Hi again folks.

I am planning a 2 week holiday to Canada in August. I'd like to fly into somewhere toward the west and drive across to Toronto. I envisage the drive taking 8-9 days, with no 'rush' and able to stop off here and there at wherever takes our interest. The remainder of the 2 weeks will be spent with relatives near Oshawa, so actual drive-time is fairly flexible.

Given the sheer size of the country, it's difficult to appreciate the distances/times involved.

My question is; where would be a good place to start? I'd like to see some mountains if possible, but they may be too far west..?

Any info and suggestions gratefully received!

Hope everyone's Christmas was good, and a Happy New Year to you all.

(I bet it's pretty bloody cold for some...)


Marble

Vancouver to Oshawa direct through Canada is about 4700km, 55 hours of driving is in the ball park. The scenery from Vancouver to Calgary is spectacular. Across the prairies there is an awful lot of flat grassland, and there is only so much of a good thing one can take. I would not miss the Vancouver to Calgary part of the drive, this is where the mountains are.

Once you get the Calgary the only thing getting in the way of the view to Ontario is the earths curvature. The prairies have their own charm though, especially on a clear night, the sky is very dark and the stars bright. This is a sight not to be missed.

A nice drive to do once.

To be honest the scenery vastly improves between eastern Manitoba as you drive around the northern parts of the great lakes until you start to drop south below (Barrie)

I might go so far as to point out several points on the northern shore of Lake Superior rival some of the scenery you could see in Northern BC

If you can drive diagonally down from somewhere in Alaska, the best of the west is in the north west corner

My choice would be to land in Vancouver, get the ferry north to Skagway Alaska , see Whitehorse for a day drive down the Alaskan highway, down into BC and cross over the mountain range into Alberta, plod across the prairies and then drive around the perimeter of lake superior (make sure some of the lake drive is at sunset) and plan to come down the eastern shore of Georgian bay into Barrie I’d then probably take highway 12 to Oshawa

Think about the car hire drop off fees aswell.

Without completely dismissing the big bit in the middle ( depends on what you are looking for) - consider an internal flight from Calgary to somewhere a bit more eastern, and pick up another car ?! That is a phenominal distance to be behind the wheel - and unless you have very specific reasons to visit very specific bits, you might want to think about which bits could be cut out of such a journey in order to give you longer to explore those other bits

Yes i ve just looked at renting a car for a month it was coming in at over $2500 with insurance and that was only for a Yaris!!!

Could one buy a car out West, drive it to ON and sell it there and possibly not lose as much as the car hire costs?

I've driven and hitch-hiked across Canada a few time. IMO, go the other way... driving from west to east is like having an orgasm and then going through the mechanics of having sex.

Seriously the drive toward the Rockies from Calgary is stunning and then after winding through the mountains for a couple of days hitting the salty fresh air of the Pacific is wonderful and revitalizing.

Spread over several days, even I could recover and start again with renewed interest.

Excellent piece of advice!

If you've got a gold/platinum credit card check to see if it includes free CDW/LDW - that's the optional part of the car insurance. If it does, it'll probably halve the cost of renting something like that. We typically pay $25-$35 per day on a Yaris, unless it's the height of summer.

With ICBC roadstar, rental car insurance is included, includes liability. Saves a bundle. ICBC also sell a policy to BC residents for car rental which is way cheaper than the rental companies.

not really much help to the OP coming over on a holiday, though?

No, but might help others looking through the thread. But thanks for taking the time to point that out.

You're welcome! Just call me Mr State-the-bleedin'-obvious