So you’ve found yourself fortunate enough to visit one of the most beautiful places in the world, but you only have 48 hours to spend there… don’t fret! Below I’ve highlighted what you must see and do during your time in Banff!
Visiting Banff National Park was an absolute dream come true! For the longest time, I had this location on my bucket list and checking it off left me feeling so happy and satisfied. While planning this trip, I definitely thought we would explore in the fall so that we could see the leaves changing color or in the summertime to experience the Canadian outdoors. However, due to vacation schedules, October was the best time for us to visit!
But, let me tell you, while the weather may not be the best, there are definite perks to visiting at this time of the year! Talk about no crowds, several interactions and conversations with locals, and low costs for hotels, rental cars, etc! To me, it’s a win win! So what the heck can you do in Banff during the winter? Let’s start with the basics.
How To Get There: Fly into Calgary (YYC) and rent a car! I cannot express enough how important it is that you get your own vehicle. You will spend so much time waiting on public transportation and since you only have 48 hours, time is not to be wasted! The drive from Calgary will take you about 2 hours to complete! Plus Calgary is Canada’s sunniest city, with an average of 333 sunny days per year, so enjoy the views!
Where to Stop Along the Way: Canmore, AB! We originally went to see the Instagram-famous Rope Swing off of Ridge Road. However, we did not realize that months prior it had been taken down. It was still a beautiful city to drive through, to gaze at different houses, and to take a small hike up to where the swing used to be.
Things to Know Before You Go: You will need to pay a park fee at the Banff National Park entrance. Once you come upon the ticket booths, it is $19.60 CAD. You need to pay this to continue driving on the highway. A daily pass is good for that day and until 4pm the next day. You can also buy them ahead of time online or at select gas stations/convenience stores.
Where to Stay: If you can afford to stay at Fairmont Banff Springs, do it! it was beautiful and we took the time to walk around the public access areas. However, if your budget is a bit tighter (like mine!) right up the road is a comfy, cabin-like hotel called Deer Lodge. To get from Deer Lodge to Lake Louise was a 2 minute drive and about an 18 minute drive to Moraine Lake, the two lakes you will absolutely want to check out. The hotel is cozy with a game room, community room, free tea/coffee and a hot tub overlooking the Rockies. I couldn’t recommend this hotel enough!
What to Do: If weather permits, rent a kayak or canoe ($115/hour Lake Louise)($105/hour Moraine Lake) to get up close and personal with the aquamarine water. Unfortunately for us, winter came early in Banff so the lake had mostly frozen over even though it was only October. This just meant we had more time for other activities!
Where to Hike: Locals recommended Fairview Lookout, Big Beehive, the Big Agnes Tea House, and Castle Lookout to name a few. Again, this will be weather permitting and you should make sure you have the appropriate gear to hike in the conditions!
What to Pack: Make sure you wear layers! The weather can be super unpredictable in Banff. Ensure that you always have warm clothes (if they are waterproof, even better!) such as boots, scarves, socks, gloves, and chapstick. Those are simply the bare necessities!
Where to Eat: Wild Flour (205 Bear St. Banff) for the best focaccia bread and soup! Bill Peyto’s Cafe (203 Village Rd, Lake Louise) for an out-of-this-world, delicious Teriyaki Chicken Burger. It’s also one of the only places open late near Lake Louise. Trailhead Cafe (101 Lk Louise Dr., Samson Mall, Lake Louise) for a traditional breakfast (we also heard great things about Laggan’s next door but the portions at Trailhead were bigger according to locals). The Village Market is also in that area and is great for picking up snacks and late night munchies.
If time allows: Drive the Icefields Parkway and head toward Jasper. Along the way you will encounter Vermillion Lakes, Johnston Canyon, and Peyto Lake. These were all on our bucket list but due to road conditions, driving to Jasper was not possible. They had roadblocks and people telling us to “drive at our own risk” and I’m just not a super risky gal! But I will return one day to see these beauties!
Things you can skip: Banff Gondola. While the Gondola offers you beautiful views, you can just as easily get breathtaking looks at Banff by walking around. There is so much to see and do in Banff, and I truly don’t think forking over the money to see it from a higher altitude is worth it.
Now that the basics are out of the way, here is the itinerary Allie and I followed. I hope it helps if you find yourself visiting in the months of October-March.
How To Spend your First 24 Hours:
Your first day is going to consist of you actually traveling to Banff. From Calgary, you will take in stunning views from the highway. Again, depending on the weather it should take you 1.5-2 hours to get to Banff. We could not believe our eyes on how magical the place was! I kept wanting to pull over on the side of the road and take photos. Being surrounded my snow capped mountains and pine trees was unlike anything I’d ever seen.
We stopped in Canmore on the way. Many people who have visited Banff actually stay in hotels in Canmore and make the commute to the park daily. We did not want to do this because we wanted to be near all the action. However, this drive is totally doable but can eat away at your precious time to actually explore. In Canmore we did some hiking while we looked for the Canmore rope swing (it has since been taken down) and then we hopped back on the road to get going to our true destination.
We reached the gate to the Banff National Park and bought our passes. We actually got extremely lucky because their computer was down so the kind woman just let us go ahead. You can buy passes for one or more days online at Banff Lake Louise tourism website, but you have to print it out to be displayed on your vehicle. So make sure you have access to a printer! Or you can buy a single day pass from the Husky gasoline station at Dead Man’s Flats. If you are driving from Calgary, you’ll reach Dead Man’s Flats just before Canmore. Banff became Canada’s first national park in 1885 and today it is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A must-see location!
Our first day in Banff was a lot of driving, exploring the actual downtown area and taking in all the snowy views from a distance. We didn’t do too much hiking but instead spent the day visiting local eateries and browsing book stores to stay warm. The downtown area is so cute and we loved walking around even in the cold. We snagged some focaccia bread and soup at Wild Flour, which was some of the best tasting bread I’ve ever eaten! Then we headed off to Moraine Lake. It was 4:30pm by the time we arrived but there was almost no crowd there! We knew we wanted to visit Lake Louise early in the morning to eliminate all the people in our photos but 4:30 proved to be a decent time to go to Moraine! We could only stand to be outside for about an hour because it was so cold so we headed off to our hotel afterward.
Allie and I decided to stay at Deer Lodge since it was affordable, minutes away from Lake Louise, and located in Banff, as opposed to Canmore. It was the perfect place to stay! If the weather was warmer we could have walked to Lake Louise in the morning, instead we opted to drive 90 seconds to the lake. Deer Lodge was super quaint and had a cabin-like feel to it. Our hotel room overlooked the hot tub and the mountains which was a fantastic view.
Allie and I made coffee and headed to the hot tub to be outdoors and one with nature. After soaking for a bit, we went to dinner at one of the only places open nearby – Bill Peyto’s Cafe. Don’t let the fact that it is attached to a hostel sway you from trying it. It is a local favorite and their caesar salad was phenomenal! We called it an early night because we knew Day 2 was going to be extremely busy!
How To Spend your Last 24 Hours:
Rise and shine! Day 2 in Banff was jam packed with activities and we started our day the minute the sun came up. We had heard that parking was a nightmare at Lake Louise if you didn’t arrive early. Allie and I got one of the first spots and we immediately trekked down to the lake. Holy cow it was cold! We were not prepared for the weather and had to continuously run back and forth from the lake to our heated car. Once the sun came up, the area got more tolerable. We watched the sun rise over the mountains and the lake turn different shades of blue. It was spectacular. Lake Louise is arguable the most iconic place in the Canadian Rockies, so even if my toes were completely frozen, it was all worth it to gaze at the turquoise blue waters.
We explored the inside of the Fairmont hotel and warmed up with a cup of coffee. Then we headed off to drive toward Jasper to see Peyto Lake. This lake can be viewed from a short hike and looks like the outline of a wolf. It is stunning! However, while we were driving road conditions went from bad to worst and we were encouraged to turn around. Basically if anything were to happen, rescue cars wouldn’t even be able to reach us. Instead of moping and being sad we didn’t get to see the lake, we took this as an opportunity to explore more local finds!
So if you don’t have access to the Icefields Parkway, I highly encourage you to check out Herbert Lake off of Range Road 165A. It was never something we had heard of but it was one of the best views we saw in Alberta. We also traveled to Bow Lake which was also stunning but there was quite the crowd there! Hey, plenty of opportunities for people to take our photo. Once we had taken in all the different lakes and scenery, we headed back to Moraine Lake because we really wanted to explore it at a different time and the sun was actually shining on day 2. We took so many pictures and we truly couldn’t get over how blue the water was that day!
I always wondered if people edited the photos to make it look that color because it’s hard to wrap your head around. But nope, it’s actually that stunning! While iPhones take amazing photos these days, we did make friends along the way that had a camera. Special shout out to Ryanna and her sweet hubby for capturing sister photos of us! It was a sincere pleasure making new friends! We had an early morning flight the next day so we headed back toward Calgary for dinner and drinks.
If you have a night in Calgary, I highly recommend checking out The Cactus Club for their happy hour specials, and JOEY for their hummus plate and lettuce wraps. Seriously some of the best tasting food in Canada! You should also check out The Calgary Luge if it’s open during your visit (closes at 7/8pm). It is the world’s longest Luge track! Or go for a self guided walking tour of downtown Calgary to see the Chinese Cultural Centre, Olympic Plaza, McDougall Centre and Peace Bridge.
No matter what time of year you visit Banff, Alberta, you cannot go wrong! This is hands down one of the most breathtaking places in the world. If you need any more tips or have any questions, I am happy to answer them. Just shoot a comment below or send me a DM on my instagram. Until next time, stay warm and start planning!
Alberta is my home province! Locals usually visit Banff in the winter (Most tourists only come in summer) so it’s awesome that you visited that time of year!
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Vicki, I am so jealous you are from Alberta! What a beautiful place to call home! I was a little nervous to visit in the wintertime but it proved to have its benefits. Thank you for reading my blog!
Banff is definitely on my bucket list–it looks absolutely beautiful! It sounds like you had a great trip.
Molly
http://www.missmollymoon.com
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We did! Thank you so much for following along. Hope you make it to Banff in the very near future, Molly!