Banff Bachelorette Trip

Banff Bachelorette Trip

If you’re looking for an adventurous place to spend your last hurrah as a single woman with your best friends, Banff National Park is the place to go!

There’s so much to do.. hiking, biking, canoeing, you name it! The best activities are weather dependent, so the best time to go is from the months of June-September. We went early June, and some hikes were still snow covered – so I would suggest July-September for ideal weather conditions.

To get the most out of my trip, I went for a whole week with a few girls, and the rest came just for the weekend!

6 day itinerary:

  • Day 1: Tunnel Mountain Hike
  • Day 2: Emerald Lake
  • Day 3: Hike Barrier Lake Lookout
  • Day 4: Rent bikes in Banff
  • Day 5: Drive to Lake Louise, Lake Moraine, and Lake Peyto
  • Day 6: Hike Sulphur Mountain

If you’re tight on time.. the last 3 days hit the main spots for a long weekend!

3 day itinerary:

  • Day 1: Rent bikes in Banff
  • Day 2: Drive to Lake Louise and Lake Peyto
  • Day 3: Hike Sulphur Mountain

The easiest way to get around with the group is to rent a car. We changed up our itinerary daily based on the weather, so having a car (and not having pre-booked public transport) was super handy!

Our home base was just outside of Banff National Park in a town called Canmore! It’s 20 minute from Banff – making it a little bit cheaper for accommodations..and the park pass isn’t required to stay here.

Day 1: Tunnel Mountain Hike

The first day we checked in to our Canmore accommodation. I highly recommend this place.. it was spacious, balcony views, hot tub, and located within walking distance to the town! They also provided 2 Canada Parks Passes for our cars, which saved us a lot of money for the group!

Our first day was a little overcast, so we decided to head to Banff and do a quick and easy hike to warm up our legs for the upcoming week.

We hiked Tunnel Mountain – the top of this hike has views overlooking Banff Town as well as the opposite side overlooking the golf course and Mt. Norquay. It’s an easy hike and only takes about 2 hours roundtrip!

Day 2: Emerald Lake

The second day it was raining in Banff, so we searched around and found that in Emerald Lake BC it was 20 degrees and sunny! So we hopped in the car and drove 1.5 hours to get to the gorgeous Emerald Lake! The drive is beautiful, and it was exciting to head to a different province for the day.

We rented canoes at the lake for $90/hour. It’s a little pricy, but way cheaper than renting at Lake Louise which is $180/hour!!

After the canoe ride, we walked around the lake and had a little picnic! The perfect backdrop to a great day with the girls 🙂

Day 3: Barrier Lake

The next day we drove out to Kananaskis to hike up to the Barrier Lake Lookout. It was a much easier hike than AllTrails showed, only taking us about 3.5 hours total! We got about every season on our hike, from sunny, to rain, to hail – but it was worth it for the views. Definitely a great hike for all hiking levels, definitely recommend this one for a big group!

Day 4: Biking in Banff

We decided to give our hiking legs a rest this day, and opted for a different form of leg torture – biking! We rented bikes from Banff Adventures in the main town. We got cruiser bikes which was a bad choice.. definitely rent mountain bikes if they’re available – there’s lots of hills in Banff and you’ll need the gears!

We did the Bow River trail, Vermillion Lakes trail, and cruised through the town for a coffee break! My favourite spot was the bridge crossing the Bow River!

Day 5: Lake Louise, Lake Moraine, and Lake Peyto

On the Friday we had a few more girls join us for the weekend! Some girls had never been to the Rocky Mountains, so I wanted to show them the most iconic and breathtaking views in the area! We headed towards Lake Louise by car to start off the busy day! The parking was of course full (classic), so we opted to park at the ski hill and shuttle in to Lake Louise and Lake Moraine. (It only costs $8 per person for the day)

Our first stop was Lake Moraine – we walked up to the top of the rock pile for the best pictures! Pack a warm layer for when you go up – the wind is intense!

The lake wasn’t as full as it usually is due to the glacier not having enough time to melt, but it was still beautiful!

We hopped back on the shuttle and headed to Lake Louise next! Here we got some snacks in the Chateau and went for a little walk around the lake. The original plan was to do the Beehive hike.. but the trail still had some snow on it (so if you want to do this make sure you wait till at least July I would say!)

Since we were in the area, we drive a little further to Lake Peyto. It had just melted A DAY before us coming, so it felt like fate! It’s my all time favourite lake in the Banff area! It’s about a 20 minute walk up to the lookout (the whole trail was still a foot of snow which made it a struggle LOL!) but in the summer months it is a very easy walk!

When using Google Maps, be careful because the location of the parking lot is called ‘Bow Summit’, so don’t get confused like I did and keep driving LOL!

It took us about 1.5 hours to drive back to Canmore.. made for a long day to visit the 3 lakes at once. But sooo worth it in my opinion! If your girls are up to it I’d definitely recommend it, saves on driving distance if you do it all at once!

Day 6: Sulphur Mountain Hike

We did this hike on a Saturday – it was a little busy so I’d recommend to go earlier rather than later in the day! To get to the top of the mountain you have 2 options – hike or take the gondola. (This is why it gets so busy.. not everyone has to hike to get to the top!)

To take the gondola is $55 per person.. which is a lot for a group of girls! The hike up was difficult, but definitely doable. One of my girls did it 5 months postpartum – so it’s definitely doable for any hiking level!

The top of the hike is all built up now with a bunch of restaurants, coffee shops, and a whole boardwalk with multiple viewpoints!

Roundtrip the hike took us about 4 hours.. with plenty of time at the top to take pictures!

After the hike we went for a beer at the Waldhaus Pub by the Fairmont. It has unique views or the surrounding mountains and is way cheaper than the actual Fairmont!

At night we went out to The Drake Pub in Canmore. There was about 8 other bachelorette parties there LOL. It wasn’t really my scene so we headed back to the AirBnb for our final night. We all dressed up in our matching bachelorette apparel before our flights home the next day!

Throughout our stay, we made most of our meals at our AirBnb to save money. However, we did go to these places throughout our stay – highly recommend all of them!

Breakfast:

  • Rocky Mountain Bagel Company
  • Wild Flour Bakery

Lunch:

  • Waldhaus Pub
  • Banff Ave Brewing Company

Dinner:

  • Grizzly Paw Brewery
  • BLAKE Restaurant

Drinks:

  • Rose and Crown Pub
  • Waldhaus Pub
  • Grizzly Paw Brewery

Overall, if you’re looking for an adventurous Bachelorette with your girls – Banff is the place to go! It’s my favourite place in Canada and there’s good reason for it! Hope this persuaded you to visit Banff, whether it be for your Bachelorette weekend or just a regular trip!

Thanks for reading,

xoxo steens