Banff is a gorgeous area of Canada and you could spend months here and not do everything that the park and surrounding area has to offer. We love visiting for the amazing activities that you can do along with all of the awesome hikes. Below we share with you our recommended list of the top things to do in Banff National Park.
Banff National Park Itinerary
We have put together a 4 day Banff National Park itinerary for you to make your trip planning as easy as possible. Planning a trip to Banff can be overwhelming since there are so many amazing things to do.
The itinerary includes links, times and everything you need to plan an epic 4 day trip to Banff national park. Including extra ideas if you have more days to spend or want to switch up the itinerary.
Banff Gondola. Cruise up to the top of Sulphur Mountain on the Banff Gondola. The ride up is spectacular and the views at the top are gorgeous. You can spend hours up here exploring and hiking.
Lake Minnewanka Boat Cruise. Head out on the gorgeous waters of Lake Minnewanka on this 1 hour long Lake Minnewanka cruise. Enjoy being on the water while your guide teaches you about the history and geology of the area.
Go Horseback Riding. Go horseback riding in Banff along the bow river for a 1 hour adventure. Or choose a multi day adventure that brings you into the backcountry of Banff on your horse.
Golden Skybridge. Take a beautiful drive out to the Golden Skybridge. Where you can walk on a suspension bridge, zip-line across a canyon, go on a mountain coaster and do a ropes course.
Johnston Canyon Lower Falls Hike. You won’t want to miss the beautiful Johnston Canyon Lower Falls hike. It comes in at just 1.4 miles round trip and is considered an easy hike.
There are a variety of places that you can stay in the town of Banff. We highly recommend that you do that so you are close to the city and can spend time walking around and eating at the local restaurants. If you come with an RV you will want to stay at the Tunnel Mountain Trailer Court campground. It is within walking distance to the city plus they offer a public bus into town and around Banff National Park.
When we arrived in Banff National Park we couldn’t wait to head out on the Banff Gondola! The views are amazing and there are so many fun things to do when you get to the top. We headed out on the Sulphur Mountain boardwalk trail, played around in the interactive center and took in these amazing views!!! When in Banff don’t miss the Pursuit Collection Banff Gondola!! hosted pursuitlife banff travelwithkids
Things To Do In Banff National Park: Lake Minnewanka Boat Cruise We headed out on the 10am 1 hour long boat ride on Lake Minnewanka with Pursuit Collection. The water color is amazing and the scenery is gorgeous! Plus our tour guide did a great job giving us an overview of the Lake and sharing a lot of history about the lake and the area. It is a great way to start your morning in Banff National Park! Follow @crazyfamilyadventure on our adventure from Wisconsin To Alaska in our RV! Follow @crazyfamilyadventure on our adventure from Wisconsin To Alaska in our RV! #hosted @pursuitbanffjasper #pursuitlife#banff#travelwithkids#lakeminnewanka#explorecanada#familyvacation#familytravel#familyroadtrip
Things To Do In Banff National Park: Johnson Canyon Trail We did the Johnson Canyon Trail to the lower falls and it was gorgeous!! It is a 1 mile round trip hike and we sure to go into the cave when you reach the waterfall to get a closer look at the waterfall. It was busy but with the second parking lot we had no problem finding parking. Follow @crazyfamilyadventure on our adventure from Wisconsin To Alaska in our RV! Follow @crazyfamilyadventure on our adventure from Wisconsin To Alaska in our RV! #visitbanff#banffnationalpark#johnsoncanyontrail#familytravel#familyvacation#explorecanada#travelwithkids#hikingwithkids
Things To Do In Banff National Park: Golden Skybridge Ok this one isn’t techincally in Banff National Park but is a scenic 2 hour drive to the town of Golden. It is worth it and once you get here plan to spend at least 3-4 hours if you want to participate in all of the activities. If you don’t want to do all of the activities you can just pick and choose the ones you want to do and it would be a much shorter stay. We did the following: Treetop Play Park – a few things our teens could do but a weight limit of 120 on the zipline so be aware of that. Upper Sky Bridge – a crazy walk on a sky bridge across a 500 foot deep canyon! We said we all felt like Indian Jones 🙂 Ropes Course – a fun ropes course with some easier courses and a more challenging one. It also includes a zipline course. Mountain Coaster – a fun mountain roller coaster where you control your speed. You can go together if you weight under 310 pounds combined or else you can go on your own. Touch The Sky Seat – a great place to grab a picture. Sky Zipline Launch – take a zipline across the 500 foot canyon!! The Village – in the village you can do axe throwing, a rock wall (for younger kids), grab lunch or dinner and get a beer or soda. We had an awesome day here and really enjoyed everything that we did! We highly recommend adding this to your list of things you do in Banff National Park! Follow @crazyfamilyadventure on our adventure from Wisconsin To Alaska in our RV! Follow @crazyfamilyadventure on our adventure from Wisconsin To Alaska in our RV! @pursuitbanffjasper @pursuitcollection #pursuitlife#banff#travelwithkids#familytravel#familyvacation#explorecanada#travelwithkids#hikingwithkids
Things To Do In Banff National Park: Lake Louise Lake Louise was on our way back to Banff from the Golden Skybridge and I knew we needed to stop! It actually worked out well since it can be really hard to park up by Lake Louise. but guess what at 8pm at night it is still light up for a couple more hours in the summer and it is super easy to get a parking spot! We made our way to Lake Louise and got out to walk around and take some pictures and just take in the beauty that is Lake Louise!! When in Banff don’t miss coming to see Lake Louise and when they are open do the 6 Plains Glacier Tea House hike and the Lake Anges Tea house. The teahouses are still closed for the season but the 6 Plains Glacier Tea House is one of our favorite hikes ever!! Follow @crazyfamilyadventure on our adventure from Wisconsin To Alaska in our RV! Follow @crazyfamilyadventure on our adventure from Wisconsin To Alaska in our RV! #visitbanff#lakelouise#travelwithkids#familytravel#familyvacation#explorecanada#travelwithkids#hikingwithkids
Things To Do In Banff National Park: Banff Trail Riders We started our 2nd full day in Banff with an hour long horseback riding adventure with Banff Trail Riders. It was a beautiful morning and we all had a great time getting to know our horses and going on a hike through the trees, past the natural sulphur hot springs flowing from the historic Cave & Basin site and along the Bow River with views of the surrounding mountains. Don’t miss this when you are in Banff! They also do a wagon ride to a cowboy cookout that looked like a lot of fun! Follow @crazyfamilyadventure on our adventure from Wisconsin To Alaska in our RV! Follow @crazyfamilyadventure on our adventure from Wisconsin To Alaska in our RV! #hosted#mybanff#horsebackbanff @Banff & Lake Louise #familytravel#familyvacation#explorecanada#travelwithkids
Things To Do In Banff National Park: Chinook Rafting Going on a rafting trip on the gorgeous Kananaskis river in Banff was so much fun!! They fitted us with wet suits, booties, a windbreaker jacket and helmets and off we went onto the river. It was a level 2/3 rapids and was a perfect level of rapids for our group (kids age 10-15). We all paddeled a lot to get us through the river and rapids and our guide did a great job making the trip fun! We were on the water for about 2 hours and at the end Carson, Cannon and Ivan jumped into the water!! It was freezing but they loved it! They didn’t allow phones on the raft – for good reason since we were rowing for a lot of it and the rapids were crazy! However they have a photographer that takes pictures so that is what you see on this post. We had a great afternoon rafting!! Follow @crazyfamilyadventure on our adventure from Wisconsin To Alaska in our RV! Follow @crazyfamilyadventure on our adventure from Wisconsin To Alaska in our RV! #hosted#mybanff#chinookrafting @Banff & Lake Louise #familytravel#familyvacation#explorecanada#travelwithkids
You won’t believe the color of this lake! It doesn’t look real!! This is our favorite stop along the Icefield Parkway. They have RV parking and it is a short uphill hike (about 1/4 mile) to get to the viewing platform of this amazing lake. When driving the Icefield Parkway don’t miss this stop! Follow @crazyfamilyadventure on our adventure from Wisconsin To Alaska in our RV! Follow @crazyfamilyadventure on our adventure from Wisconsin To Alaska in our RV! #gorving#roadtrip
The Icefields Parkway is named one of the most beautiful drives in the world and it is easy to see why. You meander your way through snow covered mountains with beautiful rivers and lakes at every turn. You could easily spend a whole day or longer exploring all the stops along the Icefields Parkway. What do you think? Would you say this is one of the most beautiful drives in the US? RV: @Keystone RV Company Arcadia 248SLRE Follow @crazyfamilyadventure on our adventure from Wisconsin To Alaska in our RV! Follow @crazyfamilyadventure on our adventure from Wisconsin To Alaska in our RV! #gorving#roadtrip#KeystoneRV#campbetter#icefieldsparkway#explorecanada#rvtrip#rvfamily#rvlife#rvtravel
It’s time to walk on a glacier, drink glacier water and head out on a glass platform over a canyon! This is the Columbia Icefield Adventure in Canada! The Icefields Parkway is a gorgeous drive and the Athabasca Glacier is an amazing place to stop to take in the views and to get out on a Glacier! To visit the Glacier you take a bus to a point about half way up the Glacier. From here you get on to the Ice Explorer and the Ice Explorer takes you up to the Glacier. This is a bit of a scary ride with a road that has a 32% incline that you go down to see the Glacier and up it when you leave. But also fun and with amazing views! Once you get to the Glacier you have 30 minutes to get out and explore and take pictures. They do have a roped off area – never go past that!! Glaciers are very dangerous. They recommend bringing a water bottle so you can fill it with Glacier water! We did and the water was delicious. After the 30 minutes you head back down on the Ice Explorer and get back on a bus that takes you to the skywalk. At the skywalk you get off and go walk on the semi circle glass walkway that takes you out and over a canyon! When you are walking to the skywalk there are a variety of signs you can stop to look at and read if you would like. Once you are done with the skywalk you make your way back to the bus and they bring you back to the main parking lot and building. It took about 2 1/2 hours to do everything and it was an awesome time!! If you are heading from Banff to Jasper don’t miss the Columbia Icefield Adventure!! #hosted#pursuitlife#banff#travelwithkids#familytravel#familyvacation#explorecanada#travelwithkids#hikingwithkids
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