Banff 3-day itinerary questions
Oct 29th, 2015, 07:45 AM
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Banff 3-day itinerary questions
My wife, son (2 years old at the time of the trip), and I are heading to Banff next July. We will land in Calgary a little after noon on a Saturday and fly out the following Wednesday, so that gives us a 3 full days to enjoy the area.
We are looking to take in the scenery and do some light/moderate hiking (no major hikes with the toddler onboard). After some early research it seems like most of the stuff that looks most interesting to me is up nearer to Lake Louise than Banff, so I was planning on staying there even though it has less to do at night and is a bit more expensive. We also want to limit the driving as much as possible with a toddler in the car.
Other than the gondola and the nightlife/shopping, what will we be missing by not staying in Banff? Also, how big of an attraction is the gondola compared to the rest of the scenery we'll be seeing? We live in northern Utah within an hour of 7 different ski resorts so we've done a fair amount of summer gondola rides before.
Our rough itinerary right now is:
Day 1) Explore Moraine Lake and Lake Louise. Maybe rent a canoe/kayak and do some light hiking. Check out Johnston Canyon.
Day 2) Drive about half way up Icefields Parkway with stops at Emerald Lake, Peyto Lake, and a bus out onto the glacier, as well as anywhere else that catches our eye along the way. Again, maybe a short hike if there is a good one around.
Day 3) Plan to make the meat of the day a nice moderate hike (suggestions)?
I am also a photographer so I will be either up early or out late some of the days for sunrise/sunset photos.
Do those days seem reasonable? Any of them over/under booked? Is there anything major that we're missing and should try to fit in? I haven't really looked at Yoho which I think is right nearby Lake Louise, should we try to work some of the highlights from there in?
3 days just doesn't seem like enough time but it's better than nothing!
We are looking to take in the scenery and do some light/moderate hiking (no major hikes with the toddler onboard). After some early research it seems like most of the stuff that looks most interesting to me is up nearer to Lake Louise than Banff, so I was planning on staying there even though it has less to do at night and is a bit more expensive. We also want to limit the driving as much as possible with a toddler in the car.
Other than the gondola and the nightlife/shopping, what will we be missing by not staying in Banff? Also, how big of an attraction is the gondola compared to the rest of the scenery we'll be seeing? We live in northern Utah within an hour of 7 different ski resorts so we've done a fair amount of summer gondola rides before.
Our rough itinerary right now is:
Day 1) Explore Moraine Lake and Lake Louise. Maybe rent a canoe/kayak and do some light hiking. Check out Johnston Canyon.
Day 2) Drive about half way up Icefields Parkway with stops at Emerald Lake, Peyto Lake, and a bus out onto the glacier, as well as anywhere else that catches our eye along the way. Again, maybe a short hike if there is a good one around.
Day 3) Plan to make the meat of the day a nice moderate hike (suggestions)?
I am also a photographer so I will be either up early or out late some of the days for sunrise/sunset photos.
Do those days seem reasonable? Any of them over/under booked? Is there anything major that we're missing and should try to fit in? I haven't really looked at Yoho which I think is right nearby Lake Louise, should we try to work some of the highlights from there in?
3 days just doesn't seem like enough time but it's better than nothing!
Oct 29th, 2015, 09:14 AM
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I have commented on an identical post in another forum. As mentioned, Day 1 and Day 2 seem a bit too much with a toddler.
Emerald Lake is not on the Icefields Parkway and it would be a good 5 hrs of driving round trip just to the Columbia Icefields. That's usually done as a day trip from Jasper, not Lake Louise or Banff.
Note that our days are very long - especially in early July, the sun case by 5am and set after 10pm.
Emerald Lake is not on the Icefields Parkway and it would be a good 5 hrs of driving round trip just to the Columbia Icefields. That's usually done as a day trip from Jasper, not Lake Louise or Banff.
Note that our days are very long - especially in early July, the sun case by 5am and set after 10pm.
