Banff Day Trip: Explore Lake Louise, Banff Gondola, Downtown and More

Embark on a 10-11 hour Banff day trip and explore Lake Louise, Banff Gondola, downtown, and more. Enjoy a personalized adventure with time for photos, shopping, and even swimming!

Duration: 11 hours
Cancellation: 1 day learn more
Highlights
  • Banff Gondola - Reach new heights effortlessly! This ride to the top of Sulphur Mountain feels like a journey to heaven and back.

The panoramic views offer an incredible 360-degree spectacle of surreal beauty. Don’t forget to bring your camera or phone chargers!

  • Bow Falls - The park is brimming with fantastic stops, and we’ll tailor our itinerary to maximize your day! From avoiding peak times at key spots to managing traffic and weather conditions, we’ll ensure you capture the best moments.

The entire day is dedicated to impressing you and ensuring you return for another mountain adventure with BanffDayTrips.com.

  • Banff Avenue - Experience the welcoming town of Banff. Immerse yourself in the vibe, savor the local cuisine, indulge your sweet tooth, explore a local gallery, or simply snap a few photos on Banff Avenue.
  • Lake Louise - The most visited spot in Banff and possibly the Canadian Rockies. Spend some time here to fully appreciate the majestic scenery. Surrounded by mountains, featuring a spectacular glacier, and boasting deep-colored waters, this lake is undoubtedly a crowd-pleaser!
  • Moraine Lake - We do not stop here during the winter months as the lake is closed until June. When it reopens, we’ll take you to this incredible, local favorite spot in Banff.

During the other months, we will add Lake Minnewanka & Two Jack Lake as additional stops instead of Moraine Lake.

  • Canmore - Your adventure concludes in the picturesque town of Canmore, nestled in the Bow Valley. A delightful blend of natural splendor and quaint charm. We’ll stop here for a quick break and a hot drink to warm you up before heading back to Calgary.
What's Included
  • Personal Photographer
  • Bottled water
  • Banff National Park entrance fees
  • In-vehicle air conditioning
  • Humour and great attitude
  • Banff Gondola tickets - One ride up and one ride down
  • Crampons / Cleats during the winter months
What's Not Included
  • Gratuities
  • Lunch
Additional Information

This experience is about 10-11 hours long and will include plenty of time for you to complete a bucket list of things to do during your mountain day.

From the minute you step into the vehicle you’ll feel the welcoming Alberta vibe! If you’re here for a day or are trying to kick off your Banff vacation out of the park, and don’t want to be in a big crowded bus, this unscripted adventure is for you!

There will be plenty of time to take photos, eat, shop, get your feet wet and maybe even swim!

You will cover the main attraction sites such as Lake Louise, the Banff Gondola, Banff Avenue downtown, and Canmore for a quick bite (included) to calm down the beast within. There’ll be plenty of recommendations for whatever you like to do on your self-exploring time!

There is plenty of flat surface for you to walk around admiring nature and wildlife, squirrels count too! The mountains look spectacular from all angles, we look forward to showing them off when you get here!

Location
Banff Gondola
Mountain Avenue
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.9
(21 Ratings)
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H565gjamyc
Jun 29, 2024
Best way to see everything - Amazing tour! Beyond beautiful and saw everything we wanted to within a day without being rushed. Our tour guide Gordon was superb Highly recommend!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Barbara_w
Jun 23, 2024
Absolutely stunning! - What a spectacular day! Banff and its surrounding areas are absolutely stunning. A must see and a bucket list destination! Pictures don't do it justice! I will be coming back to spend more time and really take it all in... Our tour guide, Gordon, was great. Very pleasant, professional, knowledgeable and with a good sense of humour. Truly a great day and experience!
Review provided by Viator
Chu_travel_indonesia
May 21, 2024
Banff day trip - very nice and organized tour. We enjoyed the tour very much and if we have a chance to visit Calgary, we will join this tour to Glaciers, Mountains, Lakes, Banff & Canmore
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Alena_s
May 15, 2024
Great tour and great guide! - We saw numerous beautiful landmarks but our tour guide Gordon was the highlight of the trip! He offered in depth knowledge about the land consistently throughout the tour. I would book with Banff Day Tours in the future.
Review provided by Viator
Antoinette_r
Sep 26, 2023
Spectacular Day in Banff - This tour was the highlight of our Calgary Trip. We were picked up promptly at 9:00am by our driver Murray. He narrated the entire day giving us information and stories about everything we passed throughout the tour. We visited Lake Minnewanka, Lake Louise, Moraine Lake, the town of Banff & we took the Banff Gondola to the top or Sulphur Mountain. Every single stop was spectacular. Murray was very communicative regarding where and when we would meet after each stop. He answered everyone’s questions and had some witty jokes. It needed up being a wonderful 12 hour tour. Worth every penny!
Review provided by Viator
Aileenm534
Sep 10, 2023
Perfect Banff Tour - Amazing tour! The group was 12 people in a very comfortable van. Kevin guide/driver was nice, funny and gave information to understand the places we visited, time spent at each spot was enough to do all activities and enjoy the area. Totally recommended!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Rin_i
Aug 20, 2023
Well-organized trip of spectacular views - An efficient, well-organized day-trip full of spectacular views! Our guide and driver Murray was fantastic! I appreciated the clear expectation-setting, instructions, advice on saving money and where to eat, and the friendly humorous chats. Give the man a raise, Kevin! :)
Review provided by Viator
Gabrielle_b
Aug 12, 2023
MUST DO! - We LOVED this tour! Kevin was absolutely amazing and we got to see all the best sights in Banff!! I would recommend this to anyone going to banff! The tour size is small and you get so much flexibility in what you want to do in each location!!
Review provided by Viator
Storyteller783285
Aug 12, 2023
Good tour guide! - The tour guide makes the difference. Kevin knows how to make everyone feel comfortable. He knows all the good places to eat or hike. There were about 10 passengers in the van, à comfortable size. All in all, everyone had a good day's worth.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Toshikazu
Sep 11, 2023
The itinerary is difficult to understand. - When I applied, I checked the itinerary, and it said we would stay in Banff National Park for 60 minutes, and the number was clearly marked on a different point on the map from the Banff Gondola, so I recognized it as a different park from the point we reached by the Banff Gondola. Moreover, the website shows a photo of the destination of the Banff Gondola. (You won't know this until you go there.) This whole area seems to be called Banff National Park, so it's not completely wrong, but it's difficult to understand. If they had at least made the numbers for the Banff Gondola and Banff National Park consecutive, I would understand. However, it's not an hour just for the gondola, so it's misleading. Even if the time was counted from the time we arrived at the Banff Gondola station and we stayed at the top for another hour, it wasn't two hours in total. I wish they would revise the itinerary on the website to make it a little more clear. Lake Louise and Moraine Lake were truly amazing. If you arrive at Lake Louise and Moraine Lake in the afternoon, the light will be backlit. I think it's better to take photos in the morning. We arrived at Lake Minnewanka after the sun had set, so it was unfortunate that it was in shadow. I think it would be better to leave earlier. And the time spent on Banff Avenue in the afternoon was short, so I wish we could have spent a little more time there. Once the guide mispronounced the meeting time, and it ended up being about 25 minutes longer than we had been told, which made my schedule hectic (because I had been acting under a short time frame), which was disappointing. If you want to buy souvenirs, I recommend the Banff Gondola shop (there are shops at the top and bottom). Of course, shopping on Banff Avenue is also recommended (if you have time). There is also a shop at Moraine Lake. There are no souvenir shops at each lake, so I recommend buying something when you find it. Because the bus tour has a time limit. Finally, Lake Louise and Moraine Lake were really amazing. If you want to enjoy it slowly, I think it's a good idea to separate Banff Avenue and other sightseeing and enjoy it over multiple days. I hope this is helpful to you.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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September 2024
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