Canada Highlights

I began my Canadian journey by flying into Calgary. We drove one hour to Canmore, where we were beginning our adventure. The town was surrounded by lush mountains, filled with little cafes and restaurants.

We stayed at Silver Creek Lodge; which basically made me feel like I was living a real life fairy tale as I looked out onto the encompassing mountains from the balcony.

The next day, we drove around Banff and we went to Bow Falls, the Hoodoo lookout, Lake Minnewanka, and Johnson Lake. We saw our first bear sighting on the side of the road! This was absolutely surreal, to see a real bear just metres from our car.

The day after was one of my favourite days in Canada, as we explored some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. The first stop was Lake Louise, which hosts the famous hotel, The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, which you’re looking at spending a mere $850 per night if you want to sleep there. I suggest just popping in for a visit on your way through to say you’ve been there. Next stop was the infamous Moraine Lake. This is just utterly breathtaking and I suggest allowing yourself a whole hour to simply sit and take it all in. The water looks unreal it is so blue and still, with the mountains in the background. You’ll definitely have to pinch yourself at this stop! Don’t forget your camera.

On the way back to Canmore we stopped at Emerald Lake, where a wedding was taking place across the other side! The water really was an emerald colour. We also made a few pit stops when we saw beautiful elk, with velvet antlers on the side of the road.

On the way to Jasper we made a quick stop at Herbert Lake. The lake water mirrored the mountains perfectly, which was just surreal. We walked up to Bow Summit, to see the bright blue water amongst the mountains and stopped off at Fortress Lake to see a rapid waterfall.

The next morning we stopped at Medicine Lake. The water looked untouched, like a painting. We went on a cruise around Maligne Lake, which was beautiful and I definitely recommend doing this during your trip to Canada.

The next day in Jasper, we went for a walk around Mount Robson Provincial Park and enjoyed our last moments in the Canadian countryside. Whilst driving through Canada we were always on the lookout for wild animals such as bears and elk, and were very successful in our findings (the bears were much sneakier than the elk, the elk liked to hold up traffic and stand in the middle of the road). We really, really wanted to see a moose whilst in Canada but much to our dismay were unsuccessful! Let me know if you come to Canada and got the chance of seeing a moose.

After Jasper, we drove to Vancouver and spent 3 days exploring the city. We went to the aquarium, which was complete with a butterfly sanctuary! We also took a water taxi across to Granville Island and spent our last day there. This was filled with fruit markets, flowers and little knick knacks.