Well what a trip this was. Canada is…BIG. And attempting to cover it in less than 2 weeks was… some would say ambitious, some would probably just say foolish. But when has that ever stopped me?!

What We Did

We flew into Toronto and spent 3 nights there- the main reason being so that we could take a day trip to Niagara Falls. Toronto itself as a city is nice enough but nothing spectacular, but the Falls are AMAZING.

Then we flew from Toronto to Banff, spent 1 night in Banff (I regret not adding in one more night so we could have visited Lake Louise, but the timings didn’t work) and then took the Rocky Mountaineer train through the mountains from Banff to Vancouver. This was one of the most fantastic experiences of my life -a real ‘bucket list’ item!!

We got into Vancouver on the evening of MY BIRTHDAY 😀 and spent 3 nights in the city before catching the ferry over to Vancouver Island for a final 3 nights in the main city, Victoria. Vancouver Island was one of my favourite places on the trip – stunning scenery, lovely cities and great food. I wish we could have seen more of it actually (it is not a small island!) We caught the seaplane from Victoria to Vancouver Airport for our flight home, which was another highlight! (thank you to my friend Rebecca for suggesting this!)

Where We Stayed

Toronto: The Grand. Actually nowhere near as fancy as the name implies (or the website for that matter!) but well located, spacious accommodation and there are indeed hot tubs on the roof which is a nice touch! Great breakfasts, too.

Banff: The High Country Inn. Easily the most basic of everywhere we stayed but we were only there one night and left early in the morning so it was perfectly adequate for our needs.

Kamloops: Hotel 540. This was our one-night stopover while on the Rocky Mountaineer train. Again perfectly adequate for our needs; the best thing about it was that it had a rooftop pool and gym which was much needed since we had been eating so much on the train!!

Vancouver: The Westin Grand. We somehow got upgraded to a suite which was lovely, on a high floor with a gorgeous view over the city. The location of the hotel is perfect -on Robson Street, one of the main shopping streets (I had a lovely morning shopping while my other half went to the hotel gym and watched the football while on the treadmill!)

Victoria (Vancouver Island): Delta Victoria Ocean Pointe. Beautiful hotel with a lovely bar/restaurant overlooking the harbour. We paid to upgrade so we also had a harbour view room overlooking the parliament building and could watch the seaplanes taking off and arriving.

I will do another separate post at some point on what we actually did in each place, but for now here are a few photos to whet your appetite!

 

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