Planning trip to Canada Sept 2016 (never been before)

I would recommend sticking to Alberta if you don't want to do a lot of driving. Start by renting a car in Calgary. There's a lot to doband see in Banff and Jasper alone, and around Banff, there are two other adjacent national parks, Yoho (check out Burgess Shale and Lake O'Hara hikes) and Kootenay, to visit and explore (they're in BC, right by the border with Alberta). If you drive further down south, there's Waterton National Park that's also worth a visit with great views and hiking trails. Waterton shares a border with Glacier National Park in Montana, USA and if you're interested in hiking Glacier NP as well, you can conveniently take a boat there from Waterton across the lake. I think between all those parks, there is more than enough for you to do and see to fill your two weeks.

Hope that helps a bit with your trip planning!

That itinerary is a good pace and gives a good bit of variety. However, it is not off the beaten path and those are all short, easy walks. Nonetheless, since it is your first trip, it'll give you a very good taste of western Canada and help you decide if/where you should return in the future to explore in more depth. I'd look into doing something similar, but on your own with a rental car the whole time as then you can cater things a little more to what you want.

But as above, you could easily spend 2 weeks in just the Rockies if you'd rather.

Quite different but same idea.

I just came back from a 2 week river cruise in Europe from Budapest to Amsterdam.
The good part about something like that is that there are tour-guides who give you explanations about things you might never know

Same with the Canada west trip and I concur with tch7 a good insight what there is to see.

highly recommend you guys rent a car from calgary and do it yourselves. give's you a ton more freedom to explore this gorgious area. i didn't even see a stay in jasper with that itinerary and most people find whistler to be disappointing after the rockies. unless you have a huge desire to see vancouver, i'd just focus on alberta and eastern bc. that would save you any "one way drop off fees" you might incur if you went to vancouver although if from overseas, you can avoid that charge with "canadian affairs". roughly you could go from calgary to waterton national park for 3 nights. has some great hiking. from waterton, take hwy 22 north through bragg creek to hwy 1 (this is longer then hwy 2 but more scenic, relaxed and avoids going through calgary) to banff. spend 4-5 nights in the banff / lake louise area, most of the next day driving the icefield parkway, doing hikes along the way, 3-4 nights in japser, then back along the icefields parkway (yes, it's worth doing twice and you could stop at different spots), last night in banff or calgary, depending what time your flight goes out. if you have extra days, spread them out at above or consider 2 nights in revelstoke (hiking up at meadow in the sky and the giant cedars boardwalk) as it's a beautiful drive from lake louise to revelstoke.
some caution - banff and jasper had record years this year for visitors and accommodations were tough to get with late notice. so, plan far in advance and make your reservations. (waterton too) another hike that is popular is the "o'hare lake". you need to take a shuttle up there. you can reserve advance tickets for this. they go on sale about 3 months in advance and sell out within the day if not within hours so stay on top of that if youwant to do it. other then that, you need need to reserve any other activies more then a few days in advance, if at all.

renting own vehicle is a given however BC/ ALB so spectacular no matter where you go its going to be great. banf, jasper spectacular visualy. sorta swiss looking as its the ski capital rea. hells gate is something else to tour. a drive down to salmon arm area most rewarding to see the salmon run unforgettable. margarets falls is in a nice but smallish park very scenic. roads are great for most part but use caution as the scenery can be distracting. google (last spike ) for another well worth visiting destination. old steam trains there./ lots of driving involved but its not tough as roads well maintained. as long as no snow in weather, forcast. with our buck/ oil. tanking inner tourism is way, up. so book ahead when you can is advisable . or get a rental van and sleep in it if you have to.. dodge minivans rather good for that.

Hi Firda,
Thanks for the helpful information I have just ordered a book on Banff, Jasper and Glacier National Park as
I think you're right there seems to be quite a lot in these national parks alone - now the planning can really start.
Donna

Hi Tch7,
This was our concern with the itinerary, whilst it covers some interesting areas i don't think it's off the beaten track enough and we might find that we want slightly longer walks than those on offer. After reading other replies and posts we are now of the same opinion, to look at doing a similar itinerary and use it as a starting point but look at doing it ourselves so we have more time and options to explore.
Thanks for your reply.
Donna

Hi Itt,
Thanks for the brilliant information about what to see and ideas on how best to work our 2 weeks. Really useful imformation on what HWY's to take too this will come in very handy. In terms of booking accomodation we will be
looking at booking this early on so we're not left panicking trying to find places.
Donna

you do understand? that off the beaten track out west means exactly that 8hrs from nowhere so if your fortunes turn sour there realy sour.