Breathtaking Columbia Icefield Day Tour — Calgary, Canmore, Banff

Recommended by 94% of travelers

Badge of Excellence

Calgary, Canada

10 to 11 hours (approx.)
Pickup offered
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

Skip the hassle of renting a car and driving to the Columbia Icefield with this convenient group tour from Banff, Calgary, or Canmore. Your transportation for the day is taken care of, letting you take in the sights while someone else drives. Your guide also knows the most scenic parts of the largest icefield in the Canadian Rockies.

Stay hydrated with an included bottle of water
An early morning start lets you maximize your time at the icefield
Get help securing Ice Explorer or Skywalk tickets in advance
Learn about the area's history from your guide

What's Included

National Park Fee
Air-conditioned vehicle
WiFi on board
Complimentary bottled water
GST (Goods and Services Tax)

Icefield Explorer Vehicle Admissions
Icefield Skywalk Admissions
Gratuities

If you were satisfied with our tour guide service, please kindly consider showing your appreciation with a tip and/or review.
Restroom on board

Meeting and Pickup

You can head directly to your preferred meeting point, or request pickup.

Pickup points

Select a pickup point

Pickup details

Please contact us in advance if you need a custom pickup. Extra fee applies. Note: the guardians are required to provide the car seats or boosters if you have any infants or young kids based on the transportation regulation and this tour won't provide any car seats or boosters.

Meeting points

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End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

Operating hours
.7:45 am

Itinerary

Highway

1 hour • Admission Ticket Free

Crowfoot Glacier

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Bow Lake

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Highway

1 hour • Admission Ticket Free

Columbia Icefield Discovery Centre

2 hours • Admission Ticket Not Included

Columbia Icefield Skywalk

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Highway

1 hour • Admission Ticket Free

Peyto Lake

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Herbert Lake

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Highway

50 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Service animals allowed

Near public transportation
Most travelers can participate
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 24 travelers

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Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Gallery picture 1 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 2 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 3 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 4 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 5 (from a traveler's review)

Featured review

Wayne_T

Our day trip to the Columbia Icefields, Discovery Centre and Skywalk, included stops at Peyto Lake, Herbert Lake, Crowfoot Glacier, and Bow Lake. The journey from Calgary and back, took almost 8 hours and was absolutely incredible. We are thoroughly satisfied with our driver and tour guide, Jerome. He went out of his way to make the experience a great and memorable one. Our trip originally included Herbert Lake, which was closed to visitors upon arrival. Jerome, without hesitation, added in a replacement stopover at Waterfowl Lake, which was well worth the views and the opportunity to go down to the beautiful teal coloured surface and physically touch the semi-frozen water. Jerome is a knowledgeable 5-star guide who provided lots of information on significant sites along our journey. We would 100% recommend doing this trip in May. Walk with your basic ice cleats for the glacier walk and short hike to the Peyto Lake Lookout, as it can be slippery on the icy inclines.

Reviews

4.7

based on 17 reviews

Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor

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Sort by: Most insightful

Breathtaking experience

Katrina_C, Sep 2024

Would recommend this tour to anyone who would like to see the Canadian Icefield. John was a helpful and insightful tour guide.

Bad tour company … good destination

Renee_R, Jul 2024

I would not recommend this tour company but the destination was great. First issue was that the driver/guide did not have a headphone/speaker to utilize. So unless you were sitting in the front row of the 4 row van you could not hear the driver point things out. Plus his English hard to understand. When we got to the Ice Field we had to wait a long time for the guide to return with the tickets. He told us we had 15 minutes to get lunch. But the line to get food was 20 minutes. The driver of the van not good. He tailgated other vehicles horribly, he did not push accelerator smoothly….constantly on and off. The mechanical condition of the van not good…every time brakes used you could hear them scrapping … they obviously needed replaced. This was really long day….expected 11 hours and it was more like 13.

amazing tour

Hansa_S, Jul 2024

very unique experience Our tour guide Caroline was very knowledgeable She is the best tour guide I highly recommended this tour

Solid Tour

Katie_N, Jul 2024

This trip was very cool! I loved getting to stop along the way to see all of the different lakes. The Icefield and Glacier were absolutely the highlight. The Skywalk experience was a little rushed, but that was mostly because it was a crowded day. One of my big questions when comparing tours was the lunch situation. There is a hot quick food and some cold grab and go options and a buffet. We’d brought sandwiches with us because we were concerned about time, but probably could have done the grab and go option instead.

Ice fields Tour

Gabriel_D, Jun 2024

Alex was a great guide and tour leader. He took us to all the great sites with some breathtaking views of the Rockies and the lakes. He explained all the historical items and explained the geography in a very good manner. Very good tour, excellent tour guide and day!

Awesome day

Wasinee_H, Jun 2024

Hovin was a great tour guide, good driver, kind and ensured I had a good day/good memories and saw as much scenery as possible on my tour. He also picked us up and dropped us off at the hotel. If I could have given him a higher rating I would have. We are recommended this tour. Thanks!

Amazing tour and well planned

debasree_m, Jun 2024

Amazing experience. The tour was well planned. Alex, our tour guide took really good care of us. Thanx to Alex for being such a great guide for us.

Great day trip from Banff

Melissa_B, May 2024

What an amazing day. Caroline was a great guide. Peyto lake was still frozen, but still a spectacular sight. The highlight of the lake was the snow falling around us. The tour provided us micro spikes for safety since the trail was icy. Bow Lake was also still frozen, but a cool stop nonetheless. Athabasca Glacier was incredible to see & riding in the big trucks was fun. Herbert lake was thawed & the water was a beautiful blue. Would have loved to spend a little more time in each place, but there weren't enough hours in the day. Would highly recommend this tour

Columbia Icefields, Skywalk, and multi-lake single day tour. A Five Star experience.

Wayne_T, May 2024

Once in a lifetime adventure

Rhianna_P, Aug 2023

Walking on the Athabasca Glacier and even drinking water straight from it was a once in a lifetime experience. Friendly and informative guide and great company on the tour really made the experience unforgettable. Highly recommend!

Best experience !

Savithri_A, Aug 2023

Peter was outstanding. My sister and I enjoyed the trip. Peter was very informative and knowledgeable. Thank you Peter for making our first trip a very memorable one.

Our guide was very...

Deidre_B, Aug 2023

Our guide was very knowledgeable. The sights are amazing, is nice to have a driver so you can enjoy the beauty of the area.

Great experience

Deborah_B, Jul 2023

Great tour! Small group and tour guide Young did a great job of driving and leading us. He showed us some beautiful places on the way to and from the icefields. The icefields adventure itself was quite the experience. That is led by the staff at the center; although you can visit the center on your own, we thought it was worth it to have someone else drive and guarantee tickets for a certain time.

Mr. Young you were amazing help today!!’

Narendra_R, Jun 2023

An amazing day spent with family on Fathers Day at Columbia IceFields in Alberta with our local concierge Mr. Young. Young was very knowledgeable, supportive and patient with our family. We are the only family was with him all day but he kept us busy and informative all day. Thank You!!!