Alberta

Our Canadian adventure continues as we are heading to the Rockies for an 8 days trip (September 2021). We've rented a car at Calgary's airport and drove through superb National Parks, until coming back to Calgary for our flight home, memories filled with amazing landscapes and incredible views.

We recommend purchasing Park Canada's Discovery pass before your arrival in order to avoid queues. The pass takes about 14 days to arrive by mail, but a printed confirmation of purchase is enough.

https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/voyage-travel/admission

Calgary

Our first day was spent walking around Calgary. Unfortunately, Calgary Tower and it's revolving restaurant were closed due to Covid-19; poor little Mel was so disappointed!

Johnston Canyon

On our trip's second day, we left Calgary early morning and headed directly to Banff National park, where we've visited beautiful Johnston Canyon, lower and upper waterfalls.

Banff city, Cave and Bassin and Banff Upper Hot Springs

After Johnston Canyon, we decided to visit some attractions in the city of Banff and to end our day relaxing in the naturally warm waters of Banff Upper Hot Springs.

Lake Moraine

Waking up around 5am and arriving at Lake Moraine's parking lot at 7am, we thought we had a good chance of getting a parking... We were SO wrong ! We had to backtrack about half an hour on the highway to get to Lake Moraine/Lake Louise bus parking lot, while reserving our spots on the bus online.

The hassle finally paid off, when, arriving at Lake Moraine, we were greeted by magnificent views, turquoise water, mountains and glaciers!

Lake Louise

The lake itself is beautiful, but walking around the lake reveals nice trails with amazing sceneries! It's a shame so many people stop near the castle, without taking time to explore a little more. There's so much to see!

Mistaya Canyon

No wonder the route from Banff to Jasper is so famous! There are so many amazing places to stop to, enjoy and discover! Our first stop was gorgeous Mistaya Canyon.

Columbia Icefields

An half an hour walk with 60 meters of elevations brought us near Columbia Glacier's foot, just in time for it to be hidden by fog and snow ! Can you believe it was sunny 30 minutes ago ?

Athabasca Falls

Our last stop before arriving to our Hotel at Miette Hot Springs was impressive Athabasca Falls.

Maligne Canyon

Near Jasper, we had the chance to see a lot of wildlife. We also visited Maligne Canyon, which is crossed by many bridges (6 in total), one being 51 meters high.

Miette Hot springs

Unfortunately the public Hot Springs were closed due to Covid 19 restrictions, but we got the opportunity to try a natural hot spring close by. Water was at 51 Celcius, so we were only able to soak our feet a couple of seconds at a time.

Mount Edith Cavell

After our unlucky stop at crowded Columbia icefields we were finally rewarded at Mount Edith Cavell, where lies Angel Glacier and a turquoise lake filled with small icebergs below.

Sunwapta Falls

On route back to Canmore, we enjoyed a short stop at Sunwapta falls.

Grassi Lakes

We decided to spend our last day nearby Canmore, as the weather was rainy and cloudy. We found this easy nice hike to colorful Grassi Lakes. The only drawback is that, since it is managed by the province of Alberta instead of Parc Canada, it was not covered by our Discovery Pass and we had to purchase another pass.

Wildlife

During our travel, we've encountered Bighorn Sheeps, Pikas, Elks, Mountain Goats and a lot of hungry Chipmunks!

On the road !

There's so many breathtaking views on the road!