Banff is the most beautiful place I have ever visited. The mountains, rivers, lakes, forests, and glaciers will make you feel like you are constantly walking through a postcard.

My wife and I have just returned from our first ever trip to Canada where we visited Banff National Park. I've spent time enjoying nature, hiking, and skiing in Colorado and Utah. I've also visited some of the most beautiful beaches and islands around Asia in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Oman. That being said, the Mountain views in Banff surpass all of these, and I believe that anyone who enjoys the outdoors and the National Parks in America should visit Banff at least once in their life.

The National Park

The reason to visit Banff is to explore the National Park and its world-class hiking trails. Make sure you buy a park pass either on the road as you enter the Park or at the National Park office in downtown Banff. You’ll receive a paper ticket to tape to the windshield to prove you have paid.

The Park itself is set up to be extremely tourist friendly. The most popular hikes which we did were very well maintained with groomed and labeled trails. During the high season there were also enough people around that we never felt completely alone on our hikes – the lack of solitude is a downside, but on the bright side we never had to fear running into any Grizzly Bears that were sure to be scared off by all of the noisy humans around. Here are the most amazing hikes we did with brief descriptions and the photos we took with our iPhones.

Plain of Six Glaciers

This hike starts from Lake Louise, about a 30-minute drive from Banff. Make sure you get there before 11 am as the parking area fills up by midday and traffic can be problematic. The trail takes you beyond a lake, a river with rapids, and up the hill to a mountain glacier. We saw huge chunks of ice fall down to the ground from about 200 yards away. The views from the very top (DO NOT end your trip at the tea house) were spectacular both looking up at the mountain peaks and back down at the lake below.
We started down at the lake:

And finished up at the glacier:

Sulphur Mountain

Very busy, very steep hike that switchbacks up Sulphur Mountain, accessible by road 5 minutes from Banff. There’s a Gondola you can take back down if you’re tired (or up and down if you’re lazy). The view of town from the top is incredible. There is a small gift and coffee shop at the top and a very large viewing deck with many selfie spots.

Tunnel Mountain

Accessible from Banff, it’s another steep trail with great views of the town and surrounding area. This is a shorter hike with less traffic, but it's worth it if you're staying in Banff and have a few hours one afternoon.

Johnston Canyon Falls

Very easy, flat paved trail that winds through a canyon to a spectacular water fall. It was nice a cool all the way through as the path is shaded and near a winding river. This is a very popular trail and it was crowded late in the day.

Moraine Lake

15 minutes from Lake Louise, we didn’t do any hiking here but the lake itself was very nice to look at. There are several highly recommended hikes in the area including Larch Valley.

Boom Lake

Bring bug spray for this one as the trail goes through the woods and the ground was a little wet. It’s a pretty flat, easy hike that ends at the serene Boom Lake. This was the least heavily trafficked hike we did and while the trek itself wasn’t very pleasant, it was worth it for the view at the end. Amazingly, this water remains at about 40 degrees Fahrenheit even in summer, so you won’t want to dip more than a finger in.

General Travel Advice

Getting There

You need to fly to Calgary and rent a car. From the airport it’s about a 90 minute drive to Banff – less if you stay in nearby Canmore. The road is very flat and safe (unlike parts of Colorado that can be nerve-racking even in summer), but you will also see beautiful views of the Mountains, forest, and rivers on the way.

Other outdoors activities

If we had spent two weeks in Banff, we would probably have found time for some of the following- mountain biking, white water rafting, canoeing, biking in town, sled dog tours, helicopter tours, bear viewing gondola rides... The list goes on and on. Nearly every business you step foot in will have a wall full of brochures for whatever you fancy in your time not spent on the trails.

The Town of Banff

The town itself is a very quaint, resort style set up with one main street (Banff Avenue) running down the center. It’s very walkable and vibrant every day of the week during the high season. The Bow River runs through the town and seeing it from the pedestrian bridge is a must. There are many nice places to walk with beautiful views of the surrounding mountains and forest.
The main street is lined with nice restaurants, bars, designer shopping, gift stores, chocolate shops, and one extremely popular Ice Creamery. Many of the restaurants have upstairs balconies with views of Banff Avenue and the Mountains in the distance.

My food/drink recommendations within the town are

1. Block Kitchen –a cozy Tapas style Restaurant with lots of yummy flavors and decent wine
2. Evelyn’s Coffee – better than Starbucks and a nice local feel
3. Pump and Tap Tavern – a bit of a dive, but the cheapest beer in town
4. Cow’s Ice Cream – the self-proclaimed best ice cream in the world draws a consistent line out the door

Accommodations

I would definitely recommend staying somewhere in Banff so that you can take advantage of the vast dining options in town, but be warned that the hotel rooms are limited and therefore expensive, so you may want to look into Airbnb or other alternatives and book well in advance. If you're going high end though, the Fairmont Springs Hotel is hard to beat.

Currency

Check the exchange rate from your country. I always pull cash from regular ATMs to get the best rate. Right now 1 USD is about 1.3 Canadian, so that $26 bar tab is really only $20 to Americans. The prices you'll see in shops seem to be inflated at least in part to take advantage of American and European tourists with their stronger currencies.

Thanks for reading everyone. I hope you enjoy Banff someday soon!