Banff Forum: Planning trip to Banff from Glacier Nat'l Park

Thanks for the info. I will take a look. Spokane? I can fly Southwest into Spokane - Kalispell drives my prices up...

HI

if you look at this map you can avoid going into Calgary by heading west just before you get into the Calgary traffic Destination is Bragg Creek via Highway 22x and 22 to then pick up the Trans Canada Highway 1 which is a 4 lane highway to the park gates.

http://g.co/maps/wwxrm

it takes about the same amount of time but you do not have to fight the city traffic and much better scenery.

cheers

cb

Am I missing anything by skipping Calgary? Thanks so much for the map! This area is all new to me.

hi

if you just want to get to Banff going via Bragg Creek is a more scenic road.

If you have time to stop for a few hours then going via Calgary you get to see an interesting city that hosted the 1988 winter Olympics and a compact highrise downtown which is headquarters to the oil industry. the downtown buildings are connected by bridges; the system of bridges is called +15 (being 15 ft above the road) which is where most of the retail/restaurants are located.

cheers

cb

And, since I'm in Calgary, I can say that for your first visit to the Rockies with a fairly limited time frame, you might be better off skipping Calgary and focussing on the mountains. Calgary's a great city, but the Rockies are awesome.

I like Cbaarch's suggestion for skirting Calgary. i would even take it one step further: if time permits, take the Hwy 22 (Cowboy Trail) all the way from Pincher Creek to Longview, and then head west to connect with the Hwy 40 (Kanakaskis Trail) through Alberta's Kananaskis Country recreation area. Hwy 22 to Longview takes you parallel to the mountain front and through some beautiful ranchland (I believe famed Canadian country music icon Ian Tyson ranches near Lonview), between the Porcupine Hills and Chain Lakes Provincial Park, and past the historic Bar U Ranch (a National Historic Site).

Kananaskis Country, being further west than Hwy 22, takes you through the mountains to the southwest of Banff National Park. Note that there is no access to Hwy 40 from Hwy 22 from Dec 15 to June 15 each year. However, if you are visiting after June 15, you will be able to cross over the Highwood Pass, Canada's highest driveable mountain pass.

Here's that whole route on Google Maps: http://g.co/maps/cmd89

Of course, it's a huge (but very scenic) deviation, and will add travel time. Cbaarch's suggestion is the best from a time perspective, and mine is the worst. You could also consider just taking the Hwy 22 portion of the route: http://g.co/maps/8rjrf

You can even join up with the Hwy 22 later, by taking the Hwy 7 south of Okotoks (and past the Big Rock, a huge glacial erratic that was originally in Jasper: http://history.alberta.ca/historicsites/) to go west to connect with Hwy 22 northbound at Black Diamond - still very pretty country: http://g.co/maps/hwbzx

Thank you all so much for the info. Getting excited about this trip - I have dreamed of going there and it looks like it is going to work out this summer!

Spokane is an easy and enjoyable full day drive from Banff. Be it that you're doing a lot of driving, I would encourage you to use Banff as your basecamp and make excursions from there. A day trip to Lake Louise, a day trip to Yoho National Park, a day trip to take a rafing trip, a day to go hiking and a day in the town of Banff.

For the family, you don't want to miss the Banff Gondola, a family rafing trip on the Kananaskis is highly recommended, a full day of hiking in Lake Louise, a half day of hiking in Johnston Canyon, a full day trip to drive to the Columbia Icefields to visit the Glaciers, a half-day trip to enjoy the Lake Minnewanka Loop and have a picnic and visit the sights. Throw in some time spent enjoying the town of Banff and any extra activities that the family might want to do and you've easily and enjoyably spent 5 days. Make sure to spend some time enjoying the town - teens love Banff. You can rent a bike, rent a canoe and go shopping right out the front door.

I would say no on Jasper purely due to the amount of time you have. It all takes time - it's hard to squeeze it all in even with 7 days.