Banff National Park is Like Being in a Fairy Tale

Forget Disney, Banff is where you want to be to feel like you're in a fairy tale land! It may be one of the happiest places on earth, too.  The bright colors, wildlife, quaint town, and ginormous Rocky mountains all make for a magnificent scene that seems to cleanse the spirit.

Banff is a town located within the Canadian Rockies, inside Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada.  It's the only town in Canada that is located inside a National Park! Step outside your lodge and gaze upon the wildlife that sits right at your doorstep. We were there for three days and saw just about every kind of animal that resides in the park, including grizzlies!

Grizzly Cub from our Gondola

Banff is not only a tourist destination for everyone around the world, but also for their locals in Calgary.  Spending a day relaxing, having some wine, fondu and fresh air is inviting to just about anyone. Campers travel from all over the world just to enjoy all the things this park has to offer.  Canoeing, hiking, taking a ride on the gondola, fishing, exploring, soaking in hot springs, shopping in the very cute town, and trekking glaciers are just a few of the things that can be enjoyed during the summer months. In the summer, the temperature averages in the 70s during the day and 40s at night. In the winter, the skiers come out to play. Banff has some of the best skiing on the continent and hosts many competitions annually. There are 3 ski resorts in Banff, and the Canadian Rockies are just perfect for it. We went in the Summer, so no skiing for us, but being able to enjoy the outdoors in near perfect weather was more my idea of a vacation anyway. :)

You can't visit this Park without going to Lake Louise and looking around the historical Fairmont Lake Louise Resort located right on the famed lake. The views are spectacular, the hotel is grand and they also have hot springs and a 'grizzly' gondola where you will hopefully spot some from the air. We did!  Two baby grizzly cubs were vegging right underneath the gondola! Super cool. When taking the Lake Louise gondola, at the top you will have amazing photo ops and can visit the grizzly museum to learn more about these beasts. 

To see as much as you can in this Park, you must rent a car and drive it. There's so much hiking and things to see on the side of the road.  You will come across, deer, elk, big-horned sheep, wolves, waterfalls, mountain flowers, just about everything right there from your car. Icefields Parkway is the infamous road that takes you through Banff north to the glaciers and icefields (hence the name).  Take Bow Valley Parkway to Icefields Parkway.  Bow Valley is a scenic route north to Icefields Parkway. It's where all the animals come out to play, so you should definitely see something! When you get to the Icefields Parkway, you will be greeted by someone who can answer any questions you have and who will provide you with a map of all the glaciers, waterfalls, etc. that you will come across.  You may not even know you're seeing glaciers as you drive past them, so the map is a must.  They are everywhere!

Drink the glacier water and feel youthful!

The most famous glacier is located at the Columbia Icefields-- just South of Jasper, off of Icefields Parkway, on the continental divide. These icefields have many glaciers, some are close to the largest in the world. Athabasca glacier is the largest at this field. It's another must see when visiting Banff. Take an icefield trekker (which is like a gigantic bus with wheels on steroids) up and onto the constantly moving glaciers for a view that will take your breath away (if the cold doesn't already). ;)  I was there on the hottest day of the year, and the temperature was between 6-9 degrees Celsius. Brrr. Don't forget to drink the glacier water when you go. You can bring an empty water bottle and fill it too.  Locals say that when you drink the water, you gain youth! You will also learn a lot about glaciers. Like how they are receding at an alarming rate.  The very glacier you would be standing on will not exist in 100 years! Global warming can clearly be seen here. There is even a sign on what is now a parking lot which shows where the glacier used to begin 100 years ago. It has receded a ton since then. It makes you feel lucky that you are able to appreciate it now while it's still here.

Peyto "Wolf" Lake

Also from the parkways, you can see Bow Valley Falls, Peyto Lake and tons of rivers and streams that are as blue as.....ummm...there's just nothing that compares to that kind of blue! It's awe-inspiring. After inquiring as to how the water there gets its hue, we learned that since glaciers are constantly 'drifting,' they grind the rock that's underneath into a fine, white powder.  That powder is filtered into the streams and wah-la! You got this beautiful, clean-looking blue that you see everywhere in Banff. Seeing pictures of the water is what brought us here in the first place. It looked like..a fairy tale! And it truly was. No robotic deer, or plastic flowers, it was the real thing.
Disney has nothing on this place!


For more information on what to do, where to go and a bunch of useful facts, visit: Banff.com.

There really is so much more to do and see than what I wrote here.  Please research for yourselves and find out everything you need to know before you travel. You will be happy you did!