Top Banff Bus Tours

==THE TOUR== Our driver/mini-guide, Red, was terrific. He is an excellent driver and very safety-minded. He provided minimal guidance for the trails and as an independent traveler, I REALLY appreciated not having a guide who accompanied us the entire time. At each stop, Red told us what we needed to know and what to expect at each site. Each stop was roughly 70-80 minutes, which was plenty for me. (I easily hiked around 3km at each stop but I am a hiker and trail runner.) If you're looking for safe transportation to/from Lakes Louise and Moraine, this is your tour. ==ADDITIONAL LOGISTICS TO CONSIDER== For those of you driving to Banff for the tour, be prepared to pay the (roughly) 13 CAD per person park entrance fee. The town of Banff is inside the national park. Look for parking structures that offer free parking and be very judicious about street parking in Banff. The Mount Royal pick-up location does NOT have a bathroom nearby so plan accordingly! The nearest public toilet is about a 10 min walk, roundtrip, from Mount Royal. (Not sure about the train station pick-up.) Please remember to not litter. Even if it "slips" put of your hand/pocket/bag, please remember that wildlife will try to eat it. Saw lots of thrown tissues, food wrappers, and some plastic bottles on the trail. Please be mindful of your refuse and take it back out with you.

We happened to be there on the last opening day. It was amazing. Such beautiful views and landscape. The gondola right was fun. There was a big horn sheep eating under the gondola. Saw many big horn sheep along the road as you arrive. A very nice day and trip. We ended up walking down the mountain from the chairlift. It wasn’t bad going down but certainly wouldn’t want to do it going up!

Nolan and Gerald tag teamed telling us about the culture, sites and activities we would be doing. They made a great team. Peyto Lake was beautiful first thing in the morning. We learned how glaciers help produce the vivid blue in the lakes around them. Next we went to the Skywalk which provided great views of glaciers, waterfalls and the rugged terrain below that mountain goats and big horn sheep frequent. It was great being on the bus because buses park right next to the entrance while car riders must be transported to the site. We walked right in and had our bus waiting for us once we we done. The buffet style lunch had a great variety of food and was extremely well organized to handle busloads of people. The photography in the visitor Center below was exceptional. We then were driven to the ice explorer which took us straight out o to the glacier. The views were breathtaking. We had plenty of time to walk around in safe zones and get all the pictures we wanted. As a bonus, we even saw a large black bear along the road on our way home and paused for a brief moment for photos out the window. Again, being on the tour bus allowed us to see more because of the up front parking passenger buses are given at all the sites. Well worth the tour.