grace44

I am in the middle of planning a vacation to the Rocky Mountains the last week in September and the first week in October. So far I have made reservations at the icefields and in Jasper. The last six days are going to be in Banff or Canmore. I am trying to decide between The Rocky Mountain Ski Lodge in Canmore and the Tunnel Mountain Resort in Banff. Wondering if anyone has stayed in either place and could tell me about it, or any other advise. I have had some real good recomendations from this forum before and hoping for more. Thanks.

hartsj9

Tunnel mountain. I always prefer Banff to Canmore as there is more to see and do. ALthough I prefer Jasper to Banff as its less commcerialized (and closer to Edmonton which is perfect for a weekend trip). If you do go to Banff I recommend going to the Grizzly House for dinner one night. Its a fantastic fondue place. It can be a little pricey but its amazing!

LindainOhio

I would stay in Banff, You are visiting in the off season and Banff will really be lovely. I just did a quick check on www.kayak.com for the first week in Oct. and saw that the Rimrock is only $166/nt(weloved this place) the Delta Royal Canadian Eagle is $143/nt and the Banff Springs is $222/nt. I see that Tunnel Mtn is $127/nt. There are some really great rates that week so I would check Kayak. We actually got some great last minute rates whe we visited the second week in Sept. so I would think they still may have discounts available right before your trip. Just check you cancellation policy when you book.

grace44

Thanks for the advice. Just what I wanted. I will spend today doing some research on Banff, through Kayak. I will definitly check out the Grizzly House while we are there. I would love to hear from anyone that stayed at Tunnel Mountain Resort.

Borealis

Have stayed at both Tunnel Mountain and at Rocky Mountain Ski Lodge.
Rocky Mountain is very clean and well maintained with excellent customer service, but the location is on a main road in Canmore. It's a good, comfortable and a well priced place to stay.
Tunnel Mountain is nicely located, there is a bus going down the hill to the main street in Banff from the Tunnel Mountain Road area, and it's actually within walking distance too (going to the town centre is downhill but coming back is uphill, may want to think about that when making plans especially if one has wine for dinner ).

Hidden Ridge is also in the same location as Tunnel Mountain and has similar type of units.

I much prefer Canmore to Banff, and disagree with hartj9 that there is more to see and do in Banff townsite. Canmore has a lot of interesting and unique shops, galleries, restaurants, and isn't chock full of those ghastly "made in China" souvenir shops !!!

grace44

Thank you borealis, both places sound good. I am glad to hear that. We are planning on spending a day the the Canmore Nordic Center, playing disc golf and maybe renting mountain bikes.