Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta has been on my to-travel list for a very long time!
But because it’s so far south in Alberta (super close to the U.S. border), and I’m based in Edmonton, it felt *just* far enough away that other adventure spots in the province took priority. (A different story if you’re in Calgary area—it’s not too far from Calgary, lucky Calgarians lol).
That was really my big mistake because after finally visiting Waterton this August 2022—I am IN LOVE and deep in regret for not having travelled to Waterton sooner.
My late August visit was in partnership with Waterton Lakes National Park Tourism, and all views stated in this post are my own. Unless you get bad weather during your visit, I can’t see anyone not falling in love with this place lol.
I’ve put together a little Travel Guide for What to do, Where to Stay and Food to Try in Waterton Lakes National Park, plus general what to know + tips to help you plan your visit!
Explore Alberta: What to Do + Where to Eat in Waterton Lakes National Park
Where is Waterton Lakes National Park?
Waterton Lakes is located in southwest Alberta, basically situated on the Alberta-Montana border (the border is that close), in traditional territory of the Niitsitapi (Blackfoot).
Waterton Lakes covers about 505 square kilometres and has a very long history—in fact the earliest evidence of hunting and gathering here dates back more than 10,000 years.
Niitsitapii (Blackfoot) and K’tunaxa people are said to have hunted bison and collected plants for food and medicine in Waterton Lakes as far back as that time.
Waterton Lake itself actually runs across the border so if you hop on a boat and hit the water—you can actually cross into the United States via the lake!
This national park is a 3-hour drive from Calgary, Alberta and a 5.5-hour drive from Edmonton, Alberta, with the nearest city to Waterton being Lethbridge, Alberta, a 1.5-hour drive away.
What makes Waterton Lakes National Park special?
Waterton Lakes is super special because it holds several significant designations.
- Waterton became a protected park in Canada in the late 1800s, but officially became a National Park in 1930—making it Canada’s fourth national park.
- Waterton became an International Peace Park in 1932—making it the first international peace park in the world. Today there are nearly 200 international peace parks. Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, Canada and Glacier National Park in Montana, U.S.A., work co-operatively to maintain the park, promote peace and goodwill between the two nations, and also together support and protect the wilderness and wildlife that calls the area home.
- Waterton became a Biosphere Reserve in 1979—at the time Canada’s second biosphere reserve (and now one of only 19). It was also the first biosphere reserve to include a national park at its core. The biosphere reserve designation means that the area implements practical approaches to balancing biodiversity conservation and sustainable human use of the land.
- Waterton (together with its sister Glacier National Park) became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995, declaring the area has ‘Outstanding Universal Value’ due to its distinctive climate, physiographic setting, mountain-prairie interface and tri-ocean hydrographical divide. It is an area of significant scenic values with abundant and diverse flora and fauna—in fact, Waterton is also known as the Wildflower Capital of Canada with 600 different types of wildflowers in the park.
- In 2017, Waterton Lakes-Glacier National Park became the first trans-boundary International Dark Sky Association – International Dark Sky Park. This means both national parks are home to incredibly dark skies, and both parks have made a commitment to protect and preserve these high-quality conditions—reducing the amount of light that is sent up into the sky at night (making them a perfect place to stargaze!)
Waterton is also the only national park in Alberta—even Canada—that goes from prairies to mountain. This typography is unique—as the other national parks and access to Rocky Mountain areas typically include a stint along the foothills first. It’s considered a rare phenomenon and combo of terrain you can’t find anywhere else—with wetlands, lakes and rivers, prairie, aspen parkland, montane and sub-alpine forests and alpine areas.
So as you can see, Waterton is pretty special! We learned a lot of these fun facts and interesting history on a few tours during our visit (that I’ll share more about below).
But it really doesn’t take much to get a local telling you why Waterton is an amazing place, and one that is definitely worth a visit!!!
What should you do in Waterton Lakes National Park?
Most people who visit Waterton are there for outdoor adventure—it’s hard not to when you’re surrounded by these stunning mountains and lakes!
But as a self-described perpetual beginner adventurer, who often travels with advanced adventurers, I am happy to report that there are many outdoor adventure options, including many beautiful hikes in Waterton, that range from beginner-friendly, short and quick trips to long and intensive, advanced, full-day outings—and everything in between.
There really is all sorts of Waterton adventure options to satisfy all sorts of adventurers!
Here are a few adventures my friend Brittney and I got up to during this Waterton trip:
- Red Rock Canyon
- Blakiston Falls
- Cameron Falls
- Cameron Lake
- Dark Sky Guides (Night Hike + Stargazing)
- Waterton Shoreline Cruise (of Waterton Lake)
- Bison Paddock Loop
- Waterton Lakes View at Prince of Wales Hotel
Read on for details on these adventures!
Red Rock Canyon
When in Waterton, you can’t miss Red Rock Canyon! This is one of the most popular hiking areas in Waterton Lakes National Park, as it’s a single starting point to many different hiking trails.
The canyon itself has rocks red caused from iron oxide (red because the iron makes the rocks rust!) It’s super easy to get down to the canyon floor from the parking lot (steps! and there are also other canyon floor access points but the parking lot spot is definitely the closest).
Note there are signs that say entering the canyon is done so at your own risk (be careful!) but it is not prohibited lol.
From Red Rock Canyon, you can access 10 different hiking trails that range from short and easy to difficult day trip, to difficult MULTI-day trips. So it depends on the adventure you’re looking for, but simply doing the Red Rock Canyon Loop trail, and accessing the canyon floor, is a perfect way to spend some time at this iconic spot in Waterton.
The winding road to the canyon is often considered an adventure of its own too!
We went early morning during a weekday (around 9:30 a.m.) and had the canyon floor all to ourselves for about an hour!
Blakiston Falls
Blakiston Falls is a popular waterfall to check out in Waterton because it’s another easier one to access—it’s just about 1 km from Red Rock Canyon, making it a perfect pairing of an adventure!
That’s what we did—Red Rock Canyon and Blakiston Falls together in one morning (it just makes good adventure sense lol).
Along this trail you’re surrounded by Lodgepole Pines (many of which have been burnt due to the Kenow Wildfire that burned through Waterton in 2017), along with a lot of the regrowth since the fire—including lots of wildflowers too.
In fact, unofficially (it already has so many designations, how many more can it manage? lol) Waterton is the Wildflower Capital of Canada!
You will see a lot of burnt trees along the Waterton landscape in general, no matter where you end up in the national park as a result of the fire, but locals are amazed at how quickly things have grown back since 2017—and that’s credited to Waterton’s amazing biodiversity and location has all helped expedite the regrowth.
Once you get to Blakiston Falls you can access two main platforms to take in stunning views of the valley and the falls itself. To be honest the valley to me, is more impressive than the falls (it’s just so teeny set against the mountains—and I am partial to waterfalls you can get up close to, which this is not it), but it’s still one of those really nice, rewarding views for not the most difficult hike. (We also did this trail for our Dark Sky Guide tour during this trip—more on that below—and our tour guide called the hike a walk lol). There is some elevation to get to the falls but not too much, so very do-able / labelled as being for beginners and ‘easy.’
We split up platforms for photos—to take a few from both platforms, smartphone zooms do wonders theses days though you’d likely get better shots with professional cameras lol.
Because we did this hike before lunchtime on a weekday, we had the platforms to ourselves (yay!) but on our way back to the parking lot we passed maybe 20 people on their way to the Falls—so like with most of my hiking suggestions, going early if you can is going to be a lot better for not only weather but for lack of crowds and better photos!
Dark Sky Guides (Night Hike + Stargazing)
Something I had never experienced before Waterton was a guided night hike!
Dark Sky Guides is a family-owned tour guide company that offers guided interpretive nighttime tours and stargazing opportunities in Waterton Lakes National Park!
Our super friendly, knowledgable and awesome guide Keith picked us up at our hotel (there were five of us total), drove us out to the trailhead, provided us with head lamps and some assurances about how he has bear spray (lol), and then we were off on our short mountain hike before arriving at a stargazing viewing destination.
The locations of where your Dark Sky Guide takes you will vary depending on the tour package you are on—as well as what the weather is looking like that night.
Keith said for our Dark Sky tour, we were lucky enough to have gotten one of the stillest, clearest skies of the summer. He counted maybe 10-12 other nights this entire summer that were as perfect for stargazing as ours!!
For our hike and viewing destination, we parked at the Red Rock Canyon lot and then took the short (approximately 1 km) hike to Blakiston Falls, which as I’ve shared, has different waterfall viewing platforms which also double as great stargazing viewing platforms!
I really enjoyed Keith’s fun facts. He is a born and raised Watertonian (? lol local!) and had a lot of great perspective to share. He also shared more than just about the stars—but about Waterton itself. I also did feel quite safe—because I could not imagine stumbling through a pitch black forest without a knowledgable guide who knows these trails like the back of his hand.
We were able to see the Milky Way, Jupiter, Saturn, the Vega star, and your more typical constellations. Keith also passed on a Blackfoot story about the creation of the Milky Way—which was shared to us with permission by local Elders who shared the story with him.
As I mentioned, Waterton is an International Dark Sky Park, so this is one of the very best places in the world to see the stars—and the park is continually working to keep the skies dark.
Our Dark Sky Guides tour was fantastic. I highly recommend it when in Waterton!
Waterton Shoreline Cruise Co. (Scenic Cruise)
The marina at Waterton Lakes is an awesome spot to walk, wade, swim, paddle, and take in other water activities—with easy access pretty much right from the road. We saw lots of swimmers, stand-up paddle boarders, and people out with their floaties on the lake during our few-days stay. We also saw a lot of motorized boats departing and arriving at the marina—and even went on one ourselves via the Waterton Shoreline Cruise Co.!
For over 60 years, the Waterton Shoreline Cruise Co. has been taking visitors out onto Waterton Lakes, sharing all sorts of great history, information about the wildlife and biodiversity of the park, and of course, showing visitors spectacular views by water.
Our tour was 1.5 hours, making it an easy trip to take on our final morning in Waterton. Lots of people will take the boat / ferries out to access certain hiking trails like Goat Haunt or Crypt Lake.
During your cruise you cross international border into the United States via water—and the captain / your guide points out different points along the mountain and shore that indicate when you’ve made your border crossing. It’s pretty neat! And supports the whole International Peace Park / cross-border co-operation thing.
It’s just super nice to be out on the water and experience Waterton Lakes this way!!
Cameron Falls
Right in Waterton you can easily access Cameron Falls, one of Waterton’s most famous and most photographed spots!
The Google Maps marker is a bit off on this one, the falls are located right at the end of the road you come into Waterton on—instead of turning left where the sign says All Services—you just keep driving straight past residential homes, and you’ll come to a slope off your right when you can drive into a parking lot and immediately access Cameron Falls.
Apparently this is a popular spot for fishing though I couldn’t see where people can access the water—or else I would’ve gone in for a little wade/swim myself!
There are interpretive displays around the area, as well as a short, paved path on the right hand side of the falls that takes you up a bit higher for a different perspective.
To the left of the falls is your access to point to another popular waterfall / hike—Lower Bertha Falls, which is considered another shorter, easy hike you can take, right from the townsite. We didn’t but it’s definitely a popular option!
There is no hike involved to see / snap photos / experience Cameron Falls though—you can walk from town, or walk a few steps straight from the parking lot and it’s right there, which makes it a great, accessible destination!
Cameron Lake
I mentioned how easy some adventures are to experience in Waterton—from Cameron Falls right in the town site to Cameron Lake, which is an easy, scenic drive to get to just outside Waterton!
If you’re looking for a lovely spot to spend a few hours or the day—take the scenic drive along the Akamina Parkway to Cameron Lake.
The Akamina Parkway runs 16 km along the Cameron Valley, ending at Cameron Lake, with many notable hiking trails and stops you can make along the way.
We didn’t stop for it, but you can see the First Oil Well in Western Canada National Historic Site along this road (yes—Waterton Lakes used to allow oil / resource extraction before it became a protected national park!)
Akamina Parkway is also your access point to Crandell Lake, Lineham Falls, Rowe Lakes, Akamina Pass, Cameron Lakeshore and Carthew-Alderson (Summit Lake).
But Cameron Lake itself is where we ended up enjoying a cute and casual lunch adventure.
We picked up a ‘Hiker’s Lunch’ from Tamarack Outdoors (more on that below), and settled in for lunch with a lake and mountain view at this popular day use area.
You can take a trail along the western shore of the lake for 1.6 kilometres, or rent kayaks, paddles, fishing rods and more, to enjoy your day at this lake! We saw lots of people headed out on watercraft rentals, and lots just wading along the shore.
Waterton Lakes View at Prince of Wales Hotel
Waterton is home to the historic Prince of Wales Hotel, which was built by the Great Northern Railway in 1927. It is designated as a National Historic Site and is the most iconic structure in Waterton.
It was apparently named after the Prince of Wales in an attempt to entice him to stay in the hotel on his 1927 Canadian tour, but he didn’t (lol).
Even if you don’t stay at the hotel, this is a destination (a must-stop especially for first-time Waterton visitors) to check out its beautiful views of the lake, take in High Tea, or do nightly ghost (and historical tours). The ghosts of the Prince of Wales Hotel of course are not confirmed lol but it is always fun to hear about.
There is parking right up at the hotel however if you aren’t a hotel guest, they charge $10 if you plan to stay more than 30 minutes. So if you’re just looking to pop into the hotel quickly and check out the beautiful (but windy) view point, you should in theory be able to do it in less than 30 minutes. But if you need more time for photos (lol like me usually), and/or you are planning to have a meal or do High Tea (like we did), you will need more than 30 minutes.
The view point is beautiful (you can actually hike up to it as well from the town site if you don’t want to pay for parking lol). But it is WINDY! (in general, Waterton can be windy).
I write more about our High Tea experience below!
Bison Paddock Loop
Just outside of Waterton you’ll come across the Bison Paddock Loop, a short, scenic road that takes you through Waterton’s Bison Paddock (home to many bison!)
This can be hit or miss if you spot a bison but your chances are pretty darn good. You can get some hints as to the popular bison viewing locations as there are some turn offs for viewpoints built into the looped road. This is a super easy adventure you can do in Waterton and it’s entirely from your vehicle! (You’re asked not to exit the vehicle as that can be very dangerous!) We stopped into the Bison Paddock on our way out of Waterton and were thinking we were out of luck until close to the end of the loop when we spotted a bunch grazing in the grasslands! You also get some stunning views of the mountains along this route.
Bison is actually newly re-introduced to Waterton Lakes National Park as of 2021. They had been relocated after the 2017 Kenow wildfire.
Waterton Lakes National Park has been home to a herd of plains bison, consisting of five to 20 bisons at a time, in its bison paddock since 1952!
… and literally so much more!
We did basically very easy (and still breathtaking) adventures, but there’s so many more experiences (including challenging experiences) you can try, like the popular Crypt Lake Hike.
You can check out a list of all hikes in Waterton (organized by easy, moderate, difficult, and other useful categories) on the Waterton Tourism Trails Website.
While in town you can also check out the new Waterton Lakes Visitor Centre with different exhibits, interpretive experiences, and depending on when you go—short tours.
There’s also the Paahtómahksikimi (Blackfoot) Cultural Centre that’s well worth a visit too!
Where should you eat in Waterton Lakes National Park?
During our short visit to Waterton, we got to try a lot of local eateries! I was actually pleasantly surprised to find so many local restaurant options in Waterton—given how tiny the town is.
There’s actually so many local restaurant options you can also plan a visit around their annual ‘Taste of Waterton‘ food festival that takes place each May!
Here’s a bit of food inspiration to help plan your eats in Waterton Lakes National Park:
- Kilmorey Lodge Restaurant
- Pearl’s Cafe
- Pizza of Waterton
- Wieners of Waterton
- Switch Espresso + Hiker’s Pantry (at Tamarack)
- Lakeside Chophouse
- Prince of Wales Hotel
Read on for more details on these eateries!
Kilmorey Lodge Restaurant
We stayed at the newly re-built Kilmorey Lodge during our Waterton visit and so of course, had to have dinner at the lodge’s restaurant!
What we learned about menus in Waterton is that bison and other wildlife like elk are definitely on the menu—so this would be a perfect place to give those meats a try.
Here’s what we ate:
- Saskatoon Berry Sparkling Lemonade with Saskatoon berry sauce, lemonade, 7 Up (non-alcoholic)
- Strawberry Mint Fizz with Strawberry sauce, mint leaves, cream soda, splash of soda (non-alcoholic)
- Elk Meatballs cooked golden brown and tossed in apricot BBQ sauce with green onion. Served with garlic bread
- Pasta Light Delight pasta with linguine noodles tossed with sliced mushroom, tomato, artichoke, and Italian herbs in a white wine sauce. (or cream / tomato sauce substitute). With freshly grated parmesan cheese and garlic bread. We added prawns
- Blackened Bison Ribeye with Cafe Paris Butter – 9 ounces
The elk meatballs were the stand-out dish for me! We later try bison lasagna at a different Waterton restaurant which I preferred to the bison ribeye (but still happy to have tried it).
Pearl’s Cafe
Pearl’s Cafe is a great spot for drinks, breakfast, take-away hiking lunches, and it shares the same building / kitchen with Pizza of Waterton (which I write more about below)—so you can also order Pizza of Waterton items too.
Here’s what we ate:
- Stuffed Blueberry French Toast with fresh blueberries folded into cream cheese and stuffed into a piece of brioche, dipped in special house egg mixture, fried golden brown, served with whipped cream, maple syrup and blueberry compote
- Farmer’s Breakfast with two choices of either two pieces of bacon, ham or sausage, with two eggs cooked how you like, pancake and two pieces of white or brown toast
Pizza of Waterton
Pizza of Waterton, as I mentioned, shares a space with Pearl’s Cafe. This pizzeria has been in Waterton for more than 20 years, offers signature ‘zas, plus custom / build your own pizza options, and a great, dog-friendly patio! We decided to order a custom pizza to go, and enjoyed it out on our balcony overlooking the lake from our Kilmorey Lodge room!
We are big fans of jalapeños and both agreed that the jalapeños from Pizza of Waterton were the spiciest we had ever tasted! We wondered if they like soaked it in additional spice or something—our mouths were on fire eating this pizza. In a good way (spicy lovers will know lol).
Wieners of Waterton
Another popular eatery in Waterton is Wieners of Waterton, which is, well exactly what it sounds like. lol This is your go-to spot in Waterton for hot dogs and smokies—but they also have a falafel Vegetarian option too!
Wieners of Waterton offers a ton of customizable topping options (one of my favourite things to do is customize my food toppings lol), so I loaded mine with jalapeños, banana peppers, a pickle, a bit of sauerkraut and onions too. My friend (who is German) happily loaded up on sauerkraut.
They also have some tasty fries and a selection of fry sauces, and I liked their housemade raspberry lemonade!
Switchback Espresso + Hiker’s Pantry at Tamarack
I mentioned earlier that our Cameron Lake adventure included a take-out Hiker’s Lunch prepared at Switchback Espresso + Hiker’s Pantry inside the Tamarack Outdoors adventure store, but wanted to make sure I mentioned it in the food section of the travel guide too!
Your Hiker’s Lunch includes a made-to-order, customizable sandwich, granola bar, fruit and vegetable. You can also order smoothies and espresso drinks to get your day started here.
I think a lot of hikers can appreciate fuelling up on their adventures with these packed lunches!
Lakeside Chophouse
We had an excellent dinner at Lakeside Chophouse, overlooking (you guessed it) the lake!
This is considered the only lakefront restaurant in the park (we grabbed a patio spot to truly enjoy it)—though the Kilmorey Lodge Restaurant patio does also face the lake, there’s just more trees in the way lol.
Here’s what we ate:
- Pomegranate Fresh (non-alcoholic drink) with Fresh lime, orange and pomegranate juice with soda.
- Rocky Mountain Burst (non-alcoholic drink) that’s a frozen blend of strawberry or peach (we got both) topped with soda water.
- Szechuan Lettuce Wraps with Szechuan chili sauce, bell peppers, cucumber, scallion, sesame, spicy yogurt and your choice of chicken, tofu or prawns (we chose chicken).
- Brussel Sprouts with lemon, capers, chillies, Parmigiano-Reggiano.
- Grilled Dijon Salmon with Lois Lake steelhead, buttered mashed potatoes, roasted asparagus, soy-dijon butter sauce.
- Bison Lasagna – a feature for when we visited—with ricotta, spinach, and local, organic bison.
Everything was delicious here! From the drinks to the brussel sprouts (super crispy), to the lettuce wraps (this could really be its own meal too but it’s considered an appetizer), to the salmon and buttered mashed potatoes (fish flakey—mashed potatoes so creamy), and the bison lasagna (I preferred this preparation of bison to the rib-eye from Kilmorey Lodge).
Prince of Wales Hotel
Lots of people visit the Prince of Wales Hotel for its history as well as its amazing views of the lake—and many take in those views from their dining room for afternoon High Tea (like us!)
High Tea is a very British thing (which makes sense as the hotel is named after the Prince of Wales). If you’ve never been to a High Tea, it basically involves selecting and drinking tea, and then nibbling on sweet and savoury treats presented on a three tier stand.
There are usually a selection of sandwiches on the bottom tier, scones and other baked pastries in the middle, and then more dessert items on the top tier.
High Tea is served from 12-4 p.m. each day.
Guests also get free take-home tea from the gift shop as part of their visit too!
I always get questions about whether High Tea is ‘worth it’ / whether the food is filling and my answer is—for me—it’s never usually the most filling (we had High Tea at 3 p.m. and had a dinner planned for 7 p.m. the same night so it was sort of like a late lunch / light snack before dinner for us). If you love baked goods and treats then you’ll love High Tea, but personally I’d love if all three tiers were sandwiches and other savoury items with meat lol.
But actually the price of this High Tea, I think is well worth it (about $35 per person)—if you factor in that you can select more than one tea (we each had two teas), the food, the spectacular view and vibe, and then the take-home free tea too! I’d say most High Tea experiences for me is the experience of actually doing it in the iconic building, or connected to some iconic history, than it is that the High Tea is going to be a super filling / food experience lol.
… and that’s really just to name a few things to eat around Waterton!
Like with ‘things to do’—there’s a lot of adventure left for me to try in Waterton, so I can’t wait to come back for that while fuelling up at even more local restaurants in the region.
What else should you know about Waterton Lakes National Park?
As I’ve mentioned—Waterton gets BUSY but when we were there, it was perfect. If you’re able to, aim for early or late summer weekdays for your visit, versus the sure-to-be crowded weekends.
Waterton Lakes National Park is open year-round, but not all services are!
Waterton Lakes National Park itself is accessible year-round but it’s just a very different trip when it’s not summer (their main tourist and activity season), as most services are closed during wintertime. A handful of hotels including the Kilmorey Lodge stay open, and you may find a restaurant or two open, but it’s really not quite the same experience as during the summertime.
I do think when we went (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday of the last week of August before the long weekend) was *perfect* because most of the crowds come on the weekend so much of the activities we did felt quite intimate and uncrowded, which was so nice (especially since we are still in a pandemic at the time of the visit and writing this post). I know some people who went the weekend prior and the weekend after we visited and their biggest comment was how crowded things felt lol.
Even if you go during a weekend, you can still try to avoid crowds by doing early morning or later evening hikes/adventures—as most of the crowds would be during your main daytime hours.
In terms of winter visits, we were told that people do winter camp in Waterton, and cross-country skiing, backcountry skiing, as well as snowshoeing are popular winter activities (the trails and roads are maintained during winter)—but as there isn’t a downhill ski option in the area, those winter activities really aren’t that popular.
Our stay at the historic Kilmorey Lodge
During our visit, we stayed at the newly-rebuilt Kilmorey Lodge, which actually has a long history in the community. The original lodge was built in 1926, and has gone through a few iterations due to different fires (ghostly fires??? lol) with the most recent fire in 2009.
When we visited the last week of August 2022—the Kilmorey Lodge had only JUST re-opened, so we lucked out, getting to experience lovely, brand new rooms. The lodge has rooms with balconies overlooking the lake and you can even see the Prince of Wales Hotel from those balcony rooms.
Kilmorey Lodge is also one of the few hotels that stay open through winter in Waterton—which is something you should know about the area. Most of the town, its hotels, and restaurants, shut down after the summer season. In fact, during our weekday visit, the staff of many places we went to were buzzing with anticipation as they were headed into the final weekend (September long weekend) of being open.
Lots of local shops to check out
Waterton isn’t very big, but its main streets are packed with some great local shops—and they’re all family-owned.
As I mentioned, Tamarack Outdoors is a great adventure store and cafe that is stocked with pretty much anything and everything you’d need for any sort of adventure (apparel, gear, etc.) Its Switchback Espresso + Hiker’s Pantry cafe is also a great option for local drinks and snacks for your day’s adventure. And they also are a great option to do guided hikes and adventures too!
Pat’s is your ‘go-to’ store in Waterton—not only is it a hub for different adventure equipment rentals (like bikes, e-bikes, kayaks), it’s also your local gas station as well as convenience store. Their slogan is ‘if you need it, we have it’ lol and we did need bug spray late at night at Pat’s was open and did have it! I would love to try Pat’s e-bike rentals on my next visit!!
There’s also a cute Book Nook that’s part of the Akamina Gifts shop—home to the largest selection of books in Waterton. The gift shop itself is another family-owned spot, serving Waterton for more than 100 years.
—
So I hope this travel guide helps you plan your visit to Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta!
I had such an unforgettable visit—I truly cannot wait to return.
Thanks to Waterton Tourism for partnering with me on experiencing and highlighting this incredible national park and so many of the gems it has to offer.
- Get more travel inspiration on Waterton Tourism’s website
- Check out my Lindork Does Life YouTube Channel for an upcoming Waterton Travel Video (and check out my other travel vlogs!)
Note: my visit to Waterton Lakes National Park was sponsored. Experiences were hosted by Waterton Tourism. This does not impact opinions or views stated in this post—I love exploring Alberta, including its stunning national parks like Waterton!
Linda
- Follow @lindork on Twitter
- Follow @lindork on Instagram
- Like Lindork – Linda Hoang on Facebook
- Follow @lindork on TikTok
- Subscribe to my YouTube Channel
If you live or work in the Edmonton, Alberta area, or care about Edmonton content, sign up for my hyperlocal newsletter to get weekly recommendations on things to do, eat, and know this week (in the Edmonton area), plus more exclusive content. You can sign up for a free or paid subscription.
SIGN UP FOR MY EMAIL NEWSLETTER
(You’ll get the option to select free or paid after you enter your email).
