That Cool Travel Couple

Banff National Park and the surrounding area in Alberta, Canada is the ultimate adventure destination. Read on to find out why you HAVE to visit!

Practicalities

Currency: Canadian Dollar (CAD)

Recommended length of stay: one week

Month of visit: September

Useful tips:

• Rent a car. You can get around with shuttles but then you are bound by the shuttle schedule. This place is BUSY and you’ll have to wait in long lines for shuttles and ride-shares.
• Banff is way more expensive than we thought it would be, and we probably spent more on this trip on lodging and dining than we have on any other trip. This is even though we did not stay in luxury hotels or have any special dining experiences.

Download the ArriveCan app ahead of time and fill it out before you land.

CDC’s Recommended Vaccinations: Click here!

Packing List

You’ll want to pack WARM for this destination. We visited in early September and it was still icy at night and in the early hours of morning. Here are a couple of must-haves.

• Wooly hat and warm gloves
• A waterproof hiking jacket
• Waterproof hiking boots
• Base layers – long sleeves and even pants you can layer
• Sunglasses
• Sunscreen
• Bug repellant

Getting There

To get to Banff National Park, you’ll have to fly into Calgary International Airport. This is the closest airport and is an hour and a half drive from Banff. You’ll need to pick up a rental car and head on the Trans-Canada Highway west. The other option is to take a shuttle from Calgary airport that drops you off in Banff. The link to the shuttle schedule is here.

If you get into Calgary late at night, stay at the Hampton Inn at the airport. It’s about a 20 minute walk from the terminal but there’s also a shuttle. This hotel has really comfy beds, a nice warm swimming pool and hot tub, and delicious breakfast in the morning.

The drive over to the park is really beautiful. You’ll pass lots of sprawling farmland and you’ll see the stunning mountains in the distance. You will also pass through the town of Canmore on the way to Banff. Canmore is an awesome small town with a lively main street where you can grab a cup of joe and relax with amazing views. We highly recommend Good Earth coffee shop here for a latte and bite to eat – definitely worth checking out on your way up.

Where to Stay

If you have the money, you’ll want to stay at the most iconic hotel in the Banff region which is the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. Prices drop to the $350 range in the winter, but in the summer can be $600+. When we visited in September there was some majorly loud construction going on. We can’t help but think how annoying that would be especially at that price range!

We split up our stay into two different locations. For the first few nights, we stayed at the Johnston Canyon Cabins. This “resort” has many cabins of different configurations, and has an attached shop and cafe as well. The cabins are fairly rustic but do have bathrooms with showers. There was a flat screen TV and DVD player with lots of free DVDs in the lobby. Coffee making facilities were available, but the pot-bellied stove took almost an hour to heat up hot water so wasn’t practical. We picked this location because it is right at the trailhead for the Johnston Canyon waterfall hikes.

The next place we stayed was the Banff Caribou Lodge and Spa in downtown Banff. This was a standard to up scale hotel with modern amenities (but no A/C). The highlight of this stay is the spa on the first level with a massive hot pool to relax in at the end of a long day hiking. We thought this was the best value for money that we stayed in during the trip. It was also a really easy walk to the cafes and eateries on the main street in Banff.

If we were to visit again, we would strongly prefer to camp at one of the many gorgeous and relatively isolated campgrounds in the area. Camping would save plenty of money and really allow us to get in touch with nature.

Johnston Canyon

There is no shortage of hikes to try in the Banff area. We stayed at Johnston Cabins because it was right next to the trailhead for the Johnston Canyon waterfalls. This “hike” is actually more of a well-paved walk with slight incline to the lower falls. It was extremely busy and at many points had to walk single-file due to the sheer volume of people. The lower falls trail actually goes behind one of the waterfalls. There was a line to do this – we sat and had lunch while watching the line move a few inches over the course of 20 minutes. We didn’t bother to wait. The upper falls trail unfortunately was closed for construction.

Nearby you’ll find the Silverton Falls, which is an easy hike up to very tall and dramatic waterfalls. There is a parking lot at the trailhead, and the falls are extremely tall. The whole trip is less than a mile but there’s plenty of incline making it a decent workout.

Also make sure to check out the Castle Mountain viewpoint for an amazing view over Castle Mountain. All of this can easily be accomplished in an afternoon.

Lake Louise

We did not realize before embarking on our adventure how difficult it was going to be to get parking for Lake Louise, the iconic blue mountain lake that you’ve definitely seen on social media. And although this beautiful lake is definitely worth seeing, we preferred some of the other lakes in the area much more! We visited this lake from Johnston Cabins as it was a 30 minute drive from there.

Basically, tourists come in several waves to visit Lake Louise. The first wave arrives in the parking lot well before sunrise. Many visitors camp out for hours waiting for the perfect shot of the sun rising on Lake louise. As the first wave is leaving (after sunrise) a few spots will open up in the parking lot. The second wave is the early morning hikers (we were in the second wave). There will be multiple other waves throughout the day. If you do not get lucky with a parking spot, you will have to use the Park and Ride shuttle. This system is based on reservations and even so, has very long lines on either side. It will also snarl up your day if you want to do a morning long hike, but don’t get a reservation on the shuttle until late afternoon. Bottom line: come EARLY and be persistent in waiting for a parking spot in the lot. We arrived at 7am and got very lucky – if we visited again we would come even earlier to ensure a spot.

Lake Louise is absolutely stunning and definitely worth a visit. There are a few decent hikes in the area that you’ll want to consider. The most famous of the hikes is the Big Beehive which is an almost 7 mile out and back trail with a lot of incline. It offers stunning views over the lake and stops by a cash-only tea house along the way. Big Beehive is known to be EXTREMELY heavily trafficked, so we actually skipped this one.

Instead, we decided to do the Plain of Six Glaciers hike, a 9 mile out and back trail. Near the top, it also passes by an awesome cash-only tea house that seems like a hidden oasis. They serve hot cups of tea and coffee and a few snacks as well. The incline isn’t as drastic as Big Beehive and it wasn’t as busy. We really enjoyed this hike – even though it started raining on us towards the end!

After your day of hiking around Lake Louise, check out Bill Peyto’s cafe at the HI on Lake Louise. It’s a lively little cafe in a hostel with delicious chili amongst other standard bar fare.

Icefields Parkway

Icefields Parkway is known as one of the most scenic drives in the world. This beautiful highway cuts through Banff National Park and leads all the way to Jasper if you go far enough! There are a couple of awesome stops along the way and you’ll be able to see how different each of the lakes are.

The first lake you’ll encounter is Herbert Lake, which is beautiful but pretty small. Drive a little further and you’ll get to Hector Lake which is massive. Bow Lake is another gorgeous blue lake along the parkway. We ended our journey at Peyto Lake. This website is really great in terms of maps and tips for navigating the Icefields Parkway.

Unfortunately, due to the extremely difficult parking situation, we did not get to visit Moraine Lake. This is one of the most photographed lakes in the world. On good weather days, you can take canoes out onto the lake (bundle up!).

Banff Town and Nearby Area

After moving our lodgings to Banff town, we were interested in exploring the surrounding area. It’s about an hour away from Lake Louise, so if you are going to be visiting from here plan accordingly. There are quite a few fun things to do in Banff.

The Banff Gondola is just opposite the Banff Upper Hot Springs. It will take you up Sulphur Mountain, but we’ve heard it’s incredibly busy. This was evidenced by a FULL parking lot when we tried to visit. We ended up going up the Lake Louise Gondola which seemed like a smoother experience (more on that below). We did, however, check out the Banff Upper Hot Springs. This is a nice place to give your aching muscles a break after lots of hiking. The view was nice but it was basically a large pool with a pretty view. We preferred the hot pool at our hotel (Banff Caribou Lodge and Spa).

We really enjoyed the Lake Louise Gondola ride, as there was almost no wait to buy tickets or get on the gondola. You can buy tickets ahead of time and there are several packages that include lunch, snacks etc. We didn’t see any bears on the ride, but at the top we spotted a couple of deer on our trail. Do take advantage of the hikes at the top – we checked out the Kicking Horse Pass Viewpoint and were not disappointed.

Overall, we both agree that our favorite lake was Two Jack Lake. It’s a short 15 minute drive from Banff town. We drove the Lake Minnewanka scenic drive to get here and spent a lovely afternoon hiking around the lake. There’s also an associated campground which we would absolutely love to stay in on our next trip to Banff.

Eating and Drinking in Banff

As we mentioned before, Banff is extremely expensive even when you account for the exchange rate. One of the more affordable restaurants we dined at was Bill Peyto’s cafe at the HI in Lake Louise. They serve up a delicious local chili and affordable drinks.

We also really enjoyed the food and vibes at a couple of local breweries in town. Banff Ave Brewing Company is low key and has a cool second floor patio to enjoy the sunshine. Three Bears Brewery is slightly more expensive but very delicious and you can try a flight of their local brews. We didn’t make it to Park Distillery but we have heard the spirits and beers here are delicious – allbeit a bit pricey. Our ultimate favorite dining experience was at St. James’ Gate, an extremely lively Irish pub with live music and delicious traditional fare.

As far as coffee goes, we really loved Whitebark Cafe. The coffee was absolutely outstanding and served deliciously hot. It warmed us up from the inside out on the cold Canadian mornings. If its warm out, check out Canada Ice Cream (though be prepared for a wait!).

Overall we ended up doing a lot of picnics on the side of trails while in Banff, which is our favorite type of meal. Stock up on supplies like boiled eggs, cheese, fruit and bread at the local IGA grocery store. Pack a bag for a picnic with killer views.

And that’s it for Banff – we’ll update if we ever make it back to stay in one of the amazing campgrounds! Interested in getting more of Canada? Check out our Canada landing page here, or here for other itinerary inspiration!