Canada Itinerary: 6 Days in Vancouver, Banff & Lake Louise
Six days from Pacific city to Rocky Mountain postcard — Vancouver’s seawall, rainforest, and market island, then the turquoise lakes and glacier country of Banff. One short flight connects ocean kayaks to grizzly territory.
Canada ranked #17 worldwide with 19.9 million international arrivals (2024 overnight arrivals, Destination Canada / Canadian Tourism Data Collective). Last reviewed 2026-07-29.
Canada · 6 days Vancouver → Banff & Lake Louise
Best time: June to September for hiking season and liquid-turquoise lakes (the color peaks once the glacier melt runs, from mid-June).
Vancouver: Canada PlaceDay 1
🏛️9:00 AMCanada Place
The sail-roofed pier where cruise ships dock — start of the Coal Harbour waterfront walk, with floatplanes landing against the North Shore mountains all day.
🚗 ~24 min · 6.8 mi
🖼️1:30 PMMuseum of Anthropology at UBC
One of the world’s great First Nations collections — monumental totem poles and Bill Reid’s The Raven and the First Men in a glass hall facing mountains and sea. Reopened in 2024 after a full seismic rebuild of its Great Hall.
🚗 ~24 min · 6.9 mi
🌆6:00 PMGastown
The cobbled Victorian birthplace of the city, from the steam clock’s corner to Blood Alley — cafés and galleries in warehouses by day, the city’s densest eating streets at night.
Vancouver: Capilano Suspension Bridge ParkDay 2
🏛️9:00 AMCapilano Suspension Bridge Park
A 137-meter bridge swaying 70 meters above a rainforest canyon, plus treetop and cliff walks. Crowded by 10 AM; the free Lynn Canyon bridge nearby is the local alternative.
🚗 ~11 min · 3.1 mi
🥾1:30 PMStanley Park seawall
A 9-kilometer paved loop around a 400-hectare rainforest peninsula — totem poles at Brockton Point, Siwash Rock, and beaches, best done by bike in a slow two hours.
🚶 ~30 min · 🚗 ~4 min · 1.1 mi
🎟️6:00 PMWhale-watching trip
Boats head into the Salish Sea for orcas, humpbacks, and sea lions from spring through fall — morning, afternoon, and summer sunset sailings — and this is one of the few big cities where they leave from downtown.
Vancouver: Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese GardenDay 3
🏛️9:00 AMDr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden
The first full Ming-style scholar’s garden built outside China, assembled by Suzhou craftsmen in historic Chinatown — a pocket of engineered calm.
🚶 ~21 min · 🚗 ~3 min · 0.8 mi
🖼️1:30 PMVancouver Art Gallery
The downtown gallery in the old neoclassical courthouse, anchored by the swirling forest canvases of British Columbia’s own Emily Carr.
🚶 ~27 min · 🚗 ~3 min · 1.0 mi
🌆6:00 PMGranville Island
A former industrial sandbar turned public market and artisan quarter under the bridge — the food hall alone justifies the tiny rainbow-colored ferry ride across False Creek.
Arrive in Banff & Lake LouiseDay 4
✈️8:30 AMFlight and drive to Banff & Lake Louise
Fly Vancouver to Calgary in about 1h25, then it is roughly 90 minutes to Banff by frequent airport shuttle or rental car on the Trans-Canada, with the Rockies rising the whole way. Driving the entire way from Vancouver is a spectacular but full ~9-hour day.
✈️ ~1h25 · 363 mi
🚌 Roam bus or shuttle
🏛️2:00 PMLake Louise
The turquoise lake below Victoria Glacier that made the Rockies famous. Arrive before 8 AM or ride the shuttle; then walk the flat lakeshore trail or climb to the Lake Agnes teahouse.
🚗 day trip · 32 mi
🌆6:00 PMBanff townsite
A walkable park town under Cascade Mountain — outfitters and museums along Banff Avenue, hot springs on the hill, and the Bow River path minutes from every door.
Banff & Lake Louise: Moraine LakeDay 5
🏛️9:00 AMMoraine Lake
Ten glacier-crowned peaks over impossibly blue water — the former $20-bill view. Private cars have been banned since 2023: reserve the Parks Canada shuttle (2026 season 1 June–12 Oct, with 4 and 5 AM Alpine Start runs for sunrise).
🚗 day trip · 29 mi
🖼️1:30 PMWhyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies
Art, archives, and mountaineering history of the range — the guides, First Nations, and painters who made these valleys legend, told in the town they worked from.
🚶 ~2 min · 🚗 ~1 min · 440 ft
🎟️6:00 PMEvening wildlife safari
A guided drive at dusk, when elk, bighorn sheep, and — with luck — bears move; guides know the meadows and keep viewing at legal, respectful distances.
Banff & Lake Louise: Banff Gondola and Sulphur MountainDay 6
🏛️9:00 AMBanff Gondola and Sulphur Mountain
Eight minutes up to a summit boardwalk with a 360-degree sweep of six mountain ranges — or hike the switchbacks up and ride down.
🚗 ~48 min · 14 mi
🥾1:30 PMJohnston Canyon
Catwalks bolted into a limestone gorge lead past waterfalls to the blue-green Ink Pots springs in a hanging valley — the park’s most popular walk, so expect company at midday and near-solitude early and late.
🚗 ~67 min · 19 mi
🌆6:00 PMLake Louise village
The small basecamp hamlet in the upper valley — quieter nights, first crack at the lakes at dawn, and the trailheads on your doorstep.
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Best time to goJune to September for hiking season and liquid-turquoise lakes (the color peaks once the glacier melt runs, from mid-June). September brings golden larches and thinner crowds; the Moraine Lake shuttle season runs 1 June to 12 October.
Recommended splitVancouver 3d · Banff & Lake Louise 3d
Local tip: Book the big three ahead: your Parks Canada pass (buy online, per-day per-person), the Moraine Lake shuttle (private cars have been banned since 2023 — reservations open in spring and go fast), and summer Banff lodging months out. In Vancouver, carry a layer even in July; the mountains make their own weather.
Vancouver — 3 days
Vancouver is the rare city where downtown meets temperate rainforest and open ocean — you can kayak, ride a gondola into the mountains, and eat some of North America’s best Asian food in the same day. It is consistently ranked among the world’s most livable cities, and three days shows you why.
Neighborhoods to base yourself inGastown. The cobbled Victorian birthplace of the city, from the steam clock’s corner to Blood Alley — cafés and galleries in warehouses by day, the city’s densest eating streets at night.Granville Island. A former industrial sandbar turned public market and artisan quarter under the bridge — the food hall alone justifies the tiny rainbow-colored ferry ride across False Creek.West End and English Bay. Leafy residential streets running down to the city’s sunset beach — the walkable base between downtown and Stanley Park, with the Davie Village strip at its heart.
LandmarksCanada Place. The sail-roofed pier where cruise ships dock — start of the Coal Harbour waterfront walk, with floatplanes landing against the North Shore mountains all day.Capilano Suspension Bridge Park. A 137-meter bridge swaying 70 meters above a rainforest canyon, plus treetop and cliff walks. Crowded by 10 AM; the free Lynn Canyon bridge nearby is the local alternative.Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden. The first full Ming-style scholar’s garden built outside China, assembled by Suzhou craftsmen in historic Chinatown — a pocket of engineered calm.
Nature and outdoorsStanley Park seawall. A 9-kilometer paved loop around a 400-hectare rainforest peninsula — totem poles at Brockton Point, Siwash Rock, and beaches, best done by bike in a slow two hours.Grouse Mountain. The Skyride gondola lifts you to 1,100 meters at the city’s edge for alpine views over the whole region — or earn it on the Grouse Grind, the 2,830-step “nature’s stairmaster.”
MuseumsMuseum of Anthropology at UBC. One of the world’s great First Nations collections — monumental totem poles and Bill Reid’s The Raven and the First Men in a glass hall facing mountains and sea. Reopened in 2024 after a full seismic rebuild of its Great Hall.Vancouver Art Gallery. The downtown gallery in the old neoclassical courthouse, anchored by the swirling forest canvases of British Columbia’s own Emily Carr.
Worth a guided tourWhale-watching trip. Boats head into the Salish Sea for orcas, humpbacks, and sea lions from spring through fall — morning, afternoon, and summer sunset sailings — and this is one of the few big cities where they leave from downtown.Granville Island market food tour. A guided graze through the public market’s fishmongers, bakers, and producers — the efficient way to understand what British Columbia grows, catches, and smokes.
Getting around VancouverSkyTrain, SeaBus, and buses run on one tap-to-pay fare system, downtown is flat and walkable, and the seawall makes bike rental the best sightseeing money you will spend.
Banff & Lake Louise — 3 days
Getting here: Flight and drive — Fly Vancouver to Calgary in about 1h25, then it is roughly 90 minutes to Banff by frequent airport shuttle or rental car on the Trans-Canada, with the Rockies rising the whole way. Driving the entire way from Vancouver is a spectacular but full ~9-hour day.
Banff is Canada’s first national park and still its definitive one — glacier-fed lakes of implausible turquoise, a Victorian resort town ringed by 3,000-meter peaks, and elk wandering the outskirts. This is the landscape on the postcards, and it does not disappoint in person.
Neighborhoods to base yourself inBanff townsite. A walkable park town under Cascade Mountain — outfitters and museums along Banff Avenue, hot springs on the hill, and the Bow River path minutes from every door.Lake Louise village. The small basecamp hamlet in the upper valley — quieter nights, first crack at the lakes at dawn, and the trailheads on your doorstep.
LandmarksLake Louise. The turquoise lake below Victoria Glacier that made the Rockies famous. Arrive before 8 AM or ride the shuttle; then walk the flat lakeshore trail or climb to the Lake Agnes teahouse.Moraine Lake. Ten glacier-crowned peaks over impossibly blue water — the former $20-bill view. Private cars have been banned since 2023: reserve the Parks Canada shuttle (2026 season 1 June–12 Oct, with 4 and 5 AM Alpine Start runs for sunrise).Banff Gondola and Sulphur Mountain. Eight minutes up to a summit boardwalk with a 360-degree sweep of six mountain ranges — or hike the switchbacks up and ride down.Cave and Basin National Historic Site. The sulphur hot-spring cave whose 1883 discovery sparked Canada’s entire national park system — the origin story, still steaming.
Nature and outdoorsJohnston Canyon. Catwalks bolted into a limestone gorge lead past waterfalls to the blue-green Ink Pots springs in a hanging valley — the park’s most popular walk, so expect company at midday and near-solitude early and late.Vermilion Lakes. Wetland lakes minutes from town where Mount Rundle reflects at dawn and elk graze at dusk — the local spot for sunset, and effectively flat by bike or on foot.
MuseumsWhyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies. Art, archives, and mountaineering history of the range — the guides, First Nations, and painters who made these valleys legend, told in the town they worked from.
Worth a guided tourEvening wildlife safari. A guided drive at dusk, when elk, bighorn sheep, and — with luck — bears move; guides know the meadows and keep viewing at legal, respectful distances.Icefields Parkway day tour. A guided run up one of the world’s great mountain highways — Bow Lake, Peyto’s wolf-head turquoise, and the Columbia Icefield’s glaciers — without white-knuckling the driving yourself.
Getting around Banff & Lake LouiseRoam Transit buses link the townsite, Lake Louise, and Johnston Canyon cheaply; Parks Canada and Roam shuttles are the only way into Moraine Lake in season. A car helps for dawn starts everywhere else — every vehicle needs a park pass.
The full plan as text
The same day-by-day plan, expandable day by day. Times are starting points, not homework.
Day 1: Vancouver: Canada Place
9:00 AMCanada Place
The sail-roofed pier where cruise ships dock — start of the Coal Harbour waterfront walk, with floatplanes landing against the North Shore mountains all day.
1:30 PMMuseum of Anthropology at UBC
One of the world’s great First Nations collections — monumental totem poles and Bill Reid’s The Raven and the First Men in a glass hall facing mountains and sea. Reopened in 2024 after a full seismic rebuild of its Great Hall.
6:00 PMGastown
The cobbled Victorian birthplace of the city, from the steam clock’s corner to Blood Alley — cafés and galleries in warehouses by day, the city’s densest eating streets at night.
Day 2: Vancouver: Capilano Suspension Bridge Park
9:00 AMCapilano Suspension Bridge Park
A 137-meter bridge swaying 70 meters above a rainforest canyon, plus treetop and cliff walks. Crowded by 10 AM; the free Lynn Canyon bridge nearby is the local alternative.
1:30 PMStanley Park seawall
A 9-kilometer paved loop around a 400-hectare rainforest peninsula — totem poles at Brockton Point, Siwash Rock, and beaches, best done by bike in a slow two hours.
6:00 PMWhale-watching trip
Boats head into the Salish Sea for orcas, humpbacks, and sea lions from spring through fall — morning, afternoon, and summer sunset sailings — and this is one of the few big cities where they leave from downtown.
Day 3: Vancouver: Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden
9:00 AMDr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden
The first full Ming-style scholar’s garden built outside China, assembled by Suzhou craftsmen in historic Chinatown — a pocket of engineered calm.
1:30 PMVancouver Art Gallery
The downtown gallery in the old neoclassical courthouse, anchored by the swirling forest canvases of British Columbia’s own Emily Carr.
6:00 PMGranville Island
A former industrial sandbar turned public market and artisan quarter under the bridge — the food hall alone justifies the tiny rainbow-colored ferry ride across False Creek.
Day 4: Arrive in Banff & Lake Louise
8:30 AMFlight and drive to Banff & Lake Louise
Fly Vancouver to Calgary in about 1h25, then it is roughly 90 minutes to Banff by frequent airport shuttle or rental car on the Trans-Canada, with the Rockies rising the whole way. Driving the entire way from Vancouver is a spectacular but full ~9-hour day.
2:00 PMLake Louise
The turquoise lake below Victoria Glacier that made the Rockies famous. Arrive before 8 AM or ride the shuttle; then walk the flat lakeshore trail or climb to the Lake Agnes teahouse.
6:00 PMBanff townsite
A walkable park town under Cascade Mountain — outfitters and museums along Banff Avenue, hot springs on the hill, and the Bow River path minutes from every door.
Day 5: Banff & Lake Louise: Moraine Lake
9:00 AMMoraine Lake
Ten glacier-crowned peaks over impossibly blue water — the former $20-bill view. Private cars have been banned since 2023: reserve the Parks Canada shuttle (2026 season 1 June–12 Oct, with 4 and 5 AM Alpine Start runs for sunrise).
1:30 PMWhyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies
Art, archives, and mountaineering history of the range — the guides, First Nations, and painters who made these valleys legend, told in the town they worked from.
6:00 PMEvening wildlife safari
A guided drive at dusk, when elk, bighorn sheep, and — with luck — bears move; guides know the meadows and keep viewing at legal, respectful distances.
Day 6: Banff & Lake Louise: Banff Gondola and Sulphur Mountain
9:00 AMBanff Gondola and Sulphur Mountain
Eight minutes up to a summit boardwalk with a 360-degree sweep of six mountain ranges — or hike the switchbacks up and ride down.
1:30 PMJohnston Canyon
Catwalks bolted into a limestone gorge lead past waterfalls to the blue-green Ink Pots springs in a hanging valley — the park’s most popular walk, so expect company at midday and near-solitude early and late.
6:00 PMLake Louise village
The small basecamp hamlet in the upper valley — quieter nights, first crack at the lakes at dawn, and the trailheads on your doorstep.
Make this Canada trip yours
Forward your real booking confirmations to Petrel and it builds this exact day-by-day view for you: flights, hotels, reservations, live flight status, and the travel time between stops. Under a minute.
Start your free tripFirst trip free. No account, no credit card.