake are unreal, they look they they've been photoshopped almost. So beautiful. After that there were 2 more optional excursions, the rafting and a guided walk.

Rafting- I found this to be such good fun and a real laugh. Although Brian was really apologetic as because of all the rain and a landslide up river what he had described as rafting for softies turned into a proper white water experience in parts, which I loved even more. He said in all the time he's been doing this trip he's never seen it like that before and its normally calm. Everyone got soaked which was ok since it was raining anyway and we were already wet and the raft driver did a good job of making sure everyone got almost equally splashed!

Guided Walk, Edith Cavell- We were really lucky with this as the trail had literally just opened when we started the holiday and it was interesting with the guide taking us up to view Angel Glacier and telling us all about it. Although it was quite a long drive to get there and the walk itself was only about 30 mins there and back with an easy concrete path to follow but because of the altitude you do have to take it easy going up as it is quite steep.

Vancouver and Victoria

The hotel in Vancouver was pretty nice and in an excellent location. Its quite a small but densely packed city and you can walk almost everywhere. I think it took us around 20 mins to walk from the hotel to Canada Place the other side of town. Also English Bay and the harbour with the small boats is only a 5 or 10 min walk from the hotel which is a really nice place for eating. You even get a free 1 way ferry ticket to Granville Island.

North Shore Excursion- Although I enjoyed this I can't help thinking it is a little bit over priced for only an afternoon trip (its over £100). But maybe that's because the weather let us down a little bit again with the top of Grouse Mountain, which we reached in a huge standing up cable car, being really misty you couldn't see anything of the views. The suspension bridge was fun though, and it being quite busy was pretty wobbly. At the other side of the bridge there's a tree top walk made up of lots of little wobbly bridges which was nice walking through the huge trees.

Our day trip to Victoria the next day was quite an early start, 7:30 on the coach to get the ferry across. Its about a 90 min crossing but nice views once you get into the islands. Victoria itself was beautiful with flower baskets everywhere, as were the Butchart Gardens and we had blue skies for once which helped. The only thing is most people were saying they wished we had longer here on the island, staying overnight for a night or 2 as we did feel a bit rushed round because we had to get back for the ferry and it was such a nice place.

On the day we flew home our flight wasn't due until 8:40pm so we had most of the day as free time in Vancouver, a nice bonus I wasn't aware of when I booked. Our suitcases were collected from our rooms and kept in storage since we had to check out by 11am so we didn't have to worry about them. Some of us decided to try the float plane tours we'd seen advertised round the cruise terminals. So we arrived at about 9:45 and after scaring off 2 chinese american tourists who thought they had the plane to themselves, we almost walked straight onto the plane at 10! There were 6 of us in a little 12 seater plane and it was brilliant, so fun and even though the weather was cloudy and the mountains were too misty to fly over, the pilot took us out over the bay instead then over the city giving amazing views.

Overall this holiday really surpassed my expectations, breathtaking scenery, fun and varied excursions where we were always busy but without feeling too rushed, a super excellent tour manager and coach driver and and really nice people in the group who I had alot of laughs with. Will definitely want to go back again someday! I'd 100% not hesitate to recommend it to anyone thinking of going.

WOW stunning photos looks an amazing tour, so glad you got to do your 1st Helo ride, they are amazing and also the other small plane flight, I know they are expensive, but if you can I think they are always worth it.

Thank you for your review, sounds like you had a great tour, with good manager and driver.

Cindy

I am going on this trip on the 23rd Sept and have to say after reading your review I am even more excited! Just one question how much money did you take with you? I am not to sure how much to take or whether to just put most of it on my card.

Many thanks

Hayley

Firstly here's my pictures from the trip, I tried to edit them down a bit but I took so many it was too hard, we did and saw so much! (posted on Flickr)

Rockies 

Vancouver and Victoria 

Secondly I have to say what a great tour manager Brian Croft is and also our Canadian coach driver John was brilliant too. They both had us all in stitches laughing and became part of the group with us. Also Brian is super organized and efficient with everything and kept us entertained (when he wasn't making us laugh) with reading out facts about the places we were visiting and the wildlife etc. Also with pointing out places to eat and suggestions as to what to do with our free time.

This holiday was amazing, probably the best holiday I've ever had. I love mountains and the scenery in the Rockies was absolutely breathtaking.

Banff

This was our first stop for 3 nights in a nice hotel about 15 mins walk from the centre of town. Banff is a lovely place, so clean with the mountains as a backdrop at the end of every street and even though its geared up for tourists it wasn't busy at all really. We were driven round to see some of the sights like Bow Falls and the Hoodoos and then had our first optional excursion.

Banff Gondala (cable car)- Definitely worth doing this, its only a little 4 seater thing but the views at the top were amazing, looking over the mountains and down to Banff.

Helicopter ride- This was one of the highlights of the trip. It was my first time in a helicopter and I almost didn't go because it is so expensive but I'm so glad I did. They were only small, 4 people + the pilot and took us right into the mountains, over the pristine white snow, where we saw still frozen and azure lakes. It really was a once in a lifetime thing to see the mountains from the air like that.

Lake Louise- Our 2nd day was another optional trip to Lake Louise although I think everyone went. I thought it would just be the one lake but we stopped of at soooo many places on this excursion, its such good value for money. This included my favourite sightseeing place on the holiday, Moraine Lake. This place is just breathtaking. The road had only been open for a few weeks because of the harsh winter they had, and the lake was still partly frozen, which just added to its stunningness, with a patch of ice in the middle of the turquoise water surrounded by the mountain peaks. Lake Louise in contrast seemed alot more busy and touristy and the turquoise colour was only really visible after walking about 30 mins to the opposite end of the lake.

Jasper

The next day was the drive up to Jasper where we stayed for 2 nights, the hotel was a bit further out although still within walking distance of the town, although we didn't really get time to look round after doing all the optional excursions. On the way there we stopped off at the Columbia Icefield. The weather had closed in and it was misty and rainy/sleety and freezing cold, although that didn't really matter with the ice explorer ride.

Ice Explorer- Another optional trip and another I'd recommend. You go in the huge 5ft high wheeled buses right out onto the glacier, although its limited where you can actually walk for safety, being able to say I've walked on a glacier is not something alot of people can say though I would think. On the drive there the driver told us all about how the glacier carves its path out and where the water flows, which was really interesting.

The next day we had a short tour around the lakes, with Patricia Lake being another of my favourites. Even though it was still cloudy the reflections in the lake are unreal, they look they they've been photoshopped almost. So beautiful. After that there were 2 more optional excursions, the rafting and a guided walk.

Rafting- I found this to be such good fun and a real laugh. Although Brian was really apologetic as because of all the rain and a landslide up river what he had described as rafting for softies turned into a proper white water experience in parts, which I loved even more. He said in all the time he's been doing this trip he's never seen it like that before and its normally calm. Everyone got soaked which was ok since it was raining anyway and we were already wet and the raft driver did a good job of making sure everyone got almost equally splashed!

Guided Walk, Edith Cavell- We were really lucky with this as the trail had literally just opened when we started the holiday and it was interesting with the guide taking us up to view Angel Glacier and telling us all about it. Although it was quite a long drive to get there and the walk itself was only about 30 mins there and back with an easy concrete path to follow but because of the altitude you do have to take it easy going up as it is quite steep.

Vancouver and Victoria

The hotel in Vancouver was pretty nice and in an excellent location. Its quite a small but densely packed city and you can walk almost everywhere. I think it took us around 20 mins to walk from the hotel to Canada Place the other side of town. Also English Bay and the harbour with the small boats is only a 5 or 10 min walk from the hotel which is a really nice place for eating. You even get a free 1 way ferry ticket to Granville Island.

North Shore Excursion- Although I enjoyed this I can't help thinking it is a little bit over priced for only an afternoon trip (its over £100). But maybe that's because the weather let us down a little bit again with the top of Grouse Mountain, which we reached in a huge standing up cable car, being really misty you couldn't see anything of the views. The suspension bridge was fun though, and it being quite busy was pretty wobbly. At the other side of the bridge there's a tree top walk made up of lots of little wobbly bridges which was nice walking through the huge trees.

Our day trip to Victoria the next day was quite an early start, 7:30 on the coach to get the ferry across. Its about a 90 min crossing but nice views once you get into the islands. Victoria itself was beautiful with flower baskets everywhere, as were the Butchart Gardens and we had blue skies for once which helped. The only thing is most people were saying they wished we had longer here on the island, staying overnight for a night or 2 as we did feel a bit rushed round because we had to get back for the ferry and it was such a nice place.

On the day we flew home our flight wasn't due until 8:40pm so we had most of the day as free time in Vancouver, a nice bonus I wasn't aware of when I booked. Our suitcases were collected from our rooms and kept in storage since we had to check out by 11am so we didn't have to worry about them. Some of us decided to try the float plane tours we'd seen advertised round the cruise terminals. So we arrived at about 9:45 and after scaring off 2 chinese american tourists who thought they had the plane to themselves, we almost walked straight onto the plane at 10! There were 6 of us in a little 12 seater plane and it was brilliant, so fun and even though the weather was cloudy and the mountains were too misty to fly over, the pilot took us out over the bay instead then over the city giving amazing views.

Overall this holiday really surpassed my expectations, breathtaking scenery, fun and varied excursions where we were always busy but without feeling too rushed, a super excellent tour manager and coach driver and and really nice people in the group who I had alot of laughs with. Will definitely want to go back again someday! I'd 100% not hesitate to recommend it to anyone thinking of going.

Thank you so much for this fantastic review, one of the most helpful I've ever read! I'm thinking about doing this tour next year or the year after and you have really helped in describing it so well. It sounds absolutely amazing - I'm off to look at your photos now! Thanks a million!

Best wishes,

Bob

Thank you for your fabulous review I am going on this trip on the 9th September so it is great to know what a great holiday we will be having. All the excursions sound great which has made my mind up to do all of them.

Can I ask you a question do all the hotels have a safe in there rooms.

Many thanks

mandy

Cheers,

Bob

Ann

Brian Croft our tour manager and John our driver were first class and as Hayley said in her review kept us well informed and entertained throughout the whole tour.

There isn't much more I can add to Hayley's review but to say that the hotels were all of a good standard and I think there was only one that did not have a safe in the room.

Breakfast at all hotels was good and there were only two mornings where it was continental - Kamloops and Vancouver. These were still very good and it is even served to you at your table in Vancouver!

We ate at Chillies in Banff, the hotel bar in Jasper, the Quality Inn in Vancouver which is just around the corner from the hotel and a Keg also in Vancouver. They were all good.

The only criticisms I have is that this holiday needs to be longer because if you do all of the optional activities there is not enough free time to explore Banff, Jasper or Victoria and the activities are all well worth doing and great fun. The float plane is fantastic too, especially if you are the lucky one like me and get to sit in the cockpit.

As for spending money I took £800 and paid for all of the optional activities apart from the helicopter flight out of this. For me this was plenty as I was still able to eat well, buy some presents for friends and family and enjoyed the odd cocktail with Hayley.

If you like walking, enjoy fantastic scenery and wildlife then you will definitely enjoy this tour.

Wendy

Hi

I am going on this trip on the 23rd Sept and have to say after reading your review I am even more excited! Just one question how much money did you take with you? I am not to sure how much to take or whether to just put most of it on my card.

Many thanks

Hayley

Hi Hayley! I'm also Hayley haha. I took $1000 with me and came back with just under $200 spare so was about right. You can put the helicopter flight on your card but the other optional excursions have to be paid for to the tour manager in $cash when you're there. Although there's plenty of ATMs around some people were having problems getting them to work with their cards. I did put a few other things on my credit card, credit cards are accepted just about everywhere we went even for small purchases but mostly apart from the excursions the main expense for me was meals. Although evening meals seemed to be a bit cheaper compared with here in London.

Hi Ariya

Thank you for your fabulous review I am going on this trip on the 9th September so it is great to know what a great holiday we will be having. All the excursions sound great which has made my mind up to do all of them.

Can I ask you a question do all the hotels have a safe in there rooms.

Many thanks

mandy

Hi Mandy, I think we met on our first Just You tour to Hawaii last year, great minds! I think most of the hotels have a safe in the room although I sort of remember that one might not have but not 100% sure. I just locked everything in my case in the day and didn't use them so didn't really take much notice.

Hope you both have a lovely time, any more questions feel free to ask 🙂 Also even if its warm when you go make sure to pack some warm clothes. The temperature difference between the ground and up in the mountains was really noticeable and I was wishing I'd packed my gloves more than a few times.

Hayley

What a fab report on this excellent tour. Your report will help other JY members make that positive decision to do this holiday.

I have considered doing this holiday for some time and would have no exception to book it, unfortunately other commitments are a priority at this time so will still consider it in the future.

Thanks a lot

Eric.

Having looked at your wonderful photos I'm sure we met on the JY tour of Hawaii last year. Anyway, great review and having visited Vancouver some 40 years ago, I certainly recognise some of the scenes in your pictures from there and from Vancouver Island; totem poles in Stanley Park, Lions Gate Bridge, Capilano Canyon Suspension Bridge, Butchart Gardens and Victoria to name a few.

Glad you had such a great time and have many more happy holidays.

All the best

Mike

So please to hear you had a wonderful holiday. Your review is fantastic and reminds me of my holiday there last September, not that it is very far away from my thoughts, I'd go back tomorrow. You photos are great - you saw more wildlife than I did and I'd love to be there when the snow is still around.

Brian was our tour manager as well, we're a lucky lot!

I agree with Wendy when she says that this holiday needs to be longer because if you do all of the optional activities there is not enough free time to explore Banff, Jasper or Victoria. As Wendy says, the activities are all well worth doing and great fun but it would be an added bonus to spend time in the towns.

Thanks again, you'ev made my day!

Ann