 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi Snowheads,
I would be grateful for a bit of help. I am trying to book a trip for a relative to Canmore in June. I hope you don't mind me asking here as the trip is only loosely related to ski-ing. I thought it worth asking because I saw a lot of information about travelling to Canada.
Does anyone have any reports good or bad about flights? Calgary looks the best for Canmore, but means travelling to Manchester or London to get a direct flight. Cardiff is the closest airport to us. It is possible to fly from Cardiff to either Toronto or Vancouver with Flyzoom, but that leaves us the problem of the best way to get to Canmore from those airports.
Are Flyzoom or Canadian Affair OK? I had never heard of either of them before I started looking.
My second question is to ask if anyone can point me to any good websites for accommodation in Canmore, or even better has any direct recommendations.
Thanks in advance.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Ooops - don't know why that posted twice. Sorry.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Try the search function for Zoom, Banff and Canmore which should throw up a fair amount of previous discussion on all of these topics such as
http://snowheads.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=14323&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=zoom
Zoom is a fairly recently formed airline specifically flying to/from Canada. A friend of mine is in Canada at present having gone with them and I met some people in January who had flown on Zoom to Vancouver, which was ok they said. It runs a no frills type service, cheaper seats usually than the the likes of BA, reduced luggage allowance and you may have to pay for drinks etc (not sure on that).There is the option to buy a premium class seat, at a premium price of course so you get more legroom etc. The website (www.flyzoom.com) sets it all out.
Canadian affair have been around a while. I have not flown with them as they tend to be summer only (I think) so no use for skiing. I think they are a form of charter airline.
For accomodation try a search here
http://www.tripadvisor.com
If you run Canmore through that you should get some info.
Calgary would be a lot more convenient than Toronto or Vancouver, both of which mean another flight to Calgary then on to Canmore.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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nordicfan, hi - Calgary is by far the closest airport to Canmore but it's still about 1 1/2 hours away by road. To get from the airport to canmore you'll need to either hire a car when (the drive is fairly straightforward) or get a transfer bus, such as Rocky Mountain Sky Shuttle. Hiring a car is, in my opinion, the best way to see the area in the summer as there's quite a lot of Banff national park/Kananaskis provincial park near to Canmore that simply has no public transport and the hire/fuel costs are much less than in the UK.
You could fly from Cardiff to Vancouver/Toronto then pick up an internal flight to Toronto (such as Westjet or Air Canada) but to be honest the time required to change planes, collect bags at the airport then check in for the connecting flight, having ensured you've left enough time between your connections in case the first plane's late, plus the additional cost, probably outweighs the time and cost of getting to one of the london airports/manchester for a direct flight.
In terms of Canmore accommodation, try this site. Have only stayed in Banff myself (about 20 mins drive beyond Canmore) so cannot reccommend anywhere specific, but it's a nice town and finding decent accommodation shouldn't be a problem!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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If your relative has the time and the inclination, flying to Toronto and then driving to Canmore would be great, but it takes days rather than hours. Vancouver is closer, and I imagine that the drive is beautiful, but it's a long drive. Otherwise Calgary is the only game in town. The drive from calgary to Canmore couldn't be easier; there's only one main road in Canada (not quite true, but close enough) and both towns are on it; as long as you head west on the Trans Canada Highway from Calgary you're fine (turn east and it's 3000 miles of prairie).
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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nordicfan, a few year back we flew back from calgary with airtransat, who weren't bad. We went with air canada to vancouver this year and again they are ok, though not great.
if you can try to get a flight straight to calgary as it will be less hasle, though collecting a car and driving straight after the flight may not be a great plan as it is about 8 hour flight.
hope this helps
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If you get a flight to Calgary and dont want to pick up the hire car right away, you can stay overnight here
http://www.deltahotels.com/hotels/hotels.php?hotelId=24
which is accessed directly from the airport departures lounge. You dont even have to go outside. That way you can get a good nights rest and drive off next morning (when you will be up early anyway because of the time differential).
Generally car hire queues are a lot less in the morning than the late afternoon/early evening ie you wont be queuing with everyone else who got off your flight, as happened to me once in Orlando....2 hours later we emerged, into the dark , with our car.After that a good nights sleep and turning up bright and breezy next day, driving in daylight, has been the order of the day.
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Thanks everyone for all your help. You have all given me loads of useful information. There has been a lot here that I hadn't been able to find either by searching this board or the web.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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nordicfan, If you are looking on behalf of your son (looked at your other posts) who likes XC skiing then try the Canadian Alpine Club hut/hostle in Canmore- very good value- cook yoour own food, and a great place to meet people.
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edsilva,
Thanks. It is for Hubby this time. He did look at the hostel, but they are pretty booked up. (I think rather to his relief. He didn't really want a bunk bed.) He has found somewhere else, which sounds OK. I will post a report when he gets back.
Just for general info, he has booked BMI: LHR to Calgary. Although it is a code-share with Air Canada, BMI are much cheaper for the same flights. There was a better choice of days and times than with the low-cost carriers, and the price was still reasonable.
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