Lake Louise, Lake Moraine & British Columbia

Canada

Apr 11

For our second day in Banff, we scheduled a tour with Radventures of Lake Louise and Lake Moraine. The benefit of scheduling a tour of these lakes is that the tour companies already have reserved parking spaces. If you want to go by yourself, you have to get there around 4:30a and pray that the line is short to get in. That’s not something that appealed to us. Because Canada’s national parks (wisely) try to limit the number of people/foot traffic per day in each park, advanced reservations are key to getting entry.

This day was probably one of my favorites and included a two-hour long self-guided hike around Lake Louise, a self-guided canoe trip on (the criminally underrated) Lake Moraine, and a detour to check out British Columbia. I highly recommend touring with Radventures if you’re inclined to explore these areas.

*Pro tip: If you want to canoe on a glacial lake, do it on Lake Moraine -- it’s less expensive, there’s usually no line for boat reservations, and the lake is way less crowded.

Lake Louise

Every bit as breathtaking as promised. There’s a gorgeous (and very expensive) Fairmont Chateau on the lake that you can stay in if you want to spend more time in this area. This was the most crowded part of our day and we got there first thing, so definitely get there early.

Lake Moraine

My favorite glacial lake of the entire vacation — being able to be at the glacier foot by boat and looking upward at the mountain left me speechless.

British Columbia

Our small group of eight decided to take a detour to British Columbia at a place whose name I cannot remember before heading back to Banff. I’m so glad we did. The slot canyons, waterfalls, and views were amazing. We even drank the crystal clear spring water straight from the stream!