Thinking of visiting Banff National Park and love hiking? Here is a guide with all the routes you can do on your trip to Canada!
Many of them are simple routes that you can do by arriving with your rental car and walking just a few kilometers.
In this post you have a list of 15 Trekkings to do in Banff National Park.
15 TREKKINGS TO DO IN BANFF NATIONAL PARK, ALBERTA
1. Mount Norquay (To do it by car)
This route is 6 kilometers long and starts at the junction with the TransCanadian Highway and zigzags up. You can do this climb by car or by walking to Mount Norquay. Once at the top you will have spectacular views of the Banff Valley. From here, where the parking lot is located, for those who want to continue walking, they can take one of the various trails that start from here. Most surrounding the Mount to have another perspective and views of the valley.
2. Vermilion Lakes (Walking or by car)
This is a beautiful route that you can do by car at all times until you reach the lakes. For those who don't like to walk much, it is the perfect opportunity to go visiting lakes effortlessly.
For those who want to walk, they also have the option of doing this route on foot.
The route is 4 kilometers long and starts on the left of Mount Norquay Road. It passes through the Vermilion Lakes. There are several picnic areas, so if you decide to walk the route (something I recommend) you can make a stop and enjoy a meal surrounded by nature.
The route is flat almost all the way and without any difficulty. And one of the coolest things is the nature that you will find. Despite the fact that in most of our trip through the Rocky Mountains of Canada we were able to see wild animals on several occasions, on this route we fell completely in love because we did not stop taking pictures. There were deer, squirrels, birds and we even saw a bear!
3. Tunnel Mountain (To do it by car)
This path that I traveled through the “Tunnel” mountain is 8 kilometers long. The journey is very easy and you can do it by car. It starts at the Surprise Corner Overlook and ends at the Banff Rocky Mountain Resort Hotel. Drive past the Tunnel Road campsite and you'll see that along the way there are well marked lookouts from the road.
4. Bow River Trail (To do it on foot)
This very easy trail is barely 1.5 kilometers long and is also paved. It is a path that follows the Bow River around the town. It will hardly take you 15 minutes to walk and it has beautiful views of the town and the mountains that surround it.
5. Tunnel Mountain Trail (To do it on foot)
This route has a total of 5 kilometers (round trip) and is of moderate level.
The trail will take you to the top of Tunnel Mountain for gorgeous views of Banff. There are two options to start the tour; You can start from St Julien Road or Tunnel Mountain Dr. As it is a route with steep sections, keep in mind that it will take about 2 hours round trip.
6. Sulfur Mountain Trail (To do it on foot)
This trail is 5.5 kilometers (one way) and will take you to the top of Sulfur Mountain. There are more or less 2 hours going up, plus 2 hours going down. If you want to see the spectacular views you have from Sulfur Mountain, you can also take the Banff Gondola. A cable car (somewhat expensive) that takes you to the top of the mountain.
7. Stewart Canyon (To make you walk)
This short trail, just 1.5 kilometers long, begins at Lake Minnewanka. It is a path that borders the lake, with practically no well-signposted path, but it is not lost. You go along the lake until you reach a footbridge from where you can see the waters of Stewart Canyon.
8. Aylmer Lookout
For those who like trekking, this option is not very complicated, but it is more difficult than the previous ones.
This trail has a total of 12 kilometers one way and another 12 kilometers back and has an ascending slope of 850 meters.
This trail is the continuation of the Stewart Canyon trail, which takes you to a viewpoint on the side of Mount Alymer where you can see the Minnewanka from the top.
Although we started the trail with the intention of reaching the top, when we had gone about 7 kilometers and had already stopped at several of the natural viewpoints that the trail has, we decided to turn around.
9. Johnston Canyon Lower Falls
This trail is easy. Once you park in the Parking del Cañon you will only have to walk 1.2 kilometers (one way) to reach the Lower Falls. The path is through some fenced walkways. Being a very easy trail it is very popular among travelers, keep this in mind if you travel in high season.
10. Johnston Canyon Upper Falls
To access the next section of the canyon, the Upper Falls, you will have to walk 1.5 kilometers from the Lower Falls. Keep reading that point 11 is the next leg of the Johnston canyon trek.
11. Ink Pots
This would be the last stretch of hiking in Johnston Canyon. There is a series of natural pools of varying shades of turquoise in the middle of a meadow. From the parking lot of the Canyon it is almost 6 kilometers (one way), passing through the Lower and Upper Falls before. You should calculate that it will take about 4 hours round trip.
12. Silverton Falls
This trail is little known and very easy to access. You will access it from the Bow Valley Parkway and it is less than 1 kilometer until you reach some beautiful waterfalls. It starts from the Rockbound Lake Trail at Castle Junction.
13. Fairview Lookout
And we arrived at the Lake Louise area. If you want to do a simple route, this is the best option. It barely has 2 kilometers round trip. And you'll have nice views of the Lake and the Fairmont Chateau.
14. Lake Agnes
This trekking is very popular in summer and starts from Louise Lake. The journey is 3.5 kilometers (one way). The trail will take you to Lake Agnes where there is an old tea house.
15. Plain of Six Glaciers
This moderate level ride leaves Lake Louise behind you with panoramic views and ends at Victoria Glacier (there's also a tea house). It has a length of 5.3 kilometers (one way). You can start from the edge of the Louise or connecting to the trail at the end of the Lake Agnes/Beehive Trail.
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PLAN YOUR TRIP STEP BY STEP
I hope you enjoy your trip to Canada a lot and that this article has been useful to you. You can continue reading many more related articles on the blog.
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