Canadian Rockies to Vancouver: Banff, the Icefield and Jasper, 6 Nights

Land in Calgary, where the wheat country of Alberta runs up against the first ridges of the Rockies, and take the hotel shuttle from the terminal. After a long flight from India the best use of the evening is a short walk and an early night, because the mountains start tomorrow. If you arrive with daylight to spare, the city has a lively riverside and a tall tower with a view west to the peaks.

After breakfast a shared coach takes the Trans-Canada Highway west, and the land changes quickly from rolling ranch country to walls of grey limestone. Banff is a small mountain town inside Canada's oldest national park, with one main street, Cascade Mountain standing at its end and elk that often graze the verges. Settle in, walk along the Bow River to the falls, and choose a quiet dinner on Banff Avenue.

The guided day begins with the Banff Gondola, which lifts you in a few minutes to the top of Sulphur Mountain, where a boardwalk runs along the ridge above the town. Back down, Tunnel Mountain Drive gives views of Mount Rundle, the Bow Falls and the hoodoos, pillars of soft rock carved by wind and water. The afternoon runs out to Two Jack Lake and Lake Minnewanka, where a boat cruise on the lake operates in the warmer months and can be added.

Check out for the longest and most spectacular day of the trip. The coach stops first at Lake Louise, its water a milky turquoise below the Victoria Glacier, then follows the Icefields Parkway north past lakes, waterfalls and hanging glaciers. At the Columbia Icefield a big-wheeled Ice Explorer drives out onto the Athabasca Glacier, and the Skywalk's glass floor hangs over the valley below. Both usually run from about May to mid-October only. The day ends in Jasper, a quieter park town where deer and elk are common.

A long travel day. After breakfast a shared coach leaves the mountains and crosses the Alberta plain to Edmonton airport, a drive of four hours or more, for the flight over the Rockies to Vancouver. We book the flight separately and time it so the connection is comfortable. Arrive in the evening to a very different Canada: mild, green and on the water. Dinner near the hotel is plenty for tonight.

The guided day covers the city's older quarters and waterfront, typically including Gastown and the view across the harbour to the North Shore mountains. It then crosses the Lions Gate Bridge to the Capilano Suspension Bridge, a swaying span high above a river gorge, and the Cliffwalk, a narrow path bolted to the granite face. The return passes through Stanley Park, a forested peninsula with totem poles at Brockton Point and a seawall path round its edge.

Breakfast and check-out, then the transfer to Vancouver International for your flight home or onward. With a late flight, leave your bags at the hotel and spend the morning at Granville Island, a covered market on False Creek with fresh fruit, baked goods and a good choice of vegetarian food. The airport is also one of the easier in North America for last-minute shopping.