Getting to Jasper: Driving the Icefields Parkway, VIA Rail ('The Canadian') & Edmonton (YEG)

Sitting at the crossroads of the Icefields Parkway (Highway 93N) and the transcontinental Yellowhead Highway / Rail Corridor (Highway 16), Jasper is usually combined in an open-jaw itinerary with Banff (Calgary Airport), Edmonton or Vancouver.

1. From Banff & Lake Louise: Driving the Icefields Parkway (Or Taking the 'SunDog' Sightseeing Bus)

• By Rental Car (288 km from Banff / 232 km from Lake Louise): the most sweeping road trip in North America. Even though GPS says 3 hours from Lake Louise to Jasper, allow a full 6 to 8 hours so you can stop at Bow Lake, Peyto Lake, Mistaya Canyon, Parker Ridge, the Columbia Icefield, Sunwapta Falls and Athabasca Falls on your way in.
• Without a Car, The Daily 'SunDog Tours' Connector Shuttle (May to October): travelling without a car? Local operator SunDog Tours runs both a daily 4.5-hour Direct Connector Shuttle (check the operator site for current fares) and a full-day One-Way Sightseeing Tour between Banff/Lake Louise and Jasper that stops at all the major lakes and the Columbia Icefield along the way.

2. Closest Major Airports: Edmonton (YEG, 4 Hours East) vs Calgary (YYC, 4.5 Hours South)

• From Edmonton International Airport (YEG, 390 km East on Divided 4-Lane Highway 16): if you are visiting only Jasper (or starting in Calgary/Banff and flying home out of Edmonton to avoid backtracking), Edmonton (YEG) is an effortless 3.5-to-4-hour flat highway drive (and served daily year-round by the SunDog Tours Edmonton ↔ Jasper Airport Shuttle Bus).

3. By Train from Vancouver: VIA Rail's 'The Canadian' vs Rocky Mountaineer

For one of the world's great rail journeys, board VIA Rail's overnight stainless-steel streamliner The Canadian (with its 1950s glass Skyline Dome Cars, departing Vancouver's Pacific Central Station 2 to 3 times weekly and arriving in downtown Jasper the next afternoon for a fraction of luxury-train rates) or the 2-day daylight luxury Rocky Mountaineer ('Journey through the Clouds').