Banff National Park Travel Forum

Hello,
I am planning a trip to Canada in late June of 2007. Want to fly into Great Falls, Montana and then drive to Glacier National Park for a couple of nights, travel to Waterton Lake and then to Banff and Lake Louise. It is cheaper to fly into and out of the same city. Does anyone have information as to how far of a drive it is from Banff to Great Falls? In late June, is traveling by car "easy" from point to point? Any feedback would be appreciated!
Thanks!

It's about 650 km each way so that's quite a drive. Driving will be easy but obviously it will be time-consuming.

Consider flying into Calgary (YYC)... it's only about 2 hours' drive or so from Waterton National Park (just across the border from the US Glacier National Park). Also, many airlines have unpenalized one-way fares now, so check out that as an option. Of course you'd have to check with the car rental company about a drop-off charge in that case.

If you manage to find a car hire that will allow you to pick up in one country and drop off in a different one, the one-way drop off fee will probably give you heart failure. lol.

Financially, your best bet, as already mentioned would be to make a "circle", flying into and out of the same spot so you can drop your rental car off in the same spot you picked up from. It is about a 4 hour drive from the Calgary airport to Waterton Lakes, Glacier is about an additional hour, including your time at customs.

There is a shuttle service, based out of Fernie, that will drive you from kalispell to Waterton, Calgary, Fernie, etc, but from what I understand it is expensive. If you are interested in looking into that, just email me. I can find their contact info - I just don't have it handy at the moment.

You may want to re-consider the timing of your trip. June is not the best time of year to be seeing Glacier, since the Going to the Sun road will likely not be open yet. They had some problems with the GTTS road in November 2006, when heavy rain washed out the road in several places. That will need to be fixed in addition to the regular snow clearing this year. There will likely still be snow on hiking trails at higher elevations in parts of Waterton and Glacier, too.

Other than that, I don't think you will have any major difficulties in travelling by car.

One other thing, there is also an airport at Kalispell, you may want to price out a flight into there, as well.

Camping girl is correct, one way car rental are very expensive (especially across the border). Drive from Calgary/Banff is to Great Fall is 5-6 hours, a nice drive. I would think it will be cheaper to fly in and out of Calgary then do a "circle tour". Also, late June/early July is the peak of tourist season in Calgary/Banff becasue of the Calgary Stampede (July 6-15). If you have not book your hotels/camp sites do it asap!