Accomodation in Banff

A snowHead

I am thinking about going to Banff next Easter, with my 16 year old son. We would like a 1 bedroom plus sofa sleeper or loft/sofa sleeper type unit with some kitchen facilities so we dont have to eat out all the time. We will likely have a car, so we can get about and dont need to be in the centre or close to a bus route.

Can anyone help from first hand experience of good places?

A snowHead

If you're planning to book your trip through a UK tour operator, you'll find a relatively limited range of accomodation with kitchen facilities. Most of what's available is standard hotel rooms. In fact, due to development restrictions in the National Park, there are relatively few condo units available in Banff.

That said, the Rocky Mountain Resort and the Douglas Fir resort are two condo units that provide full self-catering facilities, and a number of tour operators offer these in their brochures. Both are a bit of a way out of the centre of town, but if you're planning to rent a car, that's not so much of a problem. Both are on the regular ski bus routes, and also provide their own shuttles into the town centre.

If you do rent a car, another alternative is Canmore: about 20 minutes from Banff, but outside the national park (make sure your car rental includes the National Park permit, or you'll get stung for a massive fine by the Park Rangers).

You should be able to get some information about DIY Canmore rentals from http://www.canadianrockies.net/banff

Alternatively one of the smaller ski-related travel agencies might be able to customise something for you - try Ski Independence.

Anyone who's read my previous posts will know that I'm a great fan of Banff: Easter is a great time to visit, being relatively early this year, and the conditions in Late March/early April are pretty good: plenty of snow but not too cold. (In fact, sometimes remarkably warm).

Hope this helps.

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I stayed at a place called the Elkhorn lodge in Banff. It was a 1 bedroom apartment with a kitchen, huge lounge, shower/bath and close to the town. The website is :

http://elkhornbanff.ca/

I stayed in Unit 3....it was good value with the exchange rate and the weak dollar

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Colin,

if you're organising it yourself then Canmore is a cheaper option (which I've just realised has already been mentioned) and hardly any further than Banff. I stayed at this place, they were really helpful, had good, clean, roomy units (+kitchen) and had discount lift tickets and there are two pubs 100m away, plus a huge supermarket 200m away. There were four of us though so costs lower pp.

http://www.canadianrockieschalets.com/

Alternatively try:

http://www.discoverbanff.com/FeaturesReviews/AccommodationGuide/8-194.html

Note you will need to pay for a park pass but it's peanuts (relative).

Incidentally Canmore is nearer to two other ski area woth a visit: Nakiska (high speed cruising, incredible grooming), Fortess (more rugged)

Kicking Horse is also drivable for a day's skiing (some serious blacks, short but serious)

Have fun

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Colin, we stayed in Charlton's Cedar Court, no bar in the place, but plenty nearby, had a kitchenettte suite, with 2 bedrooms connected by a kitchen. The place has a swimming pool which was a bonus. www.charltonresorts.com We booked through Inghams, but I'm sure they do direct.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

The Inns of Banff have condo type accomodation as well as hotel rooms. I've stayed in the hotel, which is fine; small indoor pool, large outdoor hot tub, OK restaurants and bar, on the edge of town but walkable to town centre.

After all it is free

Colin, there are also some fairly basic apartments in the town centre, again I think through Inghams but can't remeber the name. I would recommend the Cedar Court though, ski bus stops outside and a reasonable walk into town.

Hi, we are thinking of going to Banff over Easter Some really basis questions here hope you Banff experts can help
What is the skiing like in Banff (we are both intermediates, blues & reds) Do they grade differently than Europe?
having never been to Canada, is it better to have a car or is the ski bus OK.
Eating out all the time as we don't really fancy self catering does it end up very costly as always paying resort prices.
Thanks for your help. Laughing

I'm off to check out the sites above!

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

bladeski, Banff very reasonable for eating out , we preferred the car, but i'm told the skibus is excellent.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

I'd recommend a car as you can please yourself when you come and go, and driving is a pleasure on the empty roads, so long as you keep within sight of the low speed limit, otherwise you'll get nicked by a Mountie, as I did (not on horseback, unfortunately). You might want to ski at or just visit other places, although it might be too late to ski other than at Banff and Louise.

The skiing at Sunshine (about 10 miles from Banff) and Louise (about 35 miles) is a mixture of open and tree. Almost all the lifts serve easy and harder runs (double black, black, blue, green in descending order). The 'backside' (their name, not mine) at Louise has some great unpisted stuff. Plenty of skiing for all abilities, especially intermediate.

Mt Norquay, the closest area to Banff, is small, and is likely to close while you're there. It has some tricky blacks and double blacks and some pleasant blues. Worth a visit. It's on the tri area pass with Sunshine and Louise, which includes the bus between them.

Eating on the mountains is nothing to get excited about, although it's adequate and fairly priced. Upstairs (Sawyers Nook?) at Temple Lodge at Louise is quite good.

Eating out in Banff is easy and reasonable. There are cheap diners and more expensive 'fine dining' places and everything in between. You should try the Bow Valley Grill at the Banff Springs Hotel for dinner or Sunday Brunch (you need to book, especially for Easter Sunday); it's a very good buffet, don't bank on doing much afterwards. The Station at Louise is a great location for a bar and decent enough restaurant. The Grizzly House in Banff is great if you're seriously carnivorous.

We've been to Banff for the last 6 years (the kids insisted), and went to Louise twice before that. We're not going next year; I'm looking forward to skiing somewhere else (Breckenridge, since you ask), but we'll miss Banff a lot. It's a great location for a town, and if you like shopping I'm told there's a reasonable amount. The odd elk potters about the streets, and the railway passes through it with incredibly long trains, if you like that sort of thing.

snow reports

thanks for the info guys.

I'm sure that you have realised that the runs in Canada are double black, black, blue and green in descending (not ascending) order of difficulty. I'd hate you to be half way down Hell's Kitchen or Freefall on your first morning expecting a gentle warm up.

How do you edit posts on here, BTW?

You know it makes sense.

richmond, you click on the little edit icon to edit or the delete icon to delete in the bottom right hand corner of your post

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Thank you.

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Accomodation in Banff

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