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Canadian Rockies Itinerary- Banff & Jasper


The Canadian Rockies have seen a huge surge in popularity in the past three years. I have included my itinerary below on what I did during my nine day visit, which included Labor Day Weekend. The thing about Alberta, though, is there are only really three months you can visit where the lakes aren’t frozen, starting about mid-June. Because of that small window, there are a lot of people packed into that short amount of time. Combining that with fires and possible smoke, I would say there isn’t really an ideal time to visit where it’s not really crowded. I would avoid holidays, however. Some of my itinerary I had to tweak because of weather. Also, I stayed in Canmore instead of Banff because it was a lot cheaper and only 20 minutes away from Banff and made breakfast in my hotel room all except one day. I stayed in the Banff area for 4 days, Jasper for 3 and my final night back in Canmore.

Day 1

  • Arrive Calgary Airport 11:15AM

  • Pick up car rental from airport (I went with “Budget”)

  • Drive to Canmore to check-in to hotel (1 hour 14 min drive from airport. I stayed at the Sunset Mountain Inn)

  • Banff Surprise Corner for pictures

  • Fairmont Banff Springs for dinner at “The Lookout Patio”

  • Banff Gondola for drinks at the top

  • Banff Upper Hot Springs

Day 2

  • Johnston Canyon hike (41 min drive from hotel)

  • Time to reach lower falls 30 minutes, 1.1 km one way, elevation gain of 30 meters.

  • Time to reach upper falls, one hour , 2.6 km’s one way, elevation gain of 120 meters.

  • Return trip going to both lower and upper falls allow 2 to 2.5 hours.

  • The hike from the upper falls to the Ink Pots takes approximately one hour

  • Vermillion lake

  • Juniper Bistro for lunch

  • Lake Minnewanka

  • Dinner in downtown Banff

  • The Grizzly House (fondue restaurant)

Day 3

  • Moraine Lake (Drive 1 hr 8 min from hotel)

  • Lunch at cafe

  • Hikes

  • Shoreline Trail (1.8 mile out and back)

  • Rockpile Trail** (.5 mile loop)

  • Lake Louise (23 min drive from Moraine Lake)

  • Rent Canoes

  • Dinner at Fairmont Chateau Lake (Lakeview Lounge patio)

Day 4

  • Lake Agnes Tea House Trail

  • We took horses up with Timberline Tours for a 4.5 hour tour including lunch at the tea house. You can also do a hike instead

  • Mirror Lake

  • Lake Agnes

  • Lunch at Tea House

  • Yoho Valley National Park (36 min drive from Lake Louise)

  • Emerald Lake

  • Natural Bridge

  • Takakkawa Falls (24 min drive) (15-20 min walk)

  • Banff

  • The Bison Restaurant (need reservations)

Day 5- Jasper National Park

  • Drive 2 hr 21 to Icefields Parkway and Athabasca Glacier

  • Lunch at Icefields Center

  • Afternoon excursion called the “Glacier Adventure” includes taking an ice explorer to the glacier and walking on the glacier then a skywalk

  • Drive 1 hr 30 min to Jasper

  • Check in to hotel (We stayed at Lobstick Lodge)

  • Dinner in downtown Jasper

Day 6

  • Maligne Lake (58 min drive, stops at Medicine Lake & Maligne Overlook along the way)

  • Boat tour to Spirit island

  • Lunch at visitor center

  • Maligne Canyon

  • Park at main parking lot and walk to bridges 1 and 2

  • Tea at the tea house(47 min)

  • Park at Bridge 5 and 6 to see more of the Canyon or you can walk all 6 bridges and back

  • Dinner in downtown Jasper (Cassio’s Italian Restaurant)

Day 7

  • Breakfast at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge (Orso Trattoria)

  • Athabasca Falls (34 min drive)

  • Patricia & Pyramid Lakes

  • Dinner at the Pines Restaurant at Pyramid Lake Resort

Day 8- Drive Jasper National Back to Canmore (3 hr, 51 min)

  • Lunch at The Crossing Resort

  • Hike Peyto Lake (20 min hike)

  • Stop at Bow Lake & falls

  • Check into hotel (Rocky Mountain Ski Lodge)

  • Dinner and dessert in Canmore

  • Grizzly Paws Brewery

  • Beaver Tails

Day 9

  • Drive to airport (1 hr, 14 min)

  • Flight 12:30PM

I’ll also provide some other recommendations on food and activity below that I didn’t get to do but what were recommended to me:

BANFF

  • Food

  • Bear Street Tavern

  • Elk & Oarsmen

  • Melissa’s Missteak

  • Park Distillery (best drinks, poutine)

  • Wild Flour Bakery

  • German Restaurant at Banff Springs

  • Block Kitchen & Bar

  • Sky Bistro at Sunset

  • Rimrock Brunch buffet

  • Magpies

  • The Park

  • Banff Springs Hotel Brunch Buffett

  • The Post Hotel Lake Louise

  • Saltlik

  • Chuck’s Steakhouse

  • Hikes

  • Sulphur Mountain**** (Hard. Mountain peak views)

  • Bourjeau Lake

  • Grassi Lakes Hike

  • Mt Yamnuska

  • Ribbon Lake

  • Rawson Lake

  • Two Jack Lake

CANMORE

  • Food

  • Tapas

  • Rocky Mountain Bagel Co

  • Harvest Café

  • Crazyweed Bistro

  • The Iron Goat

  • Communitea

  • Storm Mountain

  • Rocky Mountain Flatbread

  • Things to do

  • Ha Ling Peak Hike

  • Tunnel Mountain

  • Mount Lady McDonald Hike

  • East End of Rundle Hike

  • Silver Tip Gold Course great views

  • Spring creek boardwalk

  • Quarry Lake

  • Grotto canyon

Another national park recommendation is Kootenay National Park, which is outside Banff and has radium springs and Sinclair Canyon.

I will be posting a blog post soon that covers more of what I did in detail so stay tuned!

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