Banff anyone?

[hmbay]

I just won a trip through my work for round trip airfare and 5 nights at the Banff Springs hotel. Anyone been there who has any suggestions what do do on our stay? we'll most likely be going in November and neither of us ski but I'm sure there are other things in the area to do. I'd appreciate any suggestions on things to do, places to eat etc. Also I'm not sure if we'll have a car--we were going to rent one to get from Calgary to Banff but the hotel wants like $20 a night to park the car so we might just do the airport shuttle thing which is a bit spendy but cheaper than a car rental and nightly parking from what I've been able to research.

[lil_geek]

We went to Banff November 28-30 a few years back. First off....perfect time to go! It is 'winter', there was a lot of snow, it was beautiful! But winter 'tourist season' doesn't start to mid-December so it was quite and everything was less expensive.


Banff Springs hotel was georgeous! I wanted to stay there but $$!

We did the hot springs one night. It was fun, a HUGE HOT pool outside in the evening in the snow.

Took the cable car to the top of one of the mountains. VERY nice views!

SPent time wandering around Banff. Once you are in town, you can walk a lot of places and I'm sure there is a shuttle/carriage/cabs to get you from the hotel (Banff springs isn't downtown).

Other things I wanted to do if we were their longer.

Horse draw carriage ride - they have 1-2 hour ones, or they have half day trips out and include ones with lunch/dinner/campfires
Dog sledding - same as the horse draw, they have different options. Slightly $$ but a pretty unique experience
Spa - at Banff Springs
Cross country skiing


IF you do rent a car, drive up to Jaspar or Lake Louise... not sure how far, few hours.

[hmbay]

Thanks lil geek! I know the place is expensive. I was very shocked when I won (I work for a travel related company and they often give away nice trips but I was shocked to win all the same).

I think I saw the carriage ride and x-country skiing on the hotel's webpage and was considering them. the hot springs sound wonderful! I'll have to start a list of everything that sounds good and then figure out how much we want to spend since the hotel and airfare are already taken care of. :)

[boilermaker]

We went for our honeymoon in March 2002. Loved it! We stayed at the Fairmont Banff Springs and it was heavenly.

We only skied one day, and that included a lesson in the morning. It was a fun excursion to do. We also did several excursions that we booked through the hotel. We went dog sledding (the best!!!!), we went on a winter ice hike, a moonlit sleigh ride (waste of money) and snowmobiling. We also spent a day enjoying the wonderful spa at the hotel and a day exploring the town. Definitely go up and do the hot springs. The gondola ride to the top of the mountain is a neat thing to do as well. Also, there is a shop right at the hotel where you can rent ski pants/extra gear if you don't bring it all with you. It was very reasonable $ we thought (it dropped to 30 below while we were there...but we didn't let it stop us from enjoying the trip! We just rented more gear).

We also did a day trip over to Lake Louise. Beautiful drive, gorgeous place. Highly recommend it.

As for transportation, we rented a car from Calgary to Banff and just dropped it off in Banff (the hotel had a Hertz desk in 2002..they may still have it. But if not, all the major car rentals had places in town). The town has plenty of taxis and a trolley shuttle that runs around as well. When we booked the excursions through the hotel, they all included transportation. For our day trip to Lake Louise, we did it the day before we left, so we only had the car (and thus parking) for one night.

As for restaurants, if the Maple Leaf is still around, it was a wonderful place for dinner. There was also a fun Irish pub where we would hang out at night. They had live music and darts, a little younger crowd then the hotel bars had. But we did eat at the hotel plenty as well. Room service was divine for breaksfast, the fondue bar was really good too. We also ate at the buffet restaurant and it was fine. Also, almost every afternoon, we got warm cocktails and spent the afternoon in front of one of the many fireplaces enjoying the environment and each other.

Also, I recommend taking an hour or two to tour the winter Olympic park in Calgary. It's pretty neat to see.

It is still my favorite vacation ever (even over Paris) and I can't wait to go back next year for our 5 yr anniversary!

I have my Banff pics in Shutterfly, so I only have a link for you (these aren't touched up or anything)...
Banff Pics (http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AbNGLRi5ZNGHQ&notag=1)

Have a great trip!

[Toonces]

I am SO jealous. We went to Banff, Lake Louise & Jasper for our HM and were there in late October through early November 2003. I would love to live there. It is absolutely beautiful.

In addition to what pp's have mentioned, check out the Grizzly House restaurant - amazing fondue and great atmosphere. The downtown area is very quaint and an easy walk from the Banff Springs Hotel. Try to get up early one morning and go out on the back patio of the main hotel - you might get to see some moose really close up.

If you do rent a car, check the weather ahead of time - you might want an SUV. There was a huge snowstorm there our first night and we were glad we had an SUV for when we drove to Lake Louise (about 45 minutes) and Jasper (a few hours from Lake Louise). Calgary to Banff is about 1-1.5 hours.

If you go up toward Jasper, check out Athabasca Falls - incredible waterfalls that will be somewhat frozen that time of year. It's absolutely beautiful.

Have a wonderful trip!! I can't wait to go back sometime.

[Aletheia]

You'd need a car, but we HM'd at Emerald Lake. There's a resort right there and it is a small lake, but it was a phenomenal spot. Maybe better in the summer (the water is actually really green!) but the restaurant there was fabulous.

[hmbay]

Thanks everyone. Keep the suggestions coming!

Carrie--your pictures are wonderful! I can't wait to go!

[lil_geek]

Oh yeah, the food!

We ate at the Maple Leaf and it was amazing... I had elk and DH had bison. ($$$$$) But we also had an amazing meal at the Keg (one of our favorites!) Not sure if it was because we were tired from exploring all day.. but it seemed better then normal.

We wanted to do the fondue restaurant, but we were there at a weird time and we couldn't get in the night we wanted (SUnday I beleive it was closed in the off season). We ate lucnch at a 'country bar' it was upstairs, right downtown, I remember having a good burger!

And try to save room for 'Cows' a Ice Cream place, mmmmmmmmm.......

(I like food......)

[hmbay]

Just wanted to bump this up and say I just went last week and thought it was just amazing--even in late fall. We stayed at the Banff Springs Hotel and had a suite with an incredible view. The food was excellent everywhere... and yes we stopped at Cows. :)

[boilermaker]

I'm glad you had a great time! If you get a chance, I'd love to see pictures :)

[hmbay]

I haven't uploaded them all but here are a few for you (finally):

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8IZt3Lhm3ZslC

[boilermaker]

bumping this up for Freckles.

[ez2luv]

I missed this thread too late...I live about an hour and a half away....but, all the recommendations were great ones.
Glad you had a nice time, we go there lots - a favorite of ours.
And, you couldn't have stayed at a nicer hotel. See any ghosts??

[hmbay]

I missed this thread too late...I live about an hour and a half away....but, all the recommendations were great ones.
Glad you had a nice time, we go there lots - a favorite of ours.
And, you couldn't have stayed at a nicer hotel. See any ghosts??

Nope no ghosts. I did read about there being a couple that haunted the place but didn't see any while we were there.

[ez2luv]

I guess that's a good thing, but the stories are true. the place has remarkable history!

[hmbay]

It does have great history. DH is a big history buff and they have a little "museum" like thing set up above the main lobby with old pictures, etc and it was very cool to look through all of that and imagine what it used to be like years ago.

[catJennifer]

Bumping up this thread...

Thinking of going to Banff in August/September of this year as a "last" vacation with DH before our second baby is born. Any recs on hotels? Activities for that time of year? Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

Jennifer

[hmbay]

catJennifer--Hmm I went late october. I'd say in your time frame there would still be lots of hiking options and the hot springs (unless you're pg that is). You can probably take one of the glacier trips. The spa at the Banff Springs is supposed to be fabulous but I didn't try it out when we stayed there.

Here is the area's main website: http://www.banfflakelouise.com/

Oh one little thing that I didn't realize until right before we left--because Banff and Lake Louise etc are inside Banff National Park you have to pay a park admission. I think it was like $40 a person for the 5 days we were there.

Depending on how much money you want to spend I highly recommend the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. I've heard the "regular" rooms are a bit small (we were upgraded to a suite) but the hotel is beautiful and the service at the hotel was wonderful.

[bethnjim]

My husband and I honeymooned in Banff. We stayed at the Banff Spring Hotels which was wonderful and I can definitely vouch for their spa. It is HEAVENLY!! The waterfall room is to die for and their floating pool is great too.

We went in July...and the weather was perfect!! We will be going back one day!