Banff National Park Trip Recap

If you’ve hung around here for long you know about my addiction to cheap flights and seeing new places. So you can imagine how excited I was when Jessica told me she found round trip flights to Calgary for $340. Her and I both are crazy about traveling, so within hours we had our Banff trip planned! (For about $600 each, I should add.)

Before the trip, we sent each other screen shots of Instagram posts from Banff. We googled images of Lake Louise and the Canadian rockies simply because we were so excited to see this beautiful park! And while there are some things that images do justice, Banff National Park is not one of them. Absolutely nothing compares to seeing the ice-blue water of Lake Moraine nestled in the mountains with fluffy snow coming down in late September. Sounds like a movie, right??

As photographers, we did our best to capture the beauty of Banff in the 4 corners of a frame, but in all honesty to experience it fully you’re just going to have to book yourself some flights and go! It’s worth the time and money. I promise. Until then, you can check out some of my favorites from our trip below!


And just because I know you are going to book flights soon, here are some of my favorite recommendations from our trip!

FOOD

Yama Ramen Bar in Canmore, Alberta – Nothing I love more than a good bowl of ramen! This adorable little restaurant in Canmore is delicious and only about 15 minutes from Banff Ave.!

Beavertails – A canadian classic that you have to try! There are 2 of them on Banff Ave. Stop by and grab yourself one after dinner one night!

The Bear Street Tavern – Delicious pizza in Banff! My personal recommendation is the hawaiian pizza 🙂

THINGS TO SEE

Moraine Lake + Lake Louise – 2 of the most beautiful lakes in the park! They are close to each other so do them both on the same day. Depending on the season, you may have to take a shuttle to Moraine, but it’s totally worth it!

Banff Ave. + Lake Minnewanka + Elf on the Golf Course – Stroll along Banff Ave. to get a feel of the cute mountain town, then head up to Lake Minnewanka and walk on the shore and the dock! At dusk, head to the Banff Springs Golf Course and you should have a pretty good chance on seeing some elk! All 3 of things are pretty close to each other 🙂

Peyto Lake + Bow Lake – Okay, so in all honestly we couldn’t actually see Peyto Lake because it was so snowy, but we heard it was gorgeous! So I recommend taking the drive up (on a clear day) and stopping by Bow Lake on the way back!

WHERE TO STAY

We stayed in an adorable Air BNB in Calgary. It was super affordable and in a great part of the city, but if I had to do it over again I would choose to stay in Canmore instead! Calgary is pretty far from Banff and the driving time cuts down the amount of time you get to spend inside the park! Canmore is super close to Banff and is still reasonable price wise!

WHEN TO GO

We obviously chose to go in September, and I wouldn’t change that if I went back! It was the perfect time to go, because most of the tourists have cleared out from busy season and it’s still supposed to be pretty moderate temperature wise. (We lucked out and got some snow, but that’s not typical according to the locals.)

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