Here it is. The moment you’ve all been waiting for: Banff National Park. This is quite possibly the most beautiful and unreal place in the world. Don’t believe me? Look at any of the pictures in this post. This is my summer guide to Banff National Park: where to stay, where to eat and what to do. Mostly what bright blue lakes to see. But other things too.
Where to stay
Banff
I’m writing my Banff Summer Guide based on my trip with Moose Bus (I took the Pacific tour, which you can check out here). On the tour, we stayed at both the HI Banff and the Samesun Banff. I remember both being quite nice, but the Samesun was much closer to town. If you’re planning on spending time in the town itself, I’d recommend staying at the Samesun purely for its proximity. However, if you’re just passing through, the HI is a good choice. This is essentially what we did: when we were just passing through the town on the way up to Jasper, we stayed at the HI. But on our way back when we had a free day to spend in town, we stayed at the Samesun. Both are also approximately the same price per night.
Lake Louise
We also spent one night at the HI in Lake Louise. I remember really liking this hostel because we had a delicious dinner of fish and chips and apple pie, and spent the evening sitting by the campfire roasting marshmallows. It backed onto the railway but it was fine – we didn’t notice the trains going past at night or anything. It was interesting to watch them go past as we sat by the campfire, though, because the trains in Canada are so unbelievably long! I swear the one we saw took about 10 minutes to go past.
If you’re looking at doing the Moose Pacific tour, they’ve actually changed their route so you no longer stay in Lake Louise. Instead, you push on to the HI Rampart Creek then stay a night in Jasper before heading back to Banff. Not to worry, you should still get to see the best places in Lake Louise, just over one day instead of two! In terms of seeing Jasper, this is great news (more on that next time)! But you should also still get the full Lake Louise experience, just over one day instead of a morning and an afternoon.
Things to do in Banff Town
Admire the scenery and get a Beavertail
Banff is such a cute town and like everywhere in the Rockies, has beautiful mountain views, especially in summer. I highly recommend taking the time to wander around! While in the town, you absolutely must get a Beavertail pastry. This is an iconic Canadian snack and they’re delicious. I was actually told they were created in Banff, but I’ve just looked it up and it’s not even true. Lame. Anyway, there are Beavertails shops all throughout Canada so over my exchange I tried a few different flavours: maple, lemon sugar, choc-banana and Reese’s pieces. To be honest, I can’t remember which was my favourite, but the maple one just screams CANADA, don’t you think?
Have dinner at the Bear Street Tavern
If you’re looking for somewhere to go for dinner, the Bear Street Tavern comes highly recommended from me and just about every Canadian I know. I had a really good bowl of nachos (with so many leftovers I could eat them for lunch the next day!) but I hear the pizza is the best to be found in town. I tried to go back in winter with my family but they were fully booked and at capacity. If that doesn’t give you a good indication of how good it is, I don’t know what will! I guess I’ll just have to go back to try the pizza another time…
Visit Surprise Corner Viewpoint
Just outside of town is the Surprise Corner Viewpoint. This lookout overlooks a bend in the Bow River where a horizontal waterfall is created. It’s quite a cool little spot. More importantly, though, this is the best place to see the famous Fairmont Hotel. This hotel has to be the most recognisable landmark in Banff (even I’d seen pictures!) so it’s worth going to get that classic shot!
Half-day trip: White water rafting
Have a bit more time and want to do something that doesn’t involve bright blue lakes? Head on a half-day white water rafting tour on the Kicking Horse River. Whilst it’s completely tame and somewhat boring in comparison to rafting the Zambezi River in Africa, it’s a great activity to do with a large group! Almost everyone in my tour group came along – nine of us in total – and we had the best time! I was terrified the whole time, of course, but overall it was great fun. If you’re looking for a gentle introduction to white water rafting, this is for you. If you have rafted the Zambezi, don’t bother.
“Banff Summer Guide”… more like “Guide to all the blue lakes in Banff”
My Banff Summer Guide wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t talk about the endless, famous bright blue lakes. I’m sure this is the part you’ve all been waiting for, anyway! On my tour, we visited five lakes and one river in Banff National Park, all insanely blue. I would recommend them all because they’re all unique in their own way! If you’re heading North along the Icefields Parkway, you’ll come across them in the order listed below.
Lake Louise
If you didn’t visit Lake Louise, did you even go to Banff National Park? This is the most famous of the bright blue lakes and for good reason! It is absolutely stunning. It is also crazily busy, especially in the afternoon when we went. Be prepared to wait in traffic and grab any carpark you see!
For the ultimate view over the lake and surrounding mountains and valleys, hike up to Little Beehive. As someone who sucks at walking uphill, I thought it was a pretty tough hike. According to the internet, it’s only rated moderate. Regardless of your walking ability, it was completely and utterly worth it! If you do only one thing in this Banff Summer Guide, let it be this! The trail is 9km long going up and back and gains 535m of elevation. On the way, you can stop at the Lake Agnes Tea House. It wasn’t open by the time we got up in the late afternoon but it’s a good place to stop anyway because the view over the lake is quite beautiful.
If you’re not feeling energetic enough to walk up to Little Beehive, take a walk around the lake on the Lake Louise Shoreline Trail. Apparently it can be quite busy but with minimal elevation gain and beautiful views of the lake, it should be great! You could also do the Fairview Lookout Trail which provides a stunning view over the lake and the Fairview Hotel but without the crazy elevation gain. I definitely think I’ll do these walks next time! You can read about them here. (I’ve actually used this site to source a lot of my information for this post so definitely go check them out! All their info is super helpful).
Moraine Lake
For a different colour blue, head to Moraine Lake. This is the first one that shows up if you search “Banff National Park” in Google Images. So maybe this is the most famous lake…
Yet again, expect a lot of traffic when heading to Moraine Lake. We went first thing in the morning but STILL had to wait for ages. It was surprisingly not too busy once we got to the lake itself. Maybe everyone else went to Lake Louise as they’re quite close together!
We didn’t do any walks here except to get from the carpark to the viewpoint overlooking the lake. However, it seems like there are a few more hardcore hikes that leave from Moraine Lake. I would recommend you try explore the area a bit because the view from the viewpoint isn’t actually that great. The trees have grown so much that they block the view! If you’re short on time or on a tour, though, you can still get quite a nice shot of the lake.
Bow Lake
After visiting Lake Louise and Moraine Lake, head North along the Icefields Parkway towards Jasper National Park. One of the first lakes you’ll come across is Bow Lake. This lake is unique in that it lies at the base of Bow Summit, a stunning mountain that is perfectly reflected in the lake on a still day. I’d say this is the most natural-looking of the lakes, probably because it’s quite shallow near the edge, which makes for a nice change. Unfortunately the only picture I have is not even of Bow Summit… However, you can see the glaciers that feed the lake in the background! Bow Lake is also nice because it’s not as crowded as some of the other, more famous lakes. It’s definitely worth stopping to stretch your legs here.
Peyto Lake
Only a little bit further along the highway, you’ll find yourself at Peyto Lake. This is the most uniquely-shaped of the lakes and it’s a stunning pale blue. Currently, the viewpoint is closed for renovations and will be re-opened in summer 2021. So on the off-chance any of you are planning a trip there in 2020, you sadly won’t be able to see this stunning lake. Free excuse to go back another time, though!
Like Lake Louise and Moraine Lake, expect the Peyto Lake viewpoint to be super busy, especially if you’re visiting during the middle of the day. Huge crowds of people visit the viewpoint so you might have to fight through people to get that epic shot. To avoid the crowds, try get there early in the morning, later in the afternoon or in the evening.
Waterfowl Lake and Mount Chephren
The next lake to stop at is Waterfowl Lake. In my opinion, the highlight of this stop isn’t the lake itself, but rather Mount Chephren behind it. This peak has such a unique shape and towers above the lake, making for some stunning photos! This is another spot where on a still day, you can get a really stunning picture of the mountain’s reflection in the lake. In my google search, I’m seeing some pretty stunning sunset shots as well, so it might be worth visiting in the evening. There’s a campground here, so you could even stay the night! This is one of the less popular lakes to visit (but still popular enough to be on a tour), so whilst no doubt you’ll see other people around, you shouldn’t have to fight through crowds to get that perfect lake view!
Saskatchewan Crossing
The final place I will be recommending in my Banff Summer Guide isn’t a lake at all, but a river! Still blue, though. This is the point where the highway crosses the North Saskatchewan River. This is a great spot for lunch if you’re travelling towards Jasper. My picture doesn’t really do it justice… The mountains here are really very impressive.
I hope you enjoyed my guide to Banff in summer! At this point, you’ll cross into Jasper National Park. I hope you like bright blue lakes because there’s still more to come next time when I share my Jasper Summer Guide!
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