Banff & Jasper - 4 days ultimate itinerary (Ideal for non hikers)

Alberta is a paradise on Earth which finds a place in every person's bucket list. This province has something to offer for all kind of people (hikers and non-hikers specifically). Banff, Jasper and Yoho perhaps tops the list of all the places in Alberta and everyone atleast needs to visit these places once in their lifetime.

We decided to visit Banff, Jasper and Yoho during the Canada day long weekend in 2019. It was a long weekend and we managed to add one more day to make it a 4 day extended long weekend trip from 29 June to 2 July. I had to do a lot of research as I did not want to miss anything in this trip and make the most out of it.

After going through numerous websites and travelogues, I finally was able to create an extensive itinerary for Banff and Jasper. To be honest, you would need around 6 days to complete every places mentioned in this itinerary. But if you are adventurous and can go beyond the line, you can definitely do this in 4 days without missing anything.

Without wasting anymore of your precious time, let's jump straight in.

Itinerary for Banff and Jasper

Day 1: Banff

Finally after lots of planning, you are finally boarding the plane to discover Alberta.

Plan in a way so that you reach Calgary International Airport by 10 am local time. Once you reach Calgary, get your car from any of the car rental companies (Turo, Enterprise etc) and then start rolling. It would be better if you can prebook your car.

Today you would be checking out places around Banff and Canmore. Drive straight from Calgary airport to Sulphur mountain. Take the Cochrane route from Calgary as that would be more scenic than the highway.


View from Sulphur mountain

You can experience the Sulphur mountain gondola which takes you to the top of the sulphur mountain where you can have a small hike to the summit. The view is awesome and you would enjoy every bit of it.

Then plan to go to the other nearby view points like the Bow falls, Hoodoos Viewpoint, Cave and Basin Historic site, Surprise corner and also have your lunch. You should be able to complete all these by 4 pm which gives you time to go to the other part of Banff.

You can now go to Lake Minnewanka which is a nice place to be during the evening. There are many lakes near Lake Minnewanka which you can enjoy based on your preference. There is a boat ride as well which you can enjoy.


Lake Minnewanka

Once you are done enjoying these places, you can go to Banff for you dinner and check into your hotel for a good nights sleep.

These are the places you can visit on Day 1. Try visiting the places marked in bold

• Sulphur Mountain and take a Gondola Ride to the top of mountain.
• Cave and Basin National Historic Site 
• Bow Falls 
• Surprise Corner 
• Hoodoos view point
• Vermilion Lakes 
• Cascade ponds 
• Johnson Lake 
• Lake Minnewanka 
• Two Jack Lake 
• Mount Norquay road 
• Banff town and nearby areas 

Day 2:

After an awesome first day, you must be all set for day 2. Today we went to see the most visited places in Banff, Lake Louise.

Start by driving through Highway 1A where your first viewpoint is Johnston Canyon. There are two waterfalls (Lower falls 800 meters and the upper falls 2.4 kms). You can hike and see both or you can check one and move on. Its all upto how much you want to hike. After checking Johnston canyon drive towards Lake Louise. On the way you can check out Morant's curve. 

Morant's curve

On the way to Lake Louise, if you see that you can enter the road to Moraine Lake, you can go and see this lake before as there are very less parking there and a lot of rush. Parking is a big issue in both the places. So if you see there is lot of rush, you can also park your car at the Lake Louise park and ride lot and take the free shuttle to both the lakes. You should be done with both the lakes by 4 pm if everything goes well. There are canoe rentals as well which you can enjoy.

Lake Louise

Moraine lake

If you are done with these two lakes by 4 pm, you can then go visit the Yoho National Park. We missed this part as there was too much rush and we wasted around 2-3 hours for parking. Also we didn't know about the free shuttle bus. You can visit Emerald lake and few other places in Yoho National park before you come back and check in to your hotel in Banff or Lake Louise area.

These are the places which you can visit on Day 2.

• Backswamp Viewpoint via Bow valley parkway
• Johnston Canyon
• Morant’s Curve 
• Lake Louise
• Moraine Lake. Hike to the rock pile in Moraine lake to get the view from top. Also take a canoe ride in either of the lakes. 
• Yoho National Park
• Spiral Tunnel 
• Emerald Lake
• Lake Ohara 
• Natural Bridge

Day 3:

After two awesome days in Banff and Yoho, today we took the Icefield Parkway towards Jasper. Start as early as you can to enjoy one of the most beautiful highway on Earth. The first stop would be Bow lake where you can enjoy the serene views. There are other lakes like the Mistaya lake and Waterfowl lake which are equally beautiful. On the way you can also see the Crowfoot glacier.

Waterfowl lake

Then you can drive to Peyto lake, one more wonders of nature. There is a short hike to Peyto lake, but thats worth it.

Peyto Lake

Then you can enjoy the highway with its wonderful views. You can also enjoy the Columbia Icefield Skywalk and Columbia Icefield tour. But you might need an extra day for this as the icefield tour itself takes around 4 hours.

After that you can drive towards Jasper and on the way you can enjoy Sunwapta falls and Athabasca falls. You might also try to get to Mount Edith Cavell which is a wonderful driving experience. Have a quick dinner and then go to Miette Hotsprings to end your day perfectly. Remember it takes around an hour to reach Miette from jasper town and it closes by 11 pm. So plan accordingly. You can actually include the icefield tour and divide this day into 2 days if you want to enjoy everything.

Sunwapta Falls

Athabasca Falls

These are the place to visit on Day 3

• Crowfoot Glacier
• Bow lake
• Peyto lake
• Mistaya Lake
• Parker Ridge
• Sunwaapta Falls
• Athabasca Falls
• Mount Edit Cavell
• Patricia Lake
• Pyramid Lake
• Miette Hotspring

Day 4:

Finally we are on the last day of our trip. This day will be a bit hectic as it involves a lot of driving from Jasper to Calgary. You can enjoy few places before you can give it a call. Try visiting Medicine lake, Malign lake and Malign canyon. You can also take a boat ride to Spirit Island if time permits. By all means start from Jasper by 10 am so that you can reach Calgary by 6 pm. Plan to take your flight from Calgary after 9 pm so that in case you are late you don't miss your flight.

Pyramid Lake

Icefield Parkway

These are the places you can visit on Day 4:

• Maligne Lake. Take a boat ride to Spirit lake if possible
• Medicine Lake
• Maligne Canyon

I know that this is a pretty hectic tour for 4 days. I did miss out few places due to lack of time which I wasted on parking. I listed out all the important places around Banff and Jasper. If you have time, you can definitely extend this trip to 5-7 days as per your convenience and you can enjoy more. I do plan to visit again in future as visiting this place once will not satiate your desire to explore this beautiful place.

Note: To visit any national park in Canada, you will need to buy a pass. This money goes towards the maintenance of the parks. You can either buy it online or in any of the booth while you enter the park near Canmore. But I would suggest you to buy it online so that you can save time while you are there. Buy your passes online.

You can download a pdf version of this itinerary here. Note this itinerary was based on my plans and hotel bookings and you can adjust them accordingly.

For any questions or suggestions, you can comment and I would be happy to answer them.