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In this article, you will find our Canada travel budget for fifteen days, as we do with all our travels in order to show you how much we spent before estimating your own budget. Traveling to the Canadian Rockies is costly. However, throughout this post, we will show you some techniques for traveling economically. We will also provide a few tips so you can save money while making the most of your trip.
If you are concerned about the costs of traveling to Canada, we will try to address all of your inquiries in this post. You will find below our breakdown of expenses for our Canada trip. Let’s begin with our Canada travel budget guide!
COST BREAKDOWN – Canadian Rockies budget guide
Bear in mind this section details our expenses from a 15-day trip through the Canadian Rockies in May 2017.
ANTICIPATED SPENDINGS
These are all costs we incurred before our Canadian Rockies trip.
HOW MUCH do the flights to the Canadian Rockies COST?
As always this section is just a rough idea. Please, confirm yourself the prices of flights to Canada because they change depending on the time frame and the place of departure. However, it is an essential component to know how much a Canada trip costs.
We booked our flights 3 months prior to our trip since we discuss on our guide on how to locate inexpensive flights.Dani departed from Madrid and I did from Philadelphia. Our adventure commenced in May at the Vancouver airport.
Round-trip flight between Madrid and Vancouver = € 750
Round-trip flight from Philadelphia to Vancouver = €310
We must also consider the means of transportation we used to travel between Vancouver and Calgary and back again. Calgary is the airport nearest to the Canadian Rockies.
Vancouver – Calgary flight = €114 / person
Calgary – Vancouver flight = €177 / person
Total flight expenses = € 821 / person approximately
HOW MUCH DOES THE CANADA VISA COST?
As we mentioned in the Guide to traveling to the Canadian Rockies, we do not require a visa but need an electronic authorization to travel. The cost of the eTA was around €18.
To apply for it, you can check out this iVisa.
Visa expenses = €18 / person
HOW MUCH DOES the Canadian TRAVEL INSURANCE COST?
It is highly suggested to purchase travel insurance for Canada. Based on my personal encounter, Heymondo is one of the most trustworthy travel insurance providers and the one I recommend for your trip to Canada. We presently have an yearly multi-vacation insurance policy, since besides traveling for enjoyment, we travel significantly for work and it compensates us.
Total travel insurance expenses = 65 € / person
HOW MUCH DOES THE DISCOVERY PASS COST?
If you intend to visit more than one Canadian Rocky Mountain National Park, we advise that you obtain a Discovery Pass. This pass will allow you to enter into numerous parks and other places without cost.
In 2017, coinciding with the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Canadian Confederation, admission was complimentary. Normally however, the cost is CAD $136 for a group of up to seven individuals accessing the parks via a single vehicle (€94). It can be obtained online here.
Total cost of Discovery Pass = € 94 per vehicle = € 47 per person for a two-person trip
HOW MUCH DOES renting a car in Canada cost?
The vehicle rental is an important cost in Canada since they are generally not low-priced. We paid € 640 for leasing a car for 13 days + full insurance coverage. Be sure to carry a credit card as debit cards are not permitted for renting vehicles.
Total vehicle rental fees = € 640 per rental vehicle = € 320 / person for a two-person trip
booked ACCOMMODATIONS
For most of the trip, we stayed at campgrounds without prior reservation. We will break down the pricing of campgrounds in Canada in the following section.
However, lodging was booked for 5 nights.
Spending three nights in Vancouver (where camping was not an choice) and two nights in the Canadian Rockies.
We secured the lodging in Vancouver via Airbnb. The nightly cost was € 67. If you do not presently have an account, you can review directions here for joining Airbnb with a coupon code for the inaugural booking.
During those two nights in the Rocky Mountains, we stayed in famous classic lodges instead of camping. The costs were:
Emerald Lake Lodge: The fee was € 200 for a single night`s accommodation. (It was worth the cost as it is one of the premier hotels for viewing the Northern Lights in Canada).
Sunwapta Falls Rocky Mountain Lodge: The cost for a single overnight stay was € 125.
Total expenses for 5 nights of booked accommodation = 67×3 + 200 + 125 = € 520 = € 260 per person
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Also, if you have an interest in attractions available in Tenerife north at nighttime, La Laguna possesses shops, eateries, and bars where you can socialize and savor some regional cuisine.
EXPENSES DURING THE TRIP – ESTIMATED TRAVEL BUDGET TO CANADA IN 15 DAYS
Once visiting the Canadian Rockies, we faced the following expenses as outlined below:
HOW MUCH DOES THE CAMPINGS COST in Canada?
We stayed in campgrounds without any previous reservations most nights. One night we stayed in a shared lodge with 12 beds and another night, the one that we saw the northern lights, we spent the night outdoors under the display of lights of the Aurora Borealis and took a little nap in the vehicle the next morning.
As for the prices we paid:
Two Jack Lake Campground – Banff (2 nights) = € 24 / night
Kicking Horse Campground – Yoho (2 nights) = € 18 / night
HI-Mosquito Creek Hostel with 12 beds – Banff (1 night) = 27.98 € / per night and bed
Wapiti Campground – Jasper (3 nights) = € 19 per night
Lake Louise Campground – Banff (1 night) = eighteen euros / night
Dancing with Aurora all night long = Priceless!
Total expenses for accommodation for 9 nights without reservation = 24×2 + 18×2 + 28×2 + 19×3 + 18 = € 215 = € 108 / person
How much does it cost to eat in the canadian rockies?
Eating in the Canadian Rockies can be very costly or very cheap and it only relies on you.
During most of our time, we cooked and ate what we prepared using a Campingaz. We made a major initial purchase at a mountain equipment store where in addition to buying the Jetboil and fuel, we obtained dehydrated foods including rice, pasta, soups, quinoa and other options.
We also purchased additional food throughout the trip at supermarkets. In total we spent €500 although this price also includes the Jetboil + fuel (€90), mat (€30), spray against bears (€50), wax and wood for fires (€20), water bottles (€10) and reusable plastic cutlery (€5). We have used this gear for all of our trips since then.
Having meals in eating places in Canada is quite expensive. However, we also indulged ourselves. For example one night we had dinner at Emerald lodge at a cost of € 55 for two people. We had breakfast twice in the same place and another in Sunwapta Falls Lodge for € 30 for two people each time.
Obviously, had we not purchased the Campingaz we would have spent significantly more.
In total, we spend on diets (including beer, ice cream, and other indulgences) € 850.
Total costs for meals = €850/total = €425/person
Fuel
The cost of fuel in Canada is more affordable than most of the western nations. This is excellent when it comes to decreasing your travel budget to Canada. Numerous miles are driven on a road excursion, so low-cost gasoline is the perfect match for a road trip !
The total spending on gasoline for the trip was € 96 for the car and € 48 per individual.
OTHER ACTIVITIES
Once having the Discovery Pass everything else is free. The only activity where we spent money was in the Whale sighting in Vancouver = € 90 / person
We carried 260 € in cash that we spent on souvenirs, transportation in Vancouver (taxi, bus and metro), some restaurant meals and other activities that we payed for in cash such as:
Kayak in Emerald Lake: CAD$ 60 / hour = € 20 / person
Total expenses on other activities = € 220 / person
TOTAL 15-DAY trip to CANADA Budget: ROCKY MOUNTAINS + VANCOUVER = € 2400 PER PERSON
However, you should always keep in mind that this budget depends on the type of trip you are planning. With this guide you can develop a basic idea and rough estimate of your own travel budget to Canada. Of course, it`s worth visiting the Canadian Rocky Mountains regardless of your budget.
