We're spending almost a week in Banff in the middle of this month. We are scheduled to do tours of Lake Luise & Morane Lake & Banff Natl Park, plus the gondola ride, and Kananaskis River rafting. My questions are:

• What other activities should we add?
• Good restaurants and bars?
• Any good side trips?

TIA!

definitely hit up yoho national park and emerald lake.....arguably just as nice as the banff lakes but with half the people and we also enjoyed driving up the icefields parkway and doing the glacier walk at athabasca glacier....

Johnston Canyon and Marble Canyon are both great "hikes" (I use that term loosely because there are boardwalks - it's not really a hike). The hike up to the tea room at Lake Louise is also great, but this is a true hike.

Renting e-bikes and doing a ride is also fun.

I've been 4 times and never had a bad meal. My favorites are the Greek place (The Balkan) and the fondue at the Waldhaus at the Fairmont.

Lock down restaurant reservations now, you are approaching peak season.

PARK distillery has solid food, their bird's eye chili vodka is pretty good.

Most of restaurants are a group so pretty similar. I like Chuck's steakhouse. The Greek joint mentioned is good and they do take out. Grizzly is unique. The station in lake Louise is solid. Storm mountain lodge has a small dining room res needed.

Canmore has lots of options. Mount engadine lodge is off beaten path, they do high tea for non-guests, it's a great low key way to spend an afternoon and you can make a loop drive through some great country. This actually may be near depending on where you put in for Kananaskis float. You may want to consider eating in Canmore after the float. They have a main drag like Banff, a lot of some touristy stuff with slightly less crowd.

If you can get a res for high tea at fairmont lake Louise it's pretty nice to look out over lake. Speaking of tea, from lake Louise you can take a hike thorough high country tea house(s), you can loop some together, can be a big day, but also a fun surprise if you are into not saying anything about it.

Early dinner in Banff, then biking or driving out to lake Minnewanka for sunset is pretty nice.

Echo what others said above, the glacier is a cool experience and unique.

It's hard to mess up!

We have spent quite a bit of time in the Canadian Rockies due to living near Edmonton. Here is a list of places we visited. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions. Enjoy!

Banff

• Johnston Canyon Lower Falls
• Fairmont Banff Springs
• Walk Banff Avenue
• Cascade of Time Garden
• Walk along the Bow River
• Cave & Basin National Historic Site
• Tunnel Mountain Trail
• Bow River Trail
• Banff Gondola
• Sulphur Mountain Boardwalk
• Lower Bankhead Ghost Town
• If you have kids - Adventure & Nature Playground

Banff Restaurants

• The Bro'Kin Yolk
• Three Bears Brewery & Restaurant
• Banff social
• Lupo Italian restaurant
• Bear Street Tavern
• Banff Ave Brewing Co.
• Park Distillery Restaurant + Bar

Canmore

• Grassi Lakes
• Explore Downtown Canmore
• Big Head Sculpture
• Policeman's Creek Boardwalk
• Canmore Engine Bridge

Canmore Restaurants

• Grizzly Paw Brewery
• Blake Restaurant
• Tavern 1883
• Iron Goat Pub & Grill - typically need a reservation, it's worth it
• Rocket Pie Pizza - best pizza in Canmore

Kananaskis Area

• Heart Creek Trail / Bunker
• Blackshale Suspension Bridge
• Troll Falls
• Pop into Kananaskis Mountain Lodge for lunch

Icefields Parkway Highlights

• Peyto Lake - easy hike with nice boardwalk overlooks
• Mistaya Canyon
• Scenic stops along the Icefields Parkway

Yoho National Park Highlights

• Takakkaw Falls
• Natural Bridge
• Emerald Lake

Just got back.

Seems most my suggestions were already mentioned, so I dont have a lot of suggestions to add.

That said...if you want to do anything, do a little research online. Parking is not easy in and around Banff.

For example, we hiked the Lake Agnes trail to the Tea house at the top (the lake was still frozen as of a couple weeks ago). I didn't think much about transportation...we were just going to drive to the Fairmont and park. But you need to get a bus pass, and park at the slopes across the highway...and bus over to the Fairmont. Availability will fill up, so get those now.

Same with Johnston, this time of year. You likely won't be able to park at the entrance, if you dont get there pretty early...so you'll need to bus over. If you go early or late, you should be ok.


One thing I didnt see mentioned was the Hot Springs. We did this after a nice/long hike and it was a great way to end the day before dinner.

Another suggestion is a quick horseback tour. There is a 1 hour trip, where you cross the river and visit the falls, but the river was running too much to do that one while we were there. You can also do a 2 hour one along the river and through the mountains, which was pretty fun.

Johnston Canyon has a nice guided tour that will take you there on a small mini-bus. It's not expensive. You're just constrained by their tour times.

Go to Discover Banff Tours or Banff Adventures to book.

You can also book the Columbia Icefield Glacier on the Discover Banff website.

If you want to do the e-bike tours, I highly recommend Bikescape Banff.

The parking situation at Lake Louise/Lake Moraine was a disaster when we visited back in 2019. It gets so busy in the summer that they had to implement the bus system. Banff is also discussing banning cars altogether. Nothing has been decided, yet, but I could see it happening.

It was pretty bad a couple weeks ago, and it wasn't near peak season.

I hadn't been there in a while, but it's popularity sure has increased since the last time I went.

I don't think I'd go back again in the summer. Our last 3 trips have been at Christmas. I'd like to visit in the fall when the leaves are changing.

We talked to our Airbnb hosts during our last visit, and city officials are very aware of how disruptive high season is. They are proposing a lot of changes that, in the end, I don't think will make the visitor experience better. If they end up implementing what they've proposed, I think what will happen is it will just move the problems they have in Banff to Canmore.

AgGrad99 said:

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Another suggestion is a quick horseback tour. There is a 1 hour trip, where you cross the river and visit the falls, but the river was running too much to do that one while we were there. You can also do a 2 hour one along the river and through the mountains, which was pretty fun.

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We are riding the train from Vancouver to Banff next month, and have a three hour horseback ride booked in Banff. Hope ours turns out to be fun!

We had a great time taking in the scenery that way

Probably a long shot, and not for everyone, but check out Lake O'Hara in Yoho. Best day I've spent in the mountains in my life.

You can get a bus up to the campground (tickets can be difficult, I think it's via lottery now) then look to hike the Alpine Circuit route.