I travelled to Canada with my family in June 2006 and found this holiday to be one of the very best I have ever experienced. We flew with Air Transat from Manchester into Calgary where we spent our first 3 nights. Calgary is a town at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. Whilst in Calgary we visited various attractions, one for the children (and adults) is Calgary Zoo, well worth a day out. The historic Heritage Park was also worth visiting and for spectacular views over Calgary and over to the Rocky Mountains, the Calgary Tower is a must. The skyline at night is amazing and here you can indulge in some fine cuisine in the panoramic revolving restaurant; a fantastic experience, and although the food was not cheap, it was worth every penny.

From Calgary we hired a car and travelled through to Banff where we spent another 3 nights. I must say that Banff was my favourite, this quaint town was full of character. Whilst walking down the main street we were surrounded by mountains and the views were breathtaking. The local people here were very friendly and welcoming. The restaurants were very reasonably priced and the food very good. You could tell you were in a tourist town however as most of the shops were filled with souvenirs. The children found Banff very entertaining with plenty to do and see and the prospect of seeing grizzly bears was always a topic of conversation. We took the Banff Gondola which was amazing, right to the top of Sulphur Mountain. We had a birds eye view of six mountain ranges and were 7,846 ft above sea level. I could have easily of spent 10 days here exploring the whole area. Banff National Park covers over 2,500 miles and a car is definitely recommended as from here you can see so much. We visited Lake Louise which was fantastic, and although it was June, the mountains still were covered in snow. Here we hired a canoe and went across Lake Louise. We spent time in the Fairmont Lake Louise hotel, which is the most elegant hotel I have ever visited and had a lady in the foyer playing the harp.

From Banff we started our long journey through the Rockies to Vancouver, stopping enroute for 1 night in the town of Kamloops. Kamloops was very much a typical Canadian town with locals going about their everyday life. It is mainly used by visitors as a stopover point and 1 night would be enough. After Kamloops we continued our journey through to Vancouver passing what could only be described as magnificent scenery, at times we were even riding above the clouds. From being so high up then coming down through the valley's, the whole experience was just breathtaking. Once we reached Vancouver we spent our last 5 nights at the Coast Plaza Hotel & Suites.

Vancouver, well what can I say? A city that has everything! After breakfast we would take a short walk to the coastline where we sometimes continued on to Stanley Park. Here you could easily spend the day visiting the various parks and watching the squirrels running around. The Vancouver Aquarium was also in this area, which is worth a visit and kept the children entertained. The harbour area is beautiful with trips departing all the time with trips varying from an hour to 3 in duration. We also took a seaplane ride which flew us over Vancouver and Vancouver Island, this worked out at only approx £40 which was well worth the ride. There is so much to see and do here, you could easily spend 2 weeks here visiting the many different areas of British Columbia.
Our trip finished in Vancouver, but without a doubt we will return to Canada hopefully in the near future.