The Ultimate Banff Travel Tips

If you’re planning a trip to Banff and looking for ways to make your vacation better then this post on the ultimate Banff travel tips will help you.

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Banff National Park is an amazing travel location that should be on your bucket list and you should visit at least once in your life for the amazing mountain views and things to do.

Save Money

So many people are so obsessed with making sure they stay in Banff their entire trip but Banff National Park is surrounded by tons of little mountain towns that are very inexpensive compared to Banff. My personal favorite town to stay in near Banff is Canmore. It’s a decent size town and it’s only 20 minutes to downtown Banff. With this quick drive it’s definitely worth checking out the hotel prices in Canmore. I’ve stayed in the Windtower Lodge and Suites a few times and loved it there. I’ve also stayed at Brewster’s Mountain Lodge and have a review on it for you. There are also tons of airbnb options in Canmore as well (use my link to get up to $95 CAD toward your booking). This is what I think is one of the most important Banff travel tips in this post so make sure to do your research on hotels.

There is a lot of diving you’ll be doing in Banff. You’ll at least need to drive an hour from the nearest airport or drive from wherever you live. There are also so many sights to see that will cause you to do lots of driving in the Banff area. Because of all this driving you’ll need to be filling up your gas often. The gas prices in Banff can be very expensive so it’s a great idea to fill up before you get to Banff National park and after leave Banff to make sure you’re not over paying on gas.

Another Banff travel tip to save yourself some money is by going grocery shopping instead of eating out at all meals. The only place to eat is in the town of Banff or other towns and if you’re out all day then it’s quite the extra journey to return to town for each meal. Every time I go to Banff we will either pack our own breakfasts or quickly pick something up before going about our day. We also always bring our own snacks and pack lunches for each day. That way we only go to town in the evening for dinner.

See Jasper National Park

A lot of people are all over the idea of Banff that they don’t even think about Jasper National Park. Jasper is about a 3.5 hour drive through the mountains and is totally worth seeing. The drive itself is just amazing and Jasper is full of mountain views just as great as Banff. But what makes me love Jasper so much is that it’s way less touristy so you can go places and see sights and not be surrounded by people constantly. It gives you more of a nature feeling than Banff. This is another one of the really important Banff travel tips. We often just go to Jasper because it’s quieter than Banff.

Getting There And Parking

If you’re going to be flying to Banff National Park you’ll have to fly into the Calgary airport. The best way to get there is by renting a car because it’s about an hour drive and you’ll be driving all around Banff when you get there as well. It’ll be much cheaper if you rent a car then if you needed to get a cab each time you wanted to go anywhere. As for parking in downtown Banff it can be a little difficult. However, there is tons of overflow parking just a short walk away. I would suggest the overflow parking because there is a lot of walking in downtown Banff anyway so it doesn’t make that much of a difference.

Plan Ahead

It’s so important to plan ahead. This can really help you get as much done as you want and cover a certain area at a time instead of doing more driving then necessary. A great way to help you plan ahead is by checking out the website Get Your Guide. Get Your Guide is a great website that has tons of ideas for you not just for Banff National Park but all over the world.

 

When To See Sights

The most popular sights such as Lake Louise are always so busy. Lake Louise actually has overflow parking lots that get full during the day. Because of this if I ever want to go to one of the most popular places I make sure to go there for sunrise or right after. Places like this have a constant flow of tour buses so there’s no calm point in the day other than first thing in the morning. I know it sucks to get up early but it will be so worth it to have some breathing room and be able to take some great pictures. If you want to check out some other amazing lakes in Banff that are less popular than Lake Louise then check out this post I did on the 7 best lakes in Banff.

Banff Packing

When packing for Banff there’s a lot to think about. First is the time of year. In the winter Banff gets really cold and has a lot of snow. So make sure you bring tons of layers. You’ll thank me for taking more layers than you think you may need. It’s also a great idea to take skates in the winter. There are so many lakes in Banff that you can skate on (check which ones you can skate on, on the Banff official website) and it’s quite a bucket list thing to skate on a lake surrounded by mountains. On the other hand. If it’s warm you’ll need to pack for that as well. You’ll also have to think about proper hiking gear and things like food for during the day.

I really want to stress proper hiking gear and this is why. We once went hiking at Johnston Canyon in the winter and there was quite a bit melting so it was very snowy and icy. We saw a group of people on this hike all in the little sneakers and couldn’t stay on their feet so that wouldn’t have been an enjoyable hike for them. Even in the summer; hiking shoes are meant to protect your feet from stepping on rocks and sticks so regular shoes won’t be great then either. It may not seem very important to some people but this is a very important tip to be included in this Banff travel tips post.

Hiking

It’s important to do lots of research on the hikes you’ll be going on. There are so may different types of hikes in Banff National Park. There are hikes where you stay at the same elevation, ones you hike up to the mountain peak, ones only open in the summer seasons, 30 minute hikes and hikes that take you a week to do. I once did a mountain top hike and once we were coming down about 45 minutes from the start a couple asked us if they were close to the end. They were about 4 hours away from the top and didn’t even have a water bottle with them. Know what you’re getting yourself into and be prepared for your hikes so you can enjoy them.

And those are all my Banff travel tips. I hope this post was helpful for you and you have some great ideas for your Banff itinerary now.

 

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