Banff National Park

Ok I’m going to be honest. I know that Banff is like THE place in Canada per Instagram. And let me tell you the views in Banff 110% blew me away. We spent a lot of time at the lakes just sitting and staring. The colors were mesmerizing. But we did have two complaints: 1. it was overwhelming busy if you don’t get to your hike for the day very early. 2. The town of Banff itself- let’s just say it left something to be desired. We just loved the mountain town, homey feel of Jasper, and Banff was very commercialized and beyond busy. As my husband said “If you want a mountain vacation, maybe you shouldn’t stay somewhere that has a Chile’s”. Fair.

But the views made everything else worth is. To make your trip the most memorable with the fewest annoyances, take my advice: Go. Early. Everywhere. The best sights are going to become packed pretty quick, and waiting in a line to see a waterfall while people take a zillion selfies to get the perfect shot for social media without ever stepping foot on a dirt trail (yes you heard me right), was just ridiculous.

Don’t take me wrong- you 100% should go. But follow our advice to have the best Banff vacation. Read on for our Top 3 Favorites, Other Worth-it Sights, and more Random Tips.

Top 3 Favorite Spots

1. We have a tie for first place everyone: Lake Louise and Lake Moraine. Lake Moraine is the most vibrant blue you’ve ever seen. And the biggest plus is that you don’t really have to hike that far to get the best view. Go to the top of the Rockpile (which will take only 10 minutes) and just take it all in. Take a picture, or two, or 2,000. And then just sit there and stare. Pro tip: get there early. The parking lot is pretty small in comparison to the number of people who visit. We got there at 7am and it was almost full. If you happen to sleep in there are buses from the Lake Louise over flow parking lot so don’t lose all hope. But if you get there before the crowd you’ll also get to take in the lake before it’s peppered with canoes and I promise it’s worth the 5am wakeup. And since you got up super early, hike the 5k round trip hike to Consolation Lakes. It’s a completely different, yet equally beautiful view and a great place to eat your breakfast snacks.

Lake Moraine

1. Lake Louise is what made Banff famous. And I get it. The lake is magical and the hiking in the area was my favorite. We did probably every hike in the Lake Louise area because I just didn’t want to miss any of the views. By far the best view of the lake is from Little Beehive. Hike up past Mirror Lake to the Lake Agnus Teahouse and then do the extra 1k to Little Beehive. Right before the very end there is a little viewpoint that is undeniably the best view of Lake Louise. Spend time here. It’s amazing. Watch the video below to see it. We continued up the very steep switchback to Big Beehive and then keep going to the Plain of 6 Glaciers. Read more about those two below, but let’s just say we were exhausted, had to fill up our camelback with glacier water, I’ve never been happier to put my feet back into my Allbirds, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

3. Peyto Lake is a little outside of Banff but is on the way if you’re driving from Jasper to Banff and you MUST stop here. It’s not a big hike at all, more like a short walk up a paved path about a quarter mile to get to the most stunning lake. Justin and I took a zillion photos and then just sat there for a while staring, which describes a lot of what we did in Banff.

Left and Right: Views of Peyto Lakes

Other Worth-It Views (in order of worth-it-ness)

1. Other Lake Louise Sights- In my opinion, if you have the energy, you should do everything you can while you’re at Lake Louise because it’s breathtaking. So we hiked up the trail to the Lake Agnus Teahouse, past Mirror Lake, up to Little Beehive and then around to Big Beehive, down the other side of the mountain to the Plain of 6 Glaciers and then back to our start point. It was exhausting, but gorgeous. If you’re only up for a little bit of hiking, definitely do the Lake Agnus Teahouse hike up to Little Beehive and then come back down the same way. If you’re feeling a little more, do Big Beehive. The switchbacks up to Big Beehive are steep, but you get a pretty view of Lake Agnus on the way up and it leads you to a viewpoint of Lake Louise and Mirror Lake that just blew my mind. If you skipped out on the Colombia Icefields and Athabasca Glacier, then going to the Plain of 6 Glaciers may be worth it. Otherwise, it’d be on the bottom of my list. It’s a long walk from Big Beehive and honestly it’s just not as impressive. We did see (and hear) an avalanche while we were there (which sounds like a one in a million type of thing but honestly happens all of the time), and we got so low on water that we filled up our camelback in the stream of glacier water, which I guess is kind of neat. But otherwise the Plain of 6 Glaciers hike just made my feet super sore and my belly super hungry. But if you skipped out on the other glaciers between Jasper and Banff, or you just have travel FOMO like yours truly and need to see all of the things, then go for it.

2. Takakkaw Falls– Takakkaw Falls in on the way to Emerald Lake, which are both technically in Yoho National Park, and is the biggest waterfall I’ve ever seen. You can easily just pull off the main highway and drive to the viewpoint to see it, or you can be like us and hike up the waterfall (again, travel FOMO). Obviously we didn’t go up the entire waterfall, that’d be crazy dangerous, but you’ll see a bunch of people walking up the rocks to get closer to the falls. And it really does show you just how big they are. Watch our video to see the full extend of how big the falls really are. On the way down, we got up close and personal with some mountain goats, so always keep your eyes open for animals!

Left: Takkakow Falls in all of its glory; Right: a baby mountain goat looks us in the eye

3. Johnston Canyon– Johnston Canyon is gorgeous, but it’s also very commercialized. This was the first thing we did in Banff and really made us realize how different Banff felt from the small, homey, untouched Jasper. We did sleep in this day, so we didn’t get to Johnston Canyon until about 1pm, but it was packed. The paved path to see the Lower and Upper falls definitely isn’t made for as many people as travel there, so you’ll feel a little squished on your way up. We also had to wait in a line to see the falls- you heard me- a 20 minute line full of people taking 30 selfies of them and a waterfall. That ruined the magic a bit. But if you go a little early or are just a little more patient than me, you’ll really enjoy it. The falls really are beautiful and even with all my complaining, I’m glad we saw it. And once you get to the line for your picture of the Upper Falls, keep going up a little more and you’ll be able to see the falls from above (like in the video I linked below) and it’s an even cooler view. If you want to lose the crowds, continue on to the Ink Pots. Most people just stop at the falls and the hike to the Ink Pots is an actual hike (aka you walk in dirt instead of on a sidewalk) and the Ink Pots you see at the end are turquoise natural cold springs that bubble up because of lots of sciencey reasons that they explain on the sign there.

Left: Johnston Canyon Lower Falls; Right: Johnston Canyon Upper Falls.

4. Emerald Lake– Emerald Lake is nice. it’s just kind of nice. This was one of the last places we went to and I think by the time we got there, I had seen so many amazing things that I didn’t love it as much as I thought i would. We just hiked the loop around the lake and while there were other hikes, none of them seemed to offer an amazing view from above to see the whole lake. I could tell how unenthused we were about this lake but the fact that we only took about 6 pictures on our whole hike. I still think it’s worth heading in this direction if you have the time- you’ll pass by Takakkaw Falls and the Natural Bridge on your way- but if you only have 2 days in Banff, I’d go for some of the other sights.

5. Natural Bridge- This bridge is basically a natural miracle. It’s formed by the water rushing so hard a a huge boulder that it split the rock so that water could run through, but the top of the rock stayed connected. It really is pretty neat. It’s on the drive to Emerald Lake so if you’re headed that way definitely pull off and take a look.

6. Plain of 6 Glaciers– See Other Lake Louise Sights above. Like I said, it’s on the bottom of my list, but if you haven’t been any other glaciers yet, it may be worth it.

Random Must Know Tips

1. Rent a car. Definitely, definitely, definitely. You’ll want to be in charge or your own timeline and I can assure you that you don’t want to be stuck on a bus tour with someone else telling you you just have time to hop off and take a quick picture. That’s not experiencing Banff.
2. Get to everywhere early. In Jasper, I felt like we really could get to our hike at whatever time we wanted and I never thought twice about if there would be enough parking. Banff is a little overcrowded and the parking lots fill up fast. We learned our lesson at Johnston Canyon so we got to Lake Louise at 8am and Lake Moraine at 7am. Do the early wakeup and beat the crowds. Being packed in somewhere like sardines really does ruin the magic.
3. If you want a ritzy feel, get a hotel or Airbnb in Banff. If you want a more homey, mountain town feel and want to save a little cash money, stay in Canmore. It’s still a super cute town and they have lots of great food. We actually ended up eating dinner more often in Canmore because we didn’t want to deal with the wait times to eat in Banff.
4. If you do go to Banff for dinner, eat at Bison. I’d describe the environment as casual chic and we just sat at the bar so we didn’t have to wait for a table. The food was pricy but amazing.
5. Bring a pack with you that has a camel back feature (we used my Ospry pack) and stuff a waterproof shell jacket (like my Northface), maybe another light sweatshirt layer depending on the weather, and some extra socks because the weather will change no less than 6 times on your 3 mile hike.
6. In that same vein, don’t let the weather forecast stop your plans. I mean if it says 100% chance of rain all day, it will likely actually rain (we spend our last day walking around the markets in Canmore and Banff because it was ranging all day), but if it’s a 50% chance, just bring your water proof jacket and a pair of socks (maybe new hiking pants/leggings too) and go for it. I can’t tell you the number of times it said it was a chance of thunderstorms all day and it either didn’t rain, or only rained on our drive to the hike and not the actual hike itself.
7. Every place where you can pull off to park has bathrooms and they are much cleaner than a portapotty at any race you’ve ever been to in the US. They always have TP. So be smart and drink water.
8. Put your comfiest shoes (Allbirds please!) in the back of your car every morning because when you get done with a long hike you’ll want to take off your hiking shoes and put on something that feels like pillows on your feet.
9. Bring hiking shoes. I think this is assumed but I say it just to say that running shoes or cross trainers won’t be enough. You’ll want what I call the grippies (aka the tread) for the hiking.
10. Hiking poles would have been nice to have, especially on our day at Lake Louise, where we hiked all the things. The hike at the very end of the Plain of 6 Glaciers and on the way up and down the switchbacks of Big Beehive was a little iffy without poles. Not necessary, but probably would have helped my knees a bit on that day.
11. Banff is not the place for your North American safari. We didn’t see very many animals and definitely didn’t see any bears. If you want that, go to Jasper.

Love Banff? Love this post? Let me know in the comments!