This July, a friend and I headed north, to the Canada Rockies, for a trip of exploring the town of Banff. I loved the area so much that I am already wishing I had a second trip planned to go back!I have a lot of information about the area so I’m going to split this up into multiple blog posts. The first thing I want to talk about is everything I learned while planning our trip.
Planning
We started planning this trip back in February. I had done my research, aka read blogs, about traveling to Banff. Everything I was reading said that since it’s such a popular area, things book up fast so when planning, start making hotel reservations 6 months or more ahead of time.
PASSPORT:
My passport was set to expire just before this trip so I had to renew it. I sent it in mid February and got it back mid March because I forgot to send in payment with it. LOL. I know it‘s not a free service, I just completely blanked on sticking the check in there with my documentation. I resubmitted it the day it was returned to me. At the time I sent it back, the processing time was 7-10 weeks. I didn’t get it back until 14 weeks. The process is incredibly slow right now so if you need to get a passport or renew, get it as soon as possible.
* The takeaway I learned while renewing my passport is that every country has a required amount of time your passport must have left on it before it expires to be allowed into their country. Canada won’t let you visit if you are under the six month mark before renewal.
FLIGHTS:
We started by searching for flights to Calgary, Alberta. Our most affordable option ended up being splitting up our travel between airlines. We traveled there on WestJet airlines and returned on Delta airlines. Our flight there was a four hour direct flight from Nashville, TN and the return trip did have a layover in Minnesota.Our trip ended up costing us a little over $300. Pretty good for traveling from the southeast!
The takeaways I learned with these flights were:
1. Our original layover was going to be six hours long but I kept checking back in and eventually was able to move us to a flight that had a 3 hour layover instead.
2. Always set up an account when booking with an airlines you’ve never booked with before. I did this after booking with WestJet and it made managing my flight slightly more complex than my friend (who did set up an account). WestJet’s online system didn’t ever connect my flight to my account so anytime I needed help with something (moving to a more desireable flight or a seat change), I had to call or use online chat to have someone do it for me.
OUR STAY:
Based on the places we wanted to visit while we were there, we narrowed it down to three different towns to stay in.
The town of Banff – Banff is in the center of a lot of things to do. The town itself is very busy, with a lot of shopping and restaurants. It’s a walkable town but sometimes parking can be hard to find. There was a lot of paid parking, we just had to circle sometimes to find an open spot. There are numerous hikes nearby, some close to town are paved, which is nice that there is something accessible to everyone. There is also kayaking, canoeing and bike rentals available in town.
Canmore, Alberta – This is where we stayed! Canmore is located less than 20 minutes from Banff, but has a bigger selection of places to stay. We chose to stay here because it was less expensive. We stayed in a two bedroom condo that had a beautiful view of a mountain right outside our windows. We enjoyed Canmore so much that one day we didn’t even leave Canmore, other than to hike nearby. It also has a nice shopping and dining area: my favorite store we shopped in was Alberta’s Own. They featured local artist products.
3. Lake Louise – This is probably most stunning place to stay, if you’ve got the budget for it. Without a doubt, the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise is easily the most coveted place to stay here.
TRANSPORTATION:
You will want to rent a car to see the Rockies. There is so much beauty and you are going to want to explore. We ended up using Turo for our car rental because of the positive experiences we’d both had with it in the past. The person we rented from was going to meet us with the car but because of a small flight delay, he just left it at the airport and told us where it was. There was also a car rental area with multiple rental companies in the Calgary airport, so as long as you make a reservation ahead of time, getting a car should be fine.
DINING RESERVATIONS:
About a month before our trip, I started making dining reservations for us for the meals we weren’t having at our condo. Because this was during high tourism season, you are going to want to make a reservation, especially for dinner. Some of the more popular restaurants will be impossible get at all without a reservation during the summer month. However, some of the less popular dining establishments might be possible to eat at if you are willing to wait a while to get a table.
We were able to walk up to places in Banff and Canmore for lunch without any issues. There are lots of cute places to eat, with lots of outdoor dining. You can sit and look at the mountains while sipping a beer after a morning hike. It’s incredibly relaxing.
Hiking:
We knew we wanted to do some hiking while we were there, so the only other pre-trip planning I did was to get on Alltrails.com and save some potential hikes to my app for our trip. I didn’t have to do this ahead of time but it allowed me to think just a little less during vacation, which is always my goal.
All in all, we loved this trip and I wouldn’t have changed a thing about our experience. If you are thinking about a trip to the Canadian Rockies and would like some help planning it, please email me at magicaladventureswithapril@gmail.com . My trip planning services are completely free!