By My friend and I just got back from Banff, Canada! I’m happy to share with you some travel tips and lovely pics.
Tip #1: No need to splurge for first class. To get to Banff National Park, you fly into Calgary, which is about a 4 hour flight from Atlanta. Then you have a 1 1/2 hour drive to Banff. I splurged for first class…which in hindsight was pointless – here’s why. Flying to Calgary is a morning flight, which means your First Class meal is breakfast. That was fine but really – no one is flying first class to get a free breakfast. We were flying on WestJet, Delta’s partner. I’ll be polite and simply say WestJet is not Delta. Okay, what was my beef? There were no monitor/entertainment centers (in coach or first class). Luckily I had a book and my crocheting to keep me busy, but I was kinda looking forward to binging some movies.
We were an hour late taking off because someone’s luggage had made it on the plane, but they had not. I like to create a fun backstory when this happens.Were they trapped in customs? Were they in the bathroom? Were they lost within the ATL airport trying to figure out how to get from Terminal B to F? Spies? Terrorists? Drunks passed out at the bar? So many options…and as noted there was no entertainment on the plane, so I could really run with some great fictions.
Tip #2: To rent a car or not to rent a car? That is the question. There is a shuttle to Banff from Calgary. If I were by myself I would likely ride that and be perfectly happy. My travel partner wanted the freedom of a car and could get a deal via National, so we rented. Is it necessary? No. Parking at the hotel ain’t cheap. Banff has pretty decent public transportation and tour buses to get you around. Plus you can easily walk to most places or rent bikes. That being said, we did enjoy the freedom and convenience of the rental car on our Icefields parkway drive.
Tip #3: On the drive to Banff, a few sites suggested stopping at Heart Mountain store in Exshaw. Don’t. It’s a sketchy gas station. There’s a tiny hamburger stand that is part of the gas station, but it was closed on Sunday, which left us with Pringles and other junk food to choose from. Do yourselves a favor and drive on to Iron Goat brewery in Canmore (which we did). We split a delightful game burger and fries which was just the right amount of food (along with a flight of beer) to sustain us until dinner.
Tip #4: Stay at the Banff Springs Hotel (at least on your first visit). Feeling better after eating, we pressed on to Banff Springs. Don’t forget to get your Canadian National Park Pass! This was our first time to Banff, so we splurged and stayed at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. Yes it is over the top. Yes it is worth it. The hotel is beautiful. She is the Grand Dame of the city. Sadly I never attended the guided tour they give (great reason to come back). I didn’t really understand the hotel layout when booking my reservation, so just randomly selected the gatehouse. I would not do that again. The room was nice but really far away from everything. We had great plans to do something on Sunday, but were exhausted. So we ate at the Vermillion room and called it a night.
Next day we were up early to drive on the Icefields parkway. Following great advice from the valet team, we drove straight to the Columbia Icefields and then made our stops on the way back. Because we both had spa treatments scheduled at 4 pm back at the hotel, we only had time for the skywalk and not the full adventure (which involved walking on the glacier). I’m not gonna lie – I did experience some guilt when I saw how much the glaciers have receded – likely due to global warming. Skywalk was fun/silly. It did offer some very nice views of the valley, mountains and glaciers. On the way back we stopped at Waterfowl Lake, Peyto Lake and Bow Lake. Just amazing! While normally I prefer to sleep in on vacays, it is worth it to get up early and get slightly ahead of the masses of humanity.
Tip #5: book a spa treatment. The spa at the Fairmont is fabulous! I got a facial which was desperately needed. But the best part of it was the spa itself. There were multiple plunge pools, regular pools, saunas, steam rooms, inhalation rooms. I would have loved to stay longer. I can see myself coming back and staying somewhere in town but definitely booking a day at the spa. It is that nice.
Tip #6: Pack for all kinds of weather. I’d been watching Banff weather for several weeks and was prepared for just about all weather options…except for hot. And guess what? It was hot. My first souvenir from Banff was a pair of shorts because I didn’t pack any. It was unseasonably warm. At one point it was hotter in Banff than it was in Roswell GA (where I’m from). Second major purchase was sunscreen (wasn’t expecting the level of sunshine either).
Tip #7: Drink lots of water. The last full day in Banff, we took a bus to Lake Louise and Lake Moraine. I don’t know if it was time zone difference, heat or altitude (or a combo of all), but there were several moments where I couldn’t catch my breath. I also tired pretty easily. So yes, drink water, but also pace yourself. We only had an hour at Lake Louise, which for me was spent mostly in the gift shop hunting down SPF lotion. It’s a pretty lake, but Lake Moraine in my opinion is better. A few things to note: you can’t drive to Lake Moraine. There are shuttles that take you there because the road can’t handle the level of traffic. You can hike/walk or bike there. Our shuttle had 1 hour at Lake Louise and and 6 hours at Lake Moraine. We were able to complete 3 hikes at Lake Moraine. I had to talk myself into the last one (Consolation Lake) – mostly because I was hot and dehydrated and they had a sign saying watch out for bears. But I conquered my fears and made the trek. The lake wasn’t that exciting and the terrain was meh – but I was REALLY proud of myself for finishing it.
We ate one night in town – Three Bears. I had hoped to try out Anejo, but after the full day of hiking at Lake Moraine, I was only up for the hotel bar.
Tip # 8 and 9: Buy local and know where to get gas. Wednesday was our drive back to Calgary. We started the day with the Banff gondola ride. This was fine, except the smoke from the wildfires arrived on this day. I struggled greatly with breathing (I’m not asthmatic, it was that hazy/thick). There’s a great farmer’s market on Wednesday that we perused. We also shopped at Rocky Mountain Soap (which will ship to the US, if space is limited in your suitcase). And we rewarded ourselves with ice cream from cows ice cream (I can recommend the Moo York Cheesecake ice cream). The drive back was uneventful. My friend and I got into a spat about where/how to stop for gas. Considering this was our first trip together, I thought one tiff wasn’t too bad. Heads up: if you don’t get gas in Banff, Canmore’s second exit is your only option. Also Canada prices their gas weird and makes you set a $ amount (you don’t just say “fill ‘er up”. If you drive like we did (to icefields and back), 40 litres ($60 CAD) is enough to fill you up and get back to the Calgary Airport to meet the rental company needs of a full tank.
We had a lovely dinner at River Cafe in Calgary – chef tasting menu. Jarrod, our waiter, disappeared for about 20 minutes and then got a little fussy because we were taking too long. Otherwise a nice evening. There was a slight change of plans for what to do in Calgary as we were anticipating lots of walking around in Calgary, but it got freakishly hot. Luckily the Studio Bell has air conditioning. I learned there is more to Canadian musicians than Nickelback and Celine Dion. We ended the day with Calgary Tower followed by an early dinner at CharCut.
Friday was a travel day. This time I was in economy (Still WestJet and still no entertainment)…and sadly only snacks for a 4 hour flight. The flight attendant was generous with the cookies, so that made it okay. I would definitely go back to Banff again. And recommend you make the trip, too!
And now pictures (not all of them, I promise!). Add a reply if you want to know more about the trip or have any questions about where to go and what to see.
