6 Days in the Canadian Rockies: Banff & Jasper

A day-by-day itinerary for Banff, Canada: real activities, restaurants and hotels with prices and booking links. Copy it and make it yours.

Banff, Canada · 6 days · 25 activities · free to copy and customize

Day 1 — Calgary to Banff

11:00 Collect the car at Calgary (YYC) (450 CAD). ≈C$75/day ×6. Buy the Parks Canada pass at the gate (≈C$11/person/day) — you'll be asked for it everywhere.
13:00 Banff hotel, 3 nights (840 CAD). ≈C$280/night in town. Banff Ave walks to everything; book months out for July–August.
15:00 Banff Avenue & Bow Falls stroll. Free. Get the townsite bearings; elk on the golf course are common and NOT tame — 30 m minimum.
19:00 Dinner on Banff Ave (40 CAD).

06:30 Park & Ride to Lake Louise (8 CAD). ≈C$8 shuttle, RESERVE AHEAD — the lakeshore lots fill by 07:00 in summer, and MORAINE LAKE HAS BANNED private vehicles entirely. The shuttle system is not optional; it is the plan.
08:00 Lake Agnes Teahouse hike (15 CAD). Free trail, 2.5h return; the 1905 teahouse at the top is CASH ONLY (≈C$15 for tea and cake carried up by staff on foot).
12:30 Lakes Connector to Moraine Lake. Included with the shuttle reservation. The Valley of the Ten Peaks is the old twenty-dollar bill, in person.
15:30 Rockpile Trail viewpoint. Free, 15 minutes up the moraine — THE photograph, especially with afternoon light on the peaks.
19:30 Dinner back in Banff (45 CAD).

09:00 Sulphur Mountain: gondola up or switchbacks (70 CAD). Gondola ≈C$70 return, or the free 5.5 km switchback trail (2h up) — hikers can ride down for less. The summit boardwalk to Sanson's Peak is included either way.
13:00 Lunch in town (25 CAD).
15:00 Banff Upper Hot Springs (18 CAD). ≈C$17.50. Outdoor 39°C water at 1,585 m — best in drizzle, absurdly good in snow.
19:00 Vermilion Lakes sunset. Free. Rundle reflected in still water, five minutes from town — the local secret that isn't.

08:30 Drive the Parkway to Jasper. 232 km of the best road in North America — budget the WHOLE day. Fill the tank in Lake Louise; there is one gas stop mid-route and it knows it.
09:30 Bow Lake & Peyto Lake lookout. Free. Peyto's wolf-head lake is a 15-minute paved walk from the Bow Summit lot.
12:30 Columbia Icefield stop. Free from the viewpoint. The Athabasca Glacier toe-walk is roped for a reason — crevasses kill here; the paid Ice Explorer (≈C$120) is touristy and, with kids, worth it.
15:00 Athabasca Falls. Free. The Athabasca forced through a slot canyon — thunder you feel in your chest.
17:30 Jasper cabin, 2 nights (500 CAD). ≈C$250/night. Jasper is Banff twenty years ago — quieter, darker skies, more elk than influencers.

09:00 Maligne Canyon rim walk. Free. Six bridges over a slot canyon the river has been deepening since the ice left.
11:30 Maligne Lake cruise to Spirit Island (85 CAD). ≈C$85, 90 min, BOOK AHEAD — Spirit Island is reachable only by water and is the most photographed view in the Rockies for a reason.
15:00 Late lunch in Jasper town (25 CAD).
20:00 Dark-sky hour. Free. Jasper is the world's second-largest Dark Sky Preserve — step beyond the streetlights and look up.

09:00 Drive Jasper → Calgary. ≈4.5h via the Parkway again (different light, same road — no complaints) then the Trans-Canada. Johnston Canyon makes a leg-stretch if the lot cooperates.
13:30 Late lunch in Canmore (30 CAD). Canmore does Banff's food at local prices, 20 minutes past it.
16:30 Drop the car at YYC. Refuel in the city — airport pumps price like duty-free perfume.

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