Banff & Jasper | 7-Day Alberta Road Trip Through the Canadian Rockies

Hi friends! You are about to see my captures from Alberta where one of Canada's greatest natural gems sits, the Canadian Rockies. With towering mountains, ancient glaciers, forests and lakes of every shade of blue. Let's dig in! Caught the tickets back in Jan for traveling this June because season started June, July, August, 8 am today. Plane was only half an hour late and with that we set off. Toronto to Edmonton flights cost us around 250 per head including luggages. We are traveling in three couples, that is six people and we had booked our car from Turo. We took a 7-seater which cost us $900 for 7 days without the gas. It was a pretty comfortable ride except the handover he gave us, he forgot to give us a key. So we wasted a lot of time here because we had to wait for the key and you know, the drama. We were already half a day late, so we took the key and reached almost sunset. So from Edmonton airport to Hinton, it took us around four hours and we booked us a hotel which was about 400 per night for two rooms, that is 200 per night per room. It was a decent hotel and we are spending our first two nights here before heading deeper into the Canadian Rockies. Got up early, had our breakfast and started off. We had an annual discovery pass with us, meaning this is all we're gonna need throughout our trip and our mother asked our first point We got lucky with some incredible wildlife encounters from day one. Back on the road, we passed mountains that looked almost black, covered in charred remains of trees left behind by the devastating Jasper wildfires which burned more than 30,000 hectares, an area that's roughly the size of Dhaka city, the entire city. We arrived at Athabasca falls where the powerful Athabasca river crashes through a narrow canyon carved into the rock over thousands of years. The roar of the water here was absolutely incredible. Next up, Sanwapta falls where the river splits around a little island before rushing down to the canyon. Sanwapta river eventually joins the Athabasca river downstream and the sheer force of the water here was incredible. Abraham lake had this eerie, almost haunted feel to it. As we drove on, we kept pulling over whenever we spotted deers or bears. We kept driving along the famous Icefields parkway, crossing the skywalk and making our way towards the Columbia Icefield Glacier Discovery Center where the glacier tours begin. The tour combo is around 150 per head, I guess. You see the blue bus, the tiny blue bus that takes you up the glacier. Once you're up there using the Ice Explorer, you can actually get out and walk on the ice. The combo includes both the Ice Explorer ride on the Athabasca Glacier and the Columbian Icefield Skywalk. It's about two to three hours but we went to Jasper town, walked around and then finally started off for Hinton again while stopping for random cute stuff. Day two started with a completely different route through Jasper. After yesterday's drive along the Icefields parkway, we took the other way out, stopping briefly at Anak lake before continuing to Medicine lake. The drive to Medicine lake was beautiful with mountains and forests all around us and look at that water. There was something so peaceful about the stillness of Medicine lake. I guess the name felt pretty fitting. Finally, the most popular lake, Malign lake. This place is beyond beautiful. There's this cruise, the Malign lake cruise that takes you to the Spirit Island. It's a one and a half hour boat tour with some time to get off Spirit Island. There are actually a lot of other activities here as well including canoeing and kayaking and so much more. I personally feel that you could dedicate an entire day here but for us, we are moving on to our next destination. The road was gorgeous and by this point we were basically stopping every time we saw something beautiful which honestly was pretty much the entire drive. Do you remember the blue buses? So, this is the entry point to the sky walk and then we reach that discovery center part. So, we are basically following the same route again so that we can reach our next destination. As we drove on, we stopped by Bow lake which was still partially frozen and melting. We went as close as possible to the lake and saw some ducks swimming actually. Finally reaching Emerald lake. This was easily one of my favorites. The color of the water was unreal and the mountains all around it. The whole place looked almost too perfect and with the drizzle gently dotting the surface of the lake. Look at that. This made the whole thing even more magical. So, this is Emerald lake Bye! This is Lake Lewis. As one of the famous lakes, people do wake up really early to catch sunrise here. Those three sisters mountains you can see ahead are exactly where we're headed since we'll be spending the night in Canmore tonight. After watching the sun gently drape the three sisters in a golden hue, I enjoyed a slow peaceful morning with a cup of tea before we set off. Tucked away in the mountains near Canmore, Grassy lake is known for its incredible clear turquoise blue water. It was a short trek of about two kilometers which took us around 30 minutes to reach. Brace yourself. So, this is the route we took to come here. It's just a 1.7 kilometers walk into elevation desi and this is the one we're going to be taking to return. Now, there are less than two kilometers walk. It's pretty simple but brings you here. You can literally see the grass. After the next spot, Johnston Canyon. One cool feature of the Trans Canada highway is, so see that bridge ahead, it has green on top of it. So, it's covered with vegetation to let animals safely cross above the highway and not have any interaction with the cars. Good morning, friends. So, this is the Airbnb we checked into last night which costed us around 500 for two nights. It's basically a house. There are three bedrooms, a washroom and a common space downstairs. So, this is the starting point for the shuttle to Lake Moraine. Shuttle buses leave every 20 to 30 minutes and with a 20 minutes ride, you reach the most awaited Moraine Lake. The moody weather gave Lake Moraine this almost mystical feeling with the clouds rolling in view from top of rock piles felt almost otherworldly but sadly, it also meant no kayaking which was literally the first thing I wanted to do when I dreamed of my first band trip. Anyhow, gave me more reason to come back. One minute, it was cloudy and rainy and the next, we were watching snowfall around us. Absolutely surreal. The moment the snow stopped, I made a dash up the rock piles to catch the view from above. It was just a 10 minutes climb from where you could see the entire sweep of Moraine Lake below. It's striking blue water framed by the jagged peaks of the valley of the 10 peaks with the clouds draping the entire scene. It was such an iconic view. I was hoping to spend at least four hours at Moraine Lake because I wanted to go for kayaking but since that's off the table, we're back in Banff Town for food, aimless strolling and of course, souvenirs and gift shopping. We also made a quick stop at the Two Jack Lake. Unfortunately, we forgot to go to Fairmont Hotel and we're back on the road. So, we're headed back to Calgary now and I have a date with my childhood bestie and when I say date, I do mean that the husbands are going to crash our date. So, here's Pippin and then we grabbed tea with some wonderful folks and finally called it a night. We have the coziest plan for our last day which is also the brightest day all thanks to Nilal Bhai whom we met for tea last night. Whatever we had planned for the day has already been done. So, today we decided to visit Waterton National Park and this is Prince of Wales Hotel. Sitting graciously above Waterton Lake is this Swiss chalice style hotel built back in 1927 in the anticipation of a visit from the Prince of Wales as in from United Kingdoms. The collection of souvenirs in here was very diverse. We found everything that we needed and grabbed a lot of things from here. I especially love the dream catchers and then from the souvenir store, we got into the hotel restaurant part. From here, we went to the Red Rock Canyon and the scenery took a dramatic turn. The deep red rock formation carved over time by nature stood out against the green mountains and blue sky. Very striking contrast. And with that, our little Rockies adventure came to an end. But this was one of those trips that somehow feels too short no matter how much you see. So, until next time!