Hi,

Can anyone recommend a car hire company that my husband and I could use for travelling up from Calgary to Edmonton this summer?

And does anyone know the best route to take to get from Jasper over to Red Deer??

Any advice would be really appreciated.

Thrifty or National.

via edmonton and south OR south on the icefields parkway and east via rocky mountain house.

hope that was a little help.

Can't add anything for car rental.

If you've already been to Edmonton before going out to Jasper I would really recommend the Icefields Parkway route from Jasper to Red Deer.

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=d&sourc...13&ie=UTF8&z=8 Stunning scenery.

We'll be starting in calgary, driving up to banff then jasper. Were flying back home from edmonton but would like to check out wetaskiwin and surrounding areas as i'll be working there later this year.

Think we should double back on ourself after staying in jasper by going across rocky mountain house?

Thanks for the google map link.

Personally I don't think it would be worth doubling back to go through Rocky Mountain House perhaps Highway 16 (The Yellowhead) to Edmonton then south to Red Deer would be at least a little different scenery. You might be sick of seeing mountains by then.

You could leave the main highway at Leduc and go through Millet and Wetaskiwin on the way to Red Deer.

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=d&sourc...78&ie=UTF8&z=8

Jasper to Red Deer? David Thompson Highway (through Rocky Mountain House) gets my vote and knocks a fair bit of travel time off the Yellowhead way. The David Thompson Highway is a stunning bit of road too.

But if you've already driven the Icefields Parkway one way to get to Jasper and you want to see Wetaskiwin then it makes some sense to go through Edmonton.

According to Google maps even with a detour through Wetaskiwin it's only 7 minutes longer going through Edmonton.

But if the OP is driving from Calgary to Banff then Jasper - where does she do the David Thompson Highway through to Rocky? She can then carry on to Red Deer through Sylvan Lake then up the 2a via Lacombe and Wetaskawin and Ponoka upto Edmonton. The only bit of doubling is a from Saskachewan Crossing to Jasper and that looks different on the way back anyhow, much more interesting than the yellowhead.

Oh and we all know how accurate google maps is in timings - believe me, we went to look at a car in Hinton so took the Edmonton, Yellowhead route. The Yellowhead is a long boring road and it was over an hour longer to go than it was comming home the other way. The only time I wouldn't do the DTH and the Icefields Parkway would be winter and when it's been snowing, it can be a bit hairy.

Do I need to get boxing gloves for you two?

Not at all.

I don't disagree the Yellowhead is not that interesting.

"Personal opinion" the David Thompson is not that spectacular after you've driven the Icefields Parkway all the way from Banff to Jasper.

The first time we did the David Thompson I was blown away by the fact that there was MORE! More view, More mountain, More blue lake and I suppose that is a memory that has always stuck - plus we saw our 2nd bear along there Whatever the OP decides to do she will be amazed and awestruck by it all I'm sure. I may also suggest if the OP decides to go the Yellowhead route that she turns off at Evansburg towards Drayton valley giving the option of carrying on to RMH - not that Rocky Mountain House is spectacular or turning off towards Leduc that way. Can you tell we get bored by long stretches of road?

Coming out of the mountains though there's not a lot to see once you get past the reservoir.

I like the idea of the turn at Evansburg.

My first thought the very first time I saw RMH (especially the main street) was the song Duelling Banjo's from Deliverance.

Most people from the UK have difficulty with the long straight roads in Alberta.

There are lots of Deliverance type towns - and yes that description works for RMH. One good thing about the long straight roads is quite often your the only one on it - it does give you the eerie feeling of 'am I going the right way? Where has everyone gone???'

As you can see we have a bit of an obsession of photographing the busy roads we travel