Banff Travel

Getting to Banff is reasonably easy given it's less than 2 hrs by car from a major urban center, Calgary. The town was built by the railway and while many other areas of the country have lost thier rail connections Banff isn't one of them or likely to be one soon as it stands at the gateway to the kicking horse pass which allows passage through the mountains.

  
 

Transportation

Banff is serviced by airport porters, limosenes and regularly sheduled bus service. If your budget allows we would recommend you fly into Calgary and rent a car, since much of of interest is spread over wide area throughout the Rocky Mountain Parks.

Airlines - National and Regional

Airporter & Shuttles

Buses

Car Rental

  • CAA - The Canadian Automobile Association. The advocate for Canada's motoring and travelling public. Emergency Roadside Service, complete auto touring and travel services etc.

LImousines

RVs and Motorhomes

Taxies

  • Lake Louise Taxi - (403) 522-2020
  • Taxi Mike - Banff & Canmore

 
Driving Distances
  Calgary AB 130 km
Canmore AB 25 km
Corner Brook NF 5923 km
Edmonton AB 400 km
Dawson Creek YT 990 km
Golden BC 134 km
Halifax NS 5125 km
Hay River YT 1456 km
Hope BC 697 km
Jasper AB 290 km
Lake Louise AB 60 km
Lethbridge AB 342 km
Montreal PQ 3875 km
New York USA 4450 km		   Ottawa ON 3965 km
Port-aux-Basques NF 5707 km
Quebec City PQ 4140 km
Regina SK 896 km
Revelstoke BC 282 km
Rocky Mountain House AB 259 km
Saskatoon SK 753 km
San Francisco USA 2050 km
St.Johns NF 6510 km
Toronto ON 3565 km
Vancouver BC 850 km
Victoria BC 885 km
Whitehorse YT 2500 km
Winnipeg MB 1455 km		  
 

Local Distances from the Town of Banff

Banff - Columbia Icefields 190km
Banff - Calgary 130km
Banff - Canmore 25km
Banff - Field (Yoho National Park) 85km
Banff - Town of Jasper (Jasper National Park) 291km
Banff - Lake Louise 58km
Banff - Radium Hot Springs (Kootenay National Park) 132km

 

Visiting from Outside of Canada

Banff Maps and Map Sources

Locator Map of the 4 sisters Banff / Jasper / Yoho / Kootenay

The park pamphlet "Backcountry Visitors Guide" has a map of park which lays out the hiking and backpacking trails and shows the wilderness campgrounds, shelters and backcounty lodges. The pamphlet includes plannig information and trip ideas.


Topographical Maps - 1:50,000 Topographical maps covering the park

83 C/3, 83 C/2, 82 N/14, 82 N/15, 82 N/16, 82 O/13, 82 N/10, 82 N/9, 82 O/12, 82 N/8, 82 O/5, 82 N/1, 82 O/4, 82 O/3, B2 J/13, B2 J/14, B2 J/11

Note: These include some very small sections on the edges of the park.

There is also a special wall sized topographical map at 1:200,000 that covers Banff, Kootenay and Yoho National Parks and another which at 1:100,000 scale provides a large wall map of Jasper alone. Inquire with the Canada Map Office for more information.

Canadian Map Office

Maps - Canadian Topographical Maps by World of Maps

Online Topographical Maps

Toporama

 

Holidays

Alberta shares most of the same holidays as the rest of Canada with the exception of Quebec which celebrates Saint-Jean Baptiste Day on June the 24th. Other Canadian provinces make up for this by having an additional holiday, usually on the first Monday in August. As a general rule, all provinces and territories have holidays to mark or celebrate the following:

New Years Day - January 1
Good Friday and /or Eastern Monday - Movable
Victoria Day - Monday before the 25th May
Sainte Jean-Baptiste - June 24
Canada Day - July 1
Labour Day - First Monday in September
Thanksgiving - Second Monday in October (not in sync with American Thanksgiving)
Christmas - December 25 & Boxing Day December 26

Note: Some of these holidays are movable, usually to the nearest Monday or Friday of the week in which they fall. Alberta also celebrates Family Day in the middle of February.

 

Banks and Trusts

Use the banking and trust links to find ATM machines in the Montreal region.

 

Debit Cards

ATM machines are available at most banks and financial institutions. In addition there are lots of machines in grocery and convenience stores. Most machines connect into the Interac network. Direct payment is everywhere if you have the appropriate bank card. Use the Banks and Trusts listing above to locate ATM's in the Rockies.

 

Foreign Exchange

You'll find a number of exchange offices in Canmore, Banff & Lake Louise

Currency Conversion


The Calgary International Airport in Dorval also has an exchange office.

 

Credit Cards

 

Cities, Towns and Villages

The park's two small towns are Banff and Lake Louise. Canmore is located just south of the parks main entrance. Calgary is the closest large urban centre and is located about 130km from the park entrance. In the surrounding regions and parks you'll aslo find other small towns.

Town of Banff - Banff, Alberta
Town of Lake Louise - Banff National Park
Town of Canmore - At the entrance to Banff in Kananaskis Country, Alberta
Town of Jasper - Jasper National Park, Alberta
Town of Field - Yoho National Park, British Columbia
Radium Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce - British Columbia
Town of Golden - Golden Chamber of Commerce - Golden Tourism - British Columbia
City of Calgary - Alberta
City of Edmonton - Alberta

 

Weather

Banff
Lake Louise
Canmore

Surrounding Regions

 

 
 

Resources

Banff

Out-There's Banff Main Page


Banff's Neighbours

 

 
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