CANADA
BANFF
Banff is best known as a ski destination, and the Sunshine Village slopes were as wide as would be expected from a place with so much space. It has 107 ski runs and a long season that stretches from mid- November to late May. I went skiing, some went hiking and others went fishing with a chap called Big Jim. All can be sorted through Fairmont Banff Springs, a hotel that offers fairy-tale levels of grand and stunning. It’s a short walk from the centre ville but, more importantly, this castle-like building has a setting worthy of it, thanks to its national park location. A photo does a better job than I can of explaining the 125-year-old place. Your clients really must stay here, whether it’s summer for golf and walks or winter for snow-based fun. Banff is entirely set up for tourism, so
tell your clients to expect a safe, pleasant and upmarket environment with enough to fill weeks of time for outdoor lovers. Tip them off about the Banff Gondola and the mineral-rich Banff Upper Hot Springs too.
A piper’s salute greets passengers in Banff
truly abandoned. The back yards (‘gardens’ to you and me) held sofas and washing machines as standard. This was a far more enjoyable spectacle than rolling past a load of perfectly manicured houses, and the town was in fact a delight (Kamloops panel, page 59). Day two and I watched the white stuff fall, spotted a black bear, went through the five-mile Connaught Tunnel under Mount Macdonald, crossed the Stoney Creek Bridge (300ft drop), and enjoyed the Big Hill Spiral tunnels dug by engineering geniuses more than 100 years ago. Yes, enjoyed – these are seriously clever tunnels. We entered and explored the Rockies in a fashion that I can’t imagine how to better. Bagpipers and Mounties greeted us in Banff (see box) 11 hours after we’d pulled out of Kamloops. It’s a day your client will never forget.
60 — aspire september 2015
GETTING THERE Air Canada offers more daily flights from the UK to Canada than any other airline, with up to 77 non-stop flights a week to eight major Canadian cities. From Heathrow, the airline operates four services a day to Toronto as well as daily services to Vancouver, Montreal, Halifax, Calgary, Ottawa and St John’s, and three flights a week to Edmonton. The airline has introduced widebody Boeing 777 aircraft on its London-Vancouver route, which have a premium economy cabin. The airline is to operate a second service from Heathrow to Calgary and aims to offer up to 11 weekly flights.
AIRCANADA.COM
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