Banff, AB, Canada

Banff, Alberta Itinerary

This itinerary will help you plan the perfect 5 day trip to Banff, Alberta. From places to visit to hotels to stay at, you will get a detailed day by day itinerary from when I visited in September 2022

It snows 9 months out of the year in Banff, the winter season runs from November until May. Therefore, if you are deciding to visit in May, you will be surprised when Lake Louise is still semi-frozen. However, it would be the perfect time to go if you are planning on skiing in the Rockies!

The best time to visit Banff is between June to September. I visited in September 2022 and would highly recommend visiting in the beginning of September! You would avoid the summer heat and crowds and if you are planning on hiking, the weather is perfect during that time of year.

There are many ways to get around in Banff. The easiest would be to rent a car, you are not limited by bus schedules and can be more flexible.

If however you don't want to rent a car, getting around by bus is easy. You can book a shuttle from Calgary airport to Banff. Once in Banff, you can use Roam, Banff's public transit bus system that will get you just about everywhere in Banff. Visit Roam's website for detailed route information, schedules and fares:

The next morning, we headed to Budget car rental on the same street as our hotel, took our rental car and headed straight to Sulphur Mountain. 

We then headed back to the car and drove to downtown Banff, where we walked around Banff Avenue, got some dinner and enjoyed the sunset.

Banff is a very touristic area and it can get expensive staying in Banff. We decided to stay in Canmore, which is about a 20 min drive to Banff National Park and hotels were less expensive as well. You can choose to stay in an Airbnb or Hotel, we were 2 people travelling so we decided to stay in a few different hotels that offered the best price at the time we went. Here are the hotels we stayed at, all on the same street in Canmore, which was very convenient:

1- We stayed at Comfort Inn when we first landed in Calgary. It has a free airport shuttle pickup, which is what we wanted. We landed at night time, so we decided to stay here overnight. There is a Budget car rental 5 minutes from this hotel, which was convenient because we picked up the car the next morning and headed to Banff

3- Rundle Lodge - very cute lodge that has a swimming pool, jacuzzi and a little playground with a firepit in the front. Each room has its own parking right in front of the lodge. Really enjoyed our stay here.

4- Canmore Rocky Mountain Inn: Clean and nice hotel. Would have loved to stay here longer

We landed in Calgary Airport at night and decided to stay in Calgary for the night. 

We started our hike at 11am. It is a moderately challenging route that is steep with a lot of switchbacks. It took us about an hour and 40 minutes to get to the top. The view from the top is incredibly breathtaking and rewarding. We also walked on the boardwalk and were in awe of the views of the mountains. 

We took a break and stopped by the Sulphur Mountain Cafe where we enjoyed a hot drink and had lunch. There is also a buffet and the Sky Bistro at the top to enjoy surrounding the view. 

You can decide to hike back down or take the Gondola down for half price (around $36 CAD depending on demand)

We then headed to the Upper Banff Hot Springs right across the parking lot. It was the perfect activity after a challenging hike. The entrance price to the hotsprings is $16.50 CAD and there are additional fees if you want to rent a towel and locker. 

We woke up early and enjoyed the beautiful sunrise in Canmore. The most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen!

We then headed straight to Lake Louise. We decided to take the shuttle to both Lake Louise and Moraine Lake to not have to worry about parking as it can get full very early on in the morning.

NOTE: You cannot access Moraine Lake anymore by car, you will need to book a shuttle to take you there. 

We parked at the big parking at the Lake Louise Ski Resort. Tickets for the shuttle are $9.50 CAD. The ticket takes you to both Lake Louise and Moraine Lake. I would recommend booking your ticket in advance to make sure to secure a spot. You can book your tickets here:

We headed to Lake Louise first. I've seen plenty of pictures of what it looks like but being there and seeing it person is unreal. 

We hiked the Big Beehive Trail. I highly recommend if you want an enjoyable hike with an amazing view and many stops along the way. It took us a little over two hours with all the stops we made:

This is a beautiful stop with a tea house where you can enjoy a hot drink by the lake 

The hike from Lake Agnes to the top of Big Beehive was the most challenging part but walking alongside the lake with the beautiful views made it very enjoyable. We arrived to the top to see the breathtaking emerald colour of Lake Louise. 

We enjoyed the view, took plenty of pictures and ate some snacks at the top for about an hour before we began our hike back down. It was a lot faster to hike down, we made it in about an hour and a half. 

We went back to the shuttle and headed to Moraine Lake. This was probably my favourite lake to visit. There are several hikes at Moraine Lake, but we decided to do the shortest one, a 10 min stair climb up to the viewpoint where we sat and just took in the sparkling blue colour of the lake 

We started our day with a fun activity. We did the Canmore Cave Tour and it was one of the most exciting experiences I've done.

We were a group of about 8-10 people, we hiked 40 min to the entrance of the cave. It was a pretty easy hike overall. We then got geared up and entered the cave. We crawled, squeezed and wiggled through tight spaces. Our guide was amazing and truly made this experience so unique. 

We then headed to Cave and Basin National Historic Site - the birthplace of the National Parks system. 

We wanted to visit Johnston Canyon, but it was closed during our time there

On our last full day, we decided to drive through the Icefield Parkway, the world's most scenic drives. This 232 kilometres long (144 miles) highway has many stops on the road with breathtaking views. We started out in Banff at 10am and drove all the way to the Columbia Skywalk. You can continue driving all the way to Jasper. I made a separate guide with all the stops along the Icefields Parkway if you are interested: 

We made it to the Columbia Skywalk around 3:30 in the afternoon. We saw there was a tour that takes us to the Athabasca Glacier and knew that we had to do it! It was AMAZING. It cost us around $120 CAD, which included a tour to the Glacier and to the Skywalk (4 hours total). It was truly one of the most incredible experiences we've done. The Ice Explore bus took us to the glacier, where we got to walk on, feel and drink from the glacier.

Banff is a bucket list travel destination, the time of year you decide to visit makes a big difference in your experience. 

From there, we headed back in the bus to the glass-floored Skywalk for a jaw-dropping walk at the cliff’s edge.

Icefields Parkway, one of the world's most scenic drives, is a 232 km highway linking Lake Louise with Jasper, Alberta. This guide will list all the stops we made along the highway from Banff to the Columbia Skywalk to help you plan your trip and enjoy the jaw dropping scenery along the way, including all important info you need to know before you go.