Top Things to do in Banff

Ever wonder what are the best things to do in Banff Canada when you visit?
Banff National Park has become one of the newest and trendiest places to visit if you enjoy nature and the great outdoors. Just a quick #hashtag search of Banff on Instagram will give you stunning results of the landscape, lakes and mountain peaks. So where in the world, and what in the world is Banff? Banff is a National Park located in Alberta, Canada. It is located about 90 minutes West of Calgary.  It is a UNESCO World Heritage site known for both its stunning mountainous landscape and numerous aqua marine glacier lakes.

Banff is famous for their two amazing lakes; Lake Louise and Moraine Lake. You can read about our spectacular 1-Day Private Tour when we visited these two beautiful lakes and other locations during our trip!
But in this post, I’ll be talking about the top things to do in Banff Canada.

Depending on the time of year you visit, you have Summer and Winter activities. During Summer you get to swim, hike, canoe, ride horses, rock climb and explore! In Winter, you can ski, snowboard, ice skate, visit hot springs and if you want to brave the cold….hike in the snow or to frozen waterfalls! This post will cover what we did on our quick 4 day trip during the Spring/Summer in mid June, and I will let you know what are the best things to do in Banff Canada. The temperature around this time of year is mostly around 60-70F (15.5-20C), but that can dramatically change back and forth within hours as well. Banff is known for changing weather, so pack accordingly. I recommend layering.

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Day Zero – Arrival in Banff

When visiting Banff, you’ll want to fly into the nearest international airport which is located in Calgary, Canada. We flew in from Southern California’s Ontario Airport with a connection in San Francisco. Our flight cost less than $300 per person on United Airlines! That is really affordable for going somewhere international!

We arrived in Calgary, picked up our rental car and drove towards Banff, which takes about 1 to 1:30 hours. The drive itself was quite lovely. The surrounding landscape of Calgary is covered in rolling green hills and fields, once you reach the outskirts of the suburbs

We opted to stay in the city of Canmore which is only 30-minutes outside of Banff town central. Accommodations are cheaper and the town is quieter and less crowded. We checked into our hotel in the evening at the Sunset Mountain Inn & Resort at about 8PM. It was still quite sunny because the sun doesn’t officially set until 10PM. We went to grab dinner at a small restaurant in Canmore called QUATRO ASIAN BISTRO and then bought some groceries and snacks for the rest of our trip. I highly recommend this restaurant. The cuisine is excellent, the food was delicious and the service was friendly.

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Day One – Johnston Canyon

Our first full day in Banff, we were a bit restricted on where we could go. We already had a private tour planned for our second day, so we didn’t want to visit the same places. One of the top things to do in Banff Canada was hiking, so we decided to check out the Johnston Canyon hike.

Johnston Canyon is known for it’s Lower Waterfall and Upper Waterfall and it accessible all year round. It is also the starting point to the Ink Pots which is a much longer hike pass the waterfalls and into the canyons to reach it.
Apparently, you can also hike up to the falls during the winter when they are frozen over. I’ll bet that would be an amazing sight!

Johnston Canyon is an easy hike with catwalks affixed into the limestone cliffs, allowing easy access for families, children and your pets. Strollers might work for the trail leading up to the Lower Falls, but is more difficult to go up higher to the Upper Falls. Some parts of the trail can get pretty narrow. And the hiking elevation is minimal until you want to trek up to the Upper Falls.
I made the mistake of wearing the wrong shoes with the wrong socks during this hike and boy were my feet sore afterwards. So make sure you always wear the appropriate footwear.
On our way driving out of the Johnston Canyon roadway, we saw a small sized black bear hanging out in some grass area. It was actually a busy roadside with some buildings in the area so we were surprised it was just hanging out there.

After our day at Johnston Canyon, we grabbed an early dinner and walked around the central town of Banff. It was pretty crowded and looked like a typical tourist town full of shops, restaurants and tours.

Then we called it an early night because we had a super early morning the next day.

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Day 2 – Our Private Banff Tour

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Day 3 – More Things to do in Banff Canada

Emerald Lake

Canoeing at Emerald Lake has got to be one of my favorite things to do in Banff Canada. I want to go around and just canoe all day long in all the different lakes. It was so incredibly beautiful. The color of the water was amazing. The mountain peaks that surround the lake was gorgeous. And the views from within the lake was just so majestic. I have never ever canoed before in my life and I’m so glad I got to do it for the first time here.
Emerald Lake is situated in Yoho National Park technically. It is about 1.5 hours away from Banff central. Emerald Lake Lodge is also located right next to the lake where you can stay in cabins right along the shoreline. Plus a small cafe and gift shop.

Canoeing at Emerald Lake

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The Natural Bridge

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Banff Gondola to Sansen’s Peak Weather Station

The Banff Sightseeing Gondola ride up to the lookout point is a great tourist spot if you want to splurge on the cost of the ticket. However, if you’re afraid of heights, I would avoid this like the plague!
I have been in many different gondolas or tram rides before. Some small, some big, some where you can only stand in, and I am not afraid of heights. But for some reason, the one here in Banff gave me an anxiety attack. It’s a small 4 seat gondola. I think it was the speed the gondola moved up and down the mountain, plus the swaying. Going up, I had to concentrate on a conversation to keep my mind off of the ride. And coming down, I had to close my eyes and not freak out.

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Sunset at Vermillion Lake

After our long day, we rested back at our hotel and then grabbed dinner. We wanted to find out the best sunset viewing and sunset photography spots in Banff, and apparently, according to Google, it’s at Vermillion Lake.

During June, the sun doesn’t set until close to 10pm and it doesn’t get super dark until close to 11pm. So we went to the Lake at around 8:30PM. We played around with our DLSR camera and the different settings. Took silly photos and enjoyed the ducks that were fighting in the water. At this time of night, there was no one at this lake. Just lots of midge flies that attached to every part of our clothing.
If you visit Vermillion Lake earlier in the day, you can canoe and also hike around the perimeter.
We ended our third day of activities and headed back to home base.

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Day 4 – Our Last Day – Exploring Kananaskis Country

Hiking & Exploring

Our last day in Banff was on a Wednesday with a 5:30pm flight out of Calgary. So we still had a decent full day ahead of us that we could fill with Banff activities if we wanted to.
We packed up our luggage and checked out of our hotel around 9:30am and headed into the backside of Canmore which is known as Kananaskis Country.

We wanted to explore and do some minor hiking before lunch and then finally flying back home. There were photos of lakes online that were near Canmore so we went searching for them. We ended up venturing further and higher into the mountains where the temperature dropped dramatically and we finally had to pull out our cold weather clothing that we had packed. Which we hardly even got to use this entire trip!
We saw wild mountain goats just in the middle of the road and climbing up along the cliffs. One group even had a little baby kid. This was all within our vehicle still. But if you are venturing out around here on foot, then I would definitely rent some Bear Spray from your local Sporting Goods store or maybe even ask your hotel if you can borrow some.

Sprays Lake

Eventually we came across a large quiet lake surrounded by beautiful mountain peaks. We had no idea where we were or what the lake was called. There were very few people or vehicles around. We eventually pulled over and ventured down to the shoreline of a large lake reservoir that I later found out was called Sprays Lake.
There was a beautiful stream that ran from one side of the road down from the mountains, under the roadway, and continued down the shoreline into the lake. Just imagine how fresh and cool this water must feel, directly from the glacial source!
We did a bit of hiking and took photos in the area.

Around noon, we headed back down the mountain and drove into Downtown Banff for lunch. We ended our day with some shopping and walking around the town. Then it was time to end our trip and return back to Calgary to catch our flight home.

If you enjoy nature and the outdoors, Banff National Park is an incredible place to visit for all ages and all walks of life. Getting away from the busy city lifestyle to enjoy Mother Nature’s bounty is a must for everyone! I highly recommend it. And it’s a haven for landscape and nature photography enthusiasts. There is just so much to do there. You will never run out of stunning views and majestic sunrises/sunsets. And of course, hiking to your heart’s content.

If you have any questions about visiting Banff, do not hesitate to send me a message or comment below.

(RtM Travel Notes: We used our travel points and time share for this trip. Our Accommodations in Canmore and our Rental Car were covered by American Express Gold Travel points. And our Flight with United was covered by our Sapphire Reserve credit card points.)

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