You can fly from Calgary Alberta ( east of Banff) on Westjet to Hamilton Ontario. Brantford is about a 20 minute drive west of Hamilton.Its a great area to visit,lots of local fruit markets that time of year and be sure to visit the Lake Erie town of Port Dover too.You are about an hour from Niagara Falls too, so well worth a tour of the whole region.
I suspect , for the next leg to London, you will need to fly out of Toronto Ontario.

To clarify, if you're unfamiliar with Canadian geography: Calgary is the nearest big city airport to Banff; it's about 90 minutes drive east. The train may continue on to Calgary; it's a long time since I was there, so I'm not sure. Brantford is about 90 minutes drive west of Toronto; Hamilton is between Brantford and Toronto.

The only passenger train that goes to Calgary and/or Banff is the Rocky Mountaineer. It's not cheap as its a luxury tourist train. However, you can take a 2 day trip (stop over in Kamploops) and disembark in either Banff or Calgary. I would recommend stopping in Banff and enjoying a few days in the mountains. Then take a bus or an airporter shuttle to Calgary/airport.

Fly London to Toronto. Take ViaRail from Toronto to Brantford
http://www.viarail.ca/en/stations/ontario/brantford
Return to Toronto on ViaRail. If you have the time/money to take the ViaRail Canadian from Toronto to Jasper it is well worth it. Otherwise fly from Toronto to Edmonton and either rent a car there or take the Canadian from Edmonton to Jasper and rent a car there to go south on the Icefield Highway to Banff and Lake Louise. Return the car to Jasper and take the Canadian to Vancouver. You should plan to visit Vancouver for at least 2 days before heading to New Zealand.
IMHO the scenery near Jasper is just as beautiful as Banff and the lodging prices are lower.

tomfuller,

If you read the OP, you'll note that they're coming from NZ to London, not the other way around. Why would they add hours of flying time to fly east across Canada just to backtrack to the west via train on the prairies when it was specifically stated that a train ride throught the mountains was what they wanted?

fly to vancouver and take the rockey mountaineeer to banff (if you can't afford that, the only other train option is via rail that goes to jasper). spend some days in banff - if you can manager a week also include jasper in your visit. fly from calgary, alberta to hamilton, ontario and spend whatever time you want there. then fly to london. you can fly from london back to nz.

Sorry I got confused on the direction of travel. Still works to fly to Vancouver and take the ViaRail Canadian to Jasper to rent a car or take a Brewster tour to Banff.
I think it is more convenient to continue on the train 2 or 3 days later to either Edmonton or even Winnipeg for a flight to Toronto for the side trip on ViaRail to Brantford and possibly Niagara Falls.

Hi, everyone.
Thank you so much for your suggestions and help. Now I am wishing we had unlimited finances so that we could do everything suggested! We will have time as we will both be retired by then. I will play around with some ideas over the next few days, and then post a suggested itinerary for critiquing, if that is all right. We are interested in history, nature / wildlife and learning about the place we are in, but not into hiking, etc, if that is any help for further suggestions.

One great walk that I took was down through Maligne Canyon not too far from Jasper. DW dropped me off at the top and drove down to the bottom end parking lot by the foot bridge. She hiked up until she met me and we walked down to the car. Above the Maligne Canyon is Maligne Lake which has some interesting geology and beautiful scenery.
Sleepers on the cross country ViaRail Canadian are quite expensive. I always managed to sleep in coach (sometimes not well). Flying from Edmonton to Toronto would likely be cheaper than taking a sleeper all the way to Toronto.

I would think about Jasper too. I actually like it better than Banff, especially in the summer. Banff is so crowded and touristy in the summer. Jasper is less crowded and just as beautiful. If you can swing it, one thing you should definately do is rent a car and drive the icefields parkway which goes from Bnaff to Jasper. If you take the train to either Jasper or Banff, you can rent a car and drive to the other. Toronto is very accessable from either Edmonton(3 hours east of Japser), or Calgary (1.5 hours east of Banff). There are several non stops daily from both cities.
Its just that the icefields parkway has been rated on of the worlds ten most beautiful drives, and it truly is spectacular.

What happened to my post ?
DOTTY. !!!!! I'm so excited !

Take the train as far as Banff .. Visit for a couple of days .
Then take the bus to Calgary .

From there fly to Toronto or Hamilton ..whichever is
Cheapest . Keep checking for westjet sales .
Or air Canada .
Your personal tour guide for this leg of your trip will
Be waiting at the airport for you .
And I will continue to be your personal tour guide while you are in this area .
I am very close to brantford as well as Toronto and
Niagara falls .
So allow enough time for these things .
It won't cost much . I'm at your service .
Please email me .
I'm very excited !!!

Going to Banff and not taking the drive along the Icefield Parkway to Jasper is a total wasted trip.

Train buff? The steam engines are running at Fort Edmonton Park in Edmonton as well as the Railway museum. Rent a car from Banff, drive to Jasper (stopping at Lake Louise along teh way), onwatd to Edmonton, check out the Fort Edmonton Park, Railway Museum and then fly from Edmonton to Hamilton (or fly to Toronto and take the train)

If taking the Mountaineer from Vancouver to Banff, without subsequently driving the Icefields Parkway, is "total wasted trip", you are really going to hate what I would call a side trip to Edmonton to visit Fort Edmonton Park.

Again, thank you all for your postswhich I have read, re-read and absorbed. I'm still unsure whether we are able to include Jasper in our itinerary, but will not dismiss it out of hand. I appreciate the posts regarding Jasper but neither of us is into skiing/ice/snow (my DH grew up in the South Island of NZ near The Alps) which is why I discounted Jasper. Nothing is confirmed yet so I'll do some more research and then make a decision. One thing we will probably not be doing is driving in Canada which I realise does restrict us to some extent.

Hi, Kodi. So am I excited, and I know DH will be when I tell him at Christmas time!! Was hoping you would see my post. I will email you from my personal email address so that DH doesn't see it - yet!

When I started this planning it was just to see a couple of places that I had dreamed of for most of my life but what a can of worms I've opened up. What was going to be about 8 days maximum in Canada is now looking like 16+ days!
I casually introduced the subject of so many countries having the same-named cities, such as London, which lead on to places in Canada we would like to visit. So now we are planning to also visit Niagara-on-the-lake where a cousin of DH's emigrated to from NZ many many years ago, and Bowmanville where an uncle of DH's spent some time in the early 1900s as a young man. I have done my research and found those places are within a reasonable distance from Brantford. No problems there.
However, another place I would also like to visit is Moose Jaw near Regina. Another great-uncle of mine took his family there from England in about 1910, which I had forgotten about but had always wondered how they found this place back then. Help! How do we get there, please?
I know there are many other places in Canada but sadly we just cannot fit them into our budget. At this point I am focussing on the areas that have some significance to our family

This is a very broad sort-of-flexible outline for our trip, and could be completed in reverse order if travel dates need to be changed.

NZ to Vancouver - 4 nights in Vancouver

Vancouver to Banff on Rocky Mountaineer 2 days/1 night

Banff 4 nights/3 full days

Banff to Calgary 1 night

(It seems that this is the best place from which to get to Moose Jaw.)

fly to Toronto/Hamilton - morning flight if possible

7 days in this area to include Brantford, Niagara and Bowmanville as well as . . .

At this stage I have not booked flights so days/nights in each area are sort-of flexible.

Thanks so much for your input, everyone.

During your 4 days in Banff, make sure to get a rental car for a day to get to Jasper. You will find that the Rocky Mountaineer is a little more expensive than the ViaRail Canadian.
BTW when traveling across Canada on the Canadian I stop for 2 nights in Winnipeg to break up the trip. Nice city-love The Forks.

The distance from Calgary to Moose Jaw is 700 kms, or 7 hours on the road. You can't fly there, Moose Jaw is too small. If you don't plan on driving, and you don't want a 15 hour return trip from Calgary on a bus, then you either have to fly to Regina and take a bus to Moose Jaw (about an hour), and then fly on to Toronto from Regina or let the dream of Moose Jaw die for this trip .

I understand that there is significance to your choice of places to visit, but do realize that very often people emigrate to very average, even rather desolate places. Niagara on the Lake is lovely and historic and you get Niagara Falls as a bonus, the Brantford area has some charm, but Bowmanville is really rather bland, and Moose Jaw.... well.... do some serious research on the place, including Regina, before you decide.

Aramis makes perfect sense .
Moose Jaw might have to stay a dream .
It would be awkward to get to and it would really
add to the cost of getting across the country .

Dotty I hesitated to write to you in case your DH saw it
So I'll watch for your email .

Aramis is right about Bowmanville but we could drive there for an afternoon .

As for Jasper , it's also about the beauty of the Icefields Parkway on the way to Jasper . If truly is fantastic if you could find a way to even go part way up and back in a day .
I'll look for your email .

How exciting for you to be planning such a surprise for DH !!

Okay, I have, albeit reluctantly and sadly, removed Moose Jaw from our itinerary. I hadn't realised it was quite as far from Calgary, nor so difficult to get there, and I do see the sense in not wasting precious time on a whim. Thank you for pointing out the difficulty in trying to go to Moose Jaw. Perhaps when I win Lotto and return to Canada I will make Moose Jaw my first stop!

Kodi, DH would love to just have a look around Bowmanville. Certainly no intentions of staying there!

And I am looking into a drive up to Jasper via the Icefields Parkway. I found a fantastic website that gives very clear instructions (ooh, I should take them to school to show my class as that is what we are teaching at present - writing instructions!) on how to get to Jasper and where to stop on the way. Just hope I can find it again!

Tomfuller, thanks for the tip on Canadian Rail. However, I am going to splash out and book the trip between Vancouver and Banff on the Rocky Mountaineer. I can use the excuse it is our birthday gifts! Not that we usually spend more than a few dollars but it sounds good! I noted too ViaRail does not go to Banff, another reason for going with the Rocky Mountaineer.

Now all that remains to do is to refine the itinerary, sort out dates and start booking. Well, I'll get my lovely travel agent aka my niece to do the bookings for me. Less stress for me!

dottyp, when you find it please post that website with the clear instructions for the drive to Jasper via Icefields Parkway. Thanks...we are in the planning stages too!

Dotty , no problem . We can easily go to Bowmanville
for an afternoon .
We can do whatever you'd like !
You can see on the map , I'm very close to Niagara on the Lake , brantford , Toronto ..

I think you will be happy if you do go up the Icefields Parkway . It's stunning .
Don't let the name scare you ... You won't be running into ice and snow in the summer .

I'm very excited !!

Hi, ovenbird, and anyone else interested. Here is the website I mentioned about the drive between Banff and Jasper. I thought it was pretty good but if anyone local has a better site I'd be interested in looking at that too, please.

http://www.banff.com/banff-to-jasper/index.shtml

Thanks for the link, hope you and your hubby have a grand trip!

Niagara on the Lake and the drive along the parkway to Niagara Falls is beautifull in the summer. Grab a picnic lunch and eat in one of the Niagara Parkway parks along the river gorge- always a favourite summer thing to do.Bowmanville may look "close" but believe me the drive through Toronto to get there is anything but. We have some of the worst commuter traffic in North America here.

Hopefully I now have everything sorted as to how many days in each area will give us a reasonable picture of the place. I have also changed the timing of our visit to Canada to late September, hopefully to see the start of your fall. I have considered suggestions from everyone and incorporated what I can into the plan. So here goes:

Day 1 fly into Ontario/stay Brantford
Day 2 Brantford
Days 3 - 6 in Burlington / sightseeing
Day 7 Toronto to Calgary - morning flight
Day 8 Calgary to Jasper
Day 9 Jasper - Lake Maligne Trip
Day 10 Jasper to Banff via Icefields Parkway
Days 11 - 13 Banff
Days 14/15 Rocky Mountaineer
Days 16/17 Vancouver
Day 18 Vancouver Island
Day 19 Vancouver
Day 20 Return to NZ

I have sorted activities for Banff and Burlington but not Vancouver yet. Any suggestions for Vancouver and Vancouver Island would be welcome. We are interested in wildlife and history, but not hiking, extreme sports, etc.

Thanks for your invaluable help, everyone. It has made my planning both much easier and much more difficult with the extra recommendations, and extended our visit to Canada by another 12 days. At least I will help boost your country's income while there! Dot

My most recent trips to the Canadian Rockies have been on the ViaRail Canadian to Jasper. Below Maligne Lake is the Maligne Canyon with a beautiful hike. The way we did it was to have DW drop me off at the top. She drove to the parking at the bottom and walked over the foot bridge and up the trail until she met me. We also liked the trip north from Jasper to Patricia Lake.
If you don't want to do a lot of walking in Vancouver try the HOHO trolley. http://www.vancouvertrolley.com/tours/hop-on-hop-off
Stanley Park and Gastown are my favorites.

To avoid exra packing, jumping around hotels etc, which can waste time I would just stay in Vancouver and do day trips.
i.e Whistler, the islands by ferry or here:http://www.steveston.bc.ca/ which we loved biking though


Other than that, your plan looks great.

What happened to London? You should go to London, Ontario just to say you got to London.

sorry, arjaykay, we are going to London, England first. Not sure where London in Ontario is but I shall look in the atlas tonight and if it is near Brantford/Burlington we might be able to fit in a visit. Our time in this area is going to be pretty busy already.

Stick with the real London.....

London Ontario is exactly halfway between Detroit Michigan and Toronto. (121 miles from each).
You could take the Empire Builder to Chicago and then take another train to Detroit, walk or take a cab into Windsor Ontario and take ViaRail to London.

Having looked at a map, I'm afraid London, Ontario, will not have the pleasure (or otherwise) of a visit from me! As with Moose Jaw - maybe when I win Lotto I can visit there!!

hi there..we have just come back from south island in nz and saw the beautiful scenery...i love mountains cos we dont have any that really earn that title lol so i was super excited to go to nz

i have been to canada and switzerland so ive seen mountains that just made my head spin with awe

and now that i have seen these fabulous places i think i can order them in preference

nz is gorgeous no doubt but i still believe that canada and switzerland are even more spectacular mountain-wise


so
go
do jasper

that road trip from banff to jasper cant be discounted just because theres an ex nzlander on board!
watch 'the edge' (again, if youve seen it) before you depart and you might just spot some of the scenery from that movie as you travel the road to jasper

buy a jaw support...cos the beauty is going to make you do so much oohing and ahhing youre going to get sore! lol

The weather in Jasper will be similar to the weather in Banff (not sure where you got the idea that Jasper has perennial winter LOL). In fact, the town of Jasper is 1000 feet (300m) lower than the town of Banff, so the weather in Jasper is often warmer than Banff - but in any case, July or August is full summer here (such as it is in the Rockies... it can still be cool!)

Two better web resources for the Icefields Parkway are www.icefieldsparkway.ca and the guide on the Parks Canada website (the Icefields Parkway is completely within two national parks): http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/ab/jasper/visit/visit14.aspx

Thanks, lanejohann and krp329, for your inputs. We are definitely driving between Jasper and Banff because so many people have told us to, and I always do as I am told (well I did when I was a child!!) I have bookmarked the two websites about the Icefields Parkway so I can find them in September.
Love the idea of a jaw support. Could be needed before we even hit Canada.

Dot