Seems like the temperature has quite a range so I'm not 100% sure what to expect.

We'd like to take kind of a last-minute road trip to the maritimes in September (we live in Wisconsin) but are having some difficulty planning an itinerary. I thought I'd like to see Quebec, since I've never been, but we're also very interesting in dramatic scenery, sea shores, forests, short hikes, and local culture (especially Celtic-type music). Would driving from Quebec to Moncton to Fundy National Park and then on to Cape Breton and the Cabot Trail and then fly home from Halifax be way over-ambitious? We enjoy driving, but we'd like some downtime as well. Suggestions or advice welcome. We have about 9-12 days.

Hej alle.

Hermed mit første indlæg på Reddit, hvor jeg virkeligt har brug for nogle gode tips og tricks, samt alle de gode råd, som I eventuelt måtte ligge inde med. Mit indlæg er på både engelsk og dansk, ligesom jeg har postet indlægget på andre lignende sites på Reddit for at nå bredest muligt ud; dette håber jeg I bærer over med, sammen med mine spørgsmål.

Min kæreste og jeg har planlagt en tur til Canada, med afgang d. 21.-27. Juni 2027 fra Kastrup Lufthavn, og med hjemrejse i perioden 19.-24 august 2027, dvs cirka 2 måneders ophold. Ankomstdestinationen er Vancouver i British Colombia, og hjemrejsen er – som udgangspunkt – èn af disse 4 byer ved Østkysten af Canada: Toronto, Ottawa, Quebec eller Montreal. Afgangsdestinationen afhænger udelukkende af prisen på flybillet hjem til Kastrup.

Jeg har bedt ChatGPT om at overvåge flyrejser til Vancouver (og retur selvfølgelig), men da jeg er 2 meter høj bliver jeg nødt til at have ekstra benplads, hvilket igen koster ekstra. En flybillet ved en nødudgang tror jeg koster i omegnen af 8000 til Vancouver, men igen: hvis nogle har gode tips til, hvordan jeg får denne betragtelige udgift længere ned, så vil jeg være meget taknemmelig?

Vi planlægger således at rejse østover fra Vancouver i bil, en rejse på mindst 7000 km, og overvejer at leje et motorhome selv om dette er vanvittigt dyrt, ikke mindst grundet et obligatorisk one-way fee, da jeg jo afleverer bilen et andet sted end hvor jeg starter. De billigste motorhomes koster i omegnen af 70.000 kr (!!) for 2 måneders leje, og så er det den absolut mindste model jeg kan opdrive. Da jeg i forvejen er højere end gennemsnittet er det imidlertid ikke ligegyldigt, at den pågældende motorhome har en vis komfort og plads, da jeg jo skal køre rigtigt langt.

Så hvis nogen herinde har vigtige kontakter eller gode tips til at kunne leje et passende motorhome billigt, så hører jeg MEGET gerne om dette??

Alternativt kunne jeg leje en bil, hvilket sandsynligvis ville koste mindre end halvdelen, men så kommer alle udgifterne til daglig akkomodering + bespisning + drikkepenge på 20%, hvilket også meget hurtigt løber op! I et motorhome er jeg mere uafhængig, og kan både spise og sove der; dog er der udgifterne til campingpladser og benzin, som jo også skal indregnes. Så umiddelbart synes et motorhome et være mere attraktivt end at leje en ”almindelig” bil, selv om det er hvinende dyrt??

Og her kommer så mit næste spørgsmål: SKAL jeg parkere mit motorhome på campingpladser, eller kan jeg parkere i det fri – hvad er reglerne?? Og kan jeg finde kort over disse ”frie” P-pladser, og er det overhovedet sikkert at parkere ude i naturen i Canada??

Da jeg er uddannet biolog ønsker jeg at se så meget af naturen som muligt, herunder bjørne, elge, ulve og måske endda være heldig at fiske efter laks i de canadiske floder – hvorvidt dette overhovedet er muligt aner jeg ikke. Så her vil eventuelle tips med ”must see” lokationer på ruten østover være meget velkomne!

Jeg har garanteret mange flere spørgsmål, men nøjes med disse indtil videre.

De bedste hilsener,

Anders, København, Danmark

Hi! I’m a 21F solo traveler trying to plan a roughly week-long trip from NYC without a car and on a pretty tight budget. After getting some advice on r/solotravel, I’m thinking of taking Amtrak north into Canada, and I have a dilemma that I’d love your advice on:

I’m debating between going to Montreal (I’ve heard the train ride is beautiful and that it’s a really interesting city) or Toronto (also an interesting city, and I’d get to visit Niagara Falls). Another option is going to Montreal, then Toronto, and then back to New York. That way I’d get to see both places, but I’d have less time in each, and another long train ride in between.

What do you guys think? Should I skip one of them?

Edit: I booked my ticket to Montreal! So much good advice, I really appreciate it! Thank you all so much!!

TL;DR: 3 week trip all over Canada without owning or renting a car. Yes it's possible! Visited Toronto, Ottawa, Montréal, Québec, Calgary, Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Banff, Vancouver, Whistler. Description on how I moved around, including what companies I used (which I think is allowed since I'm not affiliated with any of them), how long various trips took, and what reflections I have upon my experience.

Hello fellow travelers!

I - 30yo, male, European - recently visited Canada, and would like to share my experience. My main driver is the fact that basically every blog and reddit post out there recommends using a car to move around for large trips, something which I passionately wanted to avoid. Coming from Europe, I'm used to not needing a car to move around and do sightseeing, so I really wanted to do the same for my trip to Canada, and at some point, seeing so many people saying it's "absolutely necessary", it became a personal bet to accomplish. I definitely used help from many posts detailing experiences for some parts of my trip, but during my research I didn't come across a post describing a multi-week trip that didn't include owning or renting a car at any point.

With that said, I will not go into too much detail about the places I visited around Canada. The country is vast and magical, and many others have written glorious descriptions appropriate for each place. I will focus on specifically my experience on accessing each place without a car, activities I was able to do, and reflections on how that worked out.

Trip Overview

My trip lasted 3 weeks overall (20 days), and took place late May and early June. I landed into Toronto, moved to Ottawa, Québec City, Montréal, flew to Calgary, saw the city and visited Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, went to Banff, and from there to Vancouver and Whistler, before flying back to Toronto. Besides the 2 internal flights (which I took to save time but could be substituted for trains), I used buses and trains to move between cities, and rented bicycles, or used public transport to move inside cities. In some exceptional cases I also used paid services, such as a taxi or a tour van.

Before arriving in Canada, I had purchased only the flight tickets, plus booked my accommodations (all hostels with free cancellations, in case something went wrong). I stayed in Saintlo Jail Hostel in Ottawa (3 days - very cool experience which included a free tour), Auberge in Québec (3d) and Montréal (2d), HI Hostels in Calgary (2d) and Banff (4d), and Samesun in Vancouver (2.5d) and Toronto (3.5d). As far as hostels go, most were nice, the HI Hostel in Banff was exceptional.

Week 1: Ottawa, Québec City, Montréal

I flew into Toronto International Airport, but I actually immediately left to visit Ottawa and begin my trip there. I did sightseeing around Toronto when I returned at the very end of my trip. To go from YYZ to Ottawa, I used Flixbus (5 hours). It picked me up directly from the airport and took me to the city. It was supposed to have Wi-Fi and charging ports, but they sent a third-party bus instead, which didn't - that was a major negative, as I didn't purchase a SIM card at the airport (thinking I'll do it in the city).

Ottawa is super walkable, and has decent public transport. I wanted to start there, as the Canadian Museum of History was my first stop. As someone coming from Europe, I knew very little about Canadian history, and that museum provided much needed background information for my whole trip. Huge plus that they offer French and English speaking tours for free! Not many people know this, as I was alone on my tour slot, which was exceptional. In terms of moving around, public transport was great, buses will get you everywhere BUT be careful as some of them only accept cash and don't provide change! I had withdrawn cash from an ATM, but only larger notes, and ended up paying CAD 20 to go to the museum, as I risked losing my tour time-slot (not knowing I was the only one attending), so I couldn't get down, change at a store, and get the next bus in 15'.

To leave Ottawa and move to Québec City, I used VIA Rail (6 hours). Very nice trains, purchasing the tickets, boarding and being on the train were all smooth and nice as experiences. They weren't shy about confirming their reputation as being constantly late (1 hour, so 7 total for the trip), although that didn't really affect me personally. They also automatically offered credit which I could use for a future trip, although I didn't travel with them again.

Québec City was the perfect environment to be car-less, and I suspect Québec as a province is the only place in North America that is so bike friendly. I rented an electric bike from Echo Sports Tours (in the Old Town) for 2 days, and was very happy with the service I received and the quality of the bike. The prices aren't as cheap as Europe, but I considered them reasonable. On my first day I took a trip to Wendake (~2 hours on the bike), to visit the Huron-Wendat. It's not really accessible by public means, an issue that the local community attributes to the fact that the Reserve is considered their own territory and therefore not serviced by the city. It was 100% worth visiting, and I'd recommend it to anyone being in Québec City.

The next day I visited the Montmorency Falls (~1h by bike) and Île d'Orléans (~1h to cross the bridge and arrive on the island, 2h spent there). I was the only bike visiting the falls that day. Thankfully, for both days the weather was great, so I really enjoyed driving around the vast bike-road network, and would definitely recommend it as a transportation option (and a fun activity) for Québec. The only part of the road that wasn't really appropriate was the bridge leading to, and all the roads on the island (which were car roads). The bridge felt slightly dangerous to cross on a bike (no matter if I drove on the road or at the side). The island is very quiet after the first few kilometers. I toured the small circle on the southwest, which takes a couple of hours at least (including multiple stops to cute shops). Touring the whole island would need at least 1-2 full days on a bike. I should also mention that despite my best efforts to ration my battery, it died when I was crossing back. It was okay for me to drive back, but I would caution everyone to opt for electric bikes unless really used to driving many kilometers at once on a bicycle already.

On my last day, I returned my bike and toured the Old Town, which was very beautiful, before boarding an Orléans Express bus to Montréal (3h - cheaper than VIA Rail even after using my credit as a discount). The city is pretty and also has bike roads, even though I mostly walked around, including climbing the Royal Mountain, which was fun as an activity. Definitely recommend eating a bagel and visiting the stunning Notre-Dame. There's not much more to do there in terms of tourism, which is why I basically only spent 1.5 days there, before flying to Calgary (YUL to YYC) on Porter (5h). The flight was okay, the aircraft was small but convenient enough.

Week 2: Alberta

Calgary was definitely an experience. It seemed like a generic North American city, but I was negatively impressed by the amount of people being drunk/high on the street at all times. At no point did I ever feel threatened, it was more just a sad picture, and a reflection of society's state in my opinion. In terms of public transport it's pretty well managed, but there's not a lot of things to see around. I only used it as a stepping point, as the closest airport to Banff, but also one of my favourite and most anticipated places to visit in Canada, the Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump.

Getting to Head-Smashed-In was a real challenge. The place is kind of in the middle of nowhere, and there's definitely not public transportation options to get there. However I wanted to attempt going there somehow. My solution was to get a Flixbus (2h) to Fort Macleod, the closest town to the point, and figure out what to do from there. The bus this time was equipped with Wi-Fi and charging ports. Arriving to Fort, I had about 6h to spare until the last bus of the day would get me back to Calgary. Given that I couldn't find any accurate options about either getting a taxi or renting a bike online (which makes sense as this is a very small town), I decided to visit the local diner (Digbee's Diner) to ask, hoping I wouldn't have to resort to hitchhiking.

That was an excellent choice in retrospect! I had some amazing breakfast there, and was informed the town has a taxi service, which the kind staff allowed me to call through their phone (as I had bought a data-only package SIM, not anticipating to make calls in Canada). The Taxi Service is called Star's Taxi Service, operates Monday to Saturday 8AM to 8PM (closed Sunday and holidays), and can be reached on >!403-393-1841!<. I'm including the number as even if you look online it's not easy to find. It's ran by a really nice woman, whose name I unfortunately forgot, but she picked me up from the diner, left me at the Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump Museum, and came back to pick me up at closing time, leaving me at the bus stop. The taxi trip cost me CAD 100, and was super worth it, as I really enjoyed visiting the museum, seeing the history and talking to the local Blackfoot guides about their experiences.

The next day I took a van from Calgary to Banff. The service I used was Banff Explorer (~2h). There's other services available, pretty much uniform in price, and I opted for that as it stopped directly at my hostel, which I thought was easier. Banff is quite touristic, and has a lot of local buses as a result, which is super helpful to get to almost everywhere that's notable nearby. For most local buses the hostel provided me with a card that allowed me to ride them for free, which I understood is common practice with accommodation at the town. Given the super high prices there, I think it's a nice add-on. I used buses to move around during my stay, which was focused on hiking to see mountains and lakes. I don't have to tell you that the nature is absolutely beautiful all around, but I will say that Lake Moraine is easily one of the most stunning views I've ever set my sights on, literally breathtaking!

Speaking of, accessing Lake Moraine without your own car is a tricky business. The bus from Banff (operated by Roam) leaves you at Lake Louise town or on top of the lake, but another service that picks you up from there to get you to Lake Moraine was sold out for the days I was there. You have an option to rent a bike from the Lake Louise town, but it costs an insane price (something like CAD 150 if I remember correctly). If you do want to rent anyway, or have your own bikes, the road is super picturesque, and before June 1st, it's closed for cars and buses, so you can visit Lake Moraine and be basically alone. The bike takes 45' more or less (from town visitor centre to Lake Moraine) but it's quite uphill most of the time, and walking can take 3-4h one way. I arrived in Banff on May 30, and the day I first attempted to visit it was super foggy and snowing, so it didn't make sense for me to get to Moraine, however if the weather is good, having this marvel of nature basically to myself could be worth it!

So what did I do? Given that the easy way was sold out, on my last day when the weather was nice, I actually arrived to Lake Louise town, walked on the side of the car road for 45' to reach the Lake Louise Ski Resort (Park and Ride), and got a different bus from there (operated by Parks Canada), which had availability still (there's a large parking lot that people with cars use to leave their cars, as actual parking at Lake Moraine is limited, so most people leave their cars at the ski resort and get the bus from there). The ticket I bought allowed me to initially board from the parking, but included not only the return ticket to the parking, but also another bus (Lake Connector Bus) that ran frequently between Moraine and Louise as well, so I used that to return to the Lake Louise town and get my Roam bus back to Banff from there.

Week 3: Vancouver, Whistler, Toronto

Leaving Banff, I got an overnight bus from the town all the way to Vancouver, operated by Rider Express (11h). There's an option for a morning bus as well, but the promise of great views for the first few hours didn't beat out saving time and accommodation costs for one night. Vancouver is the one place in Canada that I visited and thought I should have had more time. I used buses and walked to move around the city, and also to visit Whistler as a day trip (bus by Epic Rides, 2h one way).

In both places I focused on Indigenous Culture, which is super rich in the area, with highlights such as Stanley Park, Museum of Anthropology at UBC, or the Squamish-Lilwat Culture Centre at Whistler. Side recommendation, if you visit the centre, eat at the local cafe (Thunderbird Cafe), the salmon bannock panini was heavenly! Given more time, I'd definitely stay a night or two at Whistler to also go on some hikes around the area, stay more days in Vancouver and also venture to Vancouver island, and probably also visit Victoria by a seaplane (which I considered when planning my trip but it was over my budget and not really worth as a day trip when you only have 3 days there).

Leaving Vancouver, I flew to Toronto on a WestJet flight (4.5h), my last stop for my Canada trip. The flight was okay again, and even though it was delayed, causing me to arrive at the airport at like 2AM, I managed fine using a bus and a tram at night to get to my hostel. Toronto as a large city is interesting, but it doesn't have too much to offer in terms of tourism. As I'm a basketball fan and don't know how hockey is played or care for it really, I attended a WNBA game (Go Tempo!), which was super entertaining! Besides that, I walked around, and booked a transportation service for the next day, to visit the Niagara Falls. In general, you don't have to hire a service to visit the Falls, they're accessible both by bike and city bus. However, I had read on multiple blogs that the nearby town of Niagara-on-the-Lake is really picturesque and worth visiting. Given that city buses don't go there, and the distance would be too much to do on a bicycle in a day, I decided to book a service that visited both the town, and the Falls.

To be honest about my experience, while I can see why some people living in North America would find Niagara-on-the-Lake to be worth visiting, it's barely a cute town. There's a main road, and shops that have some souvenirs of interest, but if you've ever visited ANY town in Europe, from England, to Denmark, to Italy, Greece, or even Moldova, this particular town is quite unimpressive. For Europeans I'd definitely recommend skipping it. I could almost say the same for Niagara Falls btw. The falls themselves are very impressive, and viewed best from the Canadian site. But the environment all around is hideous. It's a super exploitative, ugly mass of ultra touristic restaurants (mostly chains), hotels and casinos. To me it seemed like a third rate Las Vegas, but not as hot. After spending some time at the falls, I really didn't have anything else to do in the area, and had to walk around aimlessly until it was time to return to the city. For this reason I'd definitely recommend visiting with a city bus for 2-3 hours or so, unless you're into this super fake, ultra touristic vibe.

Conclusion

Those were more or less my experiences visiting Canada for 3 weeks. The key takeaway by far is: You can visit Canada and experience most of its main attractions without having to own or rent a car!

Obviously, there are places which need a car to be visited, especially far from the big cities. Wilderness in northern BC, SK or even Alberta (Jasper for example and further north), all the Northern territories, and probably the East coast. Canada is a huge country and so full of beautiful nature and culture, one that you can spend months exploring and not feel finished. But for someone visiting for the first time, coming from Europe and not knowing almost anything beforehand, I feel like my trip gave me so much, and it was extremely satisfying that I managed to spend all this time, visit all these places, and never need to rent a car.

I hope this post helps someone who has the same disposition as me, to feel confident about planning such a trip without a car, and I'm open to any questions you may have! 😄

I will be going to visit my sister for thanksgiving 2027. I used to go yearly early or late summer, but we have pushed our time of year we go to avoid wildfires.

With this being said, I’m looking to take my parents on a surprise trip next time we are out there - either to Whitehorse or Churchill.

Frequent Canadian travellers, what would you recommend? What is more economical and what would an elderly man enjoy more? Is it easy enough to drive up to the Yukon - knowing it will take sometime.

Additional info: we are from Ottawa, so adaptable to all weather. I will be brining my twins who will be 18 months old at the time of the trip. My father and mother will be 71. My dad has some health issues which will result in him having to stop travelling in 2-4 years.

Hi everyone,

My friend and I are both 29 and we’ll be doing a road trip around Quebec from September 7 to September 17, 2026. We’ll have a rental car and we’re trying to find the right balance between seeing a lot and not spending the whole trip driving.

We like having fairly active days and tend to get bored if there isn’t much to do, but we also don’t want to turn the trip into a checklist.

Our current itinerary is:

• Sept 7: Arrive at Montreal airport around 11am → afternoon/evening in Montreal
• Sept 8: Full day in Montreal
• Sept 9: Montreal → La Mauricie National Park → hiking/lake activity → sleep in/near the park
• Sept 10: Mauricie → Quebec City for around 4–5 hours → continue through Charlevoix → sleep in La Malbaie
• Sept 11: Hautes-Gorges-de-la-Rivière-Malbaie, probably Acropole des Draveurs
• Sept 12: Easier day around Charlevoix/La Malbaie + a concert in La Malbaie that evening
• Sept 13: La Malbaie → Tadoussac, whale watching + village/coast → sleep in Tadoussac
• Sept 14: Tadoussac → drive down the coast, possibly Port-au-Persil → Saint-Siméon ferry to Rivière-du-Loup → sleep in Rivière-du-Loup
• Sept 15: Rivière-du-Loup → Kamouraska for a short stop → drive back to Montreal
• Sept 16: Full day + evening in Montreal
• Sept 17: Montreal during the morning/early afternoon → flight at 7pm

A few things we’re especially unsure about:

1. Is one night in Mauricie worth it, or would you recommend another park between Montreal and Quebec City?
2. Is skipping an overnight stay in Quebec City a mistake? One of us has already visited, while the other hasn’t.
3. Does 3 nights around La Malbaie + 1 night in Tadoussac feel right, or is that too much time in Charlevoix?

We’d especially appreciate feedback from people who know Quebec/Charlevoix well. Feel free to be critical — we still have time to change the itinerary.

Thanks!

Hi all,

A friend and I are going on a long road trip during the second half of August and first week of September. On our return to Ontario we'll be going through AB, SK, MB. I've been googling things to do in SK and so far the tourism sites are pretty plain. Can anyone suggest neat stuff?

In all the provinces, we'll be checking out the major cities (Moosejaw, Regina, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Calgary, Banff, Winnipeg) so no need to suggest those. However, if you have recommendations from things to do, see, or places to eat in those cities I'm all ears!

Thank you in advance.

My husband and I have a long-planned trip to Banff and Lake Louise next week with Backroads. It is 2 days biking, 2 days hiking, and one day rafting. This was a huge investment for us. We are concerned that the smoke in the area will not only take away from the beauty of the area but also interfere with our outdoor activities. Backroads says they can alter activities to different locations to avoid the smoke. Do any of you have experience with Backroads in this situation or any recent experience in Banff? What options do we have without trip insurance?

Next year I (from the UK) go to Canada as part of a 2 week work trip which me and my friends are turning into a holiday. In the very early stages of planning at the moment, however we already know we're going to be staying in Niagara for 2 days, 4 in Toronto and 4 in Montreal. This leaves us with 2 days unfilled in which we could either go to Quebec City or Ottawa.

None of us (all in mid-20's) are particularly interested in going out drinking/partying etc so not sure which destination makes more sense. QC seems to have more history but idk if I just haven't researched what's in Ottawa well enough?

Hi! What would you say are must-do things to see and eat while in Toronto? Especially for non-Canadians? I really enjoy things rich in history as well! Thank you!

Hi everyone!

I'm planning a solo trip to Canada this September and would love some advice from people who know the country well.

For some background, I'm from a small island in the Bahamas, but I'm an experienced traveler. I'm comfortable renting a car, flying between cities, and doing longer road trips if they're worth it.

Originally, I planned to spend most of my trip in Calgary, Banff, the Rockies, and Vancouver Island because I love mountains, wildlife, hiking, scenic drives, and I'd really like to do a Zodiac whale-watching tour.

The part I'm struggling with is Toronto.

I actually like the idea of staying somewhere that I can explore on foot or by public transit without needing to drive every day. I've also read that many solo travelers find Toronto comfortable to get around, and I'd love to hear whether you think that's true.

At the same time, I don't want to miss out on everything Western Canada has to offer.

I'm interested in:

• Beautiful scenery
• Wildlife
• Hiking
• Scenic drives
• Coffee shops
• Local restaurants
• Small towns
• Photography and videography
• A mix of adventure and relaxing days

If you had about four weeks, what would you do?

Would you spend most of your time in Western Canada, split it between Toronto and the West, or even include Atlantic Canada?

If this were your trip, how would you plan it?

I'd really appreciate any advice!

Hi! We’re a family of five (kids 11, 13 and 15) travelling from Vancouver to Golden on Aug 16–18.

Our original plan was:

Aug 16: Vancouver – Manning Park – Osoyoos – Oliver
Aug 17: Oliver – Summerland/Penticton – Kelowna – Sicamous – Three Valley Lake
Aug 18: Three Valley Lake – Revelstoke – Golden

With the current Bald Range wildfire situation around Summerland, we’re considering alternatives.

One option would be to keep Oliver but drive east on Hwy 3 the next day, via New Denver – Slocan Lake – Nakusp – Galena Bay/Shelter Bay ferry – Three Valley Lake.

The other would be to completely reroute via Rossland/Trail on Aug 16 and Radium/Invermere on Aug 17, then drive through Kootenay National Park to Golden on Aug 18. We could add rafting or another activity along the way.

For people who know BC well: Which route would you choose, not just because of the current wildfire situation, but as a genuinely great family road trip? We don’t want a “backup route” that feels like a compromise.

Any suggestions for better overnight stops or fun things to do along either route would be very welcome. Thanks!

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Me and my friends are planning a road trip from Hamilton to Gaspé and Percé during the first week of October.
I know the weather can be unpredictable, but I'd love some insight from locals or anyone who has visited around that time. What temperatures should we expect during the day and at night? Is there usually heavy rain, strong wind, fog, snow, or ice on Route 132?
We're also wondering:
- Will regular all-season tires be okay?
- Are Forillon National Park and the main attractions around
Percé still accessible?
- Do many restaurants, tours, or businesses close for the season?
- Is it still a good time for sightseeing and short hikes?
- Are fall colours usually still visible?
Any honest advice or personal experiences would be really appreciated.