Banff National Park Travel Forum

Just this weekend I booked air/car from Boston to Seattle without too much forethought. The plan is to travel to Vancouver for a few days, then east to the Banff area (Lake Louise?) I'm also thinking about travelling south from there to Montana Glacier National Park, then travelling back to Seattle to fly home on the 15th day. We are retirees, and not into hiking, but want to see see interesting sights in cities plus lovely scenery, so I think that two weeks should be OK for this trip.

I took several books from the library today, plus two AAA guides, so I'm trying to plan an itinerary, making reservations. Here's the issue: My husband thinks we should "wing" it- except for Vancouver and Seattle. He has a cousin who travelled cross country during June and July and found inexpensive (less than $75) motels wherever she went.

Do you think this will be possible in the Banff/ Glacier NP areas? Are there lots of motels/ B and Bs in the area? How far away could we stay and still go to the park several days? Any specific suggestions for places, in case he agrees to advanced planning? Thanks for your help.....

We will be staying 5 nights in Banff, we have 3 kids (14,12 and 8). We´d like 6 mi. (round) hikes. I wonder if white-water rafting or a boat trip would be better than a hike. Also, shall we take sometime to go to Jasper or just stay in Banff? What are the absolute must see´s once in Banff / Jasper? (and, how is the weather in late July?) THANKS!

Hi,

Im planning on heading out west this summer, just to do some camping, and hiking..
Just wondering if anyone can recommend any nice camp sites?
Like something up in the mountains, quiet.. nice scenery.. no obnoxious motorhomes.. ?
any suggestions would be great!
thanks.
r.

We saw a service on the Internet 'Caravan.com' that served our vacation needs from Glacier National Park to Baniff and Jasper. It was about $1000 per person for 9 days including coach transportation and lodging and 1/2 the meals. Sounds like a good deal but I don't know anything about the company. Has anyone heard or used their services before?

We are planning an early September hiking vacation in Banff. We will be staying in town. Is a car necessary to get to trailheads or are there organized guided hikes and/or public transportation? We will only be in Banff 1 week.

I will be in the Banff area this summer. I am trying to figure out how many days I should spend in Banff and how many in Jasper out of 8 days. Also should I consider going to Glacier National Park in Montana as it seems to be fairly close by? All suggestions welcome. Thanks.

I was wondering if visiting Banff National Park in winter(during dec.) is a good idea and if yes, is hiking a good option. Is skiing in the park popular activity during this time of the year?

Hi,

My boyfriend and I would like to rent a cabin for a weekend mid October. We don't actually want to be in Banff but somewhere that is a 1-3 hours drive outside of banff in any direction. The more secluded the better, but price is key, we can spend $150 per night total (not per person). I've been searching online and I looked up all the regularly advertised places and they're either too expensive or closed by this time of year. Any suggestions?

Me (55 years) and my wife (51 years) are planning to go for a 10 days trip to Alberta and vancuver and our trip will start on October 2 by flying from Toronto to Calgary. I will take a rent a car from Calgary airport and would immediately drive to Banff after short trip of Calgary. Our trip plan is to stay 2 nights in Banff, 1 night at Lake Louis, 2 nights at Jesper, one night at Kamploop and 3 nights in Vancuver and Victoria before leaving the car at Vancuver airport and fly back to Toronto on 11th october. I need your opinon / advise on this plan and your suggestions for sight seeing and hotel stay.

Hi
I am visiting Calgary, Banff and Jasper over the July 4 weekend. First 2 nights in Banff , then 2 nights in jasper and then on the way back last nite stay again in Banff. Can you please let me know which are the MUST SEE places in these 2 areas. IWe plan to see all the famous places/lakes but dont know if will need to hike to get to these places or are they accessible by car. will be coming with a 1 year old and husband and another couple. Can we manage with a stroller or should we get a child carrier instead?Also hows the weather like in July 4th weekendand should we carry clothes for extreme heat- shorts /t shirts etc and a light jacket.Any other tips about visitng that place with a 1 yr old.
Lastly if we have 1 afternoon available for Calgary whats the ebst thing to see in calgary or in the famous stampede.

A quick response will be highly appreciated as I only have few days to plan?
thnaks in advance?

Hello,
I will be travelling with our family this summer (kids are 3 and 5) and would appreciate any suggestions on length of stay for Banff and Jasper. We're arriving in Calgary on a Thursday afternoon, and then have the next six days to travel and sightsee. I have to be in Edmonton on day seven so that is a hard stop. Any suggestions for itinerary? We're hoping to see as much as we can, not sure when we will get to go back again, so this might be a once in a lifetime trip. However because the kids are young, we would also like this to be somewhat relaxing. How many days in Banff and Jasper? Is Drumheller worth checking out? Should we skip Jasper and check out Kannaskis instead on the way up?

I am planning for a trip to the banff and jasper area in july 2008. I will be staying 2 nights near Banff and 2 nights near Jasper. I have one extra night I could spend somewhere.

1) Is it better to go see Yoho or Waterton Lakes or anywhere else for that extra day? Which is more beautiful?

2) Is there any other place where the scenery might a bit different than banff and jasper?

3) I enjoy hiking and photography, so the main idea of the trip and the side trip would be taking a lot of photos. Also I know there are going to bea lot of tourists at that time. Any place less touristy would be good too.

Thanks for any help you could provide me.

Hi!

In June 2009, my girlfriend and I will be staying in Banff for at least a week. Our problem is finding a place to stay. I know there are plenty of hotels, but I was wondering if it is possible to stay in private cottages that have been made available by local residents. These cottages/B&B are a lot cheaper then hotels. In Jasper there are a lot of these facilities which can be found at www.stayinjasper.com.

Does anybody know if there's a website where these kind of facilities can be found for the Banff region? Or do you know someone who rents his/her cabin/house/cottage?

Many thanks for your help!

Greetings,
Ralph

We are scheduled to arrive in Calgary on July 3rd afternooon and fly back on July 8th evening from Calgary and will drive to the Rockies and thats all that is planned so far. Can you advise me on the itenary for the 5 days I have...which places should I visit and in what order ...shd I go to Banff first and then Jasper and the must see places, activites..etc etc and which scenic routes do you recommend ...also which cities/towns shd I look for acco in . Its going to be a busy time of the year esp with the Calgary stampede...is that event worth spending time on ..which events are recommended.Also we have a 1 yr old ...so please sugegst activites etc
I am looking at this forum to help me plan my trip and all responses would be highly appreciated

Hello,
We are planning a trip end of August to Banff,
-Fly to Calgary rent a car and drive to Banff.
spend 3 days/nights in banff/ lake louise
-drive to Jasper spend 2 days / nights
return the rental car in Jasper.
-take Train from Jasper to Vancouver
-Spend 1 day/night in Vancouver
-Take ferry to Victoria to visit Family
Spend 2 days/nights in Victoria
-Fly back to Toronto from Victoria

Is this a good idea? or is this possible
has any one done this

Hello All
Thanks for much for your inputs. At leats 1 thing I have decided is that we will fly from Sea-Calgary rather than drive to jasper/banff as we would like to use the 5 days to actually see the gorgreous places you all have mentioned!! And yes I am very aware that 1 trip or just 5 days dont do justice to these parks and I have all intentions to go back again.
I am still undecided about May memorial ( 23-27 May) or July independence day ( July 3-7). the calgary stampede also happens in July so I am guessing those make the parks also crowd up a lot and places to stay are expensive. So is the crowd a major deterring and delaying factor to get to places or is it ok...how different will be the experience in May end ...just marginally different or dramatically different....does May last week mean its still going to be too cold to wlak comfortable around with a 11 month baby or is it not that bad...

I would love to hear more ...thanks in advance for taking the time to reply

Hello All
I am planning a trip to Jasper and Banff from Seattle with my husband and my 11 month old baby. I have a few questions and would request inputs as I need to figure out my plan in the next day or so
- Should we go in end of May 2008 or July first week. I know July is overall mroe recommended because of warm weather but is Memorial week in may end a definite no no. what kind of weather variation can I expect and will it prevent us from enjoying our trip/seeing places. Is July a compeltley different experience from May and worth delaying the trip
- we only have 5.5 days max including travel time. Believe that vancouver to Banff drive is abt 10 hrs one way and driving so much in such a short vacation may not be the best idea. So we were thinking of flying to Calgary ( so we could get max time in the rockies) and use that as the starting point to go to Lake Louise, jasper and Banff and fly back from calgary to seattle. is that recommended Do we miss out on any picturesque places
- recommended cities/hotels to stay ( nothing too cheap not too fancy )
- advise activites with a 11 mth old and must see places

Would love to hear back from you avid travellers with any inputs .

thanks

We are a couple from Sydney who were engaged at Lake Louise in in June '06. We are returning in June this year to be married at Lake Louise, on the 2 year anniversary of our engagement. We are still deciding on accommodation at the moment, but can anyone recommend somewhere to get hair and makeup done? I have tried searching on google and have sent a few emails but not one single place has replied. I have heard the Chateau at Lake Louise has a salon, but i am trying to avoid that place as it's waaaaay out of our price range!

Also, we are going to need a 'Plan B' incase it rains on the day... any ideas? Again I'm trying to avoid the Chateau, they wanted $400 to hold a small meeting room, whether we use it or not.

thanks in advance :)

I was wondering if anyone could direct me to a good book or website that will tell me about the history of the formation of Moraine Lake. I am looking for something that talks about the tectonic forces, faults, the formations, the glaciers and how Moraine Lake formed. Thanks in advance!

Trisha

We are arriving in Calgary late July and are going to set off up the Icefields Parkway to Jaspar. We have travelled in an R.V in this area before but stayed only at the Lake Louise Campground where you can reserve a site, where there are full hook-ups but which is very busy. I would love to hear some recommendations for picturesque sites to head for along this route. We would like not to travel too far on the day we pick up the r.v and have found Bow Valley Campground. Does anyone know this place? is it a nice ,quite "Provincial Park" type campground or is it a private site?? Any other recommendations very much appreciated. We wont nneed hook ups for the first 2 days.
Thanks Helen (Stephen and 12yr old Stephanie)

hi there has anybody been on a footloose holiday and if so could they tell me what it was really like as im thinking of going on one and would appreciate the honesty thank you elle

My boyfriend and I are planning a road trip from Sacramento to Banff and Jasper at the end of May (~May 23rd-June 6th). My main concern is that we will be too early for the outdoor activities we are interested in (mainly hiking, and maybe some kayaking). Can someone tell me what activities we can expect to be available during this time? I have two tentative itineraries I'm working on. I can probably push the trip out to 15 days, so both itineraries have a few days to add in somewhere along the way.
Itinerary 1:
Day 1: Drive from Sacramento to somewhere in Nevada, probably near Wells
Day 2: Drive to Butte, Montana
Day 3: Drive to Glacier National Park, Montana
Day 4: Full day in Glacier National Park
Day 5: Drive to Banff
Day 6: Full day in Banff, Lake Louis area
Day 7: Drive to Jasper
Day 8/9: Full days in Jasper
Day 10: Drive to Kanloops
Day 11: Drive to Seattle to visit friends
Day 12: Drive to Bend, Oregon to visit family
Day 13: Drive to Sacramento
Itinerary 2:
Day 1: Drive from Sacramento to Mnt Shasta area
Day 2: Drive to Bend to visit family
Day 3: Drive to Spokane, Washington
Day 4: Drive to Banff
Day 5: Full day in Banff, Lake Louis area
Day 6: Drive to Jasper
Day 7/8: Full days in Jasper
Day 9: Drive to Kanloops
Day 10: Drive to Seattle to visit friends
Day 11: Back down to Mnt Shasta
Day 12 Drive home
If anyone has any input, comments, or suggestions, that would be great!

My husband and I are taking out first trip without kids in early Sept. of 2008. We plan on spending some time in Banff. Any information would be helpful.
Thanks, Tina

We are looking for a 2-day (1-night camping) river kayak route in the rockies - any suggestions on where to go?

Hello everybody!

I have some Miles to be spent until October, so I decided going to U.S. or Canada September next. However, I’m between 2 places, and I’d like to hear from you what would be the best option in your opinion: Alaska or Canadian Rocky Mountains (Calgary and Lake Louise from Calgary). Has anybody gone to both places to help me deciding the best place to go?

Thank you very much everybody!

My family and I are hiring a RV in August this year and are touring the Rockies! Can anyone tell me which is the best RV park in the National Park. I have 3 kids, 16, 8 and 7. Ta Jaxx

We're planning a trip of 5 days for mid-June to the Banff National Park area with our 7-yr-old son. While we're anticipating that he'll love the scenery while hiking and canoeing, we're wondering if/what other kinds of things there are to do in the area geared toward children. Are there places for biking? Museums? Arcades?

Also, we're thinking about staying at Baker Creek Chalets. The vast majority of feedback we've seen on Baker Creek has been very positive. Any other suggestions out there that would offer a similar type of quiet, woodsy experience? (we don't like staying in large resorts/hotels)

Thanks....

Hi there!!!
We will visit Banff next week. Our question is: is there a spot in Banff where a lot of bears have been spotted in the past? Currently we're in Jasper and haven't seen any, unfortunately!!
We hope to hear from you!!
Greetings,
Ralph and Len

We were thinking about renting a mobile home. Does this mean that we would still have to necessarily seek a camping place or could we do outdoors camping?

We wanted to travel to Banff beg.August, but were told that there are hords of tourists and traffic jams. Is it really that bad?