you don't really need a car in Victoria. The areas attraction are easy to get to by bus and there is transportation from the ferry to downtown or to the Gardens. Kamloops is a popular breaking point but please remember the Rocky Mountaineer train with one train to Jasper and one to Banff also unloads everyone in Kamloops for an overnite stay. That can substantially fill up most of the motels int he area. Please make reservations before you leave.

Hello yipchris,

You don't need to go to Vancouver Island to catch a whale watching cruise. It's true that the areas in which the whale pods swim are closer to Vancouver Island than they are to Vancouver. However, it is possible to catch a whale watching cruise from Vancouver. Since you will have so little time in the area, I think there is merit in that idea.

If you do decide to go to Victoria after all, there are a couple of ways of doing so that do not require a car. One is to catch the Pacific Coach Lines bus. It picks you up from downtown Vancouver, takes you onto the ferry, and then drops you off in downtown Victoria. It takes about 3-1/2 hours to get from one downtown core to the other.

A quicker -- if more expensive -- way of making the crossing is to catch a seaplane from Vancouver Harbour to Victoria Harbour. The company that offers the service is called Harbour Air. The flight takes 35 minutes.

Some people like to have the best of both worlds (the scenery that you see if you sail amongst the Gulf Islands on the way to Vancouver Island and the speed of the seaplane flight), so they take the bus / ferry combination in one direction and the seaplane in the other direction.

Since your time in Vancouver will be short, you may want to use the Vancouver Trolley Company's hop-on / hop-off bus to see the attractions that are located in the central part of Vancouver (Stanley Park, Robson Street, Yaletown, Granville Island Market). You can cover downtown Vancouver buy walking and using public transportation. However, if you have as short a time as you will have, a hop-on / hop-off bus that goes to the main attractions can be an easy, worry-free way of covering the highlights.

If you'll be in Vancouver on the night of July 18th, that will save you from having to catch a ferry from Vancouver Island to the mainland on the morning of July 19th. If you can make Vancouver (as opposed to Victoria) your starting point on July 19th, I think it would be a good idea to go further than Kamloops on that first day's drive towards the Rockies. I think it would be nice to get as far as Revelstoke (6-1/2 hours from Vancouver, not counting stops). With a population of only 8,000, Revelstoke is smaller than Kamloops, so do make reservations if you intend to stay there.

You could consider staying in Lake Louise on July 20th. Lake Louise is only a 3-hour drive from Revelstoke. However, the area is particularly rich in scenery and, in addition to that, you will lose an hour as you cross from the Pacific to the Mountain Time Zone between Revelstoke and Golden.

On July 20th I recommend that you see Emerald Lake and Takakkaw Falls, which are in Yoho National Park, between Golden, BC and Lake Louise, Alberta. Once you reach the village of Lake Louise, go to Moraine Lake, which is 14 kilometres away, and after that go to the lake of Lake Louise, which is 3 km from the village.

With a permanent population of about 1,000, Lake Louise is even smaller than Revelstoke! Reservations are -- need I say it -- crucial.

(Another option is to forge on another 45 minutes or so on the evening of July 20th, and stay in Banff. It has a population of 7,500, and it has a considerably larger stock of accommodation than Lake Louise, and a larger range of prices.)

On July 21st, you could drive along the Bow Valley Parkway (Hwy #1A) from Lake Louise to Banff townsite. Stop on the way to walk into Johnston Canyon. Walk at least to the Lower Falls, but if you wish you could do the longer walk to the prettier Upper Falls.

(Obviously, if you had spent the previous night in Banff, you would approach Johnston Canyon from the Banff direction.)

After that, go to Banff, ride the gondola up Sulphur Mountain, and stroll down the town's main shopping street.

If you are heading to Calgary Airport, you will need 2 hours to drive there from Banff (1-1/2 hours to reach Calgary's western city limit and another half hour to cross the city to the northeast quadrant in which the airport is located). If you're catching a domestic flight out of Calgary, you typically need to be at the airport an hour before departure (but do check with your airline). If you're catching an international flight, you typically need to check in 2 hours before departure.

I strongly recommend leaving Banff an hour before you technically need to, just in case you encounter a glitch. Also, you'll need to fill your rental car just before you drive into the airport complex, and you'll have to return the car. So, for a domestic flight, leave Banff between 4 and 4-1/2 hours before departure. For an international flight, leave Banff between 5 and 5-1/2 hours before departure.

If you're going to the airport, there is a route that can bypass much of Calgary's traffic. When you reach the first traffic light on the city's western outskirts, turn north onto Stoney Trail. When Stoney Trail ends in a T-junction, turn east onto Country Hills Boulevard. That will take you all the way to the airport.

If you're not flying out of Calgary, but are going to Calgary for some other reason, I guess there is not quite the same urgency about the timing of your drive.

Hope that helps.

Thank you for your advice. It helps a great deal.