We recently completed a 4-day trip to Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. We arrived at Calgary International Airport on a Saturday evening and departed on a Thursday morning. This itinerary gave us a full 4 days to explore both Banff National Park and Yoho National Park.

Check out our easy-to-follow itinerary!

Travel Day

Day 0 was mostly just a travel day from our home airport in Charlotte, North Carolina with the goal of flying and stocking up on food and supplies to get us ready for hiking on the following days.

After we arrived at the Calgary International Airport, we stopped by Holy Shakes in Calgary for dinner on our way up Highway 1. We chose to stay at an Airbnb in Canmore, Alberta, which is a short 15 minute drive from the entry point to Banff National Park. On our way to our Airbnb, we stopped at the Safeway in Canmore to pick up bottled water, hiking snacks, breakfast items, and sandwich-making supplies for packing lunches.

Our AirBnb included complementary bear spray and a Canadian National Parks pass which we would use to gain entry into both Banff and Yoho National Parks during our visit. These parks pass grant access to many of Canada’s national parks. The parks pass saved us from having to purchase the $22/day daily entry pass.

Day 1

We started our day with a quick bagel breakfast at our Airbnb and picked up coffee on our way to Banff at Beamer Coffee in Canmore. We made our way to the Parks Canada Shuttle at Lake Louise. We highly recommend an early arrival. We arrived around 7am and caught the 7-8 AM departure.

The Parks Canada shuttle system can be confusing. We parked for free at the Lake Louise Winter Ski Resort. We pre-purchased purchased the shuttle pass for $19 CAD using the Parks Canada reservation system. This allowed access to shuttles to Lake Louise, Moraine Lake, and the lake connector shuttle for the entire day. The reservation only controls your first departure location from the ski resort. Remember to bring a digital copy of your reservation and your ID. These reservations are hard to come by on “launch day” which happens in late winter every year. The remainder of the available spots open up 48 hours prior to the reservation time. We decided to book Lake Louise for Sunday morning and then Moraine Lake for Monday evening.

Lake Louise

Upon arriving at Lake Louise, we took a stroll along the boardwalk that connects the parking lot to the lakeshore. Since we got there early we had a chance to take a bunch of photos with a relatively small crowd.

Then, we set off on the Lake Agnes Teahouse trail, a 4-mile roundtrip hike that led us to Mirror Lake, Lake Agnes, and the charming Teahouse, where we enjoyed our packed lunch. We were feeling okay after we made it to the teahouse, so we decided to tackle the Big Beehive trail, an additional 3 miles of challenging but rewarding hiking.

For those seeking a lighter trek, the Little Beehive trail was a tempting alternative. We also considered the Plain of Six Glaciers hike, a stunning 9-mile roundtrip journey from Lake Louise.

Downtown Banff

After our hike, we headed to downtown Banff, where we found free parking at the Banff train station. We stopped by Wild Flour Cafe for coffee and pastries, then wandered along Banff Avenue, exploring the shops and restaurants. Our walk took us to the serene Cascade Gardens before we continued on to the Bow Falls Viewpoint along the Art in Nature trail, a trip totaling leisurely 1.5-miles. We wrapped up our day with a delicious dinner at Eddie Burger + Bar in Banff and treated ourselves to some ice cream at Lovely in Canmore.

Day 2

We started the day at Rocky Mountain Bagel Company in Canmore.

Lake Minnewanka Scenic Drive

We started the day at Rocky Mountain Bagel Company in Canmore before taking Route 1 to the Vermillion Lakes viewpoint. This area was quiet first thing in the morning. We then drove to the Lake Minnewanka Scenic Drive Loop which included the following stops which follow the Scenic Drive in a clockwise loop starting at Cascade Ponds:

• Cascade Ponds
• Lake Minnewanka
• Two Jack Lake
• Johnson Lake

We headed back into Banff for lunch was at the Bar Burrito then we grabbed a coffee at Banff National Perk to continue the day.

Icefields Parkway

After leaving Banff we headed back north to the Icefields Parkway where we stopped at Peyto Lake and Bow Lake. The entire drive up Icefields Parkway is incredible. Both of these spots were fairly busy, but still worth it in our opinion. At Peyto Lake there are many people there recreating the iconic photo, which also means there are plenty of people to take a group photo for you! Bow Lake was a little less busy and had epic views of the mountains behind the lake.

Moraine Lake

We made it back to the Parks Canada shuttle area at the Lake Louise Winter Ski Resort. We had another reservation that took us to Moraine Lake. At Moraine Lake, we did the Lakeshore Trail but avoided the Rock Pile Trail. We lucked out with this one because it rained as we were arriving, so many people took the shuttle back to the parking area as we were arriving. The rain died down and we got some seriously good lighting to recreate the iconic Moraine Lake photos. We picked up Canadian Pizza Unlimited in Canmore on the way back to our Airbnb.

Day 3

Mount Norquay Via Ferrata

Day 3 started with a quick breakfast at our Airbnb before we headed out to take on the Mount Norquay Via Ferrata. This was a huge highlight to our trip. We did the Ridgewalker tour which started at 9am and last until around 1pm. We packed our lunch and ate it at the top. The views were epic and we lucked out with a super fun group of people to do it with.

Johnston Canyon

After the Via Ferrata, we headed back to Banff and had afternoon coffee at the Whitebark Cafe. We continued on to Johnston Canyon in the afternoon to hike the Upper Falls and Lower Falls trails. The falls were busy when we arrived but a timely rain storm cleared the trails for us on the way up. Remember to pack wet weather gear no matter what time you’re heading out to make the most of your days. We ate dinner back in Banff at the Grizzly Paw Pub. The burgers, beer, and poutine were outstanding.

Day 4

Yoho National Park

On Wednesday we had a huge breakfast at Summit Cafe near our Airbnb in Canmore. We decided to fill our day with some more hiking after an early check-out from our Airbnb. We drove to Yoho National Park to visit several spots. There are many places to see in Yoho but these are the ones we made it to:

• Emerald Lake
• Natural Bridge Lower Falls
• Takakkaw Falls

We ate our packed lunch at Takakkaw Falls before heading back to Banff for Evelyn’s Coffee and Beavertails. We drove back to Calgary to stay the night before our 10 AM flight the next morning. We went to Ramen Inchinen near our hotel which was amazing and we would highly recommend.