Banff National Park + Jasper National Park

Story & Photography by Delaney Boyd

OUR TRIP WAS FOR A WEEK IN JULY 2019.

The weather was in the upper 50’s and 60’s to low 70’s during the day. It was cold at night, and mild during the day. It rained on us a couple times, but was partly cloudy or sunny most of the time.

It stayed light so late into the night. The sun would set about 9:30 or 10 pm, and there would still be some light at 11 pm. We wanted to see the Northern lights at night, but that didn’t happen since it was overcast during the evenings. When we would go “Northern Light hunting” in Jasper NP, we’d have to leave the cabin about midnight or later so it would be dark enough. We still didn’t see any northern lights though..

ACCOMMODATIONS

In Calgary, we stayed at the Hotel - Park Inn near the airport.

In Banff, we stayed at the Moose Hotel and Suites. This hotel had a super convenient location on the main street in Banff. A lot of people stay in a Canmore outside the city, and drive into Banff daily to save money on hotels, but for us it was really nice to be able to walk around the town and to restaurants from the hotel. We definitely splurged on this hotel. It had a rooftop pool and hot tubs, and a really nice spa that we didn’t get the chance to use. The fire place in our suite was especially nice after rainy days and cold nights exploring the town.

In Jasper, we stayed at the Jasper House Bungalows. This was practically the opposite experience from our hotel in Banff, but equally as fun. We had our own little bungalow next to the river, and it was the cutest place ever. There was a little cafe on site that we had a meal or two at, and there were plenty of short trails to walk along the river and take in the views. The bungalows were probably about 10-15 minutes outside of the town of Jasper, but since we had the rental car it wasn’t a big deal.