Every time I told a friend I was planning a trip to Banff—they usually responded with “where’s that?” Honestly, I can’t blame them. I never heard of Banff, Canada until I created my Instagram account last year. I get tagged in a lot of travel photos by other travel addicts who want to share their amazing adventures on my page. One place I’ve gotten tagged in quite a bit is Banff.
Every year, I take an annual couples trip with my best friend Jen and her husband (and my fiancé Karl)—this year we chose Banff and had an incredible time. I fell in love with Banff from the first photo I ever saw of this place. The scenery is absolutely breathtaking, and I’m guessing that’s a big reason why you want to go there too. If you’re like me and you love to travel but only have a short amount of time to explore each destination you visit, my Banff travel guides are here to help.
BANFF TRAVEL GUIDE OUTLINE
My Banff Travel Guide is split up into several blog posts and videos, covering all the activities we did and places we dined.
PART 1: Overview and Sneak Peek
Right now, you’re reading Part 1 of my Banff Travel Guide, which summarizes everything I’ve covered in my blog posts and videos. You’ll also find a brief summary of my itinerary and trip costs at the bottom of this post.
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PART 2: Restaurants in Banff, Canada
We dined at a lot of awesome restaurants in Banff, and I completely wasn’t even expecting that! See my favorite breakfast, dinner, and dessert spots, along with detailed information and links to the restaurants: Banff Food Guide: 7 Places to Eat in Banff, Canada
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PART 3: Top Attractions in Banff, Canada
Want a list of things to do in Banff? I’ve got you covered. Read Part 3 of my guide to see all the things we did that I recommend you include in your itinerary: Top 15 Banff Attractions | Banff Travel Guide Part 3
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BONUS VIDEO! FULL VERSION OF OUR HIKES:
PART 4: Living in Banff, Canada
You know how you travel to an awesome place and just get so tempted to move there? That happens to me just about every time I travel. I spoke with a local Banff National Park guide and got the rundown on what it takes to live in Banff—just in case you’re ever curious about moving to this ridiculously beautiful place.
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ITINERARY AT A GLANCE
DAY 1: Arrived in Calgary, Canada at night
DAY 2: Left Calgary and drove to Banff. Enjoyed dinner with a view of the Canadian Rockies.
DAY 3: Relaxed and went to a hot spring
DAY 4: Full day of hiking and sightseeing (Lake Louise)
DAY 5: More hiking and sightseeing (Moraine Lake)
DAY 6: Banff Gondola adventure and had dinner with a view in Calgary
DAY 7: Goodbye Canada
COST OF TRIP
Flight – $368 USD
Car Rental – $85 USD (after splitting between 4 people)
Accommodations – $634 USD (after splitting between 2 people)
Banff National Park entry – $15 USD (the group rate was $19.60 CAD ($15 USD) per night, so I paid $15 total after splitting it between the 4 of us)
Activities – $37
The total cost of my 6-night/7-day trip to Canada came out to be $1139 (price doesn’t include money spent on food).
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Wow, phenomenal photos! Banff looks breathtaking. I would love to visit and experience this in person. Those hikes look like they are out of a fairytale!
Yea the scenery is some of the most amazing I’ve ever seen in my life 😮
This is one of the places I’ve seen on instagram a lot. I put it on my to do list some time ago. This is a great reminder to start planning. The pictures are beautiful, but I love your videos. You look very comfortable in front of the camera and your voice is nice to listen to!
Aww thanks Romy! I appreciate that 🙂 You’ll love Banff, so don’t put it off; go forth and plan your trip!
Banff is so gorgeous! My friend (who lives in Calgary) keeps telling me I must visit, and I think she’s right! Looks like an amazing place with some awesome photo ops.
Yessss for sure! The scenery is amazing – you’ll get some great photos!
First of all, Banff is so scenic and beautiful! I love your video! What did you use to edit it? Great editing skills! Where did you stay in Banff?
Thanks so much! I used Adobe Premiere to edit it and After Effects for some of the graphics 🙂 I stayed at the Delta Banff Royal Canadian Lodge which was right on Banff Avenue. Conveniently located because we were able to just walk to all the restaurants in the area.
I want to go to Banff so badly!! What time of year were you there? Would you say the hikes are fairly challenging? I’m not super big into hiking, so maybe it’s not the right place for me 😛
I went in mid to late June. I don’t think the hikes were too bad at all – especially if you only go halfway. It gets challenging if you try to hike past Lake Agnes Tea House, which is what I did. But most people just stop there, so I think you’d like it if you just went to the tea house!
So your cousin Shawn is a good friend of mine. He recently posted a picture of you and my husband and I were star-struck because of all the Banff videos we watched, yours was one of the few that we enjoyed most! Just wanted to say thank you for all the tips. We hiked sulfur mountain. We hiked up Lake Agnes trail and enjoyed mirror lake, the tea house but we couldn’t make it to the beehives….partially because of timing but it worked in my favor because I was exhausted. We did Johnston Canyon and I am not sure if you mentioned Parker Ridge (that’s towards Jasper). We also rode our bikes to and from Canmore to Banff on the Legacy trail. Thank you, thank you, thank you! It is nice to meet you virtually- and I am sure we will come across your page/videos again to prep us for our next trip!
Regards,
Siji
For me, Banff is not only one of Canada’s but also one of the world’s most beautiful natural areas. That’s why I recommend everyone to visit this natural paradise.