Banff info request

A snowHead

Hello,

I am planning a family trip to Banff April 26, am looking for information on how best to hire ski kit. As we would be travelling between Sunshine and Lake Louise do you rent kit in Banff rather than the mountain? If so are there plenty of stores around/ any recommendations.

Additionally, my little'un is primarily a skier however also learning to board, are there lockers on the mountain where we can store kit if say she ski's in the morning then has snowboard lessons in the afternoon?

Whilst I am at it:

- any recommendations for transfer companies from Calgary airport?
- having viewed pretty every hotel in Banff does anybody have any favourites, may be one that serves a good breakfast which seems to be thin on the ground!

Thanks in advance!

A snowHead

Plenty of ski hire shops in town not a problem. Ski Stop seemed ok when I went in but it was a few years ago now. Not sure about ski lockers at the mountain. Racks yes - just take a cable lock for the unused kit.

All transfer companies would be pretty much the same I would think. Hotels - maybe one that is walkable distance to downtown i.e. not Inns of Banff or Tunnel Mountain etc. I'd heard that they'd tended to go non- breakfast inclusive for some reason, maybe staffing issues?

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Loads of ski hire shops in Banff. The problem will be choosing one! Some will deliver to hotel also.

If at all possible I would suggest your daughter snowboards all the time, progress is fast on a board especially with Canadian instruction.

I had no problem with Banff Airporter as a transfer company.

I’m a cheapskate compared to some here and was content with Red Carpet. It was close enough to town to walk, even in real cold (with jackets and thermals!). Main reason was because they had a family suite, so separate room for the children to sleep early while we could stay up another hour. Jet lag meant it wasn’t so late…

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Have a look at car hire. Worked great for us this year when there for 4 days. I had a thread on it earlier this year and there was very split opinions on getting the buses versus car hire. For us car hire was great value and saved any hassles waiting for buses. Loads of places in town for breakfast too that were great

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Plenty of places for breakfast. Caribou hotel if it is still there did great ones but we stayed in a hotel that didn't . We even went straight to LL and had breakfast there.

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After all it is free

I'd second Airporter if your jot hiring a car.

SkiBig3 Adventure Hib when we hired kit. My luggage and all my ski gear was left at Heathrow 2 years back and they really helped me out.

I've heard that some hotels are stopping doing breakfasts..... Ptarmigan where we stayed certainly have....

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I think car hire only really works for short trips and if you’re travelling fairly light. Arriving as a family for say 2 weeks you’re going to have a fair bit of kit, and skis have been mentioned. You’ll need a half decent sized wagon. With Europcar (other probably cheaper options available, but I usually use them) that’s about £2k. Returns with Banff Airporter around £150pp, so pretty much a quarter of the price. That’s without taking into account fuel and any tolls/ passes you need to buy.

The other thing with Banff Airporter/transfer option is the ease and speed of it. If you’re arriving from a long haul flight, simply getting ushered into a bus that’s probably more comfortable than the hire car, having someone else load your luggage, sitting back, relaxing enjoying the scenery, snoozing, whatever is so easy compared with the whole shooting match of the hire car scenario.

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Thank you all for your comments, much appreciated. Bigski3 have some great savings on packages booking before end of June.

One question I have is getting around town in the evening, if I don't get a hire car, I presume the Roam bus to Sunshire & LL are included with the lift pass however are these buses running in the evening and you can just hop on/off like you can say on the Tignes buses?

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You probably wouldn't switch villages by bus in the evening, that wouldn't make a lot of sense, to me anyway. Downtown Banff isn't that big. The Banff Springs probably has a shuttle, although you may be expected to use a cab wink

When I got off at Calgary after getting up at 5am to connect via AMS the last thing I wanted was to drive another 2 hours on possibly icy roads! But others here are fine with it.
Can’t imagine anyone wanting to go from Banff to SV or LL in the evening! Perhaps something special at the Chateau? But there’s no view, it’s dark!

You know it makes sense.

Banff isn’t that big. You can either walk everywhere, or you figure out where the nearest bus stop is to get you to the other end of the town.

Buses to/back from ski areas tend to stop shortly after the lifts stops. But there’s no reason to stay on the mountain after the lifts close anyway.

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

A snowHead

Toyota Corolla 1.8 from Europcar £1010 for that week. Like I say other car rental agencies are available and I totally accept some people prefer to hire cars.

To the OP who asked “ any recommendations for transfer companies from Calgary airport?” my answer remains “Banff Airporter are great”..

A snowHead

To chime in as someone that has lived in Banff since 1999. With the bus system we now have, I see no reason to rent a car. It is extremely easy to get to the resorts by the free bus. I don't even bother driving to the hill anymore. It's just too easy to be driven straight to the door via the bus. You also don't need a car within town. Almost everything is within walking distance, and what isn't, is serviced by the local ROAM bus, which most hotels give you a free pass for.

There are a number of transfer companies. Banff Airporter probably the best, but also the most expensive. Other options are also available.

I would rent skis in town so you can use the same equipment at each resort. Lots of options. Would probably go with Snowtips or Ultimate.

There are no hotels I would say to avoid. Pick one with the amenities and price you like.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@scoman, I'm just back from Banff (landed yesterday) and stayed at the Mount Royal which has a restaurant , previously we stayed at Elk + Avenue which has upgraded it's restaurant offering it has a coffee shop as well as a restaurant for breakfast, the receptionist at the Mount Royal recommended it to us, we used the Elk + Avenue coffee shop for breakfast as we aren't big breakfast people and have been there before, both hotels are well located for accessing the town.

With the Elk + Avenue the ski bus to Sunshine stops right outside

Transfers, Brewsters run a regular service and will drop you at your hotel and pick you up, https://www.banffjaspercollection.com/brewster-express/

At Lake Louise we stayed at the Fairmont and they definitely do breakfast Very Happy

We didn't hire a car, you can easily walk anywhere in Banff and the ski bus provides a service to both Sunshine and Norquay, there is also a bus to Lake Louise about 45 minutes. The Fairmont in Lake Louise runs it's own bus. We noticed that parking at Sunshine can be challenging.

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Thanks again, great info which is much appreciated.

I was referring to literally jumping on the bus to shuttle from one end of Banff Ave to the other in the evening if we were staying at the likes of Canalta Lodge, most definitely would not be travelling out of town at night.

Radar, sounds like you did a two stop trip, would you recommend? Had not though of this but could be an option as to not spending too much time on the road to LL.

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@scoman, yes I would, my brother in law did it as a single centre which convinced us to do it as a two centre as it's a long bus ride between resorts and only a few minutes from the Fairmont or any other hotel to the LL slopes.

We used Ski Independence (https://ski-i.com) to sort it all for us, you can do it independently but they take teh hassle out of it and they have someone in Banff to help if needed, and given that they get group rates at the hotels it can work out a bit cheaper or the same, we stayed in total about 12 days with 4 or 5 in Lake Louise, we skied Norquay on day one it's not too stressful (avoid the black) and good to get over the jet lag, then Sunshine we used the free guide service which was amazing and helped avoid some nasty short double diamonds and showed us some good easy powder spots, you can get the same at Lake Louise.

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Thanks ever so much Radar for taking the time to respond, very helpful indeed!

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Couple more if you don't mind:

How did you travel between Banff & LL with baggage?

Is there a bus service from Fairmont LL into LL in the evening? If not how did you get around for food out of the hotel?

After all it is free

@scoman, We had a private transfer organised by Ski Independence, just us and our baggage and skis, we did rent fat skis in LL from the hotel

if your planning to do teh trip independently then the hotel you are going to should be able to arrange it

@radar, Is there a bus service from Fairmont LL into LL in the evening? If not how did you get around for food out of the hotel?

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@scoman, the fairmont has a choice of restaurants once there you don't need to leave it's also away from teh village, but you can walk out and walk on the frozen lake, go ice skating or just walk out, there are some other hotels in the town, this might help with more info on LL https://ski-i.com/canada/lake-louise, I don't work for them !! Very Happy

We also used Ski Safari for another north American trip

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Walking around in minus 30 is different from plus 20. Banff is walkable all year, although smart people would want more than jeans when it's cold.

In Lake Louise the Post Hotel is good for food in general, and my preferred place to stay for that alone. I'm not sure they take walk ins other than for dinner, which you have to book. It's the sort of place where everyone eats in their own hotel.

Lake Louise is a set of hotels, it's not a village in the traditional sense. The concept of "going into Lake Louise in the evening" makes no sense to me. There's no "strip" or high street or shops or village. You could walk from hotel to hotel, I suppose. Banff is a town; Lake Louise is a group of hotels.

The Banff Springs in Banff is excellent. Check out the pub there, out the back, down by the river. Weissbier and ice hockey. I'm not sure if they have free shuttles to the town - if you have to ask the question a different hotel might be a better choice. The basic concept of those big railway hotels is "cruise liner", so you probably wouldn't really go there and then go elsewhere to eat and all.

To me, pretty much the only thing worth a look at Norquay is the North American wink

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@phil_w, agree with you on Lake Louise and should have been more cleared, Banff Springs is something else

Thanks once again.

I'm building up the mental picture Very Happy

how did we survive pre-internet Puzzled

You know it makes sense.

@scoman, indeed @phil_w, description of the Fairmont is spot on, everything you need is contained within the hotel.

As mentioned it gets quite chilly, snow sculptures in Banff town as an example, but if you wear the right clothes it's very walkable and a good choice of restaurants, Sunshine can be a bit exposed in places and we bought balaclavas, we did go in January

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

Just wear your ski clothing when walking in town!

@phil_w is correct, LL doesn’t have a “village”, just one single square with a few restaurants. The best part of LL is the lake itself. But if you’re not staying at the Fairmont, I’m not entirely sure how you get to it…

A snowHead

The hotel we stayed in was Charlton's. Family suites, 2 bedrooms with a kitchen and bathroom between. Pool for an apres swim. They didn't do breakfast, but there were loads of options close by. Easy to walk into town for dinner , but you do need to wrap up warm.
We had a car so sometimes used to stop off somewhere on the way for breakfast. We liked to have a car and we booked with Inghams I think, and it wasn't much more than transfers and a ski bus. If you do a hire car, don't put your boots in the boot, they will be stiff as hell by the time you get to the mountain and want to put them on. Keep them in the footwells.

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Re breakfast; we would buy bread, jam, milk and cereal from the supermarket and eat in the room, then arrive at base and stop for coffee and croissants before heading up. Our hotel usually had a pot of coffee sugar and creamer free for guests. Remember if coming from uk you will probably wake at 0500 latest due to time difference and can get out on first bus after 0700.

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Banff info request

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