Banff Road Trip: 4-Day Itinerary Guide

The entire road trip doesn’t involve long stretches of continuous driving—there’s basically a worthwhile stop every two hours or so. However, it’s still recommended to have at least two drivers in the car to take turns. Ninety percent of the time during the road trip, there’s no cell service. You need to download offline maps in advance or set up navigation when you have signal before setting off. 🌟 Lake names are marked for reference. Day 0 ✈️ Fly to Calgary and check into an airport hotel. Day 1 Wake up early to snag) tickets for the Moraine Lake shuttle bus (there are two types of tickets: One from Parks Canada (available for advance booking or "Last Minute"). Advance tickets are mostly sold out; "last minute" tickets need to be booked at 8:00 AM Calgary time, two days before entering Lake Louise. The other from Roam (covers a wider area and is relatively more expensive). 🚗 Depart Calgary for Banff Town. 🍽️ Have lunch in Banff Town. 🚗 After lunch, drive from Banff Town to Jasper. En route: 🌟 Bow Lake, 🌟 Peyto Lake (we saw bears and deer along the way). Personally, I think Peyto Lake is the most stunning—it takes a 10-minute hike up a slightly steep slope, but it’s absolutely worth it because the lake is incredibly blue. Bow Lake, with its turquoise color, is also beautiful and is right by the road—definitely worth stopping to see and take photos. 🍽️ Have dinner in Jasper Town. 🚗 After dinner, head to a homestay in Hinton Town. Day 2 🍽️ Have breakfast in Jasper Town. 🚗 Pass by 🌟 Athabasca Falls. The waterfall isn’t particularly large, but the water flow from the drop is still spectacular. Many of the trees nearby are charred, but you can still see large patches of green—it’s worth a visit. 🚗 Head to the icefield adventure at 🌟 Columbia Glacier. Reserve about two hours for the icefield adventure. The actual time spent walking on the icefield is about half an hour, but the total time including transportation and the Skywalk is about an hour and a half. Personally, I found the whole experience quite interesting—the icefield is huge, but for safety reasons, you can only walk on a small section. It’s recommended to wear thick-soled or waterproof boots and a windbreaker. 🍽️ Have dinner in Hinton Town. Day 3 🚗 Depart Hinton Town for 🌟 Moraine Lake, 🌟 Lake Louise. Go boating on Lake Louise (cost: CAD 160 for 30 minutes; CAD 170 for an hour—if you want to row to the deeper part of the lake, an hour is needed for a round trip). 🚗 Head to Banff Town. 🍽️ Have dinner in Banff Town. 🚗 After dinner, check into a homestay in Canmore. Day 4 🚗 Drive from Canmore Town to 🌟 Grassi Lake. 🍽️ Lunch in Canmore Town. 🚗 Drive to Calgary. 🍽️ Have dinner in Calgary. #Canada #Banff #Travel