As you may have seen in the last video, our trip visit to Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper
was one of the most special we’ve ever taken.
I actually really enjoy planning for a holiday and in this video, I’ll be sharing
what I learnt over weeks of preparation and then from actually being there and living it
We’ll cover the best months to visit, and how each month might massively affect your
trip.
We’ll take a deep dive on visiting Lake Louise and Moraine Lake, 2 of the most popular
locations but sometimes tricky to witness.
I’ll go through my tips on booking accommodation, renting a car, using public transport, the
best hiking spots, both from a nature point of view but also for taking lots of memorable
photos, which paid excursions are actually worth the money, suggestions on how to arrange
your itinerary, and what it’s all going to cost, all of which I’ve put into YouTube
chapters, which you can skip to for what’s relevant.
This is Suitcase Monkey, giving you the ultimate guide on getting the most from Banff National
Park.
The first thing you’ll need to purchase is a Park Pass, which, you must have to experience
Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper and beyond.
Now, there are a bunch of caveats with Park Passes so I’ve linked the official Parks
Canada website with a bunch of FAQs in the description and pinned comment.
But the summarised version is this: the Parks Pass is available on either a daily or annual
basis allowing entry into Banff and Jasper National Park, which pays for their upkeep:
Cleaning hiking trails, road maintenance, relatively regular and well maintained roadside
toilets, and it even helps when bears wander into your hotel.
I did actually see Parks Canada doing stuff, more than I see the Police on the streets
of London, so $11 for the daily pass seemed pretty reasonable.
A general rule of thumb though is that if you’re going to be in the national parks
for more than a week, it becomes more cost effective to buy an annual Discovery Pass.
And note that for these prices, the Group/Family cost includes one vehicle for up to 7 people
so the average cost becomes even better.
You can purchase both passes when driving through the Park Gates from Calgary Airport,
or the annual Discovery Pass can also be purchased online beforehand.
The only real benefit to doing this online is skipping the potential queues upon entry
but when we were there, they were always short, and anecdotally, I’ve read summer weekends
peak at around half an hour, so isn’t the end of the world even then.
The annual pass is a physical item sent through the post, so especially if international,
I’d only do this if you’re a month in advance and like to get excited beforehand.
More than most destinations, what month you visit Banff massively determines what sort
of holiday you’re going to have.
For example, we landed on the 2nd June, but if we’d have been there only a week or 2
earlier, many of the trails and lakes we visited would’ve been closed.
So just from a temperature point of view, it can get super cold from November to March
so this is obviously the best time for skiers.
Here’s a monthly summary of visiting Banff across the year.
Just be aware that whilst this is a fairly accurate overview, it doesn’t work as well
on a weekly basis.
The saying in Banff is “If you don’t like the weather, just wait 5 minutes” so although
June is statistically the wettest month or July the hottest, or January the coldest,
just take daily forecasts with a pinch of salt.
That being said, if I was going to suggest when to visit for the sort of holiday we had,
I’d advise September or June as primary choices, then July, August and early October,
all as great times to visit.
Specifically for our trip, the benefits of early June is it’s relatively quiet, accommodation
prices are ok and we mostly had good weather.
The down side was some of the hikes we wanted to do were still closed, and some paid for
attractions hadn’t even opened, all due to ice.
Lake Louise was initially frozen on arrival, and it didn’t fully shine its usual turquoise
colour it’s famous for.
Now, none of this impacted our overall enjoyment but in hindsight, later June would’ve removed
all these minor setbacks.
September is almost as warm as June, has similar crowd levels, but everything will still be
open from the summer so acts as another great shoulder month.
Mid to late September is also around the time the Larch season kicks in, bringing these
gorgeous autumnal colours.
This display can last into the first week of October but as this month progresses you
may find some attractions such as Moraine Lake starting to close, but again, crowds
will have subsided.
And finally, there’s July and August, which have their obvious benefits - everything’s
open, the weather’s warmest, but it will be more crowded, and accommodation will be
higher in cost and lower in availability but otherwise, a very good time to visit.
As mentioned in the travel vlog, we could’ve stayed for weeks and still not seen everything.
But living within reality, our 4 nights in Banff, 3 nights in Lake Louise then 4 in Jasper were perfect...
You could shave a night off each area quite easily but we always prefer to take things
at a slower pace.
If you were limited to say, 7 nights, I’d advise 4 or 5 around Banff, and 2 or 3 around
Lake Louise.
This would leave Jasper for another time, which although we loved, again it’s just
our preference not wanting to cram loads of places in.
As an alternative to how we did things, you could easily just stay in 1 place near Banff
the whole time, not changing accommodation, as Lake Louise is only 40 minutes away.
But the reason we split the trip into 2 was to bring a bunch of new hikes closer to our
doorstep.
Staying in Banff Town meant all these locations were within half an hour.
And then moving to Lake Louise, it put all of these places within similar reach.
But I know, I am British.
Due to the vast nature of North America, people from around here drive for 2 hours without
a second thought, but 2 hours for a Englishman, means I’m in the sea.
Or Paris!
My point is, I like things to be close, don’t @ me.
It’s also worth noting that although I didn’t show it in the vlog, we did spend a few hours
in Canmore, which I wanted to at least put on your radar.
Sitting in between Calgary airport and Banff, you could stop here first for a day or two
or even this use as your main base.
It’s a lot more quiet and affordable compared to Banff and only 20 minutes down the road.
The bed and breakfast in Banff Town was perfect for us.
It was a few minutes walk to Banff Avenue, situated in a peaceful neighbourhood.
It had its own parking, a private bedroom and bathroom for each couple, but with a shared
living space.
Price wise, this last part placed it near the lower end of well reviewed options, which
for Banff Town, meant $330 Canadian dollars per night.
The breakfast was mostly in the takeaway variety but that actually worked really well as we
were usually eager to start walking before it got busier.
I’ve put all useful websites mentioned so far, including activities and hotels into
1 useful downloadable PDF and its linked in the videos description below the title and
top pinned comment.
Some of the links support the channel at no cost to you so thank you if you book anything
from it and I hope it makes things easier for you.
Moving on to the lodge at Lake Louise, it was much more roomy and peaceful compared
to Banff and having a morning coffee on the balcony was always a great start to the day.
Priced at $370 a night, the rooms themselves were good, clean, the grounds around the property
were great, but you’re mostly paying for its proximity to Lake Louise.
The parking at Lake Louise can be very busy so being able to just walk there in 20 minutes
took away any issues we might have had with that.
My main tip for booking accommodation around any of these areas are to simply book as soon
as you know you’re going, as demand often outstrips supply, especially for the best
reviewed, best priced options.
So now for the big ones.
Moraine Lake and Lake Louise are easily the 2 most popular spots and rightly so.
But because of this, Parks Canada has put several limitations in place to mitigate over-crowding
and damage to the area.
Most of what I’m about to go through super applies to those visiting in July and August
and does apply for June and September.
But if the area keeps growing in popularity, could become more widespread across the year,
especially if stupid YouTubers make a video promoting the area.
So, first of all, Moraine Lake, which was my personal favourite.
From 2023, this area is now fully closed to personal vehicles so if you do want to visit,
you have 3 options: The Parks Canada shuttle, Roam public transport from Banff or private
commercial buses, all of which are again linked in the description, below the videos title
and pinned comment.
The best option is The Parks Canada shuttle, which departs from the Lake Louise Ski Resort,
and operates as a park and ride, with a return costing $8.
This ticket will take you from the park and ride to either Moraine Lake or Lake Louise.
Once you’re finished there, you then have access to the Lake Connector Shuttle taking
you to the other lake.
Again, you can spend as long as you like here, before you take the final return shuttle back
to your car.
For summer, it’s best to book ahead and you only need to book a time slot for your
first journey to the lakes.
The Lake Connector is on a first come, first serve basis with a frequency of 15 minutes.
Note, you can only use the Lake Connector Shuttle to Moraine Lake if you started your
journey from the Park and Ride, you can’t just get on if you start at Lake Louise itself.
The second option is using the Roam bus network, with local journeys around Banff Town, starting
at just $2.
Their schedules are online as well at the bus stops around Banff Town.
Specifically for Moraine Lake, the best option is the One Day Super Pass at $25, getting
you from Banff to Lake Louise and then including access to that same Lake Connector Shuttle.
(For the Lake Louise service, it’s advisable again to reserve your spot on their website
to avoid disappointment.)
The third option is the pricer one, and that’s booking through a private operator.
There are various versions of this, hop on and hop off buses, fully tour guided day trips,
basic shuttles, etc.
One benefit here, is that due to its slightly higher price, there can be greater availability.
And it gives more options for an early morning slot, allowing for a longer time at each lake.
Again, I’ve linked all these below, along with the Roam page, and Parks Canada Shuttles.
Although these measures can seem like a massive pain, they do spread the congestion within
the lakes and once booked, provide a smoother day.
Before Moraine Lake closed to cars, people were turning up at 4 and 5am to try and grab
a parking spot, so these changes are ease things out across the day.
Also do remember, that both these locations are considered some of the best lakes in all
of Canada so you shouldn’t be disappointed.
One final note, if you only want to visit Lake Louise, they do have a car park for $12
and if you’re visiting July/August, it’s highly suggested to arrive before 7 or 8am.
The system is built so that you can’t just sit and wait for a spot so you’ll be turned
around and headed in the wrong direction quicker than you can say poutine.
I’ve also read that arriving after 7pm is usually fine also so keep that in mind.
You can of course still use the same shuttles, public transport or private options for Lake
Louise also.
Speaking of driving, we used National Car Rental located on the Calgary Airport grounds.
I booked them as they had the best average Google review score, for whatever that’s
worth.
But their customer service was really good and they were very helpful when I was a loser
and left my AirTag in the car after dropping it off.
The total cost of 12 days car hire came to $930 for 2 drivers, which didn’t include
insurance as we paid that to a separate company as that usually works out cheaper.
3 stops for petrol came to just over $100, so in total including insurance, car costs
came to $1150.
Anecdotally, I’ve also heard that over summer, Calgary airport has actually ran out of cars,
so again, once you know you’re going, don’t leave it until the last minute to reserve.
In terms of driving itself, the roads literally couldn’t have been better to navigate.
It was probably the easiest, nicest driving experience I’ve ever had, especially the
Icefields Parkway from Lake Louise to Jasper.
Even in June, where there’s loads of snow and ice around, the roads were well maintained
and never an issue to drive on.
If you are going in a colder month, I’ve heard that rental cars usually have all weather
tyres, but snow tyres or chains are a legal requirement on some roads after November so
just double check when booking.
And whilst I’ve read that this can be an issue in the peak summer months, parking in
early June was never an issue for us, but again, we usually we arrived pretty early
at the most likely busy places.
For hiking and walks, these are all the beautiful spots I saved on my map before arrival, some
of which we didn’t get the chance to see.
If you haven’t seen it, do check out our full length Canada travel vlog for what to
expect at the ones we did.
As we aren’t serious hikers, Agnes Tea House was the only one I would class as moderate
but all were suitable for families.
This one was my personal favourite as it was enough of a challenge and had the lovely reward
of tea at the end.
Although not essential, this hike was made a lot easier by purchasing trekking poles.
There’s a bunch of shops in downtown Banff where you can buy these but we found the cheapest
at this bicycle shop of all places, but it did make walking that much easier.
For nature, other stand outs were Tunnel Mountain since it’s walkable from Banff Avenue and
offers great views over the town itself, and Johnston Canyon for impressive walkways taking
you up to its numerous waterfalls.
For getting the best photos, aside from the obvious Lake Louise and Moraine Lake, definitely
check out Cascade Ponds in the early morning when its quiet.
Walkable from Banff Town through the Fenland Trail for 30 minutes, you’ll reach Vermilion
Lakes and a gorgeous mirrored reflection, which is even better for sunset photos.
Not far from Lake Louise is an area known as Morant’s Curve which if you’re lucky
enough with the timing, you’ll be treated by a nice big Canadian train running around the bend
...which we weren’t.
As for paid activities, I’d put the Banff Gondola at the top of the list.
This is a great way to start as it offers stunning views across 5 peaks and Banff town
itself.
Priced at $60 it isn’t cheap but I would still recommend it and again, this can get
busy with parking so either get there early or just take a $2 Roam bus journey.
We enjoyed the Lake Minnewanka Cruise, but also priced at $60, in hind site is a lot
for an hour long boat tour, but our guide did add value.
In comparison, we spent double that time with the gondola, walking the boardwalk, admiring
the views, having a drink on the rooftop.
But there is a combo package of both attractions together for $97 which could be an option,
but otherwise I’d stick with the Banff Gondola if you want to experience just one and save
a bit of money.
Now, this next thought may be a controversial one, but personally I wasn’t a big fan of
the Glacier excursion.
Maybe it’s because I’ve walked on a glacier before so the newness was lost on me, but
by this point in the trip, I’d already been spoilt so much by this, this and this for
free, that paying $80 for this, with the difference being, I was standing on this, it just didn’t
seem like good value.
That $80 did include the Skywalk but this attraction can be purchased alone for $30.
Being suspended on a glass bridge felt more unique than standing on ice but maybe I’m
missing something.
Do let me know your thoughts in the comments below if you’ve experienced any of these.
Both these attractions are around the halfway point of driving from Lake Louise to Jasper
so do act as a nice break with some basic food and drink options on the premises.
For every new area we visited, one of the first things we did was go to the Visitors
Centre.
The people here were always excellent, gave us suggestions for hikes, but also had up
to date information on what was open or closed due to conditions.
So do use them for specific questions you might have on arrival.
This was also where we bought the bear spray, which considering we were getting all this
free information, seemed the best way to monetise them.
Check out my Canada Vlog for why bear spray is needed in the first place, but basically,
buy it and always keep it handy, along with a certain song on your lips.
If you are thinking of visiting this beautiful part of the world, I hope this video has helped
and check out the links I shared below as they will be super helpful.
Let me know what stood out and if you’ve been there yourself, any other tips you might
want to give.
Please like, share and subscribe for more travel inspiration and tips from around the
world.
So until the next one, thanks for watching Suitcase Monkey.