Back in June, TM and I took a trip to Lake Louise to beat some of the summer heat down here in Texas. I keep meaning to write this recap since a few people have been asking about where we stayed and what we thought about it etc. So I finally sat down to write it down! If you want to check out my packing list I’ve got an entire post on that took!
How We Got There
We flew into Calgary and ended up renting a car to drive up through the National Park to Lake Louise. We had originally rented a car through one of the normal sites but that ended up being a disaster so we got a car through Turo. We will never hire a car through anyone else again. It was the easiest thing – think of it as Air BnB but for cars. We rented a car and the owner met us at the airport arrivals and then we returned it at the airport departures. No waiting in lines, no going to another part of the airport, just get in and get out. Oh and the vehicle we rented already had a park pass so we didn’t have to worry about getting one!
Banff vs. Lake Louise
When we were looking at where to go, we found that many people stayed in Banff and travelled to Lake Louise for the day. Since we wanted to go on this vacation to hike and stay in nature we decided to stay in Lake Louise to be closer to the hikes. We got to sleep in and didn’t have to get up and drive into the town and to the trailhead.
Banff is a small ski town, there are shops and restaurants, and lots of places to stay. Lake Louise is a tiny outpost. Small number of restaurants, few hotels, and even fewer shops. I think we went into two shops, a bookstore, and the teeny grocery store. That pretty much rounded out the small ‘town.’ Where you stay should depend on the type of vacation you want.
Where We Stayed
For our Lake Louise trip we had a small suite at The Post Hotel that looked at the mountains. The hotel itself is gorgeous, it’s very Swiss alps ski lodge all tucked into this pocket between mountains and a river. When you walk in there’s big windows that have couches and large chair and a halfs that overlook a small lawn and the mountains. It’s a wonderful place to rest after a hike and have some tea. We sat for a little bit after a hike, well after showering, and read. It was very peaceful.
The room was a bit dated, and I don’t say that to be snarky, I think the decor also didn’t match summer. If there was snow outside I could definitely see this ski lodge aesthetic ‘working’ it just was incongruent with what I was seeing outside. If that makes sense. The bed was very comfortable and the amenities were top notch. Our view was outstanding.
The only two draw backs were there was a train super close to the hotel and there were trains frequently and they let you know they were there. I love sleeping with the windows open when it’s cold enough but we couldn’t do it with the trains. We ended up shutting the windows and turning on a noise machine app on my phone. It wasn’t bad it was just annoying.
We had thought about staying at the Fairmont but good god that was expensive and thank god we didn’t try it because there was very loud construction going on at the hotel. Like heavy machinery, that would have been 100x worse than the train.
The other draw back was the bathtub was basically in the room. You could step into the bathtub from the shower (they were separate) so there’s like an empty wall in the shower into the tub and then you can step out of the tub into the room right by the desk. I kept thinking ‘did they forget to put a wall up. Was it bad? No, but I couldn’t get over it. Maybe not a drawback but seriously I can’t stop thinking about it.
Where We Ate
The restaurant at our hotel was the best restaurant; it was seriously so delicious. We tried to get in for another evening but they were all booked and we were exhausted so we ended up getting room service from the pub/lounge in the hotel. The best places we ate (breakfast, lunch, or dinner) were: The Dining Room at the Post Hotel, Laggan’s for Breakfast, and Sir Norman Lounge.
When we were first planning our Lake Louise trip we wanted to eat at some of the places in the Fairview but they wouldn’t let us make reservations since we weren’t staying there. Not like they keep some of the reservation spots open but absolutely zero reservations if you aren’t guests. We were going to try and snag a table but honestly we didn’t want to drive up, pay for parking, and wait around for a table we might get in an appropriate time.
We also had plans to grab some tea and maybe a sandwich at the Lake Agnes Tea House but man the line was out of control so thank goodness we bought a sandwich to share at the bottom of the mountain at Laggan’s.
The Hikes we Took
We ended up hiking almost every day and took a few different hikes. We did the Lake Louise Lakeshore, Fairview Lookout, Mirror Lake up to Lake Agnes then continued onto the Big Beehive, and the Plain of Six Glaciers. The trails were very well marked and we had the AllTrails app. I like to know exactly where we are and how much is left on a hike otherwise I tend to get cranky, so the AllTrails app is crucial. The Lakeshore is definitely a walk, you could do it in flip flops, but anything more than that you need at the least tennis shoes.
Final Thoughts
All in all this Lake Louise trip was beautiful and incredibly relaxing. We didn’t want to explore the city we just wanted to hike and relax in nature… and get out of the 100+ degree heat. We were talking about if we would go back and the consensus was that we would definitely go back, maybe stay in a different small town to full explore that area or stay in Banff and head to different parts of the park each day.
