In July 2022 we were lucky enough to go on a 10 day road trip through the Rockies. My husband Bill is Canadian, hailing from Victoria BC, so on a trip back to see his family post covid - we decided to head off on our dream trip through the Rockies. I can think of nothing better than a holiday in a RV / Campervan, hiking and exploring the mountains and lakes by day and staying in beautiful campgrounds at night. And of course eating yummy camp food along the way.

So, that’s what we did. Here’s how we planned our 10 days road trip through the Rocky Mountains of Canada! In this blog I will cover:

Planning / Hiring an RV in Canada
Our Route & Itinerary
Where We Stayed
Hikes - See my blog on Hiking in the Rockies
Lakes & Activities

Planning / Hiring an RV

Hiring an RV in Canada in peak season is expensive. Really expensive. There are a few major players in RV hire in Canada like Canadream and Cruise America, but after some research I found the very cool website Outdoorsy. Outdoorsy is like the AirBnB of RV rental, allowing you to view private vehicles available for hire from various points around Canada and the US. Some of the larger companies or dealers actually use it as well, but we went for a privately owned RV out of Vancouver. It was a great layout and vehicle for us, although not overly clean (unfortunately) and really un economical on gas, BUT, we still loved it and it made a great home for the 10 days. I just mention these things as a buyer beware - read the reviews!

Our Route & Itinerary

We decided to pick up our RV in Vancouver and spend 2 days on either side of our trip getting to see more of BC. It was great to do once, but if I did it again I would pick up a vehicle from Calgary and spend more time on the ground in the Rockies. Heres the route we took, plus a visual below.

Further in this blog I will outline where we stayed at each overnight stop.

Day 1: Vancouver to Paul Lake Provincial Park
Day 2: Paul Lake Provincial Park to Jasper
Day 3: Exploring Jasper
Day 4: Jasper to Icefields Parkway
Day 5: Icefields Parkway to Lake Louise
Day 6: Lake Louise to Banff
Day 7: Exploring Banff
Day 8: Banff to Golden
Day 9: Golden to Lac Le Jeune Provincial Park
Day 10: Lac Le Jeune Provincial Park to Vancouver

Campgrounds / Where We Stayed

The hardest part in the planning was actually booking the campgrounds! I didn’t really know where to start, but had an idea that we would want to stay in some Provincial Parks as the ones in BC are amazing. We have stayed in a few on Vancouver Island and they are always so good. So I started my research, which took a long time as there are a) a lot b) hard to book. BC Parks and & Parks Canada release their campground allocations for the summer on specific days earlier in the year, so you need to know when that is and be ready to book. Some of these campgrounds book out within an hour of them being released, so I set an alarm. I think it was around February that I booked for July. Even then, we missed out on a few of the ones we wanted that were a bit smaller.

There are also ones you CAN’T book, and are first come first served, but I am far too much of a planner for that and didn’t want to get caught out without a spot! Way to stressful for me, but this is a great way to stay at some of the smaller parks if you plan on being there earlier in the day.

So to save you having to do a mountain of research, here are the awesome places that we stayed, I’d recommend every one!

Paul Lake Provincial Park
Paul Lake Provincial Park was a great half way stop on our journey from Vancouver to Jasper. We didn’t get to spend a lot of time here as we arrived relatively late and left early, but, this is a beautiful park. The RV spots are nestled among the firs, it was quiet, there were deer roaming around and as the name suggests - there is a beautiful lake.

Miette Campground
This is the only campground that doesn’t come highly recommended. It wasn’t bad, it was just in hindsight a little further out of Jasper than we wanted (although some stunning scenery on the way there) and it was absolutely infested with Mosquitos. We had to take shelter in the van the whole night so couldn’t enjoy the outdoors! Still, it was a nice setting. We preferred Wapati in Jasper, but this would be a good spot if you were planning on visiting Miette Hotsrings.

Wapati Campground, Jasper
I thought I wasn’t going to like this campground as much as it was super big, and not a lot of trees. However, we ended up loving it here. We had a great spot that backed on to the river behind so we could hear & see the water, and it was in a super handy location just outside of Jasper. Plus it was still beautiful without the trees. We had our biggest bear scare here, with sightings all day and in the evening we were there (quietly shitting myself). Also, good facilities, plenty of showers etc.

Rampart Creek / Icefields Parkway
I think this was my favourite of the places we stayed. The surroundings are just breathtaking, half way along the stunning Icefields Parkway. There is a huge river that runs alongside the campground and mountains all around. Once again you are in among the tall trees and it was just beautiful here. More bear sightings… eep, not by us thank god. This was a smaller campground and wasn’t that busy which was surprising.

Lake Louise Hardsided Campground
We opted to stay in the heart of Lake Louise to have good access to both Lake Louise and the Lake Louise Gondola area (great for viewing bears from up high! Stunning, highly recommend). Upon arrival we thought YES, jackpot, this place is beautiful. And it was. Not quite as private as some of the others and a little more open, but really beautiful and again a river running beside - but a lot smaller than the others, so we could get in. Yes, it was very cold glaciel water, but it was very hot outside so I was game. There were also some neat little walking tracks through this and it was super close to town.
HOWEVER, the one BIG thing about this place is that there is a railway track running almost right through the bloody middle. Well at least that’s what it felt like. Holy heck, those trains kept me awake all night - every hour on the hour. So, just beware!

Johnston Canyon Campground / 25kms from Banff
This campground we were strategic about, because lets be honest, Banff is a ZOO. There are a few options in Banff, but the super large campgrounds just looked TOO big for us. The link above will take you to all the options for this area, but we chose this one because we also really wanted to do the Johnston Canyon hike / walk, so this seemed like a good spot. And it was. Big, but not enormous and didn’t feel overcrowded at all. We got to our lovely sight and headed off in the evening after dinner for our walk which was a great idea as most tourists had moved on to their accommodation for the night. It turned out to be the perfect strategy and was a quiet spot for the night, and only 20 mins from Banff.

Two Jack Main Campground / 10kms from Banff
We opted for a campground a little closer to Banff for our second night in the area, which was fine, but honestly I think there would be better, I really wanted to book the Two Jack Lake Campground but it is small and super hard to get in to. My recommendation for the area is Johnston Canyon over this one. It was ok, but I wouldn’t say anything special about it.

Golden Municipal Campground
On our way West again and back to Vancouver, we stayed in Golden the night as we booked white water rafting there. This was the only private campground we stayed in. We had a nice site, lots of trees and relatively private. It was fine for what we needed it for, but it was pretty busy and nothing overly pretty or special about it. It seemed like this was a popular spot for long stays and lots of big groups.
But, it’s in a good location, the bathrooms were clean and we had power - so no complaints.

Lac Le Jeune Provincial Park
Gosh this was a beautiful park. We wished we had more time here. We arrive in the late afternoon, found our nice big site and settled in. There was time for a walk down to the lake after dinner for a swim. We really liked the feel and layout of this park. The site was lovely and they were well spaced out, it was quiet. We went swimming again in the morning before heading home. Def recommend this one!

Hiking The Rockies

We had so much hiking in the Rockies that I have created a special blog just for that!

Check out Hiking in the Rockies where I talk about Edith Cavel Meadows Trail, Valley of the Five Lakes, Johnston Canyon and Moraine Lake Shoreside Walk.

Activities / Things to Do in the Rockies

There is no shortage of things to do in the Rockies, especially if nature is your jam. And lets be honest, why would you be there if it wasn’t. Mostly on our trip we were doing hikes and visiting the lakes (which I will list below) but we also did a few other activities that I can highly recommend.

We visited Peyto, Moraine, Emerald & Lake Louise. See more on a dedicated blog COMING SOON.

Maligne Canyon
Maligne Canyon is seriously impressive. We spent a few hours here following the walks along the side of the canyon to various viewpoints, then hiked back up again. There are loads of trails around this area as well which offer beautiful views of the Rockies. We also really enjoyed spotting fossils here in the stone, amazing spot to visit with some amazing water volume passing through the canyon.

Maligne Lake Scenic Road & Kayaking Maligne Lake
This road leading out to Maligne Lake is really stunning. We headed out to the lake to do some kayaking in our inflatable kayaks that we had with us, but our secondary purpose was to view wildlife along this road as I’d read there was lots to see. We saw loads of Elk, Cariboo & Eagles, it was amazing. The drive was super beautiful and the lake itself is also a sight to behold. We loved our day exploring and kayaking here.

Drive the Icefields Parkway
Easily one of the most stunning drives in the world, the Icefields Parkway is an absolute must on your trip to the Rockies. It is a 230km stretch between Jasper and Lake Louise, and it’s out of this world. You pass so many different mountain passes and landscapes, waterfalls, glaciers and more. Take the day and take your time, you will never forget it.

Hiring e-bikes in Banff
We very spontaneously decided to hire e-bikes in Banff which was so awesome! There are so many trails all over Banff and going further afield as well. Its a great way to see Banff outskirts and the town itself.

White Water Rafting in Golden
This was one of the absolute highlights of our whole trip. Aiden (our son) absolutely LOVED it. We happened to be there on the hottest day of the summer, so getting in to the water was super fun and refreshing. The rapids on the Kicking Horse River were just the right level for us, it was exhilarating and we felt safe.

Riding the Gondolas in Lake Louise
I’m pretty sure most people head straight to Lake Louise, but I had heard that there was a high chance of seeing some bears and other wildlife from the safety of a Gondola - so this was my idea of how to see a bear! haha We really lucked out and got to see a Mama bear and her cub roaming the hills below us, it was amazing. We also planned to do a hike from the top, but the trails were closed due to said Bears. The views are of course amazing, and you can see Lake Louise itself off in the distance.

We had the most epic time in the Rockies, I’d love to go back some day as I feel like we just didn’t have enough time. We all loved it so much, the family time was so wholesome and perfect. I hope this blog has helped you for your epic family adventure too!