Banff National Park

 Overview:   

Home of the world’s great­est and most stun­ning lakes, the majes­tic Banff Nation­al Park is the true Jew­el of Canada’s Nation­al Parks and is home to not just the tow­er­ing and beau­ti­ful Rocky Moun­tains but also a series of rolling rivers, lush green val­leys, cas­cad­ing water­falls, and pre­mier hik­ing trails– which com­bined with mul­ti­ple emer­ald sparkling turquoise lakes makes Banff Nation­al Park a true nat­ur­al and beau­ti­ful won­der of the world.  

Estab­lished in the 19th cen­tu­ry and offi­cial­ly the old­est Nation­al Park in Cana­da – and the third over­all – Banff sits in the Cana­di­an state of Alberts and stretch­es for more than a mil­lion and half acres, with the quaint and beau­ti­ful town of Banff – which serves as a great base from which to explore the park also being a des­ti­na­tion for one of the great train jour­neys on the plan­et – with the Rocky Moun­taineer pro­vid­ing easy access and stun­ning views to help trav­ellers reach the won­der from Van­cou­ver.  

Home as well to a series of rare and endan­gered wildlife – includ­ing an assort­ment of Bears, Banff Nation­al Park is also an adven­ture par­adise – offer­ing hun­dreds of miles of hik­ing – includ­ing moun­tains sum­mits and lake trails along the wilder­ness of Banff as well as Gon­do­las’ and Glac­i­er Sky­walks in the sum­mer and trans­form­ing into a win­ter won­der­land and mar­vel­lous ski­ing site in the win­ter – with the pow­der and facil­i­ties being amongst the best in the world – and offer­ing Canada’s best ski site amongst a back drop of gor­geous scenery.  

Eas­i­ly explorable along the Ice­fields Park­way Road – which lets trav­ellers jour­ney through the Rocky Moun­tains — the more than thou­sand glac­i­ers with­in the park feed into the kalei­do­scop­ic coloured lakes – with the big three; Lake Louise, Moraine Lake and Lake Min­newas­ka being amongst the absolute best in the world – and if you’re lucky enough being a great spot to catch the daz­zling nat­ur­al phe­nom­e­non of the Auro­ra Bore­alis, which reflects back off the stun­ning lakes and lights up not only the clear Banff Skies, but the green val­leys, stun­ning Glac­i­ers and tow­er­ing Rocky Moun­tain Peaks that make up the great won­der of the world that is Banff Nation­al Park.  

Where:

Banff Nation­al Park spans for 1,641,027 acres and is found along the west­ern bor­der of the state of Alber­ta, Cana­da – with the near­est main town being Cal­gary and the best town with­in the Nation­al Park in which to base your­self being the stun­ning town of Banff which is eas­i­ly accessed by road along the beau­ti­ful Trans-Cana­da High­way.  

Getting there: 

Most tourists come to Banff Nation­al Park by fly­ing into Cal­gary Inter­na­tion­al Air­port, which is the clos­est air­port to the park. From the air­port, rent a car and take Trans-Cana­da High­way (HWY‑1) west from Cal­gary. The route goes through the Rocky Moun­tains and takes you direct­ly to Banff. Approx­i­mate time to dri­ve: 90 min­utes. 

By car 

With Banff being a 90 minute dri­ve from Cal­gary or full day dri­ve from Van­cou­ver hav­ing got your­self to a major Cana­di­an city the eas­i­est way to get to Banff – in the sum­mer months – is by self-dri­ving there – with the route to the won­der being incred­i­bly beau­ti­ful as you jour­ney along­side the stun­ning rocky moun­tains on either the Trans-Cana­di­an High­way from Cal­gary or on the extend­ed Ice­fields Park­way route from Van­cou­ver or Alber­ta – with the dri­ve tak­ing you across the beau­ty of the Cana­di­an High­way – sur­round­ed by Lakes, Moun­tains and rivers and safe­ly into the stun­ning town of Banff.   

For those who come in the win­ter, the Ice­fields Park­way route will like­ly be par­tial­ly closed – and you’ll require seri­ous snow tires (avail­able at most major super­mar­kets) to make the dri­ve to the won­der – but you’ll also be treat­ed to a scenic win­ter won­der­land as you pass through the thick forests and lakes – blan­ket­ed in snow, with the stun­ning snow-capped rocky moun­tains that guide you into the win­ter won­der­land of Banff.  

By bus 

For those who don’t fan­cy dri­ving – espe­cial­ly in the win­ter – then you have the option to get to Banff using some of Canada’s incred­i­bly effi­cient pub­lic trans­port with the famous Grey­hound ser­vice offer­ing return trips to Banff from all Major Cana­di­an Cities – includ­ing Cal­gary and Banff – and giv­ing you a gen­er­ous onboard­ing allo­ca­tion for those ski­is or camp­ing gear.  

While you can book tick­ets in advance on the grey­hound site, for a more direct route you an also gets shut­tles direct from Cal­gary air­port to take the has­sle out of get­ting to Banff – with shut­tles avail­able to be pre-booked direct to the won­der for those fly­ing into Cal­gary air­port.  

While trav­el­ling by self-dri­ve gives you a quick­er and more con­ve­nient way of get­ting to the town of Banff, the bus routes are incred­i­bly effi­cient and offer a prac­ti­cal and cheap and safe method of get­ting to Banff and wit­ness­ing the won­der of this Nation­al Park with­out hav­ing the need to dri­ve.   

By the Rocky mountaineer train: 

Dis­tance: 378 miles 

Rec­om­mend­ed Route – Lake Louise – Van­cou­ver. 

Cost: 2000 CAD + — includ­ing an overnight stay.  

Dura­tion: 2 full days.  

Avail­able: Mid April – Mid Octo­ber.  

For those who want a true adven­ture to Banff and want to expe­ri­ence one of the great­est train jour­neys on the plan­et – then the Rocky Moun­taineer Train is for you – as you jour­ney in lux­u­ry through the mag­nif­i­cent peaks of the Rock­ies on a his­toric and world-famous route through the var­ied and stun­ning land­scapes of Cana­da – pass­ing by majes­tic water­falls, pris­tine lake and tow­er­ing moun­tains on your way to the stun­ning Banff Nation­al Park.  

Avail­able as a route either to or from Banff onwards to the beau­ti­ful Nation­al Park of Jasper or to the town of Van­cou­ver – the Rocky Moun­taineer train is a day­light only train requir­ing stop offs in the lake town of Kam­loops – mean­ing no sleep­ing overnight on the trains – and also fea­tures all the pris­tine com­forts of a world class trav­el – includ­ing fine din­ing, qual­i­ty sight see­ing and an inter­ac­tive film that takes you through the his­to­ry of the Rocky Moun­taineer train – that has been in use since the 19th cen­tu­ry.  

While hop­ping on at any of the sta­tions will give you a taste of this famous train jour­ney – the tra­di­tion­al and true route lasts 2 full days and cov­ers a dis­tance of more than 370 miles – tak­ing vis­i­tors either to or from Van­cou­ver to Banff and Lake Louise and runs exclu­sive­ly twice a day between Mid-April – Mid Octo­ber – and takes explor­ers on a jour­ney from Van­cou­ver across the Black Canyon to the town of Kam­loops for an overnight stay  and then onto the Rocky Moun­tains, the Kick­ing Horse Canyon and across the Con­ti­nen­tal Divide before arriv­ing at Banff and Lake Louise giv­ing trav­ellers the absolute best of Banff Nation­al Park from their win­dows.  

How­ev­er the trip does not come cheap – with the cheap­est price for the 2 day jour­ney com­ing in $2000 CAD – and the most Expen­sive clock­ing in at just over $4000 – includ­ing accom­mo­da­tion. With the car­riages divid­ed into Sil­ver leaf (cheap­er) or Gold-leaf ser­vices – with sil­ver leaf offer­ing huge panoram­ic views of the Rock­ies on a sin­gle deck plat­form and the Gold Leaf com­ing with an upper glass dome for stun­ning views – and of course com­pli­men­ta­ry food and wine to help pass the jour­ney.  

While the cost of this route of trav­el is pricey – and more expen­sive than oth­er tra­di­tion­al meth­ods of trav­el to get to Banff Park – the chance to jour­ney on one of the worlds great­est train jour­neys and take in sweep­ing views of the moun­tains, lakes and Rocky Moun­tains from the com­fort of first class train expe­ri­ence is tru­ly spe­cial and makes for an incred­i­ble and unique way to get to the won­der of the world that is Banff Nation­al Park.  

For those inter­est­ed in rid­ing the Rocky Moun­taineer train, you can get tick­ets at: https://www.rockymountaineer.com/  

Getting Around: 

Banff 

While the whole of the Banff Nation­al Park stretch­es  more than a mil­lion and half in acres, most trav­ellers tend to base them­selves in the quaint and beau­ti­ful town of Banff with­in the Nation­al Park- which as well as being the high­est town in Cana­da is also a stun­ning­ly beau­ti­ful town that offers incred­i­ble views over the rocky moun­tains, the pris­tine lakes and val­leys of the Nation­al Park.  

Home to a series of top class Spa’s and known to be fre­quent­ed by the auro­ra bore­alis on clear nights, Banff offers easy access to some of the best lakes and rivers in the park as well as fea­tur­ing the sto­ried Fair­mont hotel and a range of accom­mo­da­tion and restau­rants.  

 While it does of course get a lit­tle crowd­ed dur­ing the peak months – so book­ing in advance is rec­om­mend­ed, Banff is unques­tion­ably the best spot to base your­self while in Banff and is one of the most stun­ning and gor­geous towns in the world – and makes it easy for you toget around. 

Around the park: 

For those approach­ing Banff by self-dri­ve – and arriv­ing in the sum­mer months, you’ll find get­ting around a breeze – as the stun­ning ice­fields park­way road cuts through the rocky moun­tains and takes you to all the pris­tine sights of the park – so it’s as sim­ple as decid­ing which of the nat­ur­al beau­ties with­in Banff you wish to see and fol­low­ing the ice­fields park­way road to your des­ti­na­tion – with camp­ing also avail­able for those self-dri­ving.  

For those with­out a car, for get­ting around in the sum­mer you have a cou­ple of options – the first is to hop on one of the explor­er bus­es that fol­low the ice­fields park­way and leave every 15 min­utes – giv­ing you a chance to be dropped off at the nat­ur­al beau­ties described below – jus tbe warned that ser­vices run from 6am – 7:30pm – so miss the bus and oyu’re in for a long trek in the dark back to Banff.  

For those who fan­cy a chal­lenge, you can also cycle round the roads of Banff – but be warned you’ll be cycling at high ele­va­tion, with lim­it­ed safe­ty bar­ri­ers, along­side cars and there are some tough uphill routes in the park – with rain show­ers known to be com­mon in the sum­mer months as well – so be sure to bring a cagoule.  

Final­ly hav­ing dri­ven, bussed or cycled to the main high­lights of the park – be sure to take on some trekking and hik­ing – with the routes described in detail below – but with a trip to the view­points on the lake in par­tic­u­lar­ly a sight not to be missed as you trek round some of the most stun­ning nat­ur­al beau­ty spots in the world.  

Best time to Visit:  

Banff oper­ates in two main sea­sons – sum­mer and win­ter – with each sea­son offer­ing some­thing unique and rep­re­sent­ing a great chance to see the won­der of Banff from a com­plete­ly dif­fer­ent per­spec­tive.  

 Sum­mer: For the sum­mer sea­son, which lasts between June – August and dur­ing which tem­per­a­tures will reach a com­fort­able 20°C, you’ll have full access to all of the won­ders of the park with the camp­sites and main roads being open – and this being the best time to head to the park for Hik­ing, Sum­mer Lake view­ing, canoe­ing and evening swim­ming – and a great time for vis­it for those who aren’t used to the cold.   

Win­ter: For win­ter – which runs between Novem­ber ‑March, you’ll find por­tions of the Ice­fields park­way route closed and some acces­si­bil­i­ty to the park shut off – but you’ll also get to expe­ri­ence Banff trans­form into a beau­ti­ful win­ter won­der­land as blan­kets of snow cov­er the great lakes and val­leys mak­ing for some spec­tac­u­lar and fes­tive scenery and if you’re lucky offer­ing you a glimpse of the Auro­ra Bore­alis reflect­ing across the great lakes of the park. 

This is also the time to head to Banff for adven­ture, with the three ski­ing sites, Lake Louise, Sun­shine Vil­lage and Ski Norquay open­ing u ‑and offer­ing some of the best ski­ing trails in the world against the back­drop of the incred­i­ble Banff scenery – be sure to wrap up warm though as tem­per­a­tures can plum­met to as cold as ‑12°C.  

While you can also vis­it in Spring or Autumn – where prices will be cheap­er — you’ll end up miss­ing out on either the beau­ty of win­ter or the sights of sum­mer, so we’d advise stick­ing to either of the main two sea­sons – or if you’re lucky enough head­ing to Banff to expe­ri­ence both as you enjoy the lush sum­mer by the sparkling lakes and ski down the moun­tain against the back­drop of the Auro­ra Bore­alis for a tru­ly stun­ning and spec­tac­u­lar expe­ri­ence.  

Explore:

From its incred­i­ble kalei­do­scop­ic lakes to its majes­tic moun­tains the stun­ning Banff Nation­al Park is a true nat­ur­al won­der of nature and an adven­ture seek­ers par­adise – with the pris­tine glac­i­ers, incred­i­ble canyons and serene lake treks offer­ing stun­ning views and breath-tak­ing hik­ing expe­ri­ences dur­ing the sum­mer – and the upper Banff hot springs, ice walks and world class ski­ing mak­ing for a true win­ter won­der­land in the cold­er months.  

These nat­ur­al beau­ties, com­bined with the chance to see the stun­ning Auro­ra Bore­alis reflect­ing off one of the many sparkling lakes and the chance to spot the incred­i­ble and endan­gered wildlife – includ­ing Elk, Wolves and Bears that all call Banff Nation­al Park home in their nat­ur­al habi­tat makes Banff park an absolute must see and a true won­der of the world.  

Giv­en the more than mil­lion and half acres of land that make up the stun­ning Banff Nation­al Park and the chang­ing of activ­i­ties avail­able in the sea­sons you’ll need to come pre­pared with a good plan and be view the best of Banff Nation­al Park in your stay there. With the below being our top picks of the incred­i­ble nat­ur­al won­ders that make up the stun­ning Banff Nation­al Park: 

Banff 

The base spot your vis­it to Banff Nation­al Park, the stun­ning town of Banff is one of the great­est towns in the world and serves as a unique and charm­ing place to explore the won­der.  

Found with­in the grounds of the Banff Nation­al Park on the south­ern end, you’ll find a range of tourist ameni­ties – accom­mo­da­tions, shops, restau­rants and also a stun­ning view of the rocky moun­tains in the dis­tance, which makes for a great scenic view to take in while tak­ing on break­fast – and if you’re lucky view­ing the Auro­ra Bore­alis in com­fort­able and warm sur­round­ings.  

Home also to the sto­ried Banff Cas­tle – a his­toric hotel that makes for a great stop while you explore the town of Banff, you can expect Banff to be busy dur­ing any time of the year – with it being a sum­mer hotspot for the treks and lakes of the park and a ski­ing hotspot in the win­ter – you’ll also find the stun­ning Cave and Basin Hot Springs just out­side the down, our pick as a start­ing point to explore the nat­ur­al won­der of Banff Nation­al Park.  

Cave and Basin Hot Springs 

A short trek from down­town Banff you’ll come on the first of the many nat­ur­al won­ders of Banff Nation­al Park – the warm and stun­ning Cave and Basin Hot Springs. Now con­sid­ered the cor­ner­stone of Banff his­to­ry, the cave and basin hot springs were the first unique ele­ment of Cana­da that led to the cre­ation of the Cana­di­an Nation­al Park sys­tem designed to pro­tect stun­ning nat­ur­al sites from destruc­tion.  

Open since the 19th Cen­tu­ry, the springs now offer a great self-guid­ed tour around them, includ­ing a film depict­ing the his­to­ry of Banff and take in an evening lantern lit tour of the net­work of caves and take in incred­i­ble views of the rocky moun­tains, and the Bow Riv­er val­ley – which lies just below the springs.  

Whilst it’s not pos­si­ble to take a dip in the Cave and basin hot springs – you can soak your trou­bles away in the equal­ly stun­ning Banff Upper Hot Springs, whose warm and turquoise waters com­bined with the on site spa offer a great way to relax after a day explor­ing the beau­ties of Banff Nation­al Park – with the nat­ur­al waters flow­ing into the springs and heat­ed by the incred­i­ble Sul­phur moun­tain which lies in the shad­ow of the Upper hot Springs.  

 Sulphur Mountain 

The source of the Cave and Basin Hot Springs, the Sul­phur Moun­tain offers incred­i­ble views of both the town of Banff, the val­leys below and across the whole of the Banff Nation­al park – all of which you can take in from a series of cafes and tiered sto­ries and a top qual­i­ty restau­rant on the top floors for incred­i­ble ele­vat­ed views while you enjoy some great Cana­di­an food.  

You’ll also find the Sul­phur moun­tain to be the main spot to take in some of the stun­ning expe­ri­ences of Banff Nation­al Park that we’d rec­om­mend you don’t miss – includ­ing the Banff Sky­walk and the Sul­phur Gon­do­la – for one of the best and eas­i­est ways to expe­ri­ence the full beau­ty and some stun­ning views of this incred­i­ble nat­ur­al won­der.  

The Banff Gondola 

Found at the top of the great Sul­phur Moun­tain, the Banff Gon­do­la is a cable car expe­ri­ence that lets you soar over the stun­ning val­leys of Banff Nation­al park for some incred­i­ble and tru­ly stun­ning views.   

Oper­at­ing in pods of four – so you may have to share the gon­do­las also dou­ble as ski lifts in the Ski Sea­son and take you 2,200 feet to the sum­mit of the great Sul­phur moun­tain from where after a short walk you can stand a top of San­sons peak for incred­i­ble panoram­ic views of the beau­ty of the nation­al park below you – and then after a short cof­fee at one of the restau­rants at the top you can enjoy a scenic hike down the moun­tain and con­tin­ue your adven­ture around Banff.  

Icefields Parkway Drive 

One of the great­est dri­ves in the world, the Ice­fields park­way dri­ve (offi­cial­ly High­way 93) is our pick to get around the north­ern part of Banff Nation­al Park as this stun­ning road takes you through stun­ning scenery – along the Trans Cana­da High­way and lets you pass by both the stun­ning lakes, treks and rocky moun­tains that make up the incred­i­ble Banff Nation­al Park.  

Best done as a self-dri­ve tour the road runs for 230kilometres and dips into the equal­ly stun­ning Jasper Nation­al Park and pass­es through town of Banff, as you have the chance to dri­ve up and through the incred­i­ble 3,000 tall snow-capped Rocky moun­tain peaks and pass along­side the best lakes of  both the nation­al park and arguably the world — includ­ing the stun­ning Lake Louise and Lake Pey­to – as well as past ice­fields, lush hills, rolling rivers and to a series of stun­ning view­point from which you can take in the very best views of the stun­ning sights of Banff.  

While it’s pos­si­ble to use the road as a mul­ti-day trip and hike at sights on your way round – our pick would be to build a trip along the road into your arrival to Banff if trav­el­ling from the north or to base your­self in Banff and take on sec­tions of the Ice­fields park­way dri­ve on your way to vis­it some of the incred­i­ble treks and lakes found in this stun­ning won­der. 

Johnston Canyon 

Nes­tled inside the beau­ti­ful Bow Val­ley – Banff is home to a stun­ning canyon with the tow­er­ing canyon walls host­ing the parks best water­falls — the well named as the upper and low­er falls – that clock in at almost 100 feet at their peak.  

Eas­i­ly explorable by a well-marked trail and board­walk, the canyon is a very pop­u­lar spot for fam­i­lies – espe­cial­ly as it allows hik­ers to get up close and per­son­al with the both the immense canyon walls and feel the pow­er of the water­falls as they cas­cade down into the val­ley floor below – for those who fan­cy explor­ing fur­ther we’d encour­age you to take on the John­ston Canyon trail and extend your hike for anoth­er 3.5km to the beau­ti­ful spot of the Ink Spots – so named as a series of pools here resem­ble tra­di­tion­al ink spots – where a series of majes­tic turquoise and bub­bling pools await you – for one of the most beau­ti­ful spots in the whole of the park.  

Banff Skiing

While the sum­mer sea­son offers incred­i­ble hikes and serene views of the lakes, Banff Nation­al Park tru­ly comes alive in the win­ter – where adren­a­line seek­ers can get their kicks on the world class ski­ing and snow­board­ing, as well as sleigh rides and snow­shoe­ing as the incred­i­ble scenery of Banff Nation­al Park trans­forms into a true win­ter won­der­land.  

The ski­ing and snow­board­ing is cen­tred on three main sites; Lake Louise, Ski Norquay and Sun­shine Vil­lage – known as the big three ski – with each one offer­ing incred­i­ble expe­ri­ences and safe and enjoy­able ski­ing and snow­board­ing – with the Lake Louise ski expe­ri­ence hav­ing not only the use of Gon­do­las to fer­ry peo­ple to the top, but also allow­ing you to ski near the incred­i­ble Lake Louise for stun­ning views as you head down the slopes !  

Yet you’ll also find the lake quite crowd­ed and the ski­ing expe­ri­ence a tad expen­sive, so for those who want a cheap­er but equal­ly stun­ning expe­ri­ence then we’d advise to head to the Mount Norquay ski slopes, which has the hon­our of being not only a great place for snow shoe­ing but offer­ing a free shut­tle bus from Banff and giv­ing you incred­i­ble views as you ski down the moun­tain from a height of 7,000 feet – with a Go-pro being a must for any­one ski­ing at Mount Norquay.  

Final­ly for those who want the bes of both worlds the apt­ly named Sun­shine ski resort is the sec­ond biggest ski spot in the whole of the park – and has world class ski­ing that lasts all the way to the end of spring – for those who want a bit of warmth when they ski. While you’ll have large breaks in between each ses­sion – as you need to take a gon­do­la to the top of the slop each time which can take a good 30 min­utes – the views, slopes and cost are all world-class at the sun­shine vil­lage.  

Of course, for those with plen­ty of time, decent skis and a hefty wal­let – you could always take on all three, with the ski­ing, access and majes­tic snow scenery at Banff Nation­al Park mak­ing the won­der of the nation­al park a must vis­it for those who wish to hit the slopes.  

Wildlife

Along­side the beau­ti­ful lakes, stun­ning moun­tain peaks and lush green val­leys, Banff Nation­al Park is also home to some of the most beau­ti­ful, engaged and rare ani­mals – with there being at least 60 known mam­mal species, hun­dreds of birds species, and count­less aquat­ic species that call the park home.  

Chief among these are the great griz­zly and black bears who are known to roam camp­sites and even cause the clo­sure of hik­ing trails as they tra­verse the trails and nature of the park look­ing for snacks, with sight­ings known to be very com­ing in the sum­mer sea­son at dawn or sun­set – so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for them and nev­er approach them.   

You’ll also find an array of moun­tain goats, elk, deer and Bighorn sheep – with the sheep in par­tic­u­lar­ly known to fre­quent Lake Louise and Lake Min­newan­ka and be tame if not star­tled of pro­voked. For those who choose to take on a moun­tain ascent or who spend time gaz­ing at the Rocky Moun­tains – you can expect to spot some of the most majes­tic birds on the plan­et as they soar above the great val­leys of Banff Nation­al Park – with Gold­en Eagles and Falcon’s known to fre­quent the park as they migrate south.  

While the ani­mal res­i­dents of Banff undoubt­ed­ly add to the won­der and beau­ty of Banff nation­al park and make for great nat­ur­al wildlife pho­tos – just be sure to take the nec­es­sary pre­cau­tions if you do encounter them on your stay in Banff Nation­al Park – as you will be very much in their habi­tat and it can often take a while for help to arrive.  

Glacier Skywalk 

Not one for the faint­heart­ed, the Glac­i­er Sky­walk is a sheer glass walk­way that allows you to step out and in between Glac­i­ers with – with the majes­tic lakes, Snow capped moun­tains and incred­i­ble Sun­wap­ta val­ley of Banff Nation­al Park glim­mer­ing below you – for an absolute bird’s eye view of the nat­ur­al beau­ty of this won­der.  

Found on the ice­fields park­way to the north of lake Louise, the Glac­i­er Sky­walk is pre­sent­ed as an inter­ac­tive expe­ri­ence telling the his­to­ry, evo­lu­tion and poten­tial future of Banff Park and gives one of the best panoram­ic views in the world of a Nation­al Park – as you jour­ney some 900 feet above the val­ley below.  

Owing to the safe­ty mech­a­nisms asso­ci­at­ed with the Glac­i­er Sky­walk – which for view­ers con­sist of a handrail to sup­port you on the glass pan­el – we’d advise pick­ing a clear day absent wind to take on the sky­walk – as well as book­ing in advance if pos­si­ble as crowd lim­its do apply, still for those who dare it the glac­i­er sky­walk is an incred­i­ble inter­ac­tive expe­ri­ence that offers absolute­ly stun­ning ele­vat­ed views of the beau­ty of Banff Nation­al Park.  

Lakes in Banff National Park:

Eas­i­ly accessed through the Ice­fields park­way dri­ve, the true jew­el of Banff Nation­al Park are in it’s icon­ic and mul­ti­ple lakes – with the tow­er­ing rocky moun­tains, and lush green val­leys pro­vid­ing a stun­ning back­drop for the deep kalei­do­scop­ic coloured beau­ties that are the lakes of Banff Nation­al Park.  

While Lakes Louise, Moraine and Pey­to right­ly grab the head­lines thanks to their sheer beau­ty and mem­o­ris­ing turquoise and clear waters, there are count­less lakes of stun­ning beau­ty with­in the park – all of which owe their source to the incred­i­ble Glac­i­ers that stand proud at the base of the lakes.  

While we’d encour­age to hit as many as pos­si­ble and make time as well to take on the hikes that sur­round the lakes for a more immersed expe­ri­ence in nature, the below are our top 8 lakes to see with­in the won­der of Banff Nation­al Park: 

Moraine Lake  

Unques­tion­ably the most icon­ic and beau­ti­ful spot in Banff Nation­al Park – and arguably any­where in the world, the stun­ning serene Moraine lake is eas­i­ly recog­nis­able from the post­cards of Banff nation­al park and thanks to its stun­ning turquoise waters against the back­drop of the sparkling Wenkchem­na Glac­i­er and10 of the incred­i­ble snow capped Rocky moun­tains which reach more than 3,500 feet into the beau­ti­ful North Amer­i­can sky it is undoubt­ed­ly the jew­el of Banff Nation­al Park.  

Found in the Val­ley of the Ten Peaks, Morain Lake is eas­i­ly found along the road that leads from Lake Louise through the val­leys of Banff Nation­al park, with the waters known to change colour as the Wenkchem­na Glac­i­er retreats and recedes into it dur­ing the chang­ing of the sea­sons.  

Best viewed (in our view) in the sum­mer months when the lake is a mix­ture of turquoise blue and flu­o­res­cent green hav­ing reached the base of the 120 CAD Lake – and no doubt stopped to take in mul­ti­ple pho­tos of this jaw drop­ping won­der you have the option to explore the lake fur­ther – either by kayak and canoe­ing across the incred­i­ble waters to get up close to the water­falls and rock piles that sur­round the lakes base – with canoes avail­able from the near­by Morain house for hire at $100 Usd an Hour – a bit pricey but well worth it to trav­el across this stun­ning won­der.  

For those who want a cheap­er but equal­ly stun­ning option to explore the lake fur­ther – there are a series of stun­ning hik­ing trails that take you around the lake where you can stroll around a series of gen­tle paths while tak­ing in the beau­ty of the lake, the Rocky Moun­tains and the many water­falls that source from the Wenkchem­na Glac­i­er. 

Of the many hikes that take you round this won­der, our picks are the stun­ning Sen­tinel pass – a full day hike that takes you over the moun­tain pass­es of the Rock­ies (see below) and the more gen­tle yet also stun­ning 1.5 kilo­me­tre trek of the Rock­pile Trail that will take you to an obser­va­tion point where you can snap those famous images of the gor­geous lake in all its glo­ry – for an absolute­ly stun­ning and awe-inspir­ing expe­ri­ence.  

Lake Louise 

The most famous of Banff Parks lakes, the stun­ning lake louise sits in the shad­ow of Mount Vic­to­ria and offers a more unique lighter colour of water than its sis­ter the Moraine Lake for an equal­ly stun­ning and incred­i­ble nat­ur­al won­der of Banff park.  

Sit­ting again in the incred­i­ble val­ley and shad­ow of the Rocky Moun­tains, the light-coloured water of Lake Louise is of lim­its for swim­ming for all but the bravest (or crasi­est) of swim­mers but its an ide­al canoe­ing spot as you jour­ney round this stun­ning won­der – with the light­ly coloured water offer­ing a unique illu­sion where you appear to be float­inf on the water – an absolute­ly stun­ning pho­to for your mem­o­ries.  

The start of many of the stun­ning hik­ing trails in Banff park – includ­ing the plain of the six glac­i­ers hike, Lake Louise is also our pick for grab­bing a spot to eat – either at the base of the lake in a pic­nic or at the stun­ning and famous Fair­mont Château Lake Louise – an idyl­lic lake house sit­u­a­tion at the shore­line of the lake that dates back to 1924 and which still retains its charm – with the food inside also being of great qual­i­ty and enjoy­able as you sit back and take in the stun­ning sight of Lake Louise.  

Bow Lake 

Found above 2,000 feet the stun­ning Bow Lake is a small­er lake in com­par­i­son to its pre­de­ces­sors – but still stun­ning­ly beau­ti­ful as it sits against a back­ground of gor­geous moun­tains and val­leys which reflect of the riv­er for a tru­ly stun­ning pho­to­graph and an awe-inspir­ing scenery.  

Found South of lake Louise, a trip to Bow Lake will also take you to the well name Crow­foot Glac­i­er – which is unsur­pris­ing­ly in the shape of a crows foot – and the Bow Glac­i­er – both of which feed into the larg­er Ice­fields of Banff and which act as the source of the Bow lake which also has the unique hon­our of sit­ting almost on the con­ti­nen­tal divide mak­ing the stun­ning beau­ty of Bow lake both a geo-log­i­cal won­der and a tru­ly beau­ti­ful nat­ur­al won­der that encom­pass­es the beau­ty of Banff Nation­al Park.   

Lake Minnewanka 

The biggest of all the lakes in Banff Nation­al Park – and arguably the most stun­ning the glit­ter­ing Lake Min­newas­ka lies just 10 kilo­me­tres out­side of Banff and is shaped in an almost u‑bend fash­ion with it’s daz­zling green emer­ald waters shin­ing against the back­drop of the rocky moun­tains for an almost Fjord lake expe­ri­ence that brings the beau­ty of Banff Nation­al Park alive.  

Clock­ing at 22 kilo­me­tres in length, lake Min­newan­ka is also an adven­ture lake – fea­tur­ing a series of pop­u­lar hik­ing trail that lead onto both John­son lake and Two Lake Jake and offer­ing a vari­ety of moun­tain bik­ing hikes and boat­ing – for those who want to spend an incred­i­ble day soar­ing round the lake or kick­ing back on a boat.  

A place of stun­ning scenery, the lake is also a prime spot to see wildlife at the lake with their being a known fam­i­ly of bighorn sheep that call the lake home – and have been known to inter­rupt pic­nics – and the lake being home to a vari­ety of aquat­ic wildlife – mak­ing the Lake Min­newan­ka a tru­ly great and scenic spot in the won­der of Banff Nation­al Park.  

Two Jack Lake 

For those who want to take in a tru­ly scenic lake with lit­tle crowds, Two Jack lake is the spot for you ! – with the beau­ti­ful Two Jake Lake lying smack bang in the mid­dle of the Ice­fields Park­way Dri­ve and also in the shad­ow of the rocky moun­tains and offer­ing incred­i­ble panoram­ic views of lush for­est, val­ley and glit­ter­ing moun­tains – all of which reflect back of this stun­ning lake.  

Found a short dis­tance away from Lake Min­newan­ka, Two jack lake is a great spot for pic­nics – and also canoe­ing, hik­ing and for those who dare it swim­ming with the incred­i­ble nat­ur­al beau­ty and sweep­ing land­scapes that sur­round this lake mak­ing Two Jack Lake one of the best spots to relax and soak in the beau­ty of one of the best lakes in Banff Nation­al Park. 

Johnson Lake 

Found but a stones throw away from the Two Jack Lake, the John­son lake is anoth­er beau­ti­ful and tru­ly daz­zling lake with­in Banff nation­al park – that also sits on the beau­ti­ful Ice­fields park­way dri­ve.  

A glit­ter­ing lake the water at the John­son lake is a shade below turquoise which makes for tru­ly incred­i­ble pho­tos – espe­cial­ly when the sun sets in the evening, when the reflec­tion of the tow­er­ing rocky moun­tains, sweep­ing val­leys and accom­pa­ny­ing mead­ows slow­ly dis­ap­pear into the black­ness of the lake.  

Fea­tur­ing some incred­i­ble trekking and hikes – includ­ing the John­son loop, the John­son Lake is also a great spot from which to access the John­stone Canyon – anoth­er stun­ning won­der with­in Banff Nation­al Park.  

Vermilion Lakes 

A series of three lakes that come togeth­er to form one of the most stun­ning sights in Banff Nation­al Park, the Ver­mil­ion Lakes sit in the shad­ow of Mount Run­dle with the accom­pa­ny­ing sweep­ing val­leys, lush green mead­ows and of course the beau­ti­ful lakes mak­ing the Ver­mil­lion lakes a won­der­ful spot with­in Banff park.  

Found to the north of Banff, the Ver­mil­lion lakes are an incred­i­ble scenic spot – and are espe­cial­ly pop­u­lar for sun­rise and sun­set pho­tos, where you’ll get to see not only the Lakes them­selves light­ing up but the peak of Mount Run­dle illu­mi­nat­ing in a kalei­do­scope of colour – mak­ing for some tru­ly stun­ning snaps.  

With a num­ber of hikes that lead to over­looks and view­points with breath-tak­ing views, kayak­ing, canoe­ing and ski­ing options and of course the option to Swim (if you’re brave enough) the Ver­mil­lion Lakes are also an adven­ture seek­ers par­adise and also offers a great place to pic­nic (in the sum­mer) with their being numer­ous grassy banks where you can sit down, take in the stun­ning views – and if you’re lucky enough glimpse some of the famous ani­mal natives of Banff Nation­al Park – as you enjoy stun­ning and evolv­ing views of the incred­i­ble three lakes that make up the nat­ur­al won­der of the Ver­mil­lion Lakes.  

Peyto Lake 

One of the most stun­ning lakes on the plan­et, the flu­o­res­cent turquoise Pey­to Lake glit­ters against the back­drop of the Rocky Moun­tains and sits at a breath-tak­ing height of 2,068 metres on the upper part of Bow Pass with the spark­ing lake, com­bined with the stun­ning glac­i­ers, val­leys, mead­ows and moun­tains that reflect of this lake cre­at­ing one of the most scenic and beau­ti­ful nat­ur­al won­der on the plan­et.  

Accom­pa­nied on either side by the rolling Saskatchewan Riv­er, the Pey­to lake is incred­i­bly pop­u­lar – so our top tip would be to take on a hik­ing trail around the lake – with the Pey­to Lake view­point hike in par­tic­u­lar offer­ing incred­i­ble views of the stun­ning lake – and if you can get here for sun­rise you’ll be treat­ed to a tru­ly stun­ning spec­ta­cle as the ris­ing sun light up and skims across the emer­ald won­der for a tru­ly stun­ning sight.  

Known to have been a source of human life since the 19th cen­tu­ry, the Pay­to Lake is tru­ly stun­ning and one of the great­est and most beau­ti­ful spots in the whole of the Banff nation­al park ‑and while you can expect it to be crowd­ed it is a true not to be missed sight when explor­ing the won­der of Banff nation­al Park.  

Hikes: 

While dri­ving over the icefield’s park­way, stop­ping at view­points and ski­ing across Banff Park are all great ways to see this won­der, to get tru­ly close to the stun­ning nature with­in Banff – and to get some of the pic­turesque view­points, pho­to spots and nature a trek or hike on one of the many hik­ing trails with­in Banff Nation­al Park is the best option! 

With there being almost a thou­sand miles of unique hik­ing trails from easy short treks to stun­ning lake view­points and chal­leng­ing all day hikes that take you to some of the must stun­ning panoram­ic view­points any­where in the world – there are plen­ty of options for all hik­ers to explore the won­ders of Banff. 

While hik­ing in Banff is a tru­ly awe­some expe­ri­ence, we’d advise being sure to plan the treks you’re tak­ing in advance and the tim­ing on which you under­take them – as the treks do get busy in the sum­mer and of course you’ll be hik­ing in the wild with the pos­si­bil­i­ty of run­ning into some of Banff’s ani­mal res­i­dents.  

But with the appro­pri­ate gear and a sol­id plan a hike through Banff is an incred­i­ble expe­ri­ence as you tra­verse round the stun­ning turquoise lakes, tow­er­ing rocky moun­tains and awe-inspir­ing Glac­i­ers, with the below being our top 12 picks for treks to take on when explor­ing the won­der of Banff Nation­al park: 

The Rockpile Trek

Dis­tance: 1 km  

Time: 30 min­utes 

Dif­fi­cul­ty: Easy 

Begin­ning with the eas­i­est, most reward­ing and the most pop­u­lar hike in Banff, the stun­ning Rock­pile is ‘the’ trek to see the incred­i­ble and gor­geous turquoise water of the Moraine Lake.  

Begin­ning with a side trail from the lake car park, you’ll find your­self hik­ing along a for­est trail and then mak­ing an ascent up some cared and steep rocks where you’ll come to the obser­va­tion point at a hill-top where the beau­ty of the lake – set against the rocky moun­tains, lush green mead­ows and stun­ning forestry — will be laid out before you.  

Only a short 20 minute hike, the path is gen­tle and the views are absolute­ly stun­ning – includ­ing the famous pic­ture post­card view of the lake – you can expect large crowds – and the occa­sion­al pro­pos­al at this stun­ning spot so we’d advise get­ting there as ear­ly as pop­u­lar – with sun­rise in par­tic­u­lar being a great time to catch the ear­ly morn­ing rays reflect­ing back along the lake as you gaze on one of the most icon­ic sights in the whole of Banff Nation­al Park.  

Sentinel pass Trek 

Dis­tance: 11.5 km  

Time: 7 – 8 hours 

Dif­fi­cul­ty: Mod­er­ate 

Con­tin­u­ing from Moraine Lake and after tak­ing on the Rock­pile Trek, the next best hike is a half trek along the Moraine Lake, to the Minnes­tim­ma Lake and into the stun­ning Larch val­ley and along the moun­tain Sen­tinel Pass – for a series of sweep­ing views, stun­ning vis­tas and an awe-inspir­ing and chal­leng­ing trek. 

Begin­ning from the Moraine Lake, you’ll begin down a quaint for­est track with grassy mead­ows, small lakes and – small rock hives – known as sen­tinels and jour­ney deep into the Banff Lake sys­tem till you claim to a panoram­ic open field spot where there are stun­ning view of the great Banff val­leys below – before you jour­ney on to the emer­ald green waters of the Minnes­tim­ma Lake on the edge of the Stun­ning Larch val­ley – where the high alti­tude views will lit­er­al­ly take your breath away with the sparkling lake below you backed by incred­i­ble views of the rocky Moun­tains and the snow capped glac­i­er in the dis­tance.  

Hav­ing tak­en in the incred­i­ble views, we would rec­om­mend car­ry­ing and up into Sen­tinel pass – to an ele­va­tion of almost 2,00 feet  — where you can get incred­i­ble views of the stun­ning tow­er­ing peaks of Banff park and the Rocky Moun­tains them­selves, with the views from the top being mes­meris­ing and some of the best nat­ur­al views on the plan­et – for a hike and trek the encap­su­lates some of the absolute best sights in the incred­i­ble won­der that is Banff Nation­al Park.  

 Lake Agnes Tea House Trek

Dis­tance: 10.5 km  

Time: 4 hours 

Dif­fi­cul­ty: Easy – Includes a tea break.  

Our pick for a hike at the mes­meris­ing Lake Louise – the Lake Agnes Tea House Trek takes you around the stun­ning lake Louise for a series of incred­i­ble view­points of this emer­ald green riv­er and up the famous 19th cen­tu­ry Lake Agnes tea house – where you can stop for deli­cious tea and cake – before con­tin­u­ing onwards with the trek.  

Start­ing from the Lake Louise car park, you’ll imme­di­ate­ly come upon the grand lake for stun­ning views right from the off, and you’ll see the tea house in the dis­tance – so it’s sim­ply a mat­ter of tra­vers­ing the lake’s shore and up along a series of side wood paths for sev­en kilo­me­tres until you come to the his­toric tea house.  

Stop­ping for a cup­pa and some fin­ger sand­wich­es and a cake or two – which you’ll have def­i­nite­ly have earned from the pre­vi­ous hik­ing – you can take in incred­i­ble views of Lake Louise in front of you – as well the accom­pa­ny­ing Glac­i­ers and val­leys that pro­vide a stun­ning back­drop – before car­ry­ing on to the bee­hive – an obser­va­tion deck a fur­ther 3 and a half kilo­me­tres onwards where you can snap incred­i­ble pho­tos of Lake Louise – which just hap­pens to be one of the great­est lakes on the plan­et.  

Mount St. Piran 

Dis­tance: 13 km return 

Time:  6 hours 

Dif­fi­cul­ty: Mod­er­ate 

An off the beat trek the Mount St Piran hike offers incred­i­ble views of Lake Louise, Bow lake and val­ley and the Vic­to­ria Glac­i­er as well as the encom­pass­ing val­leys of Banff from an ele­vat­ed view – while also being a qui­eter and chal­leng­ing hike to get your teeth into.  

Begin­ning from the from the shore­line of Lake Louise you can fol­low the same trail as the Lake Agnes trek (and even stop for tea if you like) and then upon reach­ing the bee­hive look­out point con­tin­ue onwards on the trail until you come to a series of signs point­ing you up the moun­tain in front of you. 

As you fol­low the trail upwards you’ll find your­self slow­ly ascend­ing to the sum­mit and ris­ing above the tree­lines of the Banff val­leys, fol­low­ing a mad scram­ble upwards you’ll reach the sum­mit – where you’ll get to enjoy incred­i­ble panoram­ic views of not just the stun­ning Lake Louise but also the moun­tains, val­leys and mead­ows of Lake Louise – for a tru­ly awe-inspir­ing expe­ri­ence and some of the most unique and pic­turesque views in the whole of the nation­al park.  

5 Plain of Six Glaciers Trek 

Dis­tance: 14 km return trip 
Dura­tion: 6 hours 
Dif­fi­cul­ty: Easy 

The plain of Six Glac­i­ers is anoth­er one of the stun­ning hikes that leads off from Lake Louise – and as the name sug­gests it gives you a chance to take in stun­ning views of the six glac­i­ers and sur­round the great lake – includ­ing the tow­er­ing peaks of Mt. Vic­to­ria and the Vic­to­ria Glac­i­er – one of the sources of the stun­ning lake Louise.  

Begin­ning on the shore­line of Lake Louise it’s a sim­ple mat­ter of hik­ing to the end of the Lake Louise Shore­line and to the tea house of six glac­i­ers (where you can stop for snacks) and then fol­low­ing the signs ups a well-trod path on the plain of six glac­i­ers hike where you’ll find your­self ascend­ing slow­ly upwards some 360 metres to a height of 1,522 when you’ll come to the obser­va­tion point with sweep­ing views of the moun­tains and glac­i­ers that feed inbto the lake.  

Clock­ing in at 14kilometres as a round trip, the plain of six glac­i­ers is a pret­ty pop­u­lar hike – thanks to the stun­ning views it offers and the chance to take in moun­tain sum­mits at eye lev­el – so if pos­si­ble try and get here for sun rise where the beau­ti­ful lake Louise lights up and the moun­tains shine for trule spe­cial and stun­ning views.  

Johnston Canyon & Ink Pots Trek 

Dis­tance: 7 km (one way) 

Time: 5 hours 

Dif­fi­cul­ty: Easy. 

The stun­ning John­ston Canyon is home to Banff parks amaz­ing water­falls – includ­ing the cas­cad­ing low­er and upper falls and is one of the most scenic and enjoy­able hikes in the whole of the Nation­al Park – with the trek also being extend­able up to the stun­ning blue pools of the ink pots reserve for a tru­ly spec­tac­u­lar con­clu­sion to this hike.  

A gen­tle hike and one not requir­ing too much ele­va­tion, you’ll begin on Bow val­ley park­ing lot and fol­low the signs towards John­stone Canyon – where you’ll get a first-hand view of the incred­i­ble tow­er­ing lime­stone cliffs of the canyon – which are par­tic­u­lar­ly beau­ti­ful at sun­rise – before head­ing into the canyon on a well-marked trail pass­ing a series of beau­ti­ful water­falls on the way to the Low­er Falls.  

Rough­ly 1 kilo­me­tre in, you’ll come upon the low­er falls – a majes­tic water­fall that cas­cades down into the canyon below – and a fur­ther kilo­me­tre and a half onwards you’ll come on the beau­ti­ful and even more impres­sive upper falls – which clock in at over 100 feet high and from where you can stop and feel the pow­er­ful water rush down into the canyon below as well as head to an obser­va­tion deck for incred­i­ble views of the whole of the canyon and the falls below —  a tru­ly mag­i­cal spot ! 

For those who want to explore even more amaz­ing scenic sights on this trail then you can con­tin­ue to fol­low the board­walk onwards for anoth­er 3.5 kilo­me­tres to the bub­bling and majes­tic ink pot pools – so named as the mul­ti­ple pools in this area look like tra­di­tion­al ink pots – and which are accom­pa­nied by shin­ing peaks and beau­ti­ful mead­ows for a real scenic spot and a fan­tas­tic way to con­clude one of the best treks in the whole of Banff park.   

 Cirque Peak & Helen Lake 

Dis­tance: 12 km (Round Trip) 

Time: 5 hours 

Dif­fi­cul­ty: Easy. 

Lead­ing to the incred­i­ble moun­tain peak of Cirque – where you get incred­i­ble panoram­ic views at 3,000 metres high of the moun­tains, lakes and val­leys of Banff, the Cirque peak com­bined a trip to Helen Lake, Crow­foot Glac­i­er and Bow falls in its list of view­able sights and is a nice gen­tle stroll through the forests of Banff to some of the best nat­ur­al won­ders in the whole of the park.  

Begin­ning at the car park for Helen Falls, you’ll wind through dense for­est and through some stun­ning mead­ows as you won­der past lakes and fields and head 3.5 kilo­me­tres on a track to the base of the lake where a short walk will take you to the base of the lake and an obser­va­tion deck from where you can take in stun­ning views of the Glac­i­ers and the bow falls below you.  

After a stop to admire the stun­ning beau­ty of the lake you’ll see the tow­er­ing peak of Cirque above you, and after a deep breath we’d advise you to con­tin­ue up the moun­tain for anoth­er hour or so where you can reach the peak of the moun­tain – at a height of 3,000 metres where the full beau­ty of Helen Lake below you as well as the Crow­foot Glac­i­er and the val­leys of Banff which stretch for as long as the eye can see – for a tru­ly incred­i­bly panoram­ic view and one of the best spots in the whole of Banff Nation­al Park.  

Parker Ridge 

Dis­tance: 5 km return 

Dura­tion: 2 hours 

Dif­fi­cul­ty: Easy 

A great trek for those explor­ing Banff on the Ice­fields Park­way dri­ve, the Park­er Ridge hike is typ­i­cal­ly the first stop on the dri­ve – as explor­ers flock to this spot to take in the stun­ning sun­rise that lights up the turquoise waters of the Saskatchewan pool that sits in the shad­ow of a mar­vel­lous glac­i­er.  

A short hike and eas­i­ly doable in 2 hours return, the Park­er Ridge is also home to a num­ber of view­points that offer incred­i­ble views of the Banff val­leys below, as well as a series of stun­ning mead­ows that make for a great intro­duc­tion to the wilder­ness and beau­ty of Banff.  

Expect the hike to be a lit­tle crowd­ed if you take it on dur­ing the day – espe­cial­ly as it’s short and eas­i­ly doable – but with it’s incred­i­ble views, gen­tle ascent and easy steps for­ward it’s a tru­ly great hike and a top hike to start off your adven­ture along the Ice­fields Park­way.   

Lake Minnewanka 

Dis­tance: Up To 65 Kilo­me­tres. 

Dura­tion: Flex­i­ble.  

Dif­fi­cul­ty: Easy 

Poten­tial­ly one of the longest treks on offer, Lake Min­newan­ka is not just a place for adven­tur­ists ‑with boat rides, canoe­ing and bik­ing – but is also one of the best places to enjoy a gen­tle stroll around the largest and grand­est lake in the whole of the Banff Nation­al Park.  

Eas­i­ly acces­si­ble – as it’s only 10 km away from the town of Banff the trek begins very sim­ple on the shore­line of Lake Min­newan­ka and you can choose to fol­low the shore­line round for as long as you wish – poten­tial­ly up to 65 kilo­me­tres – with Lake Min­newan­ka also known for its many ani­mal res­i­dents who will no doubt add to the enjoy­ment and excite­ment of your hike.  

While the dura­tion of your trip around Lake Min­newan­ka is up to you, we’d advise head­ing towards Stew­art Canyon – just 2kilometres along the trek from the main shore­line where you will find your­self away from crowds and be reward­ed of incred­i­ble views of the stun­ning Min­newas­ka Lake – for an awe-inspir­ing and stun­ning expe­ri­ence of the biggest and grand­est lake in the whole of Banff Nation­al Park.  

Peyto Lake

Dis­tance: 2 km return 

Dura­tion: 30 min­utes 

Dif­fi­cul­ty: Easy 

One of the best lakes in the plan­et, the Pey­to Lake also comes with an incred­i­ble and easy trek that lets you both cir­cum­nav­i­gate part of the lake and ascend to a stun­ning obser­va­tion point – where you can take in per­fect pho­tos and views of the incred­i­ble turquoise lake.  

Begin­ning from the Pey­to Lake carpark you’ll come first to the clas­sic Pey­to Lake view­point – which you can expect to be crowd­ed – and from here it’s a case of fol­low­ing the trail for the Pey­to lake view­point for about 15 min­utes across a series of well defined wood­ed trails unit you reach the obser­va­tion point that tow­ers over the great lake – and from where you can take in stun­ning views of one of the best lakes on the plan­et.  

Bow Glacier Falls 

Dis­tance: 9 km return 

Dura­tion: 3–4 Hours 

Dif­fi­cul­ty: Easy 

Set on the Ice­fields park­way route the hike to Bow Glac­i­er Falls begins at the edge of the stun­ning turquoise waters of Bow Lake – one of the great­est lakes in the park – and takes you along the stun­ning lake to mul­ti­ple van­tage point and then down a gen­tle path passed some incred­i­ble scenery – includ­ing lakes, val­leys and mead­ows to the spec­tac­u­lar Bow Glac­i­er Falls – one of the best water­falls in the whole of the park.  

The Bow Glac­i­er Falls are tru­ly stun­ning, with the falls cas­cad­ing down more down 75 foot into the lake below and allow­ing you to get up close and per­son­al to them – as you wit­ness the immense pow­er of this impres­sive water­fall that feeds into the incred­i­ble turquoise waters of Bow Lake.  

Best of all this trek is a light and easy trek and some­what off the beat­en trail and unknown so you can expect ot have parts of the trail to your­self as you explore on of the most scenic and pow­er­ful trails in Banff Nation­al Park. 

 Wilcox Pass 

Dis­tance: 9.5 km return 

Dura­tion: 30 min­utes 

Dif­fi­cul­ty: Dif­fi­cult 

The tough­est hike of the lot the chal­leng­ing Wilcox pass is found between Banff Nation­al Park and Jasper Nation­al Park on the Ice­fields Park­way route – and offers stun­ning views of both nation­al parks. 

Eas­i­ly accessed along the Ice­fields Park­way you’ll find your­self faced with an imme­di­ate tough ascent through dense for­est that will test your sta­mi­na before after approx­i­mate­ly 1.5 kilo­me­tres the path lev­els out and you can take in the stun­ning views as you head towards the Wilcox sum­mit – an assort­ment of rocks that marks the top of the 9,500 foot moun­tain.  

A hike not for the light heart­ed, upon reach­ing the sum­mit you’ll be reward­ed with incred­i­ble views of the Glac­i­ers that feed into both nation­al parks – includ­ing the stun­ning Athabas­ca Glac­i­er – as well as a series of snow capped moun­tains and an ice field – with views stretch­ing across Banff park and encom­pass­ing the grand lakes and stun­ning val­leys as far as the eye can see.  

An undoubt­ed­ly tough hike – and one only open from sum­mer to the end of Autumn, the sum­mit of Wilcox pass is well worth it for panoram­ic and incred­i­ble vista views of the won­der that is Banff Nation­al Park. 

Accommodation & Camping: 

It’s almost impos­si­ble to cov­er Banff Park in a sin­gle day – so any trip to explore the won­der will require accom­mo­da­tion – and we’d rec­om­mend bud­get­ing and plan­ning for at least 4–5 nights in the won­der.  

For accom­mo­da­tion you have two main options – a hotel or B&B or Camp­ing, with camp­ing only offi­cial­ly avail­able and rec­om­mend­ed dur­ing the sum­mer months. While run of the mill accom­mo­da­tion is avail­able in the form of a series of moun­tain lodges —  includ­ing the pop­u­lar Banff Inn for ski­ing – we’d rec­om­mend mak­ing your accom­mo­da­tion at Banff an extra part of your expe­ri­ence at Banff with a stair at the famous Fair­mont Banff Springs Hotel.  

Eas­i­ly book­able online, the Fair­mont hotel has become the stuff of leg­end with­in Banff, with the hotel, con­struct­ed in the 19th cen­tu­ry, con­sid­ered an icon of Banff and a key land­mark on the Cana­di­an Rocky Moun­taineers train trav­el – with the hotel set against the back­ground of the Rocky Moun­tains and offer­ing both stun­ning views and an authen­tic Banff cab­in expe­ri­ence in mod­ern com­forts.  

 Yet a stay at the Fair­mont hotel can set you back $400 Usd a night – or even more in peak sea­son, so for those who find the oth­er B & B’s sold out and want a true wilder­ness expe­ri­ence you have the option of mul­ti­ple camp­ing sites – which come well equipped to give you a com­fort­able nights sleep in the heart of Banff.  

While we’d obvi­ous­ly advise to take care when camp­ing in the wild and nature – not least because of the wildlife that calls Banff Home – the chance to camp at the base of one of the lakes in par­tic­u­lar is a true adven­tur­ist expe­ri­ence and puts you in prime posi­tion to get up ear­ly to wit­ness the stun­ning sun­rise over some of the most gor­geous spots in Banff Nation­al Park. So, in no par­tic­u­lar order, the below are our top 3 camp­sites to stay at with­in Banff Nation­al Park:  

 Lake Louise Camp­ground – found a few kilo­me­tres away from the stun­ning Lake Louise, this camp­ground is our pick for those who want to wit­ness the sun­rise over the lake – and spend a night next to one of the icons of Banff Park, with the camp­site being open all year to vehi­cles which means it also offer­ing a great spot for those skiers who come in an RV and want an afford­able option next to one of the pre­mier ski sites in the world.  

Accom­mo­dat­ing camper vans and hik­ers or skiers, the Lake Louise camp­ground is found in a shad­ed tree area which offers pro­tec­tion from the rain and con­sists of some 400 indi­vid­u­als’ spots with show­ers and toi­lets avail­able – and even fea­tures an elec­tric fence to pro­tect you against wildlife – with the stun­ning Lake Louise, and it’s hikes, night time sky and ear­ly morn­ing sun­rise just a stones throw away from this incred­i­ble camp­site.  

Water­fowl Lake Camp­ground Locat­ed next to the Ice­fields Park­way, offers excel­lent views and great hik­ing trails from the camp­ground. In the shad­ow of the stun­ning Water­fowl Lake, the Water­fowl Lake Camp­site offers an absolute­ly incred­i­ble view over some of the absolute best nature spots in Banff Park – with the chance to see the sun­set­ting over Water­fowl Lake in par­tic­u­lar mak­ing this camp­site a tru­ly spe­cial spot.  

One of the 14 spots on the Ice­fields Park­way route, the Water­fowl lake pro­vides easy access to a series of hik­ing trails round the lake and accom­mo­dates Camper vans and hik­ers, with their being 116 spots that come with toi­lets, hot water and show­ers – and of course a series of pic­nic bench­es that face out over the lake.  

Offer­ing a more tra­di­tion­al camp­ing expe­ri­ence that Lake Louise and a true feel­ing of wilder­ness, the water­fowl site opens only for the dura­tion of sum­mer and is a great spot for those look­ing for a serene yet qui­et spot in which to spend a night explor­ing one of the best spots in Banff Nation­al Park.  

Ice­field  One for the hik­ers and ten­tists, the ice­field tent ground is sit­u­at­ed on a hill over­look­ing the Rocky Moun­tains – and gives absolute­ly incred­i­ble views to wake up too – with this spot being one of the most scenic and gor­geous camp­ing sites on the plan­et.  

Found along the ice­fields park­way route, you’re going to need to get to the camp­site at mid-after­noon as it’s under­stand­ably pop­u­lar and there are but 30 sites avail­able for explor­ers – it’s also only open in the sum­mer months so you’re win­dow for get­ting here is short — and you can expect a true camp­ing expe­ri­ence with only a cook site avail­able – and 30 or so peo­ple wait­ing in line to use it.  

Offer­ing incred­i­ble views and a true camp­ing expe­ri­ence the Ice­field tent site is a tru­ly great way to con­nect with nature and wake up to the beau­ty of Banff Nation­al Park for a tru­ly unfor­get­table expe­ri­ence.  

 Along­side the camp­sites of Lake Louise, Water­fowl and Ice­field – you’ll also find an addi­tion­al 11 camp­sites dot­ted along the Ice­fields Park­way dri­ve, and while they may not offer the same stun­ning serene nature views as those three they all pro­vide an incred­i­ble spot in which the immerse your­self in the beau­ty of Banff Nation­al park.  

While you’ll need to come pre­pared with food, cloth­ing and camp­ing gear – as well as some extra lay­ers, a big bonus of camp­ing in Banff is not only the expe­ri­ence of camp­ing in the wild and the stun­ning sun­set views – but also the incred­i­ble star filled night-time views – and for those lucky enough a glimpse of the stun­ning Auro­ra Bore­alis.  

The Night Sky & Aurora Borealis 

Thanks to a lack of pol­lu­tion, it’s unique geo­graph­i­cal posi­tion and a strict enforce­ment of a series of law that ban light pol­lu­tion in Banff – the night sky with­in the Nation­al Park is tru­ly mes­meris­ing with a stun­ning series of con­stel­la­tions light­ing up the North Amer­i­can sky and reflect­ing back of the stun­ning lakes with­in the park.  

Con­sid­ered one of the great­est stargaz­ing view­ing spots in the world, Banff is also home to reg­u­lar mete­or show­ers and shoot­ing star sight­ings – and a late-night stroll amongst the lakes with the great night sky above you is some­thing we’d rec­om­mend tak­ing in whether stay­ing in a hotel or camp­ing – for a true spir­i­tu­al expe­ri­ence.  

Yet for those who come between Autumn to Spring Banff can offer some­thing more incred­i­ble – the stun­ning Auro­ra Bore­alis light­ing up the beau­ty of the park – and thanks to the lack of light pol­lu­tion the Banff Nation­al Park is one of the absolute best spots in the world to wit­ness this stun­ning phe­nom­e­non – as you watch the emer­ald, green and vio­let rays of light twin­kle above the incred­i­ble lakes and Rocky Moun­tains of Banff.  

While the mes­meris­ing show has been known to appear dur­ing the spring and sum­mer months, it undoubt­ed­ly appears in all it’s glo­ry in the lat­er and ear­ly parts of the year – so for those want­i­ng to wit­ness it in full flow you’ll need to wrap up warm to watch the show, and we’d advise grab­bing a good spot by a lake and com­ing with a top of the line cam­era – and we’d advise head­ing to one of the below fours spots to wit­ness the stun­ning Auro­ra Bore­alis in Banff for the clear­est and spec­tac­u­lar views of this won­der: 

Lake Louise – A stun­ning spot to take in the Auro­ra Bore­alis, Lake Louise is eas­i­ly accessed by those camp­ing in the Lake Louise camp­ground and gives view­ers a chance to wit­ness the nat­ur­al phe­nom­e­non that is the Auro­ra Bore­alis over the most famous lake with the bright colours of the daz­zling sky light­ing up not only the night con­stel­la­tions and stars but also the stun­ning lake, the Rocky Moun­tains and famous tea house that sits nice­ly on the lake.  

Expect your view­ing expe­ri­ence to be along­side oth­er explor­ers – giv­en the pop­u­lar­i­ty of the lakes, and to be joined (or spooked) by the emer­gence of sheep who are known to come down to the lake dur­ing the Auro­ra Bore­alis to see why peo­ple are gath­er­ing – but a chance to view the stun­ning lights over one of the most beau­ti­ful spots in the Banff Nation­al Park is a true priv­i­lege and a spir­i­tu­al expe­ri­ence.  

Lake Min­newan­ka – The biggest of the lakes – and clos­est to Banff Lake Min­newan­ka is one of the most pop­u­lar spots to catch the Auro­ra Bore­alis shin­ing and reflect­ing back off the stun­ning lakes with­in Banff, with the beau­ti­ful lake daz­zling under the green and vio­let colours of the nat­ur­al phe­nom­e­non.  

Giv­en its prox­im­i­ty to Banff you can expect this to be a pop­u­lar spot for tour groups and explor­ers alike so we’d advise to get here ear­ly on pos­si­ble Auro­ra Bore­alis and be sure to watch out for the local wildlife that are known to roam the lake from dusk onwards – but if you’re lucky see­ing the great Auro­ra Bore­alis at Lake Min­newan­ka under neath the beau­ti­ful north­ern sky stars is a tru­ly spe­cial expe­ri­ence and one we’d real­ly rec­om­mend.  

Moraine Lake – Whilst hard­er to catch then over Lake Louise and Lake Min­newan­ka, the icon­ic sta­tus or Moraine Lake and it’s sheer beau­ty make it one of the most roman­tic and spir­i­tu­al spots to pho­to­graph the Auro­ra Bore­alis not just in Banff Nation­al Park but in the world.  

If tak­ing on the Auro­ra Bore­alis from here, we’d advise tak­ing some head­lights with you and trekking along the rock­pile trek to the Moraine Lake view­point, where if you’re luck the stun­ning show of the Auro­ra Bore­alis will light up not only the incred­i­ble lake, but also the rocky Moun­tains and the Wenkchem­na Glac­i­er as you glimpse upon the spe­cial won­der of the Auro­ra Bore­alis from the true Jew­el of Banff Nation­al Park.  

Ver­mil­ion Lakes – If you’re lucky enough to catch the Auro­ra Bore­alis over the three stun­ning Ver­mil­ion Lakes you’ll be treat­ed to a unique sight of the green and vio­let rays reflect­ing back of the lakes and tow­er­ing into the clear night sky – with the moon­light also able to make the green mead­ows and the peak of Mount Run­dle also light up for a tru­ly stun­ning pho­to – if this your cho­sen spot we’d advise com­bin­ing a view of the Auro­ra Bore­alis with a sun­set pho­to – for two spe­cial pho­tos in the space of a few hours.  

While view­ing the Auro­ra Bore­alis in full flight at any point is a mag­i­cal expe­ri­ence, the chance to wit­ness this stun­ning nat­ur­al phe­nom­e­non reflect­ing back off one of the stun­ning lakes at Banff Park and light­ing up both the evening stars and the snow capped rocky moun­tains, glac­i­ers and val­leys with­in the majes­tic Banff Park is both a true priv­i­lege and an awe–inspiring spec­ta­cle – and one that we’d cer­tain­ly advise you plan your trip around with the wit­ness­ing of the Auro­ra Bore­alis pro­vid­ing a tru­ly mag­i­cal way to top off your expe­ri­ence in the true nat­ur­al won­der of the world that is Banff Nation­al Park.  

How long to stay:  

While any trip to Banff Nation­al Park will depend on both the sea­son you vis­it and the sights you wish to take in, giv­en the remote­ness of the won­der we’d rec­om­mend allo­cat­ing at least 5 full days to explore the park.  

This will give you enough time to take in the incred­i­ble pris­tine lakes, tra­verse the Ice­fields park­way and take on a trekking chal­lenge to get real­ly up close to nature with­in the park – of for those who arrive in the win­ter com­bine the above sights with plen­ty of oppor­tu­ni­ty to hit the slopes – with 5 days being our rec­om­men­da­tion to allow you to take in all the high­lights and give you plen­ty of time to explore the unique won­der that is Banff Nation­al Park.  

Top Tip:  

Thanks to its immense beau­ty Banff Nation­al Park is an incred­i­bly pop­u­lar des­ti­na­tion – par­tic­u­lar in sum­mer and win­ter – so we’d advise mak­ing sure you plan  when you’ll be arriv­ing well in advance and for those not want­i­ng to camp you’ll need to book your accom­mo­da­tion well in advance – and you can make your life eas­i­er by book­ing your Banff Nation­al Park pass required to enter in advance from the offi­cial Banff Nation­al Park web­site.  

We’d also advise mak­ing a plan for your days as well, with a self-dri­ve option in sum­mer being advised and pick­ing the lakes you wish to vis­it in advance and in which order – espe­cial­ly for sun­rise – giv­ing you the best chance of tak­ing in the nat­ur­al won­ders with­out crowds and giv­ing you enough time to explore all the unique nature and sights at Banff Nation­al Park.  

Addi­tion­al­ly, despite the weath­er being sep­a­rat­ed in sea­sons – Banff has been known to expe­ri­ence all four sea­sons in the space of a few hours – so you’ll need to come pre­pared with wet weath­er cloths, some decent hik­ing pants and a sol­id jack­et regard­less of the sea­son you vis­it – and of course for those camp­ing a decent tent, sleep­ing bag and sleep­ing mat are all essen­tial gear – as well as plen­ty of food and water.  

It’s also impor­tant to remem­ber that you’ll be enter­ing a nature reserve full of engi­neered ani­mals – include black and griz­zly bears. While the bears tend to live out­side the main tourists spots and lakes encoun­ters with them are not rare – so be sure to fol­low the code of not antag­o­nis­ing or approach­ing them, don’t make eye con­tact and be sure to car­ry pro­tec­tion against them just in case – but if you stick to the hik­ing trails and main spots, you’ll be fine.  

Final­ly, regard­less of the sea­sons you go, we’d advise being sure to make some time in the evening to take in the beau­ti­ful night sky and see if you can spot the auro­ra bore­alis – with the enjoy­ment of a night cap under the stun­ning North­ern Amer­i­can Con­stel­la­tions and wit­ness­ing the beau­ti­ful phe­nom­e­non of the North­ern Lights against the stun­ning scenery of Banff nation­al park being a tru­ly amaz­ing spec­ta­cle and immense priv­i­lege.  

Cost:

With Banff being a Nation­al Park there’s a range of cost options to suit everyone’s bud­get – giv­ing every­one a chance to explore this incred­i­ble nature wan­der.  

Start­ing off with the base price, every­one regard­less of method of trans­port will be required to pay a nation­al Park entrance fee of $9.80 per adult – and you can bud­get between $50 — $100 CAD a day for meals and water with­in the park.  

On top of this accom­mo­da­tion can range from $15 CAD a night – for basic camp­sites to $400 CAD a night for the most expen­sive hotel with­in Banff (the sto­ried Fair­mont) with there also being a range of camp­sites with­in the Park with vary­ing costs and B & B’s with­in Banff that offer a warm bed and a nice meal for those want­i­ng a more com­fort­able expe­ri­ence.  

In terms of get­ting there inter­na­tion­al flights (one way) to Cal­gary vary from $120 CAD — $700 CAD – and bus­es from across Cana­da start at $20 CAD – with car rentals often being charged by the day – and we’d advise set­ting your bud­get for $70 CAD for a decent Car that will take you safe­ly round the Ice­fields Park­way – a decent 4 x 4.  

For those who want to trav­el in lux­u­ry and expe­ri­ence the stun­ning views of the Rocky Moun­tains from the com­fort of first class rail trav­el the Rocky Moun­taineer train starts at $2000 CAD one way and can be as pricey as $4000 CAD one way – a steep price but one worth it for stun­ning views on the train trip and for a chance to ride one of the best train jour­neys on the plan­et.   

You’ll also need to account for some decent hik­ing gear – includ­ing some stur­dy boots, win­ter clothes and hik­ing poles as well as a decent tent, sleep­ing mat and sleep­ing bag which can set you back at least 100 CAD and for those who vis­it in the win­ter sea­son the hir­ing or pur­chas­ing of ski­ing gear which can go well into the thou­sands for pro­fes­sion­al skiers.  

So adding all the above togeth­er for a five day trip – for an absolute bud­get trip we’d advise set­ting aside $1000 CAD per per­son to vis­it Banff – with a top of the line trip like­ly com­ing in at $14000 CAD.  

Fun Fact:  

Along­side being one of the won­ders of the world, Banff Nation­al Park is also con­sid­ered the sym­bol of Cana­da – with the famous Morain lake once fea­tur­ing on the reverse side of Cana­di­an Cur­ren­cy – mak­ing it a true sym­bol of the beau­ty of this stun­ning park.  

Along­side this Banff is also a hotspot for Hol­ly­wood – with beau­ty of the val­leys of Banff reg­u­lar­ly fea­tur­ing in block­buster films, and you can pick out some of the incred­i­ble scenery in films such as Alas­ka and the Days of Heav­en – with the wolf scenes from Win­ter­fell in Games of Thrones also being filmed inside Banff mak­ing the beau­ty a true won­der of both the North of Amer­i­ca and the North of the (fic­tion­al) Sev­en King­doms.  

Best photo spot: 

While there are many beau­ti­ful nat­ur­al won­ders with­in Banff Nation­al Park there are a cou­ple of absolute must see pho­to spots to make your jour­ney com­plete.  

Lake Louise — Start­ing off with the main high­lights no trip here can go with­out the incred­i­ble pho­to spots of Lake Louise, and we’d rec­om­mend head­ing to the Lake for sun­rise or sun­set for some tru­ly epic pho­tos – where you’ll get to see the daz­zling green, emer­ald waters light up against the back­ground of the Rocky Moun­tains for a tru­ly mag­i­cal pho­to – whilst you can snap some great pho­tos on the shore­line – we’d advise tak­ing on one of the Lake Louise trails – espe­cial­ly the bee­hive view­ing area and the Mount St Piran spots for  stun­ning panoram­ic views of this famous spot and a true post­card snap. 

 Moraine Lake – the icon of Banff Nation­al Park – and in our opin­ion the best lake in the world, the Moraine Lake is sim­ply stun­ning and no trip to Banff can go with­out a pho­to here, with the Emer­ald Green waters and stun­ning snow peak cliffs being always immense­ly beau­ti­ful– but espe­cial­ly at sun­rise. For the best views be sure to climb the 15-minute rock­pile trek to a stun­ning obser­va­tion view – from where you can expect crowds but also incred­i­ble views as the majes­tic lake lights up at sun­rise for an aew-inspir­ing expe­ri­ence.  

Sul­phur Moun­tain – The eas­i­est accessed view­point  and arguably the best panoram­ic spot in the whole of the Nation­al Park, the Sul­phur Moun­tains sum­mit lies just 10 min­utes from Banff city cen­tre – and best of all you have the option not to hike it, as a Gon­do­la can take you some 30,000 feet from the val­ley base to the sum­mit of the moun­tain as you jour­ney up in a cable car  accom­pa­nied with ris­ing views of moun­tains, val­leys and lakes to the sum­mit – where you’ll find a stun­ning panoram­ic view­point that lets you see the absolute best and beau­ty of Banff Nation­al Park all around you which makes for some incred­i­ble pho­tos.  

Mount Norquay View­point —  Our pick for a panoram­ic view in Win­ter, the sum­mit of Mount Norquay dou­bles up as one of the world’s best ski­ing spots and for us it’s the thrill of tak­ing in the sweep­ing scenery of the snow-capped moun­tains and snow cov­ered val­leys below as you take the plunge down the moun­tains with the beau­ty of Banff Nation­al Park around you that makes this spot so unique and one of the most scenic and pho­to wor­thy shots in the whole of both the Nation­al Park and the world – just be sure to come with your go-pro attached to tru­ly catch the immense sights as you rush by them !  

North­ern lights – Final­ly for a tru­ly awe-inspir­ing and poten­tial­ly spir­i­tu­al invok­ing shot, for those lucky enough to be in Banff for on a clear night you have the chance to wit­ness the incred­i­ble Auro­ra Bore­alis not only light­ing up the beau­ti­ful Banff sky but reflect­ing along the stun­ning lakes, moun­tains and val­leys of Banff Nation­al Park.  

 This unique expe­ri­ence can be cap­tured not only from Banff city cen­tre – for those who want to lean on a bal­cony and watch it tow­er over the Nation­al Park, but for a more unique shot we’d advise head­ing to one of the big three lakes with­in Banff – Lake Min­newan­ka, Moraine Lake or Lake Louise as well as the Ver­mil­ion Lakes – where you have the chance to see  the incred­i­ble phe­nom­e­non of the Auro­ra Bore­alis reflect back of not only one of the great­est lakes on the plan­et, but also light up the sur­round­ing rocky moun­tains and glow and twinkly in the clear Banff Sky – for an absolute­ly mag­i­cal way to top off your expe­ri­ence in the true nat­ur­al won­der of the world that is Banff Nation­al Park.