Banff
Glacier lakes the color of blue topaz, ringed by the Rockies, in a national park built for slow, cold-air mornings.
Best time to visit
June – September
Fly into
Calgary (YYC)
Good for
Hiking, lakes, mountain towns
Suggested stay
5–7 nights
Beat the lake to the parking lot
Lake Louise and Moraine Lake are as blue as every photo promises, and by ten in the morning both parking lots are full and shuttle lines stretch for an hour. Arrive before seven, or take the early shuttle, and you’ll have a genuinely quiet half hour at water’s edge.
Banff town itself makes an easy base — small enough to walk, close enough to both lakes, and with a hot spring at the edge of town for the evening you don’t want to do anything else.
What the week actually looks like
Mornings are for the trail — the hike up to the Lake Agnes Tea House above Lake Louise is the classic for a reason, climbing through forest to a stone teahouse with the lake laid out below. Afternoons ease into a canoe on Moraine Lake or a slow drive along the Icefields Parkway.
Evenings belong to Banff Upper Hot Springs, soaking with a mountain view while the light goes gold, then dinner in town before an early night — the trails reward getting up before the crowds.
Worth building your trip around
Moraine Lake, sunrise
The valley of the ten peaks reflected in glacial water — arrive before the shuttle lines to see it quiet.
Lake Agnes Tea House hike
A three-mile climb above Lake Louise to a century-old teahouse with nothing but mountain in every direction.
Icefields Parkway
One of the most scenic drives on the continent, glaciers and turquoise lakes the whole way north.