How much would a month of camping in Aberta/British Columbia cost?

Hello,

my sister is in Alberta on on Working Holiday visa now and I'd like to visit her with my boyfriend this August for 4 weeks. We would stay in a tent and hke in Cannmore and it's surroundings and we'd also love to make a trip to Vancouver and go for whale watching there.

Is a budget of 2 406 to 2 940 CAD/person realistic (including airport tickets from London to Calgary)? If we stayed in cheap campsites (maybe even free?) and ate cheap. My sister will be in Cannmore when we would arrive so that's where we'd started.

Is a trip like this possible for so little money? Thank you for your opinions :).

Welcome to the Thorntree.

If the best return economy fare is around $1250, then that leaves you about $1400 for 28 days - $50.00 per person per day. So $100.00 per day is just okay if you are camping, self-catering, and are REALLY frugal.

And how are you going to get around? Does you sister have access to a car, and camping gear? There might be inexpensive buses to Vancouver, and there are hostels there.

Your other challenge is finding space in campgrounds in August ... I am no expert at all, but previous comments on here have indicated that Canadian Rockies campsites are heavily booked in summer. I can't advise on free camping.

The Bear Hostel in Canmore is pretty cheap. You might consider basing yourself there. I'm not sure what campsites are like in Canmore itself.

Canmore's a great base for hiking, and you can do some pretty long hikes out of there if you have a tent. Sticking to the provincial parks - as opposed to the national park - makes it easier to camp. There are some great back country campsites around, though you're meant to book them in advance (and pay for them).

If you don't have a car, and don't have a lot of money, your options are a little limited in Canada though.

As Sunbird9 mentioned above campsites in the Canadian Rockies do fill up very quickly in the summer, so booking in advance as much as possible would be wise.
It shouldn't cost that much if you're self-catering and camping and stay in a hostel in Vancouver (there are a few good ones downtown), the Whale Watching trip you mention would be one of your bigger expenses as they generally cost around $130-$140 per adult. That said if it's on your Bucket List and you don't know when you'll make it back to Vancouver I would go for it! Be sure to book ahead for that too as it'll be the height of tourist season.

If you are intending to travel this summer, I think your budget is likely to be unrealistic and you're probably very late in planning. With the low CAN $, high US $ and free entrance to national parks in 2017, the parks and surrounding areas are expected to see record numbers of visitors. And prices for things going up - supply and demand...

Hotels, B&Bs and hostels are booking up quickly, and reservable campgrounds are also quickly being booked. Provincial campgrounds will likely be equally as full this summer, and are generally no cheaper (or more expensive) than national park campgrounds. Free camping is not permitted in most places (other than in remote areas of the parks and you still must pay a per night or yearly camping fee) - the most common legal location for free camping is crown land, but it's nearly impossible to access crown land without car (and a non rental car since most rentals forbid going on gravel roads).

Canmore is nice, but it's not cheap and there are no campgrounds in Canmore. The closest would be about 20 minutes away at Bow Valley Provincial Campground (name ??). Think there is a closer campground or two, but there's been talk about those becoming day use only. Hostel Bear is certainly OK, though it's likely to be heavily booked in the summer - it's $35 per night plus tax, slightly cheaper for a weekly rate. The other hostel in town is the Hi/ACC hostel - cheaper for members, but small and probably already heavily booked for weekends. It's also outside of the town centre, so not convenient without a car or bike.

Banff has a number of hostels and Lake Louise has a hostel - rates can be up to $55 per person per night for single bed. Wilderness hostels are cheaper, but you need a car to get there.

Bigger issue will be finding a place to stay. Things will be very, very busy, especially on weekends and the holiday weekends. Without a vehicle, you will be very limited in your ability to go from one campground to another to find space. However you go, you need to book in advance - ASAP - it's not the time or the place where you'll be able to simply find a room or campsite, let alone ones that are really cheap.

Food can be done relatively cheaply if you cook your own meals. Really depends on what you intend to eat and how frugal you can be. Best way to get an idea of food prices is to look at the online supermarket websites (Canadian Superstore is one). Anything in the Rockies will be a bit more expensive. You won't be eating out on anything close to your budget - sandwiches will run $5-10, an average main course/burger will be $8-15 or more.

Others issues are going to be transport and camping equipment. Even basic camping equipment is going to take a chunk out of your budget, and cooking at campsite is probably going to be more of a pain/costly than at a hostel. You can't depend on cooking over a fire - fire bans happen, it rains, you're in a hurry (fires take a long time to get hot enough for cooking), your campsite doesn't have a fire pit/box etc. Also, it's not free - national park campgrounds charge a nightly fee to have a fire, and most provincial and private campgrounds charge for firewood. So you need a stove, cooking pots, utensils, plates etc.

Plus, you must keep a bear/wildlife safe campsite. That means storing all food, liquids and scented items in a car or bear proof box. Most non national parks campgrounds are set up for car campers, so there's nowhere to store such items. You'd need to find campgrounds where a bearbox is provided - usually in tent only areas of national or provincial parks.
At a minimum, you'd need a tent, sleeping bags (warm), sleeping pads, stove, dishes/utensils, cooking pots, probably a tarp, flashlights/headlamps etc.

Transport is going to be another issue - car is not in your budget, and without a car, you'll likely have a challenge getting to/from places, especially on a bare bones budget. I don't think there's public transport to any of the provincial campgrounds. Canmore has a single bus loop and a bus link to Banff. Beyond that, you're looking at Greyhound to Lake Louise (very inconvenient times), and not much else (other than in Banff townsite). Almost all trailheads and other tourist sites require a car or tour to get to, and there's no public transport (within the parks) to Jasper.

One option would be Moose Tours - they are low cost and use the hostel system including wilderness hostels.

However, I think you need to sit down ASAP to figure out whether this trip will work. Assume camping will cost $30 per night, plus additional costs if you plan on having fires. Allocate an average of $40-50 per night, per person for hostels. If you are going to camp, there's the upfront costs of camping gear. Then figure out transport costs - you will have to get to the campgrounds/hostels, to supermarkets, to any place you want to see.

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