Banff in January🇨🇦❄️

Before You Go

- National Parks in Canada do have entrance fees! This link will provide info on Banff and other park entrance fees. Fortunately, our Airbnb host provided a season pass for us to use throughout our stay, which definitely saved us a decent amount of money!

Fees

parks.canada.ca

- If you're visiting during winter months, I would recommend renting a 4x4 vehicle to help deal with winter road conditions. We had no problem driving the roads, but we were fortunate enough to find a Jeep for a pretty good deal! Without four wheel drive, I definitely think we would have had some trouble with road conditions. 

- If you are planning on doing more than one activity, I would definitely recommend looking into the package deals provided by Banff Adventures! We were able to get our ice skate rental, dog sled tour, and tickets for the Banff Gondola for a much better price than if we would have booked each activity individually!

Itinerary

Day 1: Travel/Arrival ✈️

Day 2: Dog Sledding & Johnston Canyon🐾

Day 3: Peyto Lake & Abraham 

Lake🧊

Day 4: Lake Louise & Banff🚠

Day 5: Travel/Departure✈️

Day 1: Travel ✈️

Travel Info

Departure: 8:45 AM - Atlanta

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport

@marcosthatcher

Thanks to another incredible deal from Going.com, I was able to purchase RT tickets out of Atlanta for less than $300! Watch for deals from Delta Airlines as the company's largest hub is located here!

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Arrival: 11:30 AM - Calgary

Calgary International Airport

@marcosthatcher

This is the closest airport to many national parks in Canada! Only about a 1.5 hour drive to Canmore from here!

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- 1.5 hour drive to Canmore

ETA: 4:00 PM

Where We Stayed

Thi Airbnb is located inside the Falcon Crest Lodge Resort! We found the location to be very convenient and affordable, and the parking garage beneath the property was an awesome feature! 

Vacation home in Canmore · ★4.92 · Studio · 2 beds · 1 bath

www.airbnb.com

Dinner

Red Rock Pizza Canmore

@marcosthatcher

After being up for an early flight, we decided to stay in for the night and pick up a pizza. After doing some research, we were fortunate to find Red Rock! We had the large four meat pizza and it was a great start to our trip!

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What to Do

Canmore

@marcosthatcher

Located about 20 minutes from the town of Banff, this town has a few hidden gems and often offers more affordable accomodation and activities!

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Northern Lights Watching:

Lake Minnewanka

@marcosthatcher

Although we were not fortunate enough to see the northern lights while we were on our trip, this was one of the locations that we had pre-selected to check out at night! This lake is located almost directly outside of the town of Banff and is very accessible!

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Vermilion Lakes

@marcosthatcher

This was another one of our stops along our journey to catch a glimpse of the northern lights due to its proximity to town. Again-we had no luck. However, I knew going into the trip that it wasn't likely that we would see them, so I didn't let it take away from enjoying driving through the park at night!

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Day 2: Dog Sledding & Ice Hiking 🐾

Breakfast:

Craigs' Way Station

@marcosthatcher

Breakfast here was decent, but the mountain views are the real attraction of this restaurant! The sandwich I ordered was good, but the "hash browns" were just diced potatoes with a few slices of onions. Overall, I'd give it 3.5 stars for a decent breakfast with an incredible view.

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What to Do

Dog Sledding

@marcosthatcher

This address will take you to meeting point for tour. This stop was by far one of my favorites along the trip! While it was a bit expensive, we felt that this was one of the more unique and memorable tour options that we could experience in the area and the Howling Dog Tours did not disappoint! We were able to help prepare the dog sled, and ride through the same park that a majority of the movie "The Revenant" was filmed!

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Johnston Canyon Ice Walk (Lower & Upper Falls)🏔️

@marcosthatcher

Johnston Canyon is one of the most popular trails in the area, and if you get the chance to see it for yourself, you will understand why! The 3.5 mile trail is rated as moderately difficult, but the trail is easy to follow and offers incredible views! If you are going in the winter, definitely wear ice cleats to prevent slipping on ice/snow. They did make my feet and legs hurt more than if I would have not worn them, but it was well worth it to be able to handle slippery areas with ease!

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Dinner

Cabeza Grande

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Day 3: Driving, Hiking, & More 🧊

What to Do

Icefields Parkway

@marcosthatcher

This road lies directly between Banff and Jasper National Park and is regarded as one of the most beautiful in the world! For nearly 145 miles, you'll have breathtaking views of mountains and alpine lakes, so make sure to have your camera ready!

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Peyto Lake

@marcosthatcher

This 1.5 mile trail is located directly off of the Icefields Parkway and offers incredible views of Peyto Lake! The hike was very easy and provided a nice break along our 2.5 hour drive to Abraham Lake!

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Abraham Lake

@marcosthatcher

This lake seemed like it was in the middle of nowhere, but it was the HIGHLIGHT of my trip! The combination of walking across a frozen lake for the first time, the incredible ice bubbles beneath my feet, and the surrounding mountain views probably makes this my favorite travel stop of all time! Warning: The ice bubbles are most visible during the winter months of January and February. Unsafe conditions and snow accumulation make them difficult to view before or after these months. Warning #2: Dress warm! While the temperature here wasn't much colder than the other areas we were in, the lake is incredibly windy and any exposed skin will definitely feel numb pretty quickly!

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Bighorn Service

@marcosthatcher

If you're anything like us, you'll forget to get gas on your way out of the city and be running on low fuel in the middle of nowhere. After running into a few gas stations that were closed, we were fortunate to find this service station about 20 minutes north of Abraham Lake.

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Dinner

Iron Goat Pub & Grill

@marcosthatcher

After a disappointing dinner the previous night and a long day of adventuring in winter conditions, we decided that we definitely needed to find a restaurant with great food! Fortunately, we were also now aware of restaurant hours, and made it to The Iron Goat for an early dinner. I took a chance and ordered the chipotle mango duck wings, and they were absolutely incredible! I cannot recommend this place enough!

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Day 4: Ice Skating & Banff Gondola🚠

What to Do

Lake Louise

@marcosthatcher

While my original plan was to snowshoe along the trails around the lake, the Banff Adventures employees let me know that there wasn't really enough snow to truly enjoy the experience! Since I also had no desire to walk in ice cleats again, I opted into renting ice skates instead...even though I'm not really a fan of ice skating either. The views of Lake Louise were incredible and we were fortunate enough to visit during the Banff Snow Days - which meant we got to see a pretty impressive ice castle right on the lake! After a few scenic rounds of ice skating, we chose to simply walk on the perimeter of the lake instead!

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Morant's Curve

@marcosthatcher

After seeing this picturesque view online, I knew that I had to see it for myself! There is no predictable schedule for trains, but I was fortunate enough to only have to wait about 10 minutes before one appeared and provided me with one of my favorite pictures of all time!

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Banff

@marcosthatcher

While dropping our ice skates off at the Banff Adventures rental company, we decided to spend some additional time exploring the town and seeing what we could find. We stopped at a few tourist shops along the way to pick up some souvenirs and had a great lunch!

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Three Bears Brewery & Restaurant

@marcosthatcher

The Three Bears Brewery was another stop along our trip that we stumbled across while exploring town. While they are famous for their beers, we opted for a light lunch and the Elk & Kale Pizza was phenomenal and I don't even like vegetables!

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Banff Gondola

@marcosthatcher

This gondola takes you to a viewing station at the top of Sulphur Mountain where you'll have the chance to walk a mile long boardwalk that offers 360 degree views of six different nearby mountain ranges! Use Google Maps to get here! My iPhone lead me to an incorrect destination a few minutes short of where I was supposed to be and had me driving in circles.

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Day 5: Travel ✈️

Travel Info

Departure: 10:00 AM MST - Calgary

Calgary International Airport

@marcosthatcher

This is the closest airport to many national parks in Canada! Only about a 1.5 hour drive to Canmore from here!

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Arrival: 04:13 PM EST - Atlanta

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport

@marcosthatcher

Thanks to another incredible deal from Going.com, I was able to purchase RT tickets out of Atlanta for less than $300! Watch for deals from Delta Airlines as the company's largest hub is located here!

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Budget

Flight: $244 each

Luggage: $30 each

Airbnb: $236 each

Rental Car: $102 each

Activities: $284 each

Total: $896 each