General: Alberta (Canada) > Reviews (8)

This is a one day itinerary for Lake Louise, Moraine Lake, Emerald Lake, Yoho Nat. Park, Canadian Rockies

Getting to Lake Louise

From Calgary to Lake Louise takes approximately 2.5 hours on a really good, clear road, similar to a motorway with several lanes.

We drove from Banff up to Lake Louise and drove up Highway 1a, a quieter side road than Highway 1, which has a much better chance of seeing wildlife. We left super early in the morning due to (a) a busy itinerary and (b) jetlag. The drive up Highway 1a took around 75 minutes and I'm glad we did this rather than the main highway as it was peaceful...........and we saw our first bear!!!

You can definitely do this following itinerary from Banff if you are prepared to have a busy day. We stayed in Lake Louise area for just one night, but it would be cheaper to stay in Banff as there are more hotels to choose from therefore cheaper prices than this area. As we were en route to Jasper, it seemed counter productive to drive back down to Banff, so we stayed for one night at Lake Louise.

One day itinerary

If you are willing to be busy like we were it was fine to do this itinerary in a day. Our aim was to see as much as possible in the short time we had available, we aren't hikers, we are sightseers.

Lake Louise

We started early again and headed up Highway 1a for a last chance to see the promised wildlife on this road. This time, we weren't disappointed, at the side of the road, we saw a black bear eating some food. What a sight! It was amazing how close they were to you, we of course did not get out of the car and only stopped for less than a minute, but it was obviously cheesed off with us and the other car that had stopped and quickly scampered back into the bushes.

Pleased with our wildlife spot, we headed up to Lake Louise before the crowds and arrived at 8.15am - too early for the sun to be making it the beautiful colour it is so famous for - bear this in mind if you want to see the fantastic colour. We didn't mind though as we knew we would be back later, I just wanted to make sure we had some photos before it rained (it didn't rain all day in the end it was really hot but of course I didn't know that then and it had been on-off rain in Banff!).

Moraine Lake

We decided to drive to Moraine Lake which was about 25 minutes away and WOW!!!!!!!! If Lake Louise was a 7 out of 10, Moraine Lake was at least 30 out of 10. It was absolutely stunning. We were completely taken back by the stunning scenery around us and walked to the top of the rock pile to soak in the views. The walk up the rock pile was averagely strenuous, definitely not ideal for wheelchairs. The coaches with all the tourists (of course, we didn't class ourselves as tourists!) were starting to arrive by 9am, but again, I'm glad we came here early just so we could sit in awe of the amazing surrounds. We attempted to (unsuccessfully) rent a canoe, for reasons that they were only for guests of Moraine Lake Lodge at that time. I was really disappointed by this but apparently they do this sometimes if the weather has been bad.

Normally you can rent canoes from here for $50ish for an hour. It would definitely be worth seeing the lake from that level and gaze at the awesome Valley of the 10 Peaks.

Yoho National Park: Emerald Lake

After about an hour of gazing at the wonder before our eyes (literally speechless), we headed to Yoho National Park and saw Natural Bridges (which was on the way) which goes over the Kicking Horse River (cool name!) and Emerald Lake. Emerald was another 30 out of 10 for me, I loved it so much, we rented a canoe here and paddled to the end of the lake and back within an hour. It was easy to do and I really recommend it (unlike the time we went sea kayaking which was horrendously difficult!), it was also cheaper than Moraine Lake at just $35 per hour. An hour of great fun!

Yoho National Park: Field

We then went to Field which is very very small to see, not worth staying over here but worth a stop for a drink. They have lots of long long long long longgggggg trains (seriously long!) and had a little drink in the cafe overlooking the river. We then headed to the Spiral tunnels and were disappointed to find that the trains aren't very frequent, so whilst it was an engineering wonder, the lack of trains did not make for such good pictures, but worth a stop on the way back to Lake Louise in case there are trains (a friend saw a train - lucky girl!).

Lake Louise Gondola

Still full of energy, we went on the Lake Louise gondola, it was in the ski resort which is kind of on the opposite valley to the actual Lake of Lake Louise. I wasn't that bothered about going on the Gondola (ski lift basically!) because we'd been on the Banff gondola but my husband really wanted to go on it (to see Grizzly bears more than anything). Grizzlys had been spotted that day but unfortunately, we didn't see them, still, the view more than made up for it. WOW WOW WOW is all I could say (seemed to be the word of the day!), the view of the Continental Divide (mountains)was incredible, you could see Lake Louise really clearly and it was truly one of my favourite moments in the entire trip, I strongly recommend doing it, particularly on a clear day, we could see so much!

Staying in Lake Louise

We stayed in Chateau Lake Louise which I have written a separate review for. In a nutshell, it was fab but expensive. For a more 'rustic' stay, I would stay in Moraine Lake Lodge (cabins) but be aware there is only one bar, no "nightlife" at all, but realistically who wants THAT much nightlife on a holiday like this?
There are lots of "cheaper" options which aren't that cheap, I think they are all over $100 per night for very basic accomodation which is why many people stay in Banff and use that as a base.

Overall

This itinerary was the best day for us out of the entire Rockies trip. My jaw just fell more and more as they day went on. Truly spectacular. I am not sure I will ever see such wonderous beauty from mountains anywhere else in the world.

If we did this trip again, I would stay in Lake Louise for 2 nights so we could maybe hike the Plain of the 6 Glaciers or spend some time canoeing Moraine Lake. It was truly our favourite day by far.