Road trip toronto to edmonton

There are lots of places to stay so it all depends on your interest and budget. Between the large cities, there're lots of motels. You can also camp and set up tents.

But if you want to stick to cities, then Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay (do stop at the Terry Fox monument), Kenora, Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, etc. are all possibilities.

Thanks for the revert, my budget is upto $125 per night stay, which would be ideal stops if plan to make the journey with two nights as stopovers. (So two stopovers)
Thanx

Jeev

You'll have an interesting choice on the first night. It takes about 8 hr to SSM, and another 8hr to Thunder Bay. Will you guys be able to go 16 hr on the first day, or end up somewhere in-between.

It'll take you 1/2 of the time just to get out of Ont. In those northern Ont roads, they are scenic and pretty in the summer. But you also cannot go very fast, especially if you cannot overtake the cars in front of you.

Once you get to the Prairies, it gets to be flat and boring and you'd want to get through that area quicker as there isn't much to see.

Are you planning on driving 12 hr days non-stop?

162 wrote: ↑Are you planning on driving 12 hr days non-stop?

+1, that's 12 hours per day on the road driving time or probably closer 15+ hrs elapsed time per day once you factor in breaks and meals.

TO to Marathon ON 12 hrs
Marathon ON to Portage la Prairie MB 12 hrs
Portage to Edmonton AB 12 hrs

Canmore is a must if you take the trans Canada highway, I think its the nicest part of Alberta.

Yes thought so, although have not done that before, do you feel it is not doable, guys need your frank help in planning the trip, is it taking it too far to try to do it in three days. we will be two drivers majority me but my wife will drive too.

Regards,

Jeev

I've done the similar drive (Calgary to Toronto) many times, both through Canada and U.S.

The drive is LONG. If this is your first time with significant long-distance driving, I strongly advise you to take at least 4 days driving.

1) It is extremely dangerous to drive through fatigue, which you will definitely suffer from if you were to make this a 3 day trip.
2) The highway is quite remote, especially in Northern Ontario. At nighttime, wildlife on the road is a real possibility.

Make sure that you have a CAA membership or the equivalent before you depart. You never know what will happen. Also, make sure that you fill out the gas often, as you will be driving long stretches without a gas station (100-200 km).

As for the route, I would personally take the following stops, though you certainly don't have to.

1) Sault Ste. Marie
2) Thunder Bay
3) Brandon (drive gets much easier once you are in Manitoba - it is a divided highway throughout)
4) Edmonton (might want to take one more stop at Lloydminster if you feel tired)

rocking23nf wrote: ↑Canmore is a must if you take the trans Canada highway, I think its the nicest part of Alberta.

Canmore? The OP is going to Edmonton. Canmore is 1.5hr west of Calgary.

Nicest part of AB? Guess you never heard of Banff or Lake Louise, or Icefield Parkway, or Jasper, etc.

adachi1 wrote: ↑I've done the similar drive (Calgary to Toronto) many times, both through Canada and U.S.

The drive is LONG. If this is your first time with significant long-distance driving, I strongly advise you to take at least 4 days driving.

1) It is extremely dangerous to drive through fatigue, which you will definitely suffer from if you were to make this a 3 day trip.
2) The highway is quite remote, especially in Northern Ontario. At nighttime, wildlife on the road is a real possibility.

Make sure that you have a CAA membership or the equivalent before you depart. You never know what will happen. Also, make sure that you fill out the gas often, as you will be driving long stretches without a gas station (100-200 km).

As for the route, I would personally take the following stops, though you certainly don't have to.

1) Sault Ste. Marie
2) Thunder Bay
3) Brandon (drive gets much easier once you are in Manitoba - it is a divided highway throughout)
4) Edmonton (might want to take one more stop at Lloydminster if you feel tired)

+1 It's a long drive. Trying to do 3 days, certainly is doable, but can get tiring. Even for those not driving, it's still a long trip. So trying to drive 8 hr a day (can easily be 10+ hr with meals and bio breaks) will be easier to handle, and you also end up staying at larger urban centres.

[quote="Arrgh" post_id="22473943" time="1431576373" user_id="39722"]Canmore? The OP is going to Edmonton. Canmore is 1.5hr west of Calgary.

Nicest part of AB? Guess you never heard of Banff or Lake Louise, or Icefield Parkway, or Jasper, etc.

QUOTE]

Canmore is 20KM from Banff, and has nicer mountain views then Banff, and if you read my post, it says if you are taking the trans Canada highway, it goes right through Canmore and Banff. Jasper is garbage compared to Canmore, Jasper is on highway 16 around 4 hours west of Edmonton. I live in Edmonton, and was in Canmore 2 weeks ago, and Banff as well.

plus you can do the mountain drive down to Jasper, and its not 90 minutes from Calgary, its under 100km and its divided highway the whole way. its worth driving 1 hour past Calgary.

yeah if your sick of driving you might not like this option, but those mountain views are one of a kind, its a real gem in Canada

Different opinions, I guess. First of all, if someone is driving from Toronto to Edmonton, it's most likely he will take the Yellowhead for the last part of the journey, not the TransCanada Highway and he'll be far away from Canmore. Plus, personally I prefer Jasper over Canmore or Banff. Not sure why you would define Jasper as garbage, but I really don't like how much Canmore has grown over the last 20 years (I lived there for a bit in 1996) and the condo developments are just crazy.

The chief advantage of using an extra day to make it 4 day trip is that all the driving can be done in daylight (8 hrs per day driving time, 10 hrs elapsed time) plus it allows for scenic/tourist stops such as big nickle/Sudbury or Terry Fox memorial/Thunderbay

Night time driving is much more difficult

just wanted to add that in some areas, radio and cellphone reception can be very spotty. for entertainment you may want to buy a satellite radio or activate one if your car has it in-built. audio books and podcasts could be good too.

for navigation it may be wise to bring an actual GPS unit and make sure it updated with latest maps before you leave

knuks101 wrote: ↑Different opinions, I guess. First of all, if someone is driving from Toronto to Edmonton, it's most likely he will take the Yellowhead for the last part of the journey, not the TransCanada Highway and he'll be far away from Canmore. Plus, personally I prefer Jasper over Canmore or Banff. Not sure why you would define Jasper as garbage, but I really don't like how much Canmore has grown over the last 20 years (I lived there for a bit in 1996) and the condo developments are just crazy.

+1

Don't know why anyone would think Canmore is the nicest part of AB. Well, there are some frogs that live in a well.

Jasper is really nice. Same with Lake Louise. Banff is really commercialized. Canmore with all those development is making it feel dense, but at least still cheaper than staying at Banff.

l69norm wrote: ↑The chief advantage of using an extra day to make it 4 day trip is that all the driving can be done in daylight (8 hrs per day driving time, 10 hrs elapsed time) plus it allows for scenic/tourist stops such as big nickle/Sudbury or Terry Fox memorial/Thunderbay

Night time driving is much more difficult

Yes, I'd prefer driving in daylight too. Much better for the drivers.

Thanks for the great suggestions and inputs from Arrgh,Adachi1, knuks101, 169norm as well as sprung and not to miss rocking23nf, one more suggestions I tried dividing the route as follows :-
1. Toronto to Wawa - approx 10 hours
2. Wawa to Kenora - approx 10.30 hours
3. Kenora to North Battleford 11.30 hours
4. N Battleford to Edmonton 4 hours last day on the road.

Does this sound ok.

Regards,

Jeev

My route agrees with the other poster:
Toronto to Sault St Marie 8 hrs
Sault St Marie to Thunderbay 8 hrs
Thunderbay to Brandon MB 10 hrs
Brandon to Edmonton 11 hrs

The difficult two lane driving is the shorter day, Hwy 17 SSM to TB plus it gives time for some short sight seeing stops

rocking23nf wrote: ↑plus you can do the mountain drive down to Jasper, and its not 90 minutes from Calgary, its under 100km and its divided highway the whole way. its worth driving 1 hour past Calgary.

yeah if your sick of driving you might not like this option, but those mountain views are one of a kind, its a real gem in Canada

Canmore is quite possibly the best place on live in Canada but I'm a little biased.

It's quite the detour if you're driving to Edmonton since the shortest distance would be along the Yellowhead so perhaps its best served as a separate trip.

Either way, I've driven between Canmore and Toronto 8 times and it's a long trip which requires a lot of patience. I've done it over varying lengths including a weekend (which isn't recommended) but I usually do it over 3 days and 2 nights. Especially if I'm going east to west since you get a 1hr bonus each day. Of course in my case, I do it for the sake of getting to Canmore/Toronto vs a scenic ride so if it's your first time, I'd try to squeeze in an extra day.

I was thinking of doing this too but its way too much driving. Plus, you gotta get back so its x2 for all that driving. Brutal. But flying there isnt cheap either!