Waterton Lakes National Park Scenic Day Tour from Calgary
Calgary, Canada
- 7 to 9 hours (approx.)
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
Discover one of Canada’s most spectacular national parks on this full-day tour of Waterton Lakes National Park from Calgary. Depart in the morning from central Calgary, and travel in a comfortable, air-conditioned vehicle. You’ll discover the craggy mountains, namesake lakes, and vivid rock formations that make this park so distinct—and can look forward to seeing highlights like the Prince of Wales Hotel, Cameron Falls, Red Rock Canyon, and more.
- This tour makes a day trip to Waterton Lakes National Park stress-free
- Round-trip transit from central Calgary via air-conditioned vehicle
- See many of the park’s top attractions, all in one day
- Visit highlights like the Prince of Wales Hotel, Red Rock Canyon, and more
What's Included
- Air-conditioned vehicle
- National Park Fee, GST
- Bilingual Chinese-English tour guide
- Traffic Accident Insurance (10M liability)
- Standard Sized One Carry-On Luggage Allowance
- Personal expense
- Specific Hotel Pick up (we meet all travelers at a meeting point)
- Checked-In Luggage Allowance (extra fee may apply if needed)
- Gratuities (Suggested: CAD $15 per person per day in cash)
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- Coast Calgary Downtown Hotel & Suites by APA610 4 Ave SW, Calgary, AB T2P 0K1, Canada
Meeting Time 07:50AM. Departure Time 08:00AM. Bus parks in front of the hotel. Please wait in the hotel lobby and our tour guide will come in and greet you.
End point
This activity ends back at the meeting point.Start time.8:00 am
Itinerary
1
Waterton Lakes National Park
3 hours • Admission Ticket Free
2
Cameron Falls
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
3
Waterton Lakes National Park
1 hour • Admission Ticket Free
4
Red Rock Canyon
30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
5
Buffalo
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
6
Calgary
3 hours • Admission Ticket Free
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking, unless booked within 3 days of travel. In this case confirmation will be received within 48 hours, subject to availability
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Near public transportation
- Infants must sit on laps
- Most travelers can participate
- We do not offer Specific Hotel Pick up (we meet all travelers at a meeting point)
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 50 travelers
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
3.3
based on 18 reviews
Sort by: Most insightful
Tips are not optional, driver will approach you and embarrass you in front of others asking for it. As a backpacker on a very tight budget I only give tips for good service. The driver was literally a driver and absolutely nothing else. The sights are beautiful but expect to pay more than what you originally paid for the trip and if you don’t he will shout after you in the street to pay him. Canadian culture or not, that kind of behaviour is unacceptable. Everyone’s situation is different and not everyone has lots of money
After reading some of the reviews I was a bit worried about doing this trip. However it was a fantastic day and I would give 6 stars if I could! Erik was our guide and driver. He was brilliant and did his commentary in at least two languages, which was impressive. The views at Waterton Lakes were stunning and we have been to lots of places in Canada to compare them to. The waterfall, Red Rock Canyon and the silver forest all impressed. We were lucky with the weather, sunny and 25c, and seeing at least 20 bison. A wonderful day. Highly recommend
Response from Host, Aug 2025
Thank you for your lovely review! We're so glad you had a great time exploring Waterton Lakes, Red Rock Canyon, and that our tour guides met your expectations.
We truly appreciate your support and hope to have the pleasure of taking you on another journey soon!
The schedule did not give us, a party of 8 enough time in waterton. They only gave us one hour. We had to take our lunch to go. The aircondition on bus 373 was not working. It was very hot and uncomfortable. I had a nose bleed
Response from Host, Aug 2025
Thank you for your feedback. We’re sorry to hear that the experience did not fully meet your expectations.
Please note that the time allocated for each stop, including Waterton, follows the itinerary exactly as described on our tour page, and no stops were shortened or omitted. That said, we understand that the schedule can sometimes feel tight, especially when traveling with a larger group.
We also apologize for the discomfort caused by the air conditioning issue on bus 373. All of our vehicles undergo regular maintenance and inspections, and we do not take unexpected mechanical issues lightly. Following the incident, we immediately looked into the matter and took swift action to have the issue resolved.
We appreciate your comments and thank you for helping us improve our services. We hope to have the opportunity to serve you again under better circumstances.
Van was cramped and had a dirty windshield .
Guide was good, very attentive.
I was only English speaker native, good chance to meet friends from other countries
Response from Host, Jun 2025
Hello Valued Customer,
Thank you for your review. We're glad to hear you enjoyed the attentiveness of our guide and the opportunity to meet fellow travelers.
We're sorry to learn that the van felt cramped and that the dirty windshield affected your experience. We appreciate you bringing this to our attention. Please be assured that we are taking this feedback seriously and will be reviewing the vehicle assigned to this tour with our team to ensure better comfort and cleanliness, including ensuring windshields are spotless, for all our future customers. We hope you'll consider traveling with us again in the future so we can provide you with an improved experience.
The views, Cameron Falls, the city of Waterton, seeing the bison, the shops, and the Prince of Wales Hotel
To start I would like to make clear that the Waterton Lakes tour itself was excellent. it is a long day trip but worth it. The lake and town were beautiful and I am glad I went there, its quite different from the Banff area. Everything up to our return to Calgary would be 5 stars. However...
When I booked on the Viator site, it indicated that the only central dropoff and pickup site was Coast Downtown Hotel Calgary. Boy was I misled. Coming back the bus drove right past downtown and continued north to Calgary Airport to drop people off for flights.
Then the bus proceeded to drop a group of people off at one hotel and one person at another hotel (wow I wish I had that service, I had to walk back to my hotel). At each stop the tour director went in to help the guests check in while half of us were left on the bus wondering what is going on (amazing service if you can get it). The driver didn't know the hotels and had to keep backing up and turning around and all the bouncing just made things worse when exhausted.
Eventually they drove us back downtown but this additional Calgary Airport tour added an unnecessary 1.5-2.0 hours on to an already long day which Viator didn't mention as a possibility on their site. When I complained to Viator about this they did nothing about it and told me it is within their terms.
Bottom Line, you would be better off booking this excursion with Calgary Tours directly than Viator to get better service, information and preferential treatment at the expense of Viator Customers.
Response from Host, Jul 2023
Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you for your feedback on the Waterton Lakes tour. We're glad you found it excellent and enjoyed the beautiful lake and town.
We apologize for the inconvenience with the drop-off and pick-up locations and the additional time added to the tour. We understand the importance of clear communication and will work on providing better information in the future.
We appreciate your suggestion and will take it into consideration. Thank you for bringing these matters to our attention.
Best regards,
Calgary Tours
The red canion was marvellous and the lake too but I think in Canada not only chinese and japonese should be spoken but also french
Response from Host, Jun 2023
Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you for your feedback on our current language offerings. We currently provide tours in English and Chinese. We understand your suggestion regarding the inclusion of additional languages such as French, and we will take it into consideration as we strive to enhance our services.
We appreciate your input and hope to have the opportunity to serve you again on another enjoyable tour.
Best regards,
Calgary Tours
Tour was nice. It’s a long day of driving to get to the Waterton Lake and surrounding areas from Calgary but well worth it. There’s a bathroom stop each way that should have been 15-20 min instead of 10. Both bathrooms have only one stall. Our van wasn’t even full and at the breakfast/washroom stop people weren’t able to get food because we only had 10 minutes. Timing for all other stops was reasonable.
Response from Host, Jun 2023
Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you for your feedback on the tour. We're glad to hear that you enjoyed the experience to Waterton Lake . We appreciate your feedback regarding the duration of the bathroom stops, and we will take it into consideration for future improvements.
We value your input and hope to have the opportunity to serve you again in the future.
Best regards,
Calgary Tours
What a beautiful day and wonderful place and very accommodating and the driver very friendly and very nice attitude to everyone…a fantastic day..
The tour guide being a Chinese fellow was not easy to understand and was not knowledgeable. The people in the bus were constantly talking in their language, Chinese, created travel to the park extremely long.
The bus was old and very uncomfortable. We stopped at a 7-11 for bathroom break. The store only have 2 toilets. Waiting line is longggggggg
You need to start trip at 730 am have a 45 minute stop at PRINCE OF WALES HOTEL HAVE AN 11/2 hour lunch break need to not stop at windmill turbin ..
Lots on the bus, relatively little time for looking at things.
Bison toad was interesting but no animal seen and as it turned out no one had seen the animals all week. I think this could be stated a little more clearly that the chances of seeing the animals are low.
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Response from Host, Jul 2025
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with us. We truly appreciate your feedback.
The tour page does mention that the one-way drive is about three hours, as this beautiful destination is a bit more remote. Many of our guests feel the scenery makes it well worth the journey—some even hope to return again.
Wildlife sightings can’t be guaranteed, as they depend on nature.
Thanks again for your valuable input!
Positivo: Tour en petit comité que se agradece. El guía muy atento.
Negativo: poca visita. Solo la foto que se ve en el anuncio. El logo con el hotel. Luego una brève parada en un cañón y una cascada. Debería profundizarse más en el parque.
Combo sugerencia tour de 2/3 días combinado con Glacier National Park en USA
También comentar que el turismo está orientado demasiado al visitante asiático. Debería ser más cosmopolite.
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$151.15
per personWas $159.12(-5%)
up to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
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Waterton Lakes National Park Scenic Day Tour from Calgary
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