Calgary Banff National Park and Lake Louise Small-Group Day Trip

The drive from Calgary into the Bow Valley

The day begins at the meeting point in central Calgary, where our guide welcomes the small group before the vehicle heads west on the Trans-Canada Highway. Within half an hour the prairie gives way to rolling foothills and ranch land, and the wall of the Rocky Mountains rises straight ahead. The road passes the town of Cochrane, the Stoney Nakoda lands and the quarry town of Exshaw before the valley narrows at Canmore, the gateway town with the Three Sisters peaks above it. The guide uses the hour and a half of driving to explain how the mountains formed, how the railway opened the region in the 1880s and what wildlife to look for.

If you are wondering how to get to Banff from Calgary without renting a car, a guided Banff day trip from Calgary is the simplest answer: the driving, the park pass and the timing are all handled for you, and you arrive at the park gate in the best morning light.

Banff National Park and Banff town

Banff National Park was created in 1885 around the hot springs at Sulphur Mountain and is the oldest national park in Canada, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that covers more than 6,600 square kilometres of peaks, glaciers and turquoise lakes. Banff town sits in the Bow Valley at about 1,400 metres, framed by Cascade Mountain, Mount Rundle and Tunnel Mountain, with Banff Avenue running straight towards Cascade. The guide stops at viewpoints around the townsite, which may include the Bow River, Bow Falls or the Vermilion Lakes depending on the season and the light.

A Banff National Park tour with a certified guide is the easiest way to see the best places in Banff in a single day, because the guide knows where the elk graze in the morning and which lookouts are clear. Many visitors ask whether Banff is worth visiting in winter; the answer is yes, with frozen lakes, snow-covered peaks and far fewer crowds.

Lake Louise and Victoria Glacier

Lake Louise is the most famous lake in the Canadian Rockies, a turquoise sheet of glacial meltwater about two kilometres long, set in a bowl of mountains with Victoria Glacier hanging at the far end. The colour comes from rock flour, the fine silt ground by the glacier and suspended in the water, which is strongest from late June to September. The lakeshore path is flat and easy, so you can walk part of the way around to the quieter viewpoints, and in winter the lake freezes solid and is cleared for skating and ice sculptures.

Our guide times the visit so you have free time for photos and a stroll along the shore, roughly an hour. If you are searching for a Lake Louise day trip from Calgary, this tour covers it with the park admission included; the lake is reached by a controlled road, and access in high season is far easier with a guide than with a private car.

Moraine Lake and the Valley of the Ten Peaks

Moraine Lake lies about 14 kilometres from Lake Louise at the foot of the Valley of the Ten Peaks, a line of mountains that once appeared on the Canadian twenty-dollar note. Fed by glaciers, the lake is a deeper, more intense blue than Lake Louise and is usually at its best from mid-June, when it fills with meltwater, until the road closes in mid-October. A short climb up the Rockpile Trail at the outlet leads to the classic viewpoint over the water and the peaks, which takes about 20 minutes return.

Moraine Lake Road is closed to private vehicles, so the Moraine Lake access pass included in this tour in summer is a real advantage: our vehicle can drive up while most visitors must book a shuttle. In winter and spring the road is closed by snow and the guide replaces the stop with another viewpoint in the park, such as the Bow Valley Parkway or Johnston Canyon.

Wildlife and viewpoints of the Bow Valley Parkway

Between Banff town and Lake Louise the guide may follow the Bow Valley Parkway, the quieter old road that runs parallel to the highway through forest and meadow for about 48 kilometres. It is the best wildlife corridor in the park, with elk, deer, bighorn sheep and the occasional black or grizzly bear seen from the vehicle, and it passes viewpoints such as Castle Mountain, the fortress-shaped massif that dominates the valley, and the Morant's Curve bend of the railway above the Bow River.

The route and stops vary with the season, the weather and wildlife activity, which is the reason a certified guide makes such a difference in Banff. In winter the parkway has restrictions, so the guide uses alternative viewpoints and hands out crampons for the icy lakeshore paths. The best time to visit Banff for both open roads and colour is late June to September, while October brings golden larches.