Trying to decide when to visit Banff? Maybe you've got some dates in mind and you're wondering, will the lakes be thawed? Will there be snow? Is it going to be packed with people? Let's walk through the season so you can figure out the best time for your kind of trip. Welcome to the Banff Travel Podcast. I'm your host, Selim Burr, a local Canmore resident living the mountain life all year long.
When I'm not hiking to a new viewpoint, hitting the local mountain bike trails, or skating on frozen lakes in the winter, I'm helping travelers like you plan unforgettable trips to Banff National Park. As co-founder of Banff Travel Planning and Travel Banff Canada and a solo traveler, who's spent years exploring the world with my husband and kids. I know what it takes to plan a trip that's smooth, stress-free, and full of those wow moments.
Today we're breaking down one of the most common questions I get. When is the best time to visit my house? I think the answer might surprise you. Well, I know, I know. I'm going to give you kind of a depends answer and that's the worst answer, isn't it? But it really is true. It really depends on what you're looking to get out of your trip.
So the best time to visit Banff depends on what kind of experience you want to have. Do you want to have those bright blue lakes that you've seen all of the pictures and videos of? Do you want to come and do some incredible hiking or skiing? Do you want just fewer crowds and to take in the mountain scenery and a chance to see wildlife? Each season of VAMP brings something different. And honestly, I don't think there's a bad time to come here.
But it is really important to set your expectations around the season and just know what to expect and what it's going to be like when you're here and what are the best activities.
let's get started with winter i mean if you love snow it truly is magical here you have skiing snowshoeing winter hikes skating on frozen lakes it really feels like a real life snow globe the lakes are all frozen of course so you're not going to see that turquoise water and for the most part you're probably just going to see snow covered lakes If you come, let's say, late November to mid-December,
you may have a chance at seeing some of the lakes that are frozen without snow on them and that sometimes gives a really amazing opportunity to skate on the frozen lakes without having snow on them at all so they're that blue color and you can see through the ice. It's really quite spectacular. We call that wild ice skating.
The thing to know about that is you do need to be able to keep yourself safe by checking the thickness of the lake and making sure you're prepared to go out there. So make sure you do your research on that one. Typically Lake Louise will be frozen and they do actually clear that for skating. So even if you're coming in late December and you don't catch it without snow on it, you still will have a chance to skate on a frozen lake.
A couple of years ago, we had the opportunity to go skate on Lake Louise before any snow had fallen. We were actually skating at another lake and someone told us that Lake Louise was safe enough to skate on. And so we rushed over there and sure enough it was thick enough I talked to some of the guys that were out there measuring the ice thickness and it was just spectacular to get to skate on Lake Louise. Completely frozen, no snow on it. It was really, really an amazing experience.
That's one that's a little bit harder to plan around and something that we're lucky enough to do when we're here. But, you know, still when you come even in January or February and that lake is frozen and you can skate with that mountain scenery around and the Victoria Glacier in the background, it's really well worth doing.
obviously skiing if skiing is your thing great time to come just keep in mind the past few years our winter has been a little late showing up so All of the winter activities don't necessarily get in full swing until mid-December and it just needs to be cold enough and snowy enough. Now, every winter can be different, so you have to keep that in mind as well.
But if you're looking to go dog sledding, skating on the lakes, they need to be frozen enough. If you want skiing with all of the runs open, you do really want to make sure you're looking at mid-December into January. we have more snow and it's gotten a little bit colder so that's something to think about if you're coming in the winter
And then we get into spring. I recently did an episode on coming to Banff in April. Feeling everything starting to thaw and the trails down in the lower part of the valley getting cleared of snow.
And you still have that high mountain peaks that are covered in snow against the bright blue sky. It's really a wonderful time to come if you're looking for more sightseeing. You're not looking to go on any big, big... high elevation hikes because those are mostly still within some avalanche terrain and some avalanche danger there but there's way less crowds here in april may if you love skiing you still have the opportunity to go do some spring skiing
And then you have the wildlife. The bears are starting to come out in April and May. I just recently saw that the boss was seen. So he's one of the famous grizzly bears. It can be a really great time to come and those sunny spring days are really nice. If you're coming in April and May though, you do need to set your expectations.
A lot of the mountain lakes are not going to be thawed, especially in April. They're still going to be frozen and snow covered. As we get further into May, you're going to see more of the lakes getting thawed. Lake Louise. typically isn't thawed until late may early june same with moraine lake now that changes every year and it really depends on our spring and how warm it is or how much snow and how cold it is
So if you're coming at that time, it's just really important to set your expectations. Obviously, the road to Marine Lake doesn't open until June 1st. so that's usually no go until the very very late end of may when the road might get cleared and you might be able to e-bike up the road so it a lot of those things because they fluctuate so much year to year is really just giving yourself that flexibility in your trip that when you come here
You can see what's open or you can see if Lake Louise is thawed. And that is a question that I see in the Facebook group over and over and over. Is Lake Louise thawed yet? I'm going to be there soon. Is Lake Louise thawed yet? I have a really great way for you to check the Fairmont. There actually has a webcam, so I'm going to link that in the show notes. You can check yourself. You can see if it's thawed yet and whether they're getting the canoes ready.
and then once we're into june and then we get further into july and august then we've hit one of the most beautiful times here but also the busiest times here so if you want those bright turquoise lights the hiking the wildflowers those super super long days summer is definitely your season but it's also everybody else's season so june is really beautiful
Earlier in the month, like we said, those lakes might be just starting to thaw. You're probably going to find the ones closer to Banff thawed in May, like Jackson Lake and Two Jack Lake. And then as you get towards mid-June to late June, they should all be pretty much thawed. And then as you get to mid to late June, they're all going to be thawed. You're going to get that really pretty color. The levels at Rain Lake may not be super high.
It just depends again on the melt and when those water levels come up. So that's just something to know. I know last year it was a little bit late. in the spring when everything finally thawed and a lot of people were actually disappointed with how low the water levels were in the lake and canoeing wasn't up and running yet. Again, just a lot of flexibility in your time and knowing what to expect is really important.
And then we get into July and August. Everybody's off school. Everybody's traveling and camping and trying to get out during the day. That's a time when you can get out on all of the hiking trails. get up early really early if you want to catch a sunrise but it's just such a great time to explore you have such long days if the sun's not setting until 9 30 10 o'clock at night you've always do have a lot of time to get in all of that mountain scenery and take a little break beside a mountain lake.
Now, while technically still summer until towards the end of the month, September will start to feel like fall. And I'm going to be perfectly honest with you. That is my favorite time of year here. I've got a few reasons for that.
Once you get into late August, September, the bugs are mostly gone, so you don't have to deal with mosquitoes. And yes, you're still going to see mosquitoes here. Some years are bad, some years are not. I like everything here in the mountains. It really depends. Depends on the year.
and not only that but the mornings are cooler and the evenings are cooler and the afternoons still are really wonderful and warm up so it makes for great hiking and mountain biking and you can still get to all of those hikes and all of those viewpoints and the mountain lakes are still that incredible color.
and then as we get into past labor day in september all the kids are back in school now it's still busy here for sure and then as you get into mid to late september and then into early october we get into march hiking season Now, if you don't know anything about larch trees, the people here get a little bit crazy about them myself included it is one of my absolute favorite times for hiking here
when all of those large trees turn golden i'm gonna put a post in the show notes on september and october and you can take a look at some of those pictures and you'll understand why Such a great time for hiking. So as we get into around the third week of September, those large trees start to change color.
Then the hiking really picks up. It's going to get a lot harder to park at places like Lake Louise when people are trying to hike there. The shuttle passes will be a little bit harder to get with Parks Canada. People are looking to get out and hike places like Large Valley.
And then as we continue into fall, even October, by the time we get to Canadian Thanksgiving, so the second Monday in October, a lot of things start slowing down and stopping the summer schedules for public transit like rome will go to a winter schedule the shuttles to rain lake are going to stop rain lake road is going to be closed Other places like the road to Takaka Falls will get closed as well. And that's all preparation.
for more snow. As we move from October into November, you know, there's more potential for snow. The skate resorts are starting to get ready for the winter season. You have more potential for avalanche danger depending on how much snow we get. and there's just less people in general visiting so you're going to see some of those things scaled back
some of the bus routes, the shuttles, the roads being closed. And then you really need to start thinking about driving at that time and whether or not you're going to be driving in winter conditions and whether you're comfortable with that.
Checking those road conditions before you head out or your forecast and make sure you can make it back to the airport So again something different in every season I think if you come with that expectation that you're just gonna take it for what it is and enjoy your time here and do what you can do always checking trail conditions checking road conditions october november can be a really wonderful time again with less crowds kind of similar to your april may time frame
Alright, so after all of that, if you're still wondering when you want to come, here's a quick breakdown for you. You want those turquoise lakes? Mid-June to early October, for sure. If you want to do lots of big, big hikes, again, same time late June, you may still find some snow at higher elevations all depending on the year through early October. If you love skiing or snow, I would say you'd probably want to come in December through March. if you want a mix of
sightseeing and easier hikes and less crowds. April, early May are great times to come again. November is the same. If you want to come during large hiking season and experience that, then you definitely want to be here. closer to like the 20th of September through early October. If you just want a balance of those turquoise lakes plus some hiking plus everything still being open then you're probably looking at June or September.
But it really doesn't matter when you come. Banff is absolutely gonna deliver. You're gonna love it. You just need to know what to expect. All right, I think it's time for the listener question of the week. So this week's listener question is, if I want to hike and sea lakes thawed, when should I come? Yep, just went through that, right? Late June to mid September. Those are great times to come if you want to hit all of the hikes and you want to see that.
brilliant turquoise blue of those lakes. The snow should be gone from most of the trails. You may see the occasional bit of snow late June, but for the most part it's gonna be gone. The lakes are gonna be that gorgeous color that everybody comes to see. Again, you're going to have pink crowds, so if you want to come mid to late June or after Labor Day, it may be slightly less.
Now, don't forget, you can send me your questions at banftravelplanning.com forward slash podcast, and I'll get to them on a future episode. Thanks so much for listening to this episode of the Banff Travel Podcast. If you found it helpful, I'd love if you hit subscribe and left a quick review. It really helps other travelers find the show.
If you have a question you'd like me to answer on a future episode, head to banftravelplanning.com forward slash podcast and send it in. You can find more planning tips, tools, and free resources on both of my sites. TravelBanthCanada.com and BanffTravelPlanning.com. Until next time, happy trip planning and I'll see you out on the trails.