THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO BANFF

Banff, located in Alberta's Rocky Mountains, offers abundant activities for all. It is about an hour and a half away from Calgary by car. It was fairly an easy process to rent a car at the Calgary airport (YYC) for those who choose to do so. Regardless of which rental car company you book with, they are all gathered in one area, so once you arrive at the airport, just follow the sign and off you go.

Now, once you get to the national park, there is a fee to enter. You can pre-purchase the entry tickets online or you can also buy them once you get there. Once you enter the park, you can go to any place you want and go in any order you want. You can really tailor the trip to your desire. You can kind of plan your trip to do spontaneous activities when you get there or you can book certain activities beforehand. It really depends on your trip style and how you like to travel in general and of course how much time you have. I was only able to spend 2 nights and 3 days for my trip, but for those who want to make it out to Jasper National Park as well, I would recommend a longer trip.

This is my list of must places to visit :

• Johnston Canyon: Johnston Canyon is a great place to go for a relatively short hike that is off of the Bow Valley Parkway. It is roughly 30 minutes away by car from the city of Banff. There are three major scenic spots along the trail, the Lower Falls, the Upper Falls, and Ink Pots. Depending on your condition, you can choose how far up you'd like to go to. I chose to go up to the Upper Falls only. The hike itself to the Upper Falls was moderately easy. The hike to the Lower Falls is roughly 30 minutes one way and from there the hike up to the Upper Falls/ Waterfall Lookout was about another 40 minutes in.
  

• Lake Louise: Since I was staying at Banff, I drove up to the Park and Ride area at the Gondola to park our car. From there you can take a shuttle to Lake Louise and/or Moraine Lake. If you get there early enough, you might be able to still purchase shuttle tickets to Lake Louise, but I recommend you purchase them beforehand, especially if you want to get to both Lake Louise and Moraine Lake on the same day. At Lake Louise, you can either just spend an hour or so walking along the lake and have some photo time or you can hike up to Lake Agnes, Little Beehive, and Big Beehive. I chose to hike up to just Lake Agnes/ Lake Agnes Teahouse. It took roughly 2 hours or so to just get up there. It is a moderately challenging hike, so make sure you have some water and energy bar or snacks with you. Once you get to Lake Agnes, you can also buy some snacks and drinks at the Teahouse, if needed. I hear the view from Little Beehive and Big Beehive is amazing; unfortunately, I didn’t have the physical stamina nor the time to make it up there. However, for those who want a bit more challenging hike, the beehive trails were recommended by others hikers. Even if you choose not to do any hike at Lake Louise and just spend some time around the lake, I still think it is worth it to go. It is one of the most popular scenic spot for a reason.

  
  

• Moraine Lake: Another popular lake is the Moraine Lake, which is fairly close to Lake Louise. However, personal vehicles are not allowed to use the road to Moraine Lake (as of 2024), so you’ll need to book a shuttle of some sort. I made a reservation for the roundtrip shuttle to Moraine Lake before the trip. There are few options as to which shuttle company to book with. I went with Moraine Lake Shuttle Company. You can choose how long you want to spend at the lake. Once I arrived at the Moraine Lake, I decided to rent a canoe since I had some time. There are few lakes in Banff National Park where you can rent a canoe for an hour. It is on the pricey side but it does give you a different perspective of the lake. However, you can still enjoy the stunningly blue lake without the canoe experience. If you choose to not rent a canoe and just enjoy the view and quickly walk around, I would say an hour is plenty. If you want to rent a canoe, or take some time to eat or have some quality time, then give yourself more than an hour to do so.

• Peyto Lake: Peyto lake is about 1 hour away from the city of Banff. From the parking area of Peyto Lake, it is a relatively short walk to the viewpoint. Once at the viewpoint, you will be able to look down to the magnificent Peyto Lake and just take in the incredible view. Out of all the lakes that I was able to get to during my trip, Peyto Lake viewpoint was the only place where I could see the whole lake from one viewpoint. As some of you may already know, the lakes in Banff are famous for their color and while all lakes just have stunning colors, I really think the color of the Peyto Lake is stunningly blue and it's a color you won't be able to forget.

  
  

• Bow Lake: If you're driving up to Peyto Lake from Banff, Bow Lake viewpoint is on the way and only 5-10 minutes away. It is a great place for a short stop. Bow Lake is less crowded than Peyto Lake and it's a great place for a stop to just kind of catch a break.

  
  

• Emerald Lake: Emerald Lake is technically part of Yoho National Park, but it is only 30 minutes away from Lake Louise Samson Mall. I definitely recommend stopping by Emerald Lake. It has such an unreal vibe to the lake. The water is on the greener side compared to Peyto Lake and Moraine Lake as the name suggests, but that’s what makes this lake so special. You can also rent a canoe here if you choose to do so. The lake almost makes you feel like you're in part of some fantasy world that came straight out of a book.