Banff Crowds and How to Avoid Them!

Banff is Popular, Really Popular

Thinking about a visit to Banff National Park this summer? I don’t blame you if you are having those thoughts! I have them too. Sometimes daily. 
But to be honest, I try to avoid Banff altogether in the summer. Since I am from Calgary, it’s easy for me to head out on a weekend in the spring, fall or winter. 
So why do I avoid Banff in the summer you ask? In fact, Banff has really changed. There has been a huge increase in visitors to the park.  I am not sure if this is because locals tend to stick closer to home in these economically uncertain times. Or if the uptick just part of the general tourism boom.  I am thinking the latter.
Regardless, if you will be spending time in Banff and the Canadian Rockies this summer, here are my thoughts on how to best manage the crowds and have that fantastic bucket list vacation. 

Banff’s Busy Areas

Parks Canada representatives indicate that specific areas in the park such as Lake Louise, Moraine Lake, Johnston Canyon and Lake Minnewanka are all extremely busy.  And there is good reason for this. Moraine Lake and Lake Louise are two of the most beautiful locations on earth. 
If you are going to visit any of these locations, then an early start is your best bet.  We have a saying in Canada – the early bird gets the worm. Well, in Banff we say the early bird gets the views!   And when I say early, I mean not after a 9 am breakfast.  I mean get up early.  

You can hit other areas on your sleep in days, but Lake Louise, Moraine Lake, Johnston Canyon and Lake Minnewanka are your ‘crack of dawn’ days. And in the northern hemisphere in summer, that can mean pretty early!


Oh, and there is evening / sunset.  Funny how it is easier to stay up late than get up early however. Still evenings are also quitter at the lakes once the crowds have hit the restaurants and bars in downtown Banff and Canmore.   

Try Less Traveled Banff

So on the days you do sleep in… take the road less traveled.  There are many fantastic places in the Canadian Rockies that are close to Banff and just as beautiful. 
Alternatively, head north on highway 93 towards Jasper.  It’s hard to believe that the views between Lake Louise and Saskatchewan River Crossing are real.  It’s that nice.  Some spots are pretty busy like Peyto Lake, but others are wide open!
Try Kananaskis Country for sure.  The Smith Dorrien Trail is shear magic.


Banff and Further Afield

And if you have an appetite to go further afield then there are beautiful areas to the north and south of the National Parks such as the Big Horn area around world famous Abraham Lake, as well as on the prairies east of the mountains.
Ghost town tourism on the prairies is booming. Think about it! It might be a fun idea to escape the hordes for a couple of days and see a different world completely!

Where to Stay

Looking for more hotel options in Banff National Park? Check out Booking.com’s excellent guide to local hotels here.


Location: Banff, AB, Canada

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Photographing the abandoned American Hotel

Image
Fort Macleod in southern Alberta is great place for photography. The town's main street is one of the most beautiful in Alberta with several historic stone buildings jammed together in two long rows.   For Macleod is so fantastic that one of the films in the Ghost Busters franchise was recently filmed here. There was a great car chase ghost scene that caused havoc all over town.  But one of the most interesting buildings to photograph is the old, abandoned American Hotel on the edge of Fort MacLeod's downtown.   History of the American Hotel It has been a challenge to find historical information on the American Hotel. According to the Alberta Heritage Survey Program database, the American Hotel originally opened in the 1890s as the Klondyke Hotel.  In 1900, the name was changed to the American Hotel and sold to one HH Wash. In 1901, Tom Atkins Purchased the hotel from HH Wash.  Later in 1913, WH Atkins constructed addition to the hotel which included 4...
Read more

The Mystery Brutalist Building

Image
Calgary has a number of brutalist buildings. In fact, the city came of age at a time when brutalist architecture was popular, and so we have religious buildings, education buildings and many office structures spread around the city.  One of the acknowledged brutalist landmarks is Nelco Square.  Nelco Square was completed in 1979 in the community of Franklin. According to Heritage Calgary , Nelco Square is considered "a  superb example of a late Brutalist-style office building in Calgary."   Designed like many brutalist buildings, Nelco Square has a multi-story building plan with the higher levels wider than the lower ground level floor. Nelco Square also has "symmetrical fenestration separated by pronounced vertical window fins at the top storey and decorative concrete panels with embossed rectangular motifs" while the "lower recessed two storeys have exaggerated pilasters and minimalist ribbon windows."  (Source, Heritage Calgary) Discovering the  Mystery...
Read more

Photographing Brutalist Buildings

Image
  Like many North American cities that grew rapidly after World War 2, Calgary had a building boom that was not untouched by brutalist architecture.   If the idea of brutalist architecture is new for you, brutalism was a type of architecture that developed in the UK during the 1950s. Architects typically used exposed concrete and brick, or a combination of the two materials, in a manner that emphasized utility over decoration, but often with very interesting geometric designs. The term brutalism does not originate or take its inspiration from the English word ‘brutal’ but comes from the French phrase beton brut.   Perhaps the most well know brutalist building remaining in Calgary is the former Calgary Board of Education building in the city centre.   It is believed that the Education Centre Building was inspired by Boston’s brutalist City Hall. While the Calgary building is much smaller, the resemblance is certainly there. The Stevenson Raines Barrett Hutton ...
Read more