This summer: Explore the Canadian Rocky Mountains in Alberta and British Columbia!
It’s breathtaking. It’s wild and wonderful. And it’s so close! For me—and locals reading this—the Canadian Rockies in Alberta and B.C., are literally in our own and neighbouring provincial backyard. While it’s really easy to forget or take for granted that some of the most beautiful spaces in the world are RIGHT with us, this is your reminder! Make your plans to Explore Alberta and British Columbia.
Use this Travel Guide I worked on with Pursuit Banff Jasper Collection to help plan your all ages and all ability-levels adventure to Jasper and Banff, Alberta, and Golden, B.C.
- Check out my other Canadian Rocky Mountain Travel Guides too!
- Join Pursuit Rewards for free to get deals on your Canadian Rocky adventures!
- Learn more about savings with a Pursuit Pass!
Feel free to reach out if you have more questions or need more suggestions for the mountains.
Explore Alberta & B.C. – Canadian Rocky Mountain Adventure Guide
📍 Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada
📍 Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada
📍 Golden, British Columbia, Canada
Note: I worked with Pursuit Banff Jasper Collection for this trip!
This does not affect the recommendations or opinions featured in the blog.
📍 In Jasper, Alberta…
1. Go on a Maligne Lake Cruise to Spirit Island
🚤 Take a beautiful Maligne Lake boat cruise to Spirit Island, and learn more about the region’s history while experiencing the breathtaking scenery.
For these lake cruises, you can choose from 1.5 or 2 hour interpretive cruises where guides share a lot of interesting history and details about the geology and glacialogy of the area. I especially appreciated the land acknowledgement and shared significance of Spirit Island to the Indigenous Stoney Nakoda First Nation, who believe mountains are physical representations of their ancestors. The fact that Spirit Island is surrounded on three sides by the same mountain range is very rare and makes it particularly significant to the Stoney people as well.
It was also interesting to learn about the history of the first non-Indigenous person to witness the lake, Mary Schaffer, considered a trailblazer as a woman adventurer travelling without relative men, following simply a hand-drawn map back in 1908.
Spirit Island is only really accessible by boat (technically you could paddle there, but it would be upwards of eight hours round trip so this is not something commonly done, or possible for many visitors). Most of the island is off limits to preserve the land, but you do get a stunning view of what Schaffer described as the “Hall of Gods” (third photo pictured!), believing it to be a suitable, stunning location for Gods to convene on Earth. The area is actually called a “box canyon” — a narrow canyon with a flat bottom and vertical walls, and the waters are glacier-fed, meaning the water gets that iconic emerald colour the further south you travel.
Kids age 5 and under are free on these cruises. There are restaurants, gift shops, boat rentals, and various hiking trails at Maligne Lake before or after you depart that can keep you busy in the area all day too.
2. Check out Public Art in Jasper
🎨 Check out public art around the Town of Jasper, including new UpLift Mural Festival pieces, a new outdoor Indigenous exhibit, and a freshly painted Jasper the Bear statue.
I really love how these bright, colourful, eye-catching public art pieces not only offer an alternate activity for folks visiting town who maybe don’t have an intense hiking itinerary, but also tell the town and region’s story to locals and visitors alike. Depending on when you visit, you might be able to book an UpLift Mural Festival tour too
The central piece of the new outdoor Indigenous exhibit features a large bronze sculpture of an eagle landing on a large sphere created by sculptor Lionel Peyachew. Words from six different Indigenous languages including Anishinaabe, Cree, Dene-zaa, Michif, Secwepemctsín and Stoney are displayed on the sphere. Below the sphere is a representation of original beaded artwork created by Lisa Shepherd and Kristi Bridgeman, which is on display in the nearby Visitor Information Centre.
Then throughout the exhibit along the walking paths you’ll find a mix of community and artist panels with community and artist stories of connection to Jasper. It’s really beautiful and well worth a stop during your exploration of town.
3. Eat Great Food at Terra Restaurant and Aalto Pyramid Lake Lodge
🐟 Eat really good food, like steak and salmon dinner from Terra Restaurant at The Crimson Hotel and breakfast from Aalto Restaurant at Pyramid Lake Lodge with duck bowls and egg bennies. I really liked the crunchy kale texture with my duck, topped with Duck Jus Hollandaise. Benjimin also loved his kids Mac n Cheese. And you could plan to rent canoes to enjoy Pyramid Lake! 🛶
4. Go up the Jasper SkyTram
🚡 The Jasper SkyTram makes reaching a mountain peak accessible! That’s what I love about skytrams and gondola experiences. In just a short, 7 minute ride up you’ve summited a mountain.
There’s a sign at the SkyTram that puts it really well:
“For many people, the dream of reaching a peak is one they will carry with them their entire lives. Not everyone can get there by themselves. It was fro those folks that the Jasper SkyTram was built. The attraction opened July 3, 1964, for the first time making Whistlers Mountain accessible to people of all abilities, ages, and backgrounds. Not everyone likes to, or can, climb a mountain, but everyone can now see the sensational view one gets from the top of a peak.” I think that’s a beautiful sentiment, and love that focus on mountain adventure accessibility.
Once you’ve gone up to the top of Whistlers Mountain you can—at your leisure—walk the boardwalk, hike, or have a meal at Summit Cafe, 7,424 ft above sea level. Few restaurants offer views like this!
5. Stay at Miette Mountain Cabins
🏡 Stay at the cute Miette Mountain Cabins.
They have great public spaces including and outdoor space with twinkly lights and fire pits, or an indoor space with comfy couches, complimentary coffee, tea, cookies, and a game room to entertain all ages. There’s also a little playground for your littles too and although devastatingly the outdoor pool was under renovations for our visit, I can see that pool being a huge perk for your stay!
6. Drive the Icefields Parkway to Banff (and stop for adventures along the way)
🚗 On your way to Banff to continue your Canadian Rockies adventure, head down the iconic Icefields Parkway—where you can make a bunch of scenic stops along the way, like Columbia Icefields Discovery Centre or Sunwapta Falls near Jasper or Peyto Lake near Lake Louise.
There’s lots of glacier lookouts along the way and lots of reasons to plan multiple stops!
See my video recommendations for Jasper, Alberta!
View this post on Instagram
📍 In Banff, Alberta…
1. Go on a Beer Voyage on Lake Minnewanka!
Go on a Lake Minnewanka Cruise Beer Voyage! 🍻 Sample local Alberta beer while learning about and taking in the beauty of the glacial lake, Banff’s largest. This lake is popular for fishing and there’s even a fully submerged town under the water, which runs as deep as a hundred and 48 meters. If beer’s not your thing they also offer regular cruises, kids cruises and fishing boats! We really enjoyed our cruise, our captain and boat host, meet and greeting with craft brewers, our seatmates (visiting from England!) and taking in the stunning views of the Canadian Rockies by boat.
2. Head up the Banff Gondola!
Okay well, we didn’t actually get to go up the Banff Gondola during this recent visit 😅 because we were late for our scheduled time and the next available time didn’t work for us oops lol.
The Gondola gets thousands of visitors a day so pre-booking and arriving on time is really important! I did ride up last year though it was a really lovely thing to do.
Similar to the Jasper SkyTram, the Banff Gondola helps you summit a mountain pretty effortlessly.
The Banff Gondola is an 8-minute ride up to the Sulphur Mountain summit (that’s 2,292 feet!) Once you’re at the top there is an interpretive centre, a family experience, a theatre, mountain views, and dining! What’s extra lovely is the Banff Gondola is fully accessible for folks with limited mobility.
I know I could never hike this mountain with my aging parents, but doing it by gondola made summiting and the memories and photo moments atop, possible.
3. Dine at Farm and Fire or Brazen in the Town of Banff.
During our visit we had a great brunch at Farm and Fire Restaurant located inside Elk + Avenue hotel. Order Bison bennies and lox smoked salmon, and for dinner, head to Brazen Restaurant located inside the Mount Royal Hotel. The steak at Brazen is amazing but so are their appetizers, like the kimchi meatballs and pork belly. The ginger beef presentation is really fun too. And the cocktails are excellent! Pursuit hotel restaurants (and accommodations) always deliver.
4. Explore the Town of Banff!
Of course explore the iconic Town of Banff and its many shops. It’s free to hike Bow Falls Trail or drive to the Bow Falls viewpoint. Head to the Surprise Corner Fairmont Banff Springs and Canadian Rockies viewpoint. Or walk along the beautiful Bow River in town.
Our hotel Elk + Avenue is steps way from all the town action. We loved our loft room! And the hotel also lent us umbrellas during a rainy afternoon portion of our visit.
5. Drive the Icefields Parkway to Jasper (and stop for adventures along the way)
🚗 On your way to Jasper to continue your Canadian Rockies adventure, head up the iconic Icefields Parkway—where you can make a bunch of scenic stops along the way, like Peyto Lake near Lake Louise or the Columbia Icefields Discovery Centre or Sunwapta Falls near Jasper.
There’s lots of glacier lookouts along the way and lots of reasons to plan multiple stops!
See my video recommendations for Banff, Alberta!
📍 In Golden, British Columbia…
Cross Canada’s highest suspension bridges!
During our brief trip to Golden, B.C., we had a pretty memorable experience at the Golden Skybridge. This was the main reason for venturing into Golden and I would highly recommend if you love a bit of adrenaline and do well with heights!
If you’re headed to Banff National Park, or road tripping into B.C., the exhilarating Golden Skybridge should be on your itinerary! This adventure park is home to two of the highest suspension bridges in Canada. Here you’re treated to epic views of the Rocky and Purcell mountain ranges in the Columbia Valley. The Upper suspension bridge is 426 feet high and 492 feet long, while the Lower bridge is 262 feet high and 459 feet long. Whew! 😮💨 The bridge accommodates 60 people at a time. One-way only. The floor of the bridge is fully boarded so you can’t fall through. There are gaps in the sides of the bridge but they are small enough that you (or a child) would not be able to fall through either. There are view points once you cross each bridge which I would recommend sending your photo taker first so they can then get into position to snap photos + video as you cross near the end of each bridge.
The Golden Skybridge is not an attraction if heights aren’t your cup of tea, though perhaps where you want to go to push your boundaries a bit?
Also: You need closed shoes to access the park – they do offer $15 shoe rentals with socks if you don’t have a suitable pair. And depending on bad weather, you may get refunded. We were just wrapping up when lightning and thunder rolled in. They do operate if rainy- just the lightning changes things. Appreciated the safety measures.
The Golden Skybridge is located an hour drive from Lake Louise, or 1.5 hours from Banff. 🚗
I loved it! The whole family will enjoy this attraction, where you could plan to spend the whole day.
See my video of the Golden Skybridge!
… and obviously, a lot more to see, do and eat in the Canadian Rocky Mountains! Here’s a few more ways to explore + save with Pursuit:
- Don’t forget you can save up to 40% on your Canadian Rocky Mountain adventures with the Pursuit Pass, which lets you bundle single-visit tickets to Banff, Jasper and Golden’s best attractions in one purchase. Do more, see more and make more memories this season with a Pursuit Pass!
- If you are an Alberta resident, you can sign up for Pursuit Rewards, to get access to savings at hotels, attractions and restaurants, plus exclusive deals and giveaways sent to your inbox.
- Regularly check the Current Deals page on Pursuit Banff Jasper Collection for savings!
You can really plan your Rocky Mountain exploration entirely around Pursuit Banff Jasper Collection attractions, restaurants, and accommodations—and be guaranteed a really excellent experience.
And you can also weave in a lot of free or low-cost Rocky Mountain experiences in between those pinnacle attraction pieces too.
Thank you to Pursuit Banff Jasper Collection for working with me this summer on exploring + sharing Rocky Mountain adventure suggestions!
#PursuitBanffJasperCollection_Partner
Click to see even more of my other Canadian Rocky Mountain Travel Guides!
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Linda
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