We joined friends over Labor Day weekend to visit the stunning Banff National Park!
We flew into Calgary and rented a car to drive the 1.5 hrs to Canmore. I highly recommend staying in this cute mountain town and our Airbnb was ideally
located near grocery stores and restaurants.
Condo we rented was awesome and had everything:
Day 1: We drove to Lake Louise at 7am to get parking right in the lot. If you go late you will have to shuttle it in from overflow parking. We got a 4 day park pass when we entered Banff National Park, therefore the days after we were able to skip that line. Half the group hiked to the tea house trail and lakeside trail while the other half rented a kayak on the lake. We also hit up the Fairmont for hot chocolate as it was freezing. I recommend packing lunches like we did as the options are limited, expensive and crowded. We later drove to the overflow parking off Hwy 1 to take paid shuttles to Lake Mouraine. That evening we ate dinner at the Flatebread Pizza Co in Canmore which I recommend!
Day 2: We again left by 7:30 and drove to the beginning entrance of Jasper National Park to do the Glacier adventure. We did not buy tickets ahead of time but were able to purchase tickets when we got there and had to wait about 1 hr. While we waited we ate our packed lunches and walked around the visitor center. I highly recommend the Athabasca Glacier Walk, you could skip the skywalk if you are pressed on time. On the way back we stopped at Peyto Lake which was really neat to see the wolf shaped lake, it was a easy 10 minutes walk which we did with the kids too. That evening we ordered food in from Spice Hut which was good also!
Day 3: We started with breakfast at the Community Cafe which was excellent. The kids enjoyed the play area and we got to eat in peace!! Then we headed to Johnston Canyon first, luckily we got parking right in the parking lot but it was already really full. We did the 1/2 mile hike to the lower falls then drove into Banff Town to ride the Banff Gondola which is $65 for adults and free for kids under 5. It was lovely to be on top of Sulphur Mountain, you could also hike it if you have time. Again we got really lucky and got parking however there is a free bus service you can look into which leaves from a hotel in town. One thing we learned getting places early is best! After the gondola we drove back into town and grudgingly found parking. We ate dinner at Block Kitchen and Bar which I recommend also. We walked around for the souvenir shopping. I recommend buying the glacier tour ice explorer bus as a souvenir which I ended up finding at Totem Souvenirs for your little ones who love trucks! They also sell it at the Glacier visitor center. I can take no credit for planning this fabulous vacation, so thanks guys for all the work!
Tips: It was about 30 degrees colder at the top of the mountain so definitely layer. Also wear hiking shoes if you have. Rent GPS it helped in a lot in areas with no cell reception. Pack lunches for the day. Get places early! In order to see more of Jasper National Park we would’ve needed another 2 days to see.
Thanks for reading my quick and dirty guide to visiting Banff over a long weekend!
Kommander K's Travels 