12 Best Things to Do in Banff (With Prices, Hours, and the Smart Way to Book Each One)
Banff packs more postcard scenery into a single valley than most countries manage in a thousand kilometres. The catch? Everyone knows it. Show up without a plan and you'll spend half your holiday circling full parking lots and queuing for shuttles you should have booked weeks ago.
So here's the fix. Twelve experiences worth building a trip around, each with the detail you actually need — what it costs, when to show up, and the smart move most visitors skip.
One thing before any of it: you need a Parks Canada pass just to be inside the park. It's around CAD $11 per adult per day (about USD $8), or grab the annual Discovery Pass if you're staying a week or more. Buy it online before you arrive and roll straight past the gate line.
1. Canoe on Lake Louise
The water really is that colour — glacial rock flour, not a filter. Rent a canoe from the boathouse at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise for roughly CAD $150/hour (~USD $110). Steep, yes. Worth it from water level, also yes. The smart play: the Lake Louise lot needs a parking reservation in summer and fills before dawn, so take the Parks Canada shuttle from the Lake Louise Ski Resort park-and-ride, or arrive before 7AM.
2. Moraine Lake at First Light
The Valley of the Ten Peaks behind that impossible blue is the shot you've seen a hundred times. Since 2023, no private vehicles reach Moraine Lake — you go by Parks Canada shuttle, Roam Transit Route 10, or a commercial sunrise tour. Book the shuttle the second the window opens (they vanish fast). Climb the Rockpile for the classic view, and time it for the first glow on the peaks, before the crowds land.
3. Ride the Banff Gondola Up Sulphur Mountain
Eight minutes to a summit at 2,281 metres, where a boardwalk runs along the ridge to Sanson's Peak and Sky Bistro serves a meal with a 360° view. Tickets run about CAD $79 (~USD $58) — book a timed slot online to dodge the queue. Want to save the fare? Hike the 5.5km switchback trail up and ride the gondola down for less — the same money-saving move works at other Rockies resort towns like Aspen.
4. Soak at the Banff Upper Hot Springs
The highest hot spring in Canada, steaming away at 1,585 metres with Mount Rundle right there. Entry is around CAD $17.50 (~USD $13), and they rent swimsuits and towels on site, so you can show up with nothing. Go at night — it's open until roughly 10 or 11PM, and a soak under the stars after a long hike is the move.
5. Walk Johnston Canyon to the Ink Pots
Catwalks bolted straight into the canyon wall carry you past rushing water to the Lower Falls (1.1km) and Upper Falls (2.7km). Push on another stretch to the Ink Pots — a cluster of cold mineral springs bubbling up in a meadow, about 5.8km in. The lot is jammed by 9AM, so start at dawn. In winter, book a guided icewalk with cleats to see the falls frozen solid.
6. Cruise Lake Minnewanka
The largest lake in the park gets a one-hour interpretive boat tour for about CAD $69 (~USD $51), gliding past peaks that drop straight into the water. The drive in along Lake Minnewanka Loop is prime wildlife territory — bighorn sheep often stand right on the shoulder, so keep your speed down and your camera ready.
7. The Cave and Basin, Where It All Began
This is where Canada's entire national park system got its start, around a thermal spring three railway workers stumbled on in 1883. The site costs roughly CAD $8.50, takes under an hour, and stays dry when the weather turns — your reliable rainy-afternoon backup. The mineral smell is part of the deal.
8. Hike to the Lake Agnes Tea House
From the Lake Louise shoreline, climb 3.5km and about 400 metres to a log teahouse that's been pouring tea since 1905. There's no road in — everything is hiked or helicoptered, which is why the loose-leaf tea and homemade soup feel earned. Bring cash. Strong legs? Carry on to the Big Beehive for a top-down view of the whole turquoise basin.
9. Vermilion Lakes and the Mount Rundle Reflection
Ten minutes from the townsite, free, and quietly one of the best spots in the park. At sunrise or sunset, Mount Rundle lays a mirror-perfect reflection across the still water, and you've got a real shot at spotting elk or a beaver working the reeds. Bring a wide lens and give it half an hour — if mirror-still mountain water is your thing, Lake Annecy in the French Alps pulls off the same trick.
10. Stroll Banff Avenue and Eat Properly
The town earns a slow afternoon. Book a table at The Bison for Rocky Mountain plates, grab a campfire-style dinner at Park Distillery, and start mornings with a pastry from Wild Flour Bakery and a coffee from Whitebark Cafe. Finish with a BeaverTails pastry on the walk back. Leave the car at the hotel — Roam Transit buses cover the townsite and the big lakes.
11. Stand at Surprise Corner and Walk to Bow Falls
Surprise Corner is the free viewpoint that frames the Fairmont Banff Springs — the so-called castle in the Rockies — against the forest and river. From there it's a short, mostly flat walk down to Bow Falls, where the river churns over wide rock shelves. Both together take under an hour and cost nothing.
12. See Peyto Lake from the Bow Summit Lookout
Drive a stretch of the Icefields Parkway (Highway 93N) to the Bow Summit turnoff, then take the paved path to the lookout over Peyto Lake — the one shaped like a wolf's head in startling glacial blue, a colour you'll also find across Argentina's Andean lake district. Go early; the platform gets shoulder-to-shoulder by mid-morning, and the colour reads brightest under full daylight.
Pro Tip Before You Go
Banff rewards early risers and punishes late starters — almost every full lot, sold-out shuttle, and packed viewpoint problem disappears if you're out the door by 6:30AM. Book the Moraine Lake and Lake Louise shuttles the moment reservations open, carry bear spray on every trail and know how to use it, and keep at least 100 metres from any bear and 30 from elk. Pack layers no matter the forecast — summit temperatures can sit 10°C below the townsite, and mountain weather flips in minutes. Do that, and Banff delivers exactly the trip the photos promised.
