Banff

Everything You Need to Know

Banff National Park — Canada's oldest and most celebrated park — is a place where the Rocky Mountains display their full theatrical authority: glaciers calving into lakes of impossible turquoise, elk wandering hotel parking lots with regal indifference, and the Trans-Canada Highway threading through valleys watched over by 3,000-metre peaks. Established in 1885 around a chance discovery of hot springs, Banff has evolved into one of the world's most visited natural destinations without losing its wild, vertiginous soul.

Lake Louise, often called the 'Gem of the Rockies,' turns photographers into pilgrims: its glacier-fed waters shift from green to teal to cobalt depending on the angle of the sun, backed by the Victoria Glacier and flanked by the Fairmont Château Lake Louise, whose walls of windows reflect the spectacle perfectly. Moraine Lake, with its ring of ten peaks and even more vivid blue-green water, graced the back of the Canadian twenty-dollar bill and rewards the 5 a.m. pilgrim with a parking space and solitude before the crowds arrive.

Beyond the postcard scenes, Banff offers world-class skiing on three interconnected mountains, backcountry camping along the Rockwall Trail, grizzly bear sightings in the Bow Valley, and the Icefields Parkway — one of the world's great scenic drives — linking Banff to Jasper through 230 kilometres of unbroken mountain grandeur. Whether you arrive in winter dusted with snow or summer blazing with wildflowers, Banff rewards every visit with moments that make the rest of the world feel small.