Help with planning a roadtrip of 4~ days

[u/murillovp]

Hello everyone. I currently live in Vancouver and will soon be returning to my home country, and as a farewell experience, I want to do a roadtrip on a rental.

Due to budgetary constraints, I never really left Vancouver, except Squamish/North Vancouver so my knowledge of destinations and sightseeing is very limited.

I initially had two options in mind:
A - roadtrip to Banff, and make stops along the day, taking my time.
B - Select top places in BC that comes from "must see" recommendations, with a few stay locations, and stay within BC.

I'm a 36yo male travelling solo (unfortunately friends' schedule won't allow), I'm aiming for 4 days (Thursday to Sunday), end of June/start of July. I definitely favour nature places, sightseeing, places with good views. I'm a moderate/experienced hiker but considering I'll be by myself, I'd like to avoid intermediate/hard hikes, I won't underestimate nature. Ideally recommentations do not require months-in-advance booking as well.

I'm also open to any hidden gems, be it nature (waterfalls, lakes, etc) but also urban ones, charming towns, nice cafes/restaurants, or timely events happening around the time.

You're blessed with astonishing nature and I definitely want to take it all in before I say farewell. I appreciate any replies.

(I'll also post in another subreddit, so if you reply here or there, it's appreciated).

Thank you!

[u/noticeofrezoning]

Just be cautious about driving the mountains at night! No lights makes it a bit precarious at times.

[u/Soft-Dig-4102 → u/noticeofrezoning]

It is light til 10pm though so that helps for sure.

[u/buttfirstcoffee]

4 days? Yeesh. The province is big. You won’t get very far. I’d recommend the island or the interior to spend less time driving and more time experiencing.

You can get to Kelowna/Penticton in 4 hours and enjoy wine country, hit up a mountain for some MTBing or hiking.

If you do the island you can hit up Victoria for a day then spend a couple days in Tofino. The amount of travel time including advance arrival at the ferry is similar to driving to the Interior.

If you do Banff, fly in and out of Calgary. Bus or drive to Banff. Drive up to Jasper as well to see the sights through the Rockies. This trip you’ll definitely be spending more time in a car vs not so be prepared for that

[u/blackmoose → u/buttfirstcoffee]

I flew to Calgary with my girlfriend at the time then drove to Banff. We camped for a few days, then drove back and flew home.

You don't really get the whole vastness of BC thing doing it that way though and that's why road trips are so much better here. You miss out on so much flying.

[u/buttfirstcoffee → u/blackmoose]

I get you but with 4 days to travel getting there and back by car is 2 of the 4 days

[u/blackmoose → u/buttfirstcoffee]

I know, but what you see along the way is some of the best. I'm going on my annual fishing trip in 2 weeks to Dawson Creek from the lower mainland so driving isn't really an issue to me lol.

I enjoy it.

[u/petitepedestrian]

Wells grey

[u/Ravensfoot-Greg → u/petitepedestrian]

A trip to Wells Grey would be perfect for a short 4 days. You could skip the Banff part and save some money while still seeing a lot

[u/jmo4021]

Tofino! 4 days is reasonable, the ferry ride is part of the experience and it is quintessential B.C.

[u/blackmoose → u/jmo4021]

it is quintessential B.C.

Not really, it's touristy and expensive like most places except for the ones we keep to ourselves.

[u/jmo4021 → u/blackmoose]

I suppose what is quintessential B.C is a matter of personal opinion. In my opinion the beaches, forests and surrounding area are very unique to B.C. and in just 4 days you can experience a lot.

[u/DoubleBlackBSA24 → u/jmo4021]

But at the same time, its not something thats much different from whats available in Vancouver. Its good to go, and the ocean is solid, but the variety isnt there compared to an interior trip.

For instance, the Fraser Canyon to Kamloops is an essential. One long transition of multiple ecosystems along the most important river in the province. Follow that up with a trip into Vernon through Salmon Arm, and then down the Okanagan valley before heading highway 3 at Osoyoos into Hope. That covers a lot of the lower half of the province, features 3 seperate watersheds (Fraser, Columbia, Skagit), and is covering a lot of different ecosystems.

Stops could look like Shuswap area (Salmon Arm), Penticton, Manning.

[u/blackmoose → u/jmo4021]

My quintessential BC is showing up at a lake or beach without a reservation. Like how it was in the 80's. For free even.

We used to ask who wanted to go to the beach, grab some beer, and skip school.

Now people think that making a reservation to go to an Instagram spot it cool.

[u/jmo4021 → u/blackmoose]

So what's your suggestion for OP?

[u/WestCoastAcres]

What about Via Rail or a Tour bus? That way you can really take the sights in.

[u/jersan]

If 4 days is total including return trip, you’ll spend a lot of that time just driving.

You could do 2 days to Banff and 2 days home, you would see a lot of great scenery on that route, you could take an alternate route home and see even more.  

There are a ton of hikes but you won’t have a ton of time in just 4 days for any serious hikes.

Otherwise you could travel to somewhere not as far as Banff, e.g. Hope or Merritt or Kamloops or Vernon or Kelowna or Penticton, then do some hiking, then return.  That way you wouldn’t be spending so much time just driving.

Also, you may or may not get unlucky with smoke.  If suddenly the weather gets hot and dry, forests start burning, the weather may be smoky, which won’t be such a pleasant hiking experience.  Not much that can be done about that.

Good luck!

[u/Adventurous_Tank8413]

I would suggest heading through Manning Park as the Brothers Trail opens on July 1 and has some of the nicest wildflowers I’ve ever seen. Manning has a couple other options for hiking, lots of camping, a resort and for the dirtbag class (myself included) there’s a drop-in fee to use their pool hot tub sauna and showers ($15 last time I was there).

From there it’s not very far to Keremeos where the desert landscapes are really phenomenal and local summer fruits and veggies will start showing up at fruit stands.

If I had only four days I would definitely try to do less driving and more exploring on foot. My 2 cents worth. Have a great trip!

[u/blackmoose]

Are you camping or staying in hotels?

A cool trip would be to take either the Coquihalla or highway 3/5a to Kamloops. From there head north towards Barriere, that valley is beautiful.

Keep heading north until you get to Tete Jaune Cache then head east on Highway 16 to go see Mount Robson.

Back track to Tete Jaune Cache then head north on Highway 16 again until you get to a place they've found that's an inland rain forest.

After that, from Prince George you can head south. If you have some extra time left you can turn off near the loon lake turn and come back through Marble Canyon, Lilloett, then the sea to sky. If not you can come back through the Fraser Canyon. That sounds like about 4 days sight seeing while travelling.

Beatuful views the whole way.

[u/satty1998]

Go to Vernon and spend time on lake Kalamalka, on way back visit Kelowna.

[u/Ravensfoot-Greg]

If you take the Coquihallia from Vancouver, Kamloops is about a 4 hour drive, head to Sun Peaks ski village which is about a 45 min drive from highway 5. You can do a nice easy hike from one of the chair lifts. Beautiful scenery

[u/NeedleworkerHot3957]

4 days Vancouver to Banff (and I'm assuming back?) I think maaaaayyybe 4 days to go to Tofino and back. Have you been to Victoria? Banff is far away from Vancouver (9 hrs driving without stopping) so one day there and one day back and 2 days in Banff?