UHOP

Looking to do a Drive across Canada that is 3/4 Weeks from Nova Scotia - Vancouver, Early Spring. Via Edmonton (Been to Calgary before)
See as much of Canada as possible. Just to get a feel for the Country.

Any one got any must sees Along the way.
Obviously you got the Big Cities but we want to see much more than that.
Don't want to Cut through the US to Save time or Money.
If time Permits would like to take Side Trip to NYC.
It is more about seeing what Canada has to offer than a Holiday though a Bit of both.
(If a Job came in NB would we want to move there for instance.)

Pulaski

What do you mean by "early spring", because to me that means March, and at that time most of Canada is going to frozen solid and/or under snow.

UHOP

Late March April, Don't mind Driving in Winter Conditions

rivingtonpike

I agree with Pulaski. If early spring means just that, you're going to face a largely frozen country - certainly as far as the west side of the Rockies. May is better.

UHOP

To experience Canada I want to see best/ worst of it. Which Why I want to go this time of the year. I was just asking for Route Suggestions.
Having Lived In the Rockies Banff for 8 Months before I preferred The Winter Months.

Siouxie

Do you have experience of driving in winter conditions? Nova Scotia, for instance, can have impassable roads and Alberta can be 'challenging'. Will you have a hire car or do you have your own vehicle?

The Trans Canada Highway website is probably a good source for routes, stop offs etc.

Trans-Canada Highway Road Trip & Vacation Planner

UHOP

When I lived in Banff for 8 Months I Drove to Calgary a lot. Not that Worried. Got Stranded Once had to drive the Long way round to get home.

Dorothy

That's a bit different to driving through the mountain passes. Or Northern Ontario in winter road conditions.

Having done the drive across Canada more than once I can tell you that for the most part it's boring. And certainly March/April would not be the ideal time to do it.

UHOP

What Parts are Boring, ? March/April is the only time we can do it. We don't mind doing it at this time.

BristolUK

Perhaps Alex may wish to comment given his truck driving experiences.

scrubbedexpat091

Never driven across, but took the train Toronto to Vancouver and well that trip doesn't make me want to hop into a car and drive across...

Pretty flat and cold until we got to BC, although it wasn't early spring but mid winter....


The mountain passes through BC can be challenging in the winter, prepare for the worst and hope for the best, closures can and do happen and you may end up sitting in your car. Just in the last week the highway in these parts has closed 3 times that I am aware of, sometimes for hours due to an accident, I imagine the highways through higher passes are nastier.

Piff Poff

Have a look at www.roadtrippers.com for route planning, you may find there is not a lot of options on your route.

Oink

I've driven across the US a few times and every trip was simply a boring endurance of a journey. I'd imagine a Canadian version would even worse.

bc2015

Indeed a lot of central Canada is bland and featureless and has roads that go dead straight (because there's no land features to build around). You can see that from the maps and also from the sky when flying over.

BristolUK

I travelled by bus between Montreal and Toronto.
Twice.

Dull and duller.