Hi all,
I appreciate all the info you have already provided and I hope I am not bugging you all too much, but I have a few more questions.
1)Instead of making our base in Banff would it be feasible to make our base Lake Louise? The reason I thought of this is because most of what we want ot do is in Lake Louise ratrher than Banff such as seeing Lake Louise, hiking the recommended trails around it, taking the gondola and maybe canoeing on it.Then nearby we want to go to Yoho and hiek around Emerald Lake, see Tak. falls and maybe hike to Hamilton Falls. There really isn't too much we need to see in Banff, the only thing we really want to do closer to Banff is Johnston Canyon and the ink pots hike, and then onto Jasper via Ice Field Parkway doing the Athabasca Glacier as you recommended and various sites along the Park Way. What do you think?
2)Also, is it just as easy to take the snocoach tour onto the glacier on th eway back from Jasper as it is going toward it, I would imagine so.
Then on the way back from Jasper, stopping again in Lake Louise to stay overnight just to break up all the driving and the next day driving to Calgary and overnighting there to take a flight the next morning. Because of flight constraints, we now have a total of 8 nights.The first night we now will stay in Calgary because it gets in so late and then the next morning we would drive to either Lake Louise or Banff wherever would be best to make our base.
3)I also could not figure out how long it was between Lake Louise and Calgary or Jasper and Lake Louise. Can anyone give me an idea please? A million thanks for taking all this time to help me!

Lake Louise to Calgary is 2 hours plus depending on traffic. I usually figure 2.5 hours.

Predicting how long you need to drive from Lake Louise to Banff is futile.
The Icefields Parkway is spectacular to say the least. There is to much to stop and see along the route, that I have taken 5 years to do it! I am not trying to be funny either. I always keep finding new sights to see along that route. Other than the Angel Glacier and Mount Edith Cavell and the Whistler tram, there is precious little to see in Jasper itself. I guess you could count Athabasca Falls as part of Jasper, but to me they are on the parkway.

Some people take the boat ride on Maligne Lake, which to me is a waste of time. But to each his or her own.

The sno coach tour of the glacier at the Icefields Center is much more fun.

If you have trouble getting up after you fall, I suggest not getting out on the ice. The only thing that will keep you upright for long are crampons and an ice axe. Not many people take those out there. I was young enough when i did it that skidding around was interesting.

Hi Cheryl3,

If your flight gets into Calgary REALLY late, you might consider staying at the Delta Calgary Airport Hotel. It is the only hotel that is right IN the airport complex. That way you could clear immigration and customs and then check straight into your hotel. You wouldn't need to pick up your rental car and find your way to a hotel in a strange city. Then you could pick up your car the next morning and head out to the mountains in daylight.

As to the question of using Lake Louise as a base, I agree with you that Lake Louise would be more convenient for you than Banff would be. The challenge with Lake Louise is that it's much smaller than Banff, and has fewer hotels. The hotels in LL have a captive market, so to speak. I find them to be at the expensive end of the spectrum, certainly in July and August when they charge high season rates. Banff and Canmore have a larger range of accommodation, with a larger range of prices. That said, if you can find a vacancy in LL, and if it's in your price range, I would go for it.

Map Quest states that the driving time between LL and Jasper is 3 hours 14 minutes. I've usually found Map Quest's time estimates, which are based on non-stop driving, to be fairly accurate. You can look them up at www.mapquest.com . HOWEVER, as Brookwood said, there is heaps of stuff to see between LL and Jasper. I'd be willing to bet that few people really do the drive in the 3 or so hours that it nominally takes. We quite easily spend 7 hours on that road when we take first time visitors on it.

Yes, it's as easy to take a Snocoach ride on the way from Jasper to LL as it is to do it on the way from LL to Jasper. But when you're in the mountains it's a good thing to take advantage of sunshine when you have it, because the weather can be so spotty.

We have just returned from taking an out of town visitor to Moraine Lake, where we had a picnic lunch, and Takakkaw Falls. We encountered patches of rain. One downpour, just as we were leaving Takakkaw Falls around 2.45 p.m., was pretty heavy. Luckily the day had enough dry periods that we were able to have our picnic lunch and see Moraine Lake and Takakkaw Falls during the good breaks.

Changeable weather is not the only reason for remaining flexible. There are other considerations. For example, your preferred hiking route may be closed off because of bear activity.

As we entered the Banff National Park gates this morning, we turned our radio dial to 101.1 FM to hear the BNP weather forecast and news update. We heard on the radio that the Plain of Six Glaciers and Lake Agnes hikes were closed today because bears were active in the area.

As it happened, we weren't interested in hiking, because our guest was recovering from surgery and could embark only on light walks. If we'd wanted to hike and couldn't go to Lake Agnes or Six Glaciers, my alternative choice would have been Larch Valley (from Moraine Lake).

There are so many good things to see in the mountains, though, that one always can figure out a Plan B or Plan C or Plan D.

Hope this helps.

Geez, those bears are getting pushy to come that far down the hillside into areas frequented by humans.
Must be a good food supply down there.
That means they will be active in the Ordaray Corridor in Yoho as well.
That is good bear habitat and the Ordaray Prospect trail has been closed in years past.

I hope the Linda Lake trail is not closed. And heaven forbit that the Twin Falls trail is shut. That would foul up my vacation trip but good.

Larch Valley was posted last year to travel in groups of 6 or more and to make noise.

sounds like staying in lake louise would best suit you. however, as indicated, it is very small so it's good as long as you don't want a lot to do in the evenings. we enjoyed a lunch we had at the station restaurant. the post hotel gets great reviews but i think it is pretty pricey. i'd plan the majority of the day for the drive between lake louise & jasper. if you leave early then you'll probably get into jasper around dinner time.

We allowed a day to get from Jasper to Lake Louise. We had a late, leisurely breakfast, picked up some sandwiches and set out. There is, as everyone said, so much to see on the way that you really don't want to rush it. Having a "bag lunch" and Cokes in the car leaves you the flexibility to eat when you feel like it.
We only spent one night in Lake Louise because we were splurging on the Post Hotel. Then we went on to Banff and spent three nights. However, if you can find a good place to stay, making LL your base would definitely work. We took the Bow River Parkway between the two, saw some wildlife and did the Johnston Canyon hike.
I COMPLETELY agree with Judy that the Delta Calgary Airport Hotel is the way to go. We stayed there night before last prior to our 7 am flight home. The bellman took our bags all the way to airport check-in, the food in the casual restaurant was delicious and the concierge was the only one who was able to explain the GST refund to me (many tried!). I never thought I would wax eloquent over an airport hotel, but there you are.