Sunshine Mountain Lodge — Hotel in Alberta

Just returned from the most amazing stay at Sunshine Mountain Lodge. We arrived after 6pm and as such missed the gondola. After check in we were quickly loaded up into a CUV and whisked up the mountain. We did receive gondola passes for the duration of our stay - which we didn’t use until we left. We had the best time and didn’t want to leave Sunshine.

As others have mentioned - the staff are incredible. They’re friendly, helpful and approachable. We had so many great chats with various members of the staff.

The rooms! Clean and a great layout for a hotel where space is at a premium. It can be a little cozy (eg we were in a loft room and the wall between the bathroom and bed was a little tight). The balcony was great for people and sunset watching. Unfortunately it was cloudy the nights we were there and didn’t get to do any star watching, but we’ll have to plan to come back for that. Someone mentioned the toilet paper being not so great - I’d like to add that it was -ok- but you have to appreciate they’re on top of a mountain and have to keep their septic system going without issue. The bed was SO comfortable!

Our first night we found super quiet, you wouldn’t even know there were other people at the hotel. Second night we heard people that had been/were partying walking in the hallways, but they went on to their destination and it wasn’t bothersome after that. In the morning the Standish chair starts running for the hikers and woke us up. I was ok with that, I wanted to optimize my time at Sunshine. If you want to sleep in (note our windows were open overnight and we were right beside the chairlift loading area), it shouldn’t be an issue after things get running.

Sunshine Meadows - a gem hidden in Banff. We miss the quieter days of Banff NP and this was an absolute treat to see without insane crowds. The wildflowers were in full bloom and the temp was more manageable as we were at a higher elevation. Lots of bugs (mostly black flies and mosquitos) - we used natural bug spray and those natural patches (they didn’t work), bring a good bug spray! We took the chair up to the viewing deck, and hiked back down to the village via the lake as you need to go uphill to get back on the chairlift to go down, no thanks. I heard enough huffing and puffing on our decent from other hikers (not a bad thing, but it was my birthday and I just wanted a nice leisurely hike. I have a whiny 7 year old child).

Hot tub was awesome. Bugs were diving in and dying in it. The staff came out frequently to scoop them out. The hot but & sauna are accessed through the spa door, and there are towels in the change rooms.

Monarch Sports - hotel gift shop. They have branded Lululemon among other things and the person working there was so friendly and helpful. Treated myself to a couple extra pieces to add to my wardrobe. They also have snacks and drinks. The pop machines were empty, so check that if you want beverages before the store closes. It was open 5pm - 9pm when we were visiting.

Food - I had a wonderful birthday meal up in the Eagles Nest restaurant area. Note in the summer they only have the Chimney Corner menu. We were well taken care of with some lovely chit chat with our server (he was checking out my ugly shoe online purchase. This is where I add the cocktails are wonderful). Food was delicious and filling. And the salted caramel cheesecake was incredible. We also had a breakfast and another supper at Chimney Corner. We grabbed breakfast wraps and a breakfast croissant from the cafe at the base in the morning upon our departure and they were tasty, as were the Americano and iced latte we ordered.

Thank you SML for the best two night stay ever. It was awesome being away from highway noise and crowds. The vibe was laid back but with a touch of class. Everything was maintained well, and you can see the staff working hard on upgrades/improvements before the snow returns. Our whole family agrees that it was the best vacation we have ever had. We can’t...

-Rooms are quite small and extremely dry but they do have a cheap humidifier which helps a bit. TV is small and fuzzy. No fridge or microwave which can get very annoying.

-Lots of hidden fees so dont just go by their nightly rate.

-No PPV in rooms or at resort for say a UFC event etc.

-Restaurant staff is extremely amateur. Dont really know what they are doing. Wait times for a simple breakfast can be an hr or longer which is awful when your wanting to get out skiing.

-Restaurant Food quality was below average at best and lots of stuff on the menu was unavailable.

-Dont even try ordering room service. Your breakfast will be your lunch by the time it arrives and it will come with no condiments in a shaken up cardboard box.

-Chimney was the only restaurant open in the evening.

-Lineups for lunch are absolutely ridiculous and once you finally get to the front good luck ordering anything you wanted cuz its most likely unavailable.

-Gym is laughable. May aswell not even say they have one.

-Gift shop was closed the first couple days and then when it opened it was cash only.

-Spa was non existent.

-Restaurants close at 9 and snack machines were out of order so bring snacks from home or fill up at supper because thats it until morning.

-Only night life is at Trappers which is a complete dive. Old small dirty bar. Really needs an update.

-Have to wait for bags for over two hrs when checking in and checking out. Really annoying when its the end of the weekend and you want to get home and your waiting 2hrs for your stuff at the bottom of the hill. You can bring your stuff with you but good luck dragging everything in the snow across the village to the gondola.

-The skiing was fun and hot tub is awesome but not much more positives. Due to gondola hrs you feel trapped on the hill because you cant really leave to go checkout banff or try a different restaurant etc.

-It is very early in the season and hopefully they can get their stuff together but in the meantime they should not have opened the hotel...

My husband and I stayed here for a few nights in July. It is a ski resort that is open for the summer.

The room wasn't super fancy, but was clean and well stocked. One thing I wish it had was a mini fridge and microwave. We could have stored leftovers or bought some minimal groceries for sandwiches. I also felt that the housekeeping staff was wasteful. They tossed our bar of hand soap out every day and gave us fresh. It certainly would have lasted all week. With the push in the park for conservation, I thought they would be a little more eco friendly.

You get to take a cool scenic gondola to the top from the base area and back. If the gondola isn't available, a shuttle is. There is no parking right by the hotel. The con is that this adds 20-30 minutes each way to your plans for the day.

In the summer, there are 3 restaurants and a coffee shop open. We weren't in love with the food and felt it was quite pricey. Though because it is all there is at the top of the mountain, it makes sense. We tended to grab a quick bite in the town of Banff (20 min drive) and bring it back to eat.

With your stay, you can also ride one of the ski lifts to the top of the mountain for some of the most beautiful views and hikes. They have trail hosts monitoring the trails for bears and answering your questions. There are several trails back there, and you can sign up for a guided tour at the interpretive center.

They have a GIANT hot tub outdoors. It looks like a pool in their photos. It was so relaxing and nice on sore hiking muscles, and wasn't too crowded when we went.

They also have a gear shop with apparel, bug spray/sunscreen, bear spray, etc. Note: you cant take bear spray on a plane, so you'll have to leave it behind. We donated ours to the trail hosts.

The location was perfect. 20 minute drive to downtown Banff (once you rode the gondola down). An hour and 20 minutes to Lake Louise. Two and a half hours to the Jasper border.

Last, the staff is really friendly and...