Hello all, thank you in advance for any comments/suggestions.
My wife and I are from London and looking to visit Seattle/Vancouver and the Rockies in July. We've booked accommodation in the key places (i.e. Vancouver, Seattle, Yellowstone, Banff, Jasper), but that accommodation is currently refundable so we can change our plans if they are unrealistic. We like driving as long as the roads are decent and there aren't too many narrow, winding mountain passes - happy to drive for up to 8 hours a day. We fly in and out of Vancouver, want to be in Seattle for the 4th of July celebrations, have 2 weeks total and ideally would like to see Yellowstone as well as the Canadian Rockies, because we are unlikely to come back to the region just to see Yellowstone.
I put the trip below together based on a number of other threads, but the main thing I'm not sure about is the driving distance. Some people think that 2 days for Seattle-Yellowstone and 2 days for Yellowstone-Banff is fine; also, some people think that the amount of time we will spend in Yellowstone, Banff and Jasper is OK as a minimum for visiting these regions - however, other people say that 2 days for these legs is not enough and that you should focus more days on each park. If this trip could work then it would be great as it would mean that we could visit Yellowstone and Banff/Jasper - however, if it is unrealistic then it would be good to know in advance!
Finally, any tips for stopping places on the Seattle-Yellowstone and Yellowstone-Banff drive would be appreciated - we were thinking Missoula or Butte on the Seattle-Yellowstone drive and Great Falls on the Yellowstone-Banff drive.
· Friday 3rd July land in Vancouver (PM)
· Sa 4 drive to Seattle
· Su 5 Seattle
· M 6 drive to Missoula(?)
· Tu 7 drive to Yellowstone
· W 8 Yellowstone
· Th 9 morning in Yellowstone and drive to Great Falls(?)
· F 10 drive to Banff
· Sa 11 Banff
· Su 12 drive to Jasper via Lake Louise
· M 13 Jasper
· Tu 14 drive towards Vancouver (perhaps stop in Clearwater)?
· W 15 arrive Vancouver (PM) and stay before flight out on Saturday morning
Thanks again,
Karl and Hannah