Banff, Jasper and Yoho National Park: Perfect five day itinerary for first time visitors
If you are looking for perfect five day trip to make most of the Canadian rockies, this itinerary is for you. Though you can spend a few days in each national park itself, 5 days can be used to get most of what these national parks have to offer. I have listed the itinerary I utilized and you can tweak based on your plans.
Day 1: Arrive at Calgary International Airport
Due to the difference in time between USA and Canada, we arrived early at around 12 pm in Calgary. After having lunch at Calgary, we drove directly to Johnston Canyon at Banff National Park, which is about 2 hour drive from Calgary.
1. Johnston Canyon: It is a winding canyon that cuts through mountain valleys of the bow river. It is home to two major water falls, Upper and Lower falls.
2. Lower fall: The path to lower falls is about 20-25 min one way, relatively easy trail. It is pet friendly. It ends at a cave from where we can take pictures. Usually the cave is slippery and crowded. Unfortunately, the upper fall trail and ink pots were closed at that time for construction. So, we drove from Lower falls trail head to two jack lake which is about 37 min drive.
Lower Falls at Johnston Canyon
3. Two jack lake: It is an emerald green lake and a view point for Mount Rundle. Two jack lake is popular spot for camping, fishing and boating. Only 5 mins drive is Lake Minnewanka which is also a no miss.
Two Jack Lake
4. Lake Minnewanka: We spent our first sunset of our trip at Lake Minnewanka. As the sun sets, beautiful golden light lights up the surrounding mountains and you also see stunning reflection on the crystal clear water of the lake.
Minnewanka Lake
Day 2: Lake Louise and the hike up to Beehive.
1. Lake Louise: As the parking spots filled early, we woke up at 4:45 am and drove 45 min from our hotel at Banff downtown to reach the parking spot at Lake Louise around 5:30 am. There were still lot of spots available when we arrived. After the sunrise, we hiked the loop of Lake Mirror-Tea house-Agnes- Beehive.The loop trail is a 2.5hr to 3 hr hike.
Lake Louise
2. Lake Mirror: It lies on the way of the Loop Trail. The Lake’s crystal clear water creates a perfect reflection of the Big beehive on it making it a perfect spot for photography.
Mirror Lake
The crystal clear water of Mirror lake creates stunning reflection of the Big Beehive above.
3. Lake Agnes: After a short hike from Mirror Lake you reach, lake Agnes. There is an iconic Lake Agnes tea house just by the side of the lake, which serves baked items and tea.
Lake Agnes
Take a moment to enjoy this view from a bench with a hot cup of tea from the nearby lake Agnes teahouse.
4. Little/Big Beehive: Starting from the tea house, you can take a hike to either a little Beehive(short) or Big Beehive(long). We took shorter trail to the little beehive. The view of Lake Louise from the Beehive is simply breathtaking and you should definitely not miss it.
View of Lake Louise from Little Beehive
5. Sulphur Mountain: One of the best ways to view sunset if from Sulphur Mountain. Hiking up to sulphur mountain is also an option but we used Banff Gandola, which is a cable car service and costs 70$/person both way. Hiking one way and taking the Gandola other way is also popular. If you want to have dinner while enjoying the breathtaking sunset, you can reserve your spot at the restaurant at the top of Banff Gandola.
Banff, Gandola.
View from top of Banff, Gandola.
Day 3: Lake Moraine and the hike to Larch valley
1. Lake Moraine: As parking at Lake Moraine is super limited, we woke up at 3: 15 am and reached Lake Moraine around 4:15 am.The parking lot usually close once the parking lot is full.We need to climb up the rockpile to the viewing point of sunrise which is an easy trail of 5- 10 mins. The water in the lake is at its stillest and reflection of snow capped peaks at lake is at its best at Sunrise. Then we started our hike to Larch Valley up to Lake Minnestimma which is about 3.5 to 4 hours round trip.
Moraine Lake
2. Larch Valley: We visited Larch valley during the fall. So, the whole trail was full of fall colors of Larch trees. It was one of the best hikes with breathtaking view of ten Peaks along the way. We reached up to Lake Minnestimma. You can continue your hike to Sentinel pass but we decided to return.Our stay that day was at Jasper city, so we drove in the afternoon.
Larch Valley
View of Sentinel Pass from Larch Valley
3. Herbert Lake, Bow Lake: We stopped on couple of stops on the way to Jasper City along the Icefield Parkway. Both lakes can be viewed from the roadside stops and are photogenic.
Bow Lake
Day 4: Returning from Jasper to Banff with multiple stops along the way
1.Athabasca Falls: It is about 26 mins from Jasper city. It is a 4-5 min walk from the parking. This fall is a beauty with mistful walks and a no miss.18 mins drive from Athabasca fall is Sunwapta Falls.
Athabasca Falls
2. Sunwapta falls: It is also 3-4 mins walk from the parking lot. It is a pair of waterfalls of the Sunwapta River. There is a trail that leads along the canyon if you want to stretch legs.35 mins drive from Sunwapta falls in the Athabasca Glacier.
Sunwapta Falls
Athabasca river plunges down the canyon to create this beautiful fall.
3. Athabasca Glacier: It is the most popular stop of the Icefield Parkway. Hike up to the glacier is about 30 mins one way. Options are available for guided tour/bus tour. Guided tour takes you to the middle of the glacier. We chose to hike to the glacier. About 1 hour drive from the glacier lies the Peyto Lake.
Athabasca Glacier
4. Peyto Lake: Our last stop for the day was Peyto Lake. Peyto lake is about 15 mins easy hike from the parking lot. The trail is paved. We viewed the lake from the viewing point and the most unique feature of the lake is its shape. We returned to Banff city in the evening. The drive itself is mesmerizing with multiple lakes along the way and glaciers on top of most of the mountains.
Peyto Lake
Day 5: Yoho National Park
1. Vermillion lake: It is a 6 min drive from the town of Banff. The sunrise in Vermillion lake is refreshing with reflection of peak on the river.
Vermillion Lake, a popular spot to view sunrise near the the town of Banff.
2. Wapta falls: We drove up to wapta falls which is about 1.5 hr drive. You could hike up to the fall but we took pictures from distant.Next stop was Natural Bridge which is about 37 mins from wapta falls.
View of Wapta Falls from Wapta Falls Recreation Site.
3.Natural bridge: It lies on the side of road and has an impressive natural rock formation with flow of the Kicking Horse River. 30 mins drive from natural bridge lies Emerald Lake.
Natural Bridge, Yoho National Park
4.Emerald lake: It is one of the turquoise lakes and is beautiful. We took a short walk alongside the lake.
Emerald Lake
5.Takakkaw Falls: It was the last stop for the day. It is about 15 mins drive from the highway. On the way is a spot to see the spiral tunnel. There is an easy hike which takes 10-15 mins up to the fall, though fall can also be seen from the road.
Takakkaw Falls
On sunny days, the mist from the falls creates a beautiful rainbow at the base of the falls which can be from a little distance from the falls and disappears as you reach the falls.
Town of Banff
The town of Banff itself is no less than any hiking destination. It is a small town with multiple hotels to stay, fancy restaurants to dine and gift shops to bring on-of-the-kind pieces. The walk by the shops is relaxing. Big bow river passes by the side and follows along the way with peaks of Mt. Rundle and Mt. Rundle fills the horizon.
Before you go to Banff National Park
1.Where to stay?
The most popular airpot to reach Banff is Calgary International Airpot. Drive to Banff town is 1.5 hr. The popular spots to stay are:
-Banff city: Multiple hotels are available
-Canmore(more affordable, less touristy): 22 min from Banff city.
-Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise (hotel at the side of Lake Louise.
2. Is car rental available?
– You can either get car rental from the Calgary Airport. Another option is to get rental through Turo, which we found cheaper than traditional car rental. The Turo host also provided us with Banff National Park pass which was great.
3.What else do I need?
– If you are planning for hiking, bear spray and umbrella/Poncho is a must. Don’t forget to bring a torch/head light.
– If you are not an early bird, there is option of a shuttle bus which can take you to Lake Louise, Lake Moraine, Johnston Canyon and such. Make sure to book it 1-2 days in advance.
