Things to do in Banff

Banff grew from a discovery in 1883, when three railway workers found hot springs on Sulphur Mountain. Two years later Canada reserved 26 square kilometres around them, the start of its first national park. The town lies 126 kilometres west of Calgary.

Around the townsite

Things to do in Banff start on Banff Avenue, with Cascade Mountain, 2,998 metres, filling the view up the street.

• Cave and Basin. Where the railway workers found the springs. Parks Canada says the place has mattered to Indigenous Peoples for over ten thousand years.
• Upper Hot Springs. A pool on Sulphur Mountain, kept between 37 and 40C.
• Banff Gondola. Climbs Sulphur Mountain, 2,281 metres high, to a boardwalk toward Sanson's Peak.
• Lake Minnewanka. Five kilometres north-east of town. A dam raised it 30 metres in 1941 and drowned the resort village of Minnewanka Landing, now a dive site.

Day trips from Banff

Lake Louise lies 55 kilometres west of town on the Trans-Canada Highway. Moraine Lake sits 14 kilometres from Lake Louise village, up a road closed to private cars. Licensed tour vehicles use it from June to mid-October.

• Emerald Lake. Across the Continental Divide, in Yoho National Park, British Columbia.
• Peyto Lake. On the Icefields Parkway, which runs about 230 kilometres to Jasper.
• Johnston Canyon. A limestone gorge off the Bow Valley Parkway, with a railed walkway past two waterfalls.
• Abraham Lake. In mid-winter, methane from rotting plants freezes into the ice as stacks of bubbles.

What gets booked

Most tours in Banff are guided group days with pick-up in Banff, Canmore or Calgary. Most centre on the lakes. Days run seven to ten hours.

Winter swaps in icewalks near Canmore and the Abraham Lake ice. Two-hour night tours go stargazing. One four-day private route links Vancouver, Chase, Banff and Golden.

Practical

• Weather. January afternoons average -3.5C and nights -13.5C, with 184 cm of snow a year. July afternoons reach 22.5C and nights fall to 6.8C.
• Getting around. The town is walkable, and Roam buses serve the gondola, the hot springs and Lake Louise.
• Seasons. Lake Louise and Moraine Lake usually thaw by late May. The Parks Canada shuttle to Moraine Lake needs a reservation, and in winter avalanche hazard cuts the lake off.
• Wildlife. Parks Canada asks for 30 metres from elk and 100 metres from bears and wolves.
• Closures. Parks Canada shuts trails for repairs, as at Johnston Canyon. Check its bulletins on the day.