Last week, my husband and I got away for a childless vacation to Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. See my review of our 3-night stay at Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise.
We tried to squeeze as much sight-seeing as we could into our 2 1/2 days in the park while trying to allow time for relaxation.
Getting to Banff National Park
While we didn’t use hotel points for our stay, we did save money by using AA miles to fly nonstop from DFW to Calgary. The flight was about 3 1/2 hours, so not too bad. We decided to rent a car, although we could have used shuttles and buses to get to the area (and we may do that next time). As luck would have it, we booked a standard rental car but got upgraded to this Mercedes Benz:
The drive from the airport to Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise normally takes about 2 hours and 10 minutes, but due to construction, it took us about 3 hours. The highway emptied right into toll booths to pay the admission to Banff National Park. But this summer, Canada is waiving all park admission fees.
As we got closer to the park border, the Rocky Mountains captured our attention.
The clouds hung low in unusual patterns:
The highway has many wild animal overpasses:
The great thing about the drive from Calgary to Banff is that it’s not too hilly or treacherous. In my opinion, the drive from Denver to the mountains is steeper.The altitude in Banff is also a few thousand feet lower than the popular mountain towns in Colorado, making it easier to breathe.
Lake Louise
Since we were hotel guests at Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, we could park in the parking garage next to the hotel and lake. However, other than a few cars with handicap permits, personal cars are not allowed to park at Lake Louise. You must park a few miles away in various lots and take a shuttle or tour bus.
The lake shore can seem crowded in the main area. However, if you keep walking around to either side, you can find some seclusion.
On our visit, we decided to hike the Fairview Lookout trail. I love how the difficulty rating says “easy”. I would definitely not call it easy. The majority of the way to the lookout was a steep uphill climb. A family that was hiking behind us had a few members turn around due to the incline. We stopped to take some breaths along the way and made it to the lookout in 45 minutes.
Finally, the lookout:
The view was totally worth it!
In total, we spent about 90 minutes on this hike. Next, we hiked on the flat trail that goes around one side of the lake, the Lakeshore Trail. This trail lived up to its “easy” rating, as it was truly flat. I loved how toddlers, elderly people and parents pushing strollers could participate in this hike.
This trail provided a great view of the mountains on the opposite side of the lake and some forest waterfalls:
Canoeing on Lake Louise is popular, and I loved seeing everyone enjoying the tranquil water.
After our hikes, we spent some time just sitting at the side of Lake Louise and soaking it in.
While day trippers aren’t permitted to enter certain parts of the adjacent hotel, you can make a lunch or dinner reservation at one of the 6 restaurants with lake views. The hotel also has some cute shops to the right of the lobby.
If we had more time at Lake Louise, we would try more hiking paths and spend more time relaxing by the shore.
Lake Louise Summer Gondola
A few miles away from Lake Louise, the Lake Louise Ski Resort offers a summer gondola ride. When we pulled up to the parking lot, we thought the gondola was packed because the parking lot was full. It turns out that most cars were parked there to take shuttles to Lake Louise and Moraine Lake. The gondola was nearly deserted.
The ski lodge area:
For the summer gondola, we could choose to ride either the standard open-air ski lift or an enclosed gondola. Due to my fear of heights, we chose the enclosed gondola:
The view going up:
On our way up and on the way down, we spotted this huge Grizzly bear feeding on berries:
Once at the top, we headed to the viewing platform:
From there, we saw the bird’s eye view of Lake Louise and our hotel:

Zoomed in:
Next, we walked a short path to the restaurant. It wasn’t open for lunch yet:
If we had more time, we could have hiked on top before heading back down the gondola.
On our way back to our hotel, we decided to try an off-property restaurant for lunch, The Station Restaurant.
It’s in an old train station building with indoor and outdoor seating:
You can even eat dinner in an old train car:
We sat on the patio and had a lovely lunch. I recommend this place if you’re nearby.
Moraine Lake
We booked an 8:30 a.m. hotel shuttle to Moraine Lake on our second day (no personal cars are permitted to drive to Moraine Lake). As luck would have it, we saw a mama Grizzly with two cubs on the side of the road (but we went by too quickly for me to snap a photo). After we arrived at Moraine Lake, we headed to the Rockpile Trail for a better view.

The trail is a quick 10-minute climb with a few steps, but it’s not too bad. At the top, we encountered a small crowd of people:
However, it was easy to walk along a few carved-out paths below this group to find a more secluded area. And then, it seemed like we had the entire lake to ourselves:

Moraine Lake is gorgeous! After soaking in the views from up here, we headed back down to walk the Lakeshore Trail. Again, I appreciated that the lake has a flat, scenic hike. You can rent canoes on Moraine Lake, but I thought they were rather pricey ($160 Canadian dollars plus tax for one hour).

Moraine Lake has an attached lodge with a small cafe and gift shop:
If we had more time, we would have checked out some other hikes at Moraine Lake.
Banff Town
For dinner one night, we made the 40-minute drive from Lake Louise to the town of Banff. It’s a cute mountain town with a very walkable downtown area:
We had our pick of many restaurants (with patios) as well as quaint shops lining the streets. We ate dinner at The Balkan (Greek food) and it was wonderful.
Overall Thoughts on Our Trip to Banff
Banff National Park exceeded my expectations. I thought the crowds were very manageable, though that may have been because the Calgary Stampede was happening while we were there and that kept the crowds in the city. Everyone we encountered was friendly and happy (how could you not be happy with that scenery?). We lucked out with great weather during our trip.
I’d love to return to Banff with my kids, although I’m not sure they would be thrilled with all of the hiking. If we return, I’d choose to stay in Banff Town for convenience to restaurants. There are still a lot of places to explore in the area that we didn’t have the chance to check out, including:
- Columbia Icefield
- Takakkaw Falls
- Emerald Lake
- Cowboy Cookouts
- Banff Gondola
- and many more
Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
Beautiful area. Nice trails. I love glacier lakes for their color and seclusion.
It’s sad that nowadays most teenagers get “bored” with nature and don’t appreciate natural environments as they can. This wasn’t the case 20-30 years ago, prior of the spread of hand gadgets… Some European countries now prohibit use of cell phones by anyone younger than 13, and social media to teenagers up to 15 years old.
Happy travels!!
@Aleks My husband and I had to chuckle at some grumpy teens we saw with families at the park. They don’t know what they’re missing. My son is about to embark on a 2-week hiking trip in the Colorado Rockies with no cell phone (organized group trip). I’m sure it will be a shock to his system.