TWO DAYS in Banff & Jasper National Park 🇨🇦 Canadian Rockies Summer Travel Itinerary | Travel Vlo

Welcome back to my Canada travel series where my mom and I are exploring the Canadian Rockies to see the iconic vibrantly colored lakes of Banff and Jasper National Park. If you haven't seen the last video yet, we drove from Calgary to Jasper National Park where we walked on a glacier, faced our fear of heights, explored a waterfall, and stayed in the cozy charming town of Jasper. Now currently on day two, we left Jasper and headed to our first destination of the day. Maligne Lake, famously known for Spirit Island, which you can only see via a 90-minute boat ride. My mom and I missed out on buying tickets before they sold out. Instead, we decided to explore the lake on foot via a short and easy trail. We are going to do the Mary Schaefer Loop. It is 3.2 kilometers. It followed the water before turning into the forest. This is the Lake Maligne cruise that takes you out to Spirit Island and back. The class of cruise is one and a half hours and tickets start at somewhere around 60 to 70. I looked yesterday for tickets for today and they were completely sold out. It is 10 20 and I think we're almost to the parking lot. We're probably three quarters of the way there and I just stumbled upon this really beautiful grassy meadow clearing. It's been a really quiet and peaceful hike. It was a very peaceful hour of leisurely strolling along the trail, listening to the tranquil sounds of nature, and breathing in the dewy earthy smell of the forest. After the easy hike, I treated myself to a steaming mug of coffee, soaking in the sun on the patio and admiring the beautiful view. Our second stop was at Maligne Canyon, a 30-minute drive away. I want to come back here in the winter when the water is frozen over to experience the ice walk. Afterwards, we had lunch at the restaurant on site. In the afternoon, we drove to Pito Lake, which is another glacier-fed lake in Banff National Park. Done with our activities for the day, we drove to the famous resort town of Banff. This is our stay for the night. It is the Caribou Lodge. Hungry, we set off to find dinner. We strolled down Banff Avenue as the fading golden glow of the setting sun deepened its shadows over the town. After our dinner, we took our time walking back to the hotel, stopping to pop into any stores that piqued our interest. We browsed through the year-round Christmas store in hopes of finding an ornament to add to our family's collection of travel souvenirs. I noticed a long line wrapping around the sidewalk and followed it to a sweet-smelling ice cream shop dubbed as the best Canadian ice cream. The length of the line deterred me from trying it, although the online reviews make me wish I had. It's so pretty. It's 7.28 and we're on our way to get breakfast from the White Boy Cafe. It's about half a mile from our hotel. It's really chilly. It's supposed to be something greasy. We sipped on our lattes while watching the sun rise above the mountain and it was a nice slow start to our busy day ahead. I had been looking forward to this day from the start of the trip because we were going to see Lake Louise. But first things first, we started day three with a quick stop at Bow River Falls, which is just on the edge of the town of Banff and has easy hiking trails. Taking some stairs up to this viewpoint at the top of the falls. We then hopped back on the bus and started our drive. We finally arrived at Lake Louise, located in Banff National Park. Lake Louise is one of Canada's most beautiful lakes, known for being a famous tourist resort. It's obvious to see why because of its turquoise glacier-fed water and the lakeside historic Fairmont Chateau, which was built in 1890. This luxurious hotel has stores on the first floor that are open to the public, so we did some window shopping before walking around the lake. Around every corner was a breathtaking view of the lake and the mountains crowning it. I could have stayed here for hours. If I had the time, I would have hiked up to the Lake Agnes Tea House for the panoramic views. We then drove to Lake Moraine, which is another aquamarine alpine lake in Banff National Park. We took a short but steep trail that leads to the top of a crop of rocks, offering a stunning view of the lake. The afternoon we went to the Lake Louise Ski Resort and took the summer gondola up to the top. This is a protected habitat for black and grizzly bears, although we didn't see any this time around. At the top, we visited the Wildlife Interpretive Center. The air was hazy due to the smoke from a nearby wildfire blowing this way and the air was tinged with the distinctive smell of smoke. Because of this, my mom opted for the closed gondola on the way down and when she came out, she was sweating as if she'd been sitting in a sauna for 15 minutes, which apparently is exactly what the gondola ride had felt like since all the windows were closed. We then briefly stopped at Natural Bridge, which spans the Kicking Horse River. We had dinner in Revelstoke, a mountain town with small town charm and big adventure. Afterwards, we had time to wander around the downtown streets that are lined with shops and restaurants. I hope you enjoyed watching this video and please subscribe to my channel for more travel content. Thanks for watching and see you in the next one!