• Friday 10th November 2023: London to Vancouver, British Columbia (BC), Canada

Flight Air Canada RC861, Leaving London at 14.30, direct to Vancouver, Canada; lending at around 5pm Pacific time. The security process has been improved in London and was much simpler and quicker. During the flight, good service all along with Air Canada, decent food with various options available, classic drink and hot drinks available.

Luggage sort of lost for a bit in Vancouver as directed already straight to Whitehorse despite the flight only to be the day after, so a bit of time wasting waiting for the luggage then more waiting for them to be repatriated from a different belt.

Fast and easy border control on arrival in Vancouver, note there is nowadays a new Canadian ESTA equivalent (names ETA) to be requested and bought online prior to the flight.

Lyft cab (around CAD 30) from the airport to our hotel in Vancouver next to the BC Lions and Whitecap teams stadium - the Georgian Court hotel.

We spent the evening at a sport bar next door, the Shark Club, very nice atmosphere, service and food/drink - nice time, we will be back in a few days when returning from Yukon.

• Saturday 11th November 2023: Vancouver (BC) to Whitehorse (Yukon-YT)

We had an attempt for breakfast at the famous Jam’s (link below later) but too long a queue, so found the nice place Pure Bread.

Then we strolled to the Steam Clock and around the Gaston area before returning to the hotel.

Then another Lyft to the airport.

Flight AC8099 with Air Canada from Vancouver to Whitehorse at 13.50; landed around 5pm local time (plus one hour due to time difference).

We collected the luggage quickly and discovered the hotel organises a free shuttle from the airport to the hotel once the driver assumed there is no more people to wait for; so we announced ourselves and he kindly let us wait in the van.

We had 2 nights at the hotel Best Western of Whitehorse, very well located, quite charming with a great service all over. On the first evening, we had diner at the WinterLong pub literally next door through reception.

•  Sunday 12th November 2023: Whitehorse (YT)

 We had breakfast at a nice place we found not far from the hotel, the Burnt Toast Café. We then decided a plan for the day, going with a tour operator (nice service and literally the only one open on a Sunday) at the hotel, the Northern Tales to bring us to the Yukon Wildlife Preserve and to the hot springs Eclipse, both 30 minutes north or Whitehorse. We had a great time at both with lot of Yukon wildlife (refer to our photo gallery) and a relaxing time at a very well designed spa.

They then brought back to the hotel where we relaxed with a drink and food opposite the hotel at the 506 All Day Grill, nice but I’m sure there are more charming places nearby (like our sport bar at the hotel).

• Monday 13th November 2023 – Whitehorse (Yukon) to Northern Lakes Resort (YT)

We walk within Whitehorse during the morning, visiting and shopping after another breakfast at the Burnt Toast Café.

We then got prepared to be picked at the hotel at 2pm by Oliver from the Southern Lakes Resort - our next destination for 3 nights - who drove us for a 90mn trip to the resort with a pause at the smallest desert in the world, the Carcross Desert.

We settled at the villa provided, we did a short walk nearby before sunset (around 4pm) then we had dinner at the resort restaurant with a WinterLong beer.

• Tuesday 14th November 2023 – Northern Lakes Resort (YT)

After a breakfast at the Resort, we walked in the woods for 3 hours to the west of the Resort, along the lake. Beautiful views all along over the majestic mountains, forest and waters. Back to the room, we then lunched at the Resort (the food is really food and the stand and chef really engaging), followed by a short walk around the Resort domain, then a short rest at the villa, before enjoying dinner at the Resort.

As we knew the sky would be relatively clear, we regularly checked for of Northern Lights firstly on the balcony, then from the room (the -14 degrees was difficult to stand when immobile for a long time on a balcony) during the night as more they became intense.

• Wednesday 15th November 2023 – Northern Lakes Resort (YT)

Very similar structure of a day with a breakfast at the Resort, then walk in the woods for 3 hours (different trail, mostly staying very close to the lake), then back and lunch at the Resort, rest at the villa and dinner at the Resort.We had a lighter tracking of the Northern Lights from within the villa as they were more fainted than the previous night.

• Thursday 16th November 2023 – Northern Lakes Resort to Whitehorse (YT) then Vancouver (BC)

 Oliver, manager from the Resort, picked us at 6am to drive us back to Whitehorse airport (breakfast to go kindly provided by the hotel).

Return flight to Vancouver (BC) at 9am, flight AC8102 with Air Canada – we landed a bit after 10am (gaining back the one-hour time difference.

We had a Lyft to the same hotel we had upon arrival to Canada in Vancouver, fortunately our room was already available – which much appreciated for a bit of rest to recover from the early hyper activity.

Later on we walked within Gastown and then the main streets of central Vancouver.

Lunch with sushis at a mall (the CF Pacific Centre - very classic mall..) but we found a nice cafe nearby with lovely Cappuccinos and biscuits at Mario’s Coffee Express on Howe street, sipping those gently while visiting the town centre on our way back to the hotel.

We heading out again to our preferred sports bar - the Shark Club - for a large bowl of nachos and a beer while watching the live game - we should have booked as it has been difficult to get a table as the Canucks were playing that night.

Back to the hotel for an early night as we wanted to stroll new areas for us of south Vancouver.

• Friday 17th November 2023 – Vancouver (BC)

Breakfast at Jam’s, surprisingly empty when we arrived a bit after 9am - great to get a nice spot and make lovely photos of the place!

We then walked across the south centre to catch the bridge to Granville (not super pedestrian friendly but nice views), we stoped by a lovely shoe shop for a Birkbenstock purchase (unique models and cheaper than in the UK.

We visited Granville Island, its many shops and its covered market before jumping into one of the mini bus boat which got us at stop 4 to the south bank so we could walk to the local Wholefood market – with a stop first at Pablo Mini for a couple of their cheesecake and at Henry’s so I could buy a bit of equipment (a Canon RF 16mm lense, extra batteries and memory cards) - I wish we had such a shop in London!

New then walked back to the hotel through another barely pedestrian-friendly bridge (and the direction sign are so bad for that bridge!). We made a big pause at the hotel to recover from the long walk – booking for 6.30pm the usual sports bar for dinner where we had a light bite with salads but still a nice beer to complement! Back to the hotel for the night.

•  Saturday 18th November 2023 – Vancouver (BC) to Revelstoke (BC)

Lyft at 8.30am to drop us at the airport, breakfast there – found a pure bread; we picked a snack there to go. Get the car at domestic arrival level with Alamo (get the details), upgraded to a larger car, ending up with a large SUV from Jeep.

Drive to Revelstoke with a few stops on the way as this is a 500k drive to the Columbia mountains.

Stop at a Dinner in Kamloops (get the details) for lunch then a bit later (name to find) for a le stroll and a cappuccino at a Starbucks before finishing the long road, unfortunately by night to the Hill Coast Hotel (get the details) north and above Revelstoke.

Then relaxing at the bar watching NHL with a beer and some food staying on our cosy sofa with TV at the bar.

•  Sunday 19th November 2023 – Revelstoke (BC)

It nowed overnight but the day was dark and the weather forecast gloomy all day with rain coming and low clouds. So, we dropped this idea to get on a trail to the nearby mountain to focus on the visit of Revy for the morning, willing to have breakfast at Dose but despite what it says on their website they were closed (yes there were people there and the door opened with the sign ‘Close’ on – whatever.. ). We fond on the next right turn another place for breakfast, Big Bend Cafe (we later realise it is a small chain as we sat at one during our next leap) with nice food menu, great portion though very limited on the choice of hot drinks – no cappuccino for us.

We then walked through the various shops and streets of Revy, managing to get photos.

We put our time to good use then, going to the laundry to get our cloths cleaned for the second half of our trip at the Washateria.

Early afternoon, we drove along the river in town with the car but no great views nor wildlife so we decided to get out and follow the road 23 South where we found a sign to the Begbie waterfall. We reached the end of the gravel road to the Fall car park. This is a nice nice walk down into the wood, with a very nice waterfall scenery.

We then turned back to the hotel to tidy up the clothes and prepare the luggage before finishing the evening at the bar with a beer and food (great burger!) on our sofa there with the NFL game of the evening on TV.

Monday 20th November 2023 – Revelstoke (BC) to Emerald Lake Lodge (Alberta)

Driving down from the hotel to Revy to catch a cappuccino at Conversation (frankly quite average) which appear to be okay only (due to be the best in Revy) but no morning food here to get so crossing to the bakery with not much more choice apart from cakes, so picked 2 chocolate chips cookies (we tried the cappuccinos there the day before, probably the best though still not great).

Then drive straight in direction of Lake Emerald, nice scenic drive with the Columbia mountains all around.

We stopped at Golden to find lunch, limited choice on a Monday and finally ended up finding a sister place to the one we found on our first day in Revy - Big Bend Cafe.

We then end the road trip with a few stops for photos - lucky enough to capture a couple of Bald Eagles on a tree top by a river.

We reached Lake Emerald by a clear blue sky for great scenic views and a quiet lake for beautiful reflection and photos. We then returned to the main car park a bit before on the road where the Emerald Lake Lodge (which is by the lake) picks you and your luggage for a short drive back to the hotel by the lake.

We checked-in and dropped the luggage in our room 204, first floor on a chalet with great view to the forest and our very own fireplace. We went for a walk across the village of chalets of the resort. Great views over the mountains and the lake, where captured Blue jays and other birds also while on a stroll.

Back to the main lobby where we took possession of the double sofa by the fireplace and spent the whole evening there with drinks, food and wi-fi as only available there - in the chalet.

• Tuesday 21st November 2023 – Emerald Lake (AB) and Lake Louise (AB)

Up at 7am as the bed was a bit hard, the pillow too soft and the duvet not that warm especially as we had the heating down we got a bit cold overnight (our mistake) but it warmed up very quickly when we set the heating up. Cloudy day so far then but very quiet room and nice view from the bed.

We got dropped to the car park by the resort shuttle and drove straight to Lake Louise, we saw some elks on the way by the rail tracks.

We paused at Lake Louise for breakfast at Trailhead Café for 2 really nice salmon bagels and 2 cappuccinos of good quality.

We then went to the visitor centre to ultimately get a confirmation there was strictly no access to the 10 Peaks valley and lake Moraine unfortunately.

We had a quick tour of the shops around before picking a sweet snack (local twix tasting millionaires in the UK) and a Chai latte for me at the Trailead Café .

So we decided to drive to the actual Lake Louise, we parked there and started the walk up to Lake Agnes (with Mirror Lake on the way, which is easy but steadily steep walk for 3.4k one way – we went up there, taking our time, in around 2hrs - beautiful scenaries over the forest and mountains as well as view over the lake Louise.

Great views despite the weather, we spotted a woodpecker on the way. We had a much better view at the birding wildlife with 3 types of jays at Mirror Lake (Steller’s jay, Canada jay and the Clark’s Nutcracker), all getting remains of food from previous visitors so making it easy for photos – including a local squirrel.

we finished the trail up reaching Agnes lake a bit further up, great views of the valley and mountains up there, more of the jays at very close distance as we had our snack out and they were very keen on those. We then walked by down at a good pace in 40 minutes.

We drove back to Emerald Lake where we picked a Shuttle already there, back to the room for a bit of rest and a fire lit, before heading back to the lobby for a tea then a glass of wine and an Internet pause (as no access in the room). Back to the room around 10pm, lighting back up the fire before heading to bed.

• Wednesday 22nd November 2023 – Emerald Lake/Lake Louise (AB) to Banff (AB)

We stayed at the siister hotel to the Emerald Lake Lodge, the Buffalo Mountain Lodge, with similar nice spacious room with a fireplace and a balcony.

We had a bit of a wait to get the room as available from 4pm and arrived at 3.10pm taking our time to enjoy the beautiful scene on our way, particularly as we had a great blue sky weather, so we waited by the lodge fireplace – ultimately a bit longer as our upper floor room had a door issue but we’d rather wait than swapping for a potentially noisier lower floor room immediately available.

Once settled in the room, we drove back to Banff (5mn drive) for a quick tour looking for a place for lunch – ultimately (asnot easily as past 2pm) found a welcoming sports bar, the Canadian BrewHouse where we had lunch and a nice local beer while watching live sports.

We went to the visitor centre to get local tips about the best walks and viewpoints nearby Banff.

We then drove back to the hotel, rest and dinner at the lodge restaurant.

•  Thursday 23rd November 2023 – Banff (AB)

It snowed overnight a good 10 to 15cm of snow, temperature down to minus 14C but a clear blue sky.

We walked from the hotel to the snowed road just above, and found the trek through the forest climbing up to the point of view at the top of Tunnel Mountain. Lovely walk (with the crampons) under a clear blue sky with many points of view over the surrounding mountains and valleys as well as Banff.

We walked back to the hotel (spotting mule deers on the outskirt of Banff), before driving down to Banff, we found a different sports bar we actually liked better, the Banff Fave Brewing more for the atmosphere as the food and beers were equally good, we then wandered a bit in Banff before returning to the resort

We had dinner at the lodge restaurant with a full and quite nice bottle of local Chardonnay.

• Friday 24th November 2023 – Banff (AB)

We had breakfast at the hotel, they have a diverse menu, good quality and value for money. Temperature down to -14 when we jumped in the car.

We drive to Surprise Corner Viewpoint with a nice view on the river, the Fairmont and valleys and mountains around, particularly then as still early in the morning and so much pristine snow.

After the walk to the viewpoint, we drove 20kms in direction of Lake Louise to reach the Johnston Canyon, meeting a heard of mountain rams on the way. We walked the whole trail with crampons due to stacked snow and ice up to the upper falls for fantastic views of this place we visited 15y earlier but in October, it looked so much more dramatic with snow, cold and ice ! Returning to the car after a 3hr long walk and a fantastic set of photos.

Back to Banff early afternoon, we returned to the sport bar from the day before for the same order, before spending the rest of the day visiting the shops of Banff, photographing the sunset light son the mountains and the village at night.

Then returning to the Lodge early evening to enjoy the fireplace in our room and a bit of live sport action, already preparing the luggage for our final day.

• Saturday 25th November 2023 – Banff (AB) to Calgary(AB)

 Breakfast at the hotel then a straight drive to Calgary (about an hour drive) with a few stops on the scenic road within the Rockies.

Then we drove to the CrossIron outlet in the western suburbs of Calgary for a bit of cheaper shopping possibly.

After a very light shopping, we scouted around to find a petrol station accepting our debit car (thank you Esso!) before driving to the airport. Dropped the car – really nice and easy – at Alamo.

We walked to the international departure to Air Canada, boarding pass and bag drops very quick as fully automated, security checks was as easy and fast.

Very little shopping or restaurants available unfortunately; we picked a sport-bar look-alike restaurant for a burger and a beer.

Our flight onboarded without any issue, we had a good surprise as the flight was not full and the third seat next to us left empty, allowing more space to try to sleep.

We landed at 9.51am in London, 10 minutes early, long walk to security but very quick as quite empty, surprisingly – though we waited 45mns (sic!) for the luggages due to issues at Heathrow. Additionally, no Elizabeth line that weekend due to engineering work so we jumped in a Uber and went home in an hour for around £60.

Hope you enjoyed this summary, use the buttons at the top for any question or to reach the full photo gallery about this trip and do not hesitate to look at all our other sets of photos also on ShutterStock/Getty Image or Instagram (also through the buttons and links at the top) !