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Trans Canada Trip Cost?

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ramoose_jc
Posts: 132 - Karma: 349
My friend and I are going on a road trip from Ottawa to Vancouver next summer and I would like to know how much the trip usually costs.

Here's our plan:

Day 1
Ottawa - Toronto

Day 2
Toronto - Sudbury via 400

Day 3
Sudbury - Sault Ste. Marie via Trans-Canada HWY ON 17

Day 4 & 5
Sault Ste. Marie - Thunder Bay via HWY ON 17 N (706 km in total)

Day 6
Thunder Bay - Quetico National Park via TCH 17 to 11 (205 km, only 2.5 hrs)
Hike and hang around the national park

Day 7
Quetico NP - Winnipeg via HWY 17

Day 8 Rest in Winnipeg & Recharge
Day 9
Winnipeg, MB - Moose Jaw, SK via Trans-Canada HWY 1

Day 10
Moose Jaw, SK - Medicine Hat, AB via Trans-Canada HWY 1

Day 11
Medicine Hat, AB - Calgary, AB via Trans-Canada HWY 1

Day 12
Rest and recharge in Calgary

Day 13
Calgary - Canmore (the town near Banff, but cheaper hotels) via Trans-Canada HWY 1

Day 14
Enjoy Banff
Horseback ride
Gondola

Day 15
Canmore - Lake Louise via Trans-Canada HWY 1

Day 16
Lake Louise - Mt. Revelstoke (just to get there) via Trans-Canada HWY 1
Enjoy Glacier National Park

Day 17
Revelstoke - Kamloops via Trans-Canada HWY 1

Day 18
Kamloops - Vancouver

Day 19
Vancouver fun

Day 20
Leave for Toronto/Ottawa (by flight)

We are planning on renting a car and flying back. How much would the trip cost in total, approximately? Also, any suggestions for our plan?
Jul 26 2016 7:42PM
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arnie_grape
Posts: 3451 - Karma: 11,683
you have a lot of variables here. this is probably something you should budget yourself.

if I were you I would compress this.
you'll save a lot of time and money if you skip toronto. if you've seen traffic and buildings before then you're not missing anything. you could probably cut down on the prairies too. 5 days between northern ontario and calgary sounds like a long fucking time. and canmore to lake is like an hour on a slow day, you might as well make it a short stop and truck on to revy.
Jul 26 2016 8:00PM
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saskskier
Posts: 4774 - Karma: 10,005
Yeah. It seems like you are taking a lot of time to go through the prairies.

Winnipeg to Medicine Hat is around 10 hours (definitely less if you do like 120 the whole way, which you can on the Trans-Can). Put in a long day and then it's only a three hour drive to Calgary from Medicine Hat.
Jul 26 2016 8:13PM
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saskskier
Posts: 4774 - Karma: 10,005
saskskierYeah. It seems like you are taking a lot of time to go through the prairies.

Winnipeg to Medicine Hat is around 10 hours (definitely less if you do like 120 the whole way, which you can on the Trans-Can). Put in a long day and then it's only a three hour drive to Calgary from Medicine Hat.


I forgot to add - Saskatchewan isn't worth making a stop UNLESS you are going north of Prince Albert. In reality, like 2/3's of Saskatchewan is boreal forrest and lakes with amazing fishing, but it's north of P.A.
Jul 26 2016 8:21PM
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erikK
Posts: 3245 - Karma: 2,328
This should be incredibly easy to estimate yourself. Gas, hotels, food, tobacco, liquor, drugs, cost of activities (ex. riding horses) you plan to do along the way.

I would recommend trying to spend a day in the Okanagan if you can, it's real nice. Maybe even just go through Kelowna/Penticton/Princeton instead of Kamloops on the drive through.
Although for people from Ontario the Coquilhala will be a pretty impressive drive as well.
Jul 26 2016 9:24PM
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DirtYStylE
Posts: 3652 - Karma: 8,888
I would bet that his is going to cost several thousand dollars. First of all, gas is much more expensive in Canada. Hotels will be 50-100 a night so that's easily a thousand. Another 500+ for the flight. The rest of the expenses is totally up to you and can very dramatically from person to person. Personally, I take bagels on trips trips like that so its like $5 a week for breakfast. If you go out to eat every morning its like $10 per day. Same goes with booze and other activities. I like to eat out at least once a day so I allot about $20 a day for food, but i'm really cheap haha

So food would be a minimum of 500
Flight is around 500
Hotels will be 1,000 (split up for each member on the trip)
Gas fluctuates from town to town so this is going to be really hard to get a solid number and you will probably want to rent a car that has a flat rate and doesn't charge by miles.
Jul 26 2016 10:10PM
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corona
Posts: 12798 - Karma: 32,771
If you live in Ottawa then forget about going through Toronto, you can visit Toronto any weekend you want. Just go direct to Sludgebury. You'll save a ton of time and a bunch of fuel and the 17 is a nice enough route.

I'd also pick somewhere other than Winnipeg to have a rest day. It's definitely not one of Canada's finest towns. Northern Ontario has some fantastic scenery, fishing, and swimming though. Then I'd just blow through the prairies since BC has so much more awesome stuff to see and do. Although passing through Cypress Hills and the Badlands is pretty cool. You don't have nearly enough time for BC though.

Passing through BC I'd suggest from Revelstoke go down to Kelowna then south to Osoyoos or however that's spelled and take the 3 instead of the 97. Or if you have a bit more time go from Revy through Nakusp and hit up a natural not built up hotspring and then down to the 3.

And if you have money for a ferry and more time the Gulf Islands are worth the visit

What time of year are you doing it in?
Jul 26 2016 10:12PM
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daannnnieel
Posts: 5163 - Karma: 4,293
erikKThis should be incredibly easy to estimate yourself. Gas, hotels, food, tobacco, liquor, drugs, cost of activities (ex. riding horses) you plan to do along the way.

I would recommend trying to spend a day in the Okanagan if you can, it's real nice. Maybe even just go through Kelowna/Penticton/Princeton instead of Kamloops on the drive through.
Although for people from Ontario the Coquilhala will be a pretty impressive drive as well.


You said what I was going to. Kelownas definitely worth the stop.


Bit biased because I live here
Jul 28 2016 1:45AM
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MacMahoooon
Posts: 9009 - Karma: 3,305
Doing a 1 way vehicle rental is incredibly expensive, expect a few hundred extra in the return fees.
Jul 29 2016 1:48PM
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dbchili
Posts: 2555 - Karma: 1,657
MacMahoooonDoing a 1 way vehicle rental is incredibly expensive, expect a few hundred extra in the return fees.


Agreed. There's hundreds if not thousands of skiers and snowboarders moving from Ontario to bc every year, surely if you ski you'll know one or could find one with them. Help them drive their car out and then you only help pay for gas
Jul 29 2016 9:40PM
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skiP.E.I.
Posts: 7822 - Karma: 21,855
I'd also pick somewhere other than Winnipeg to have a rest day. It's definitely not one of Canada's finest towns.

Winnipeg has a good art scene.

I'
Jul 29 2016 10:13PM
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skiP.E.I.
Posts: 7822 - Karma: 21,855
I'd also pick somewhere other than Winnipeg to have a rest day. It's definitely not one of Canada's finest towns.

Winnipeg has a solid art scene.

I will be doing the same trip in October, but blasting across as fast as possible sleeping in my tent. I'm curious about the cost of gas for a sub-compact on this trip.
Jul 29 2016 10:15PM
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saskskier
Posts: 4774 - Karma: 10,005
skiP.E.I.I'd also pick somewhere other than Winnipeg to have a rest day. It's definitely not one of Canada's finest towns.

Winnipeg has a solid art scene.

I will be doing the same trip in October, but blasting across as fast as possible sleeping in my tent. I'm curious about the cost of gas for a sub-compact on this trip.


I've only been to Winnipeg once for a weekend (friend's wedding) and I hated it. Driving around there sucks.

If you feel the need to pick up coffee beans, Caliber Roasters in Regina is one of the best roasters I've been to. There aren't really any great coffee shops in Regina, which sucks.

Medicine Hat also sucks, but they have a legit bbq joint called Skinny's Smokehouse. Definitely worth picking up on the way through town.

A bit out of the way, (about 30 minutes off the trans Canada highway between Medicine Hat and Brooks), but Dinosaur Provincial Park in the Badlands is pretty cool. It's a Unesco World Heritage site and a good spot to get out and stretch the legs.

Gas should be pretty cheap with a sub-compact. I've got an 06' BMW 325i and get around 900km/tank on the highway. (ie - Calgary to Regina with about an extra 150km to spare). Roughly $65/tank (premium gas). Ottawa-Vancouver is 4465km (according to google maps). /900 works out to about 5 tanks or roughly $325 for me.
Jul 30 2016 12:37AM
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