1

there is only one train line montreal and toronto.

canadian affair does decent rates from europe, and air india often has deals between toronto and london. they may have others. a lot of people get a cheap flight to london, then canada.

i am slightly confused; how are you flying from calgary to banff?

2

Are you renting a car to travel from Calgary to Banff and then back to Calgary? Then catch a flight to Toronto?

Your post is a little confusing. What type of accomodation are you looking for or do you have it booked? Toronto and Banff can be very expensive. (Well, so can Calgary, have never been to Montreal so I cannot comment)

Edited by: auntie_social

3

What do you want do to the cities? It's hard to give you an idea of what you need money-wise if you don't tell us what you'd like to do. Are you planning on eating out all the time? Staying in hostels, and cooking for yourselves? Museums? Activities? (CN Tower in Toronto? The Sky-Walk? Le Ronde in Montreal?) All of these things will factor into your budget.

A.

4

Air Transit is the cheapest flight from "Europe" - Canada

5 nights in Calgary? Kinda curious what you plan on doing? After 2-3 nights, you might get a bit bored.
4 nights in Banff...are you going to use that as a base and venture from there? 2-3 nights would be more then enough if you dont have a car. Get a car lol.
2 weeks in Montreal? Thats a long time in 1 city...you know people there...thats my only guess why.

5

The train is Via rail. The more in advance you buy your tickets, the cheaper they will be. Prices definitely rise within two weeks of your travel date. The alternative is Megabus, which can be extremely cheap if booked in advance. Via, Megabus, or Greyhound will take you from Toronto to Niagara Falls. Via and Greyhound serve Ottawa from Toronto, if you have a desire to visit there. When in Montreal, you can visit Quebec City with Via or Orleans Express.

Yeah, five nights in Calgary seems a bit much. If it were me, I'd do two nights in Calgary and then head to Vancouver after the Rockies and spend at least three nights on the BC coast.

6

Thanks for everyones comments!

Maybe I will write this out a little clearer. We are flying from England to Calgary and staying there for 5 nights (accommodation booked), we are then getting a coach (already booked) from Calgary to Banff and staying there for 4 nights (booked) we then get the coach back to Calgary and fly from there to Toronto (flight booked). We're not sure how many nights we'll stay in Toronto, probably only a few, then we will get the train (or megabus, thanks for your help ref_traveller!) to Montreal. My dad lives in Montreal which is why we're staying there for 2 weeks.

The hostel we're staying at in Banff gives us a pass for free travel on buses etc so no need for a car! We're mainly sight-seeing here. I'm very into photography and am so excited to see the lakes and mountains! Plus they have their own bar with events on each night. In Calgary we've looked a little into the things to do..there's the parks, night life, plus we're staying with some via Airbnb when we're there, so hopefully they will help us out with things to do! For Toronto, we're going here more for visiting friends and family for a few days. Montreal will also be for family, however we would love to get to know Montreal a little better too. Possibly a festival or something similar...maybe the grand prix?? It's a possibility we'll visit something like La Ronde in Montreal, but we won't be making many expensive days out like that! Maybe some activities, like horse-back riding,

We're staying in hostels/with friends throughout our trip so will be cooking ourselves the majority of the time. The spending money advice is more for how much we'll need for food/travel/eating out some nights. Any big trips we will probably budget seperately!

7

Ok, thats a lot more clear.

Im personally from Calgary...Ive always said...Calgary is an awesome place to live...but to visit? lol. Im sure you'll make it work out.

With regards to Banff...the Banff town itself is a walking town, so when you say bus, I sure hope you dont mean the local town transit which does very little. Night life in Banff is quite good, so the bar in the hostel should not be your focus;) Be sure to get out of banff...zip over to Lake Louise, many of the hikes are 5-15 minute drive. The icefields are about 1.5 hrs away from Banff which are a popular visit.

Ps...May is mid spring here, us locals are so anxious to have summer that you will see many with shorts on in 0 degree weather haha. Be prepared for a random snow day in May Banff/Calgary...weather is unpredictable in May.

8

that's much more clear. little childs is right; nearly every hotel in banff gives visitors a local bus pass, but it doesn't go very far. but that said, if you enjoy walking and photography, you'll amuse yourself just fine.

montreal... sigh. go to the markets, make picnic lunches. the fromagerie at jean talon is to die for, even by european standards (although quite a bit is european). also check out marche des saveurs.

read 'the hour' and 'the mirror' online to get a sense of gigs and events. to go quebec city overnight and take in a bit of folk at the papes st georges, have a luxury meal at teh queue de cochon if it's still there.

rent bikes and explore montreal island, all of it.

la ronde... well. if you are keen on amusement parks, it's good. better than thorpe, i think--definitely nicer views. duck tours are also fun, even if a bit touristy.

9

Neither the Mirror or the Hour exist anymore. The Mirror is now CultMTL. The latter is showing a month's old web page.

There is a Queue de Cheval and an Au Pied du Cochon, but not a Queue de Cochon. The latter is great and popular, the former is a steakhouse (but I've never eaten there).

10

Cheapest way IMO from Toronto to MTL is Megabus.

Toronto Coach terminal right downtown at Dundas and Bay street.

11

thank you ref.
i get a stopover at christmas in m'trl and am so looking forward to it!

12

The Banff transit system "Roam" only operates in the town, although it will get you to the Sulphur Mountain gondola and the hot springs. (You can find details on the Town of Banff website, which is (I think) www.banff.ca However, the real attraction in Banff National Park is not the town. If you want to visit places outside the town (Johnston Canyon, Lake Louise, Moraine Lake etc.) and do not have a car, you will have to take tours. You may want to do a tour to the Columbia Icefields, in Jasper National Park - that way you will get to see quite a bit of the Icefields Parkway, an incredibly scenic drive that parallels the high peaks and glaciers of the continental divide. www.banfflakelouise.com

13

Thank you for everyone's replies..sorry its taken me so long to reply! They have all been very helpful and we have almost finished booking our trip now! Very exciting! :)