itinerary for Banff

[tonka96]

Hi,

We are going to Banff National park and we have 4 full days there. Wondering if anyone who has been there could give me some tips on what things to do together to optimize our time and possibly some things to make sure and do and some things that maybe aren't worth it. Just don't want to be hop, skipping and jumping around would like to have a plan that makes the most of our time. I have tried with mapquest to put in the different locations to group them together but have not had much luck. Thanks so much for any help you can give.

[hemifoot]

it would help to know at what time of year you plan to be there.Banff in the summer is extremely busy.plans can go out the window very easily there.

[BigBillSD]

Plan your visit to Lake Louise very late in the afternoon, we found after 5pm let you drive up to the parking lot near the lake and very little crowds then. The rest of the day (earlier), it was a zoo. There was also a Gondola on a mountain just north of Lake Louise with a great view (distant) from the top. It was half price after around 3pm, call the verify that. There is also a trail to Lower Johnson Falls about 1/2 way between Banff and Lake Louise. The signs say it's 1/2 mile to the falls, but it also said it was 1500 meters...which is almost a mile.. Ignore the 1/2 mile sign, it was about a mile. But well worth the walk, you can climb thru a hole in the rock and go in behind the falls. There are many overlooks around Banff, go down all the roads you can, there are some incredible sights. -Bill



We wrote about Banff and Lake Louise in our blog. Use the search box to find those posts. https://cowlesmountain.com/Travels/

[creativepart]

Will your 4-days be just in Banff? Because if you're going all that way you need to also hit Jasper National Park, the Athabasca Glacier / Columbia Glacier and Kootenay National Park.

You could easily spend 3-days in Banff, a day in the Icefields, 3-days in Jasper and 3-days in Kootenay and it would still be too short of time. Heck, a couple of days in Calgary on your way wouldn't be bad either.

Don't go all that way and miss out by trying do everything in 4-days.

[twogypsies]

Originally Posted by creativepart

Will your 4-days be just in Banff? Because if you're going all that way you need to also hit Jasper National Park, the Athabasca Glacier / Columbia Glacier and Kootenay National Park.

You could easily spend 3-days in Banff, a day in the Icefields, 3-days in Jasper and 3-days in Kootenay and it would still be too short of time. Heck, a couple of days in Calgary on your way wouldn't be bad either.

Don't go all that way and miss out by trying do everything in 4-days.

I totally agree. Banff was our least favorite area.... much too crowded. You need to go all the way to Jasper.

Just like for our U.S. national parks the first thing I'd suggest is to explore the Canadian national park web site for each park. It has tons of information.

Only you know your and your family's interests and stamina.

https://parks.canada.ca/pn-np/ab/banff