Mistakes to Avoid When Visiting BANFF National Park

We're going to cover some of the mistakes of visiting Banff National Park so that you can avoid them. And the first one is riding the Banff gondola on a cloudy day like today. Cheryl and I just did this with our family. We took the Banff gondola to the top of the mountain and it was so cloudy we could not see the beautiful views in the valley below that we were hoping to see. That was really quite a huge bummer because, you know, what happens with that gondola ticket is you book that online well in advance. And so when you get there to go up, we thought, we assumed we were going to have to go up to the top. At the last moment, they told us, you can reschedule on a cloudy day. And we talked about it with our group. It was a little hard to kind of change plans with a group of 10 of us right then and we have kind of a full schedule. So we just decided to go up to the top and we got up there and it really was so cloudy we couldn't see anything. Major mistake is just not understanding that we could reschedule that if it was a cloudy day and we really should have done that and rearranged our plans. So that is the first mistake. Along the same lines, by the way, is understanding that the Banff gondola ticket also serves as a shuttle ticket, a free shuttle ticket to get you from the town of Banff up to the gondolas. So we will talk about the shuttles here in a minute. Next up is don't wait to get your Banff Park Pass until you get here. You can order that online. It'll just come in the mail and you are good to go. It's so nice to have that detail taken care of before you come. Plus, there is a really special added bonus is that as you go to the gates of Banff, you'll see cars all lined up waiting to get in the park. But that's not going to be you because if you already have your pass, it's like you're on the freeway. You just zip right on by going, I mean, you're going like 60 kilometers per hour just zooming by. No entrance needed. So it really can save you a lot of time and a lot of stress. And the other nice thing is that if you know you're going to be visiting several parks, like in our case, we're visiting Banff and Jasper and we wanted to hit some other historic sites, you can get the Discovery Pass, which covers all of those things for a year. And it's already paid for itself. So just think your trip through a little bit ahead of time and think about what you really need and then just order the pass you want in the mail so you can skip all those lines when you get here. What was the mistake I almost made? Oh, my gosh. I'm a little embarrassed. We had a USA license plate. Matt initially got in the line to go through the entrance and we're like, wait, we don't need to do this. And so he turned like across five lanes of traffic going the wrong way and then got on the right road. But it was a little intense for just a minute. OK, the next mistake is not understanding the shuttle system here at Banff. The shuttle system is actually incredible here at this park. We are located out on the scenic drive right now, the Lake Minnewanka Scenic Drive. We're at Two Jack Lake, which is named after two jacks, two guys named Jack. And you would think that the shuttles don't service this because it's kind of out in the countryside, but they do. The shuttles service almost every major, well, every major site in Banff. They really get you out to places far away from the town site. So if you look at this chart here, you can see that this is the town of Banff. And then we're located way out here on Lake Minnewanka, which the shuttles are servicing. Now, most people that visit Banff are going to arrive in their car and they're going to drive around. You see plenty of cars driving on this road and park at each parking lot. Just be aware, the parking lots do fill up quite often throughout the day. So the shuttles can be a really good option. Now I say the mistake is actually just not understanding the shuttles because the shuttles may or may not be right for you. For us, we have a family of six. So every time you hop on the shuttle and ride to another spot, it costs $2 per person. So for us, that's a $12 ride for our family. So that's $12 out and then $12 back. So it kind of adds up when we use the shuttles. So we have tried to strategically park at the right times throughout the day instead of using the shuttles. But for a lot of people, the shuttles are going to be a really nice experience to just hop on and get out to another spot without having to drive and worry about parking. So just do some research so that you understand the shuttle system and you can decide whether it's good for you. The next step is not dressing for the weather. When we left our home in Utah, it was 100 degrees. We were sweltering at home. But this morning in Banff, it was 40 degrees. It is pretty chilly here. And just like any other mountain range, mountain storms can come and go throughout the afternoon. And so it's really important that you are prepared for the weather because there's really no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes, right? And so we were on our boat ride last night on the rift. We were rafting down the Bow River and it was so beautiful. And I really wish I had put on an extra layer of clothes because I was a little chilly. The dressing in layers, I know it's pretty common advice, but really take this advice for what it's worth. Have a cardigan, have a jacket, have a rain jacket and have your sunscreen and maybe have a t-shirt on because you don't know what weather you're going to encounter throughout the day. But if you have the right clothes with you, you'll be comfortable and happy. Our next mistake is worrying too much about crowds, about the overcrowding situation in national parks that you always read about and hear about. And I have just a short story for you about that. We do trip consultations for people who visit the West and we met with a gentleman who is from out of the country and he was coming to the West and he was driving through Wyoming and Montana. And he was so terrified of being around crowds that his trip was just driving through emptiness. He wasn't going to any of the great sites that the West is known for. And we kind of had to tell him, Hey, you're, you're really missing these sites and your fears are really unwarranted. Now we all have our tolerance with crowds, so you know, you have to kind of evaluate that for yourself. But in my experience, the whole fear about overcrowding has been way overblown. In fact, people a hundred years ago thought the national parks were too crowded. So it's always kind of this feeling that there's just not enough room for all these people, but we've had incredible trips to the national parks in spite of them being very crowded. The main thing is if you're going to visit during the main visitation season, you really do need to do a lot of research to try to figure out better times to visit places to avoid some of the overcrowding situations that you're going to run into. Also pack your patience, just be aware of course, that other people want to enjoy this just like you do. If you really don't want to deal with crowds, all you have to do is get off the main path about 30 yards and you'll be fine. If you just go for a hike, you're going to miss a lot of the crowds. Another tip is not to overpack your day. Just plan that when you go to like the Banff gondola, you're going to need to wait in line. If that's one of the things you really want to do, you're going to need to wait in line. My final tip is don't let your fear of crowds keep you from doing what you want to do. Go and enjoy it if you want to. Just put that research in, you do your homework, and you'll have a good trip. When you are cruising around Banff and you see some red chairs, don't miss the opportunity to sit and enjoy an amazing view. These are all strategically placed and you are guaranteed to see something awesome when you sit in one of these chairs. Okay, the next mistake is buying individual attractions. So in Banff, there are a ton of things that you can spend your money on, a bunch of activities that you can do. Most of these have actually been put in packages together by the main company that handles this, which is Pursuit. So there's activities like the Banff gondola that we mentioned earlier. Right now we are at Lake Minnewanka. You can see behind me this little boat here. They offer scenic cruises on Lake Minnewanka. There is the Columbia Icefield Adventure, where they'll take you up on the glacier in a big bus. You can walk out on this sky bridge, it's like the Grand Canyon has that skywalk. There's one here on the Icefields Parkway where you can walk out on this glass bridge. And a number of other activities like Golden, the city of Golden has like a suspension bridge that you can walk out on that goes over a canyon. Really a number of things to choose from. And they have put them together in these packages that if you buy them as a bundle, it'll save you some money. So Cheryl and I did that with our family. We bought them as a bundle. Now I would kind of say the other mistake is feeling like you have to do all these things, like you have to spend a ton of money on these things. You can come to Banff and have a wonderful trip without spending a ton of money on attractions. Again, there's just a ton of hikes that you can do, enjoy the downtown area. A lot of museums that are included with your Discovery Pass. I mean, you can do a lot of things without spending a ton of money, but we like having some variety on our vacations, so we believe that that's an important way to do it as well. And so if you're going to do that in Banff, look at some of those bundles online. The other thing we found out there is they seem to change the bundles around. We thought we had some bundles early on in the season and then they ended up changing them when we got to springtime. The next mistake is missing the city of Calgary. Almost all of us have to travel through that city to get to Banff. And Calgary is a beautiful city. And in my humble opinion, I believe that the secret sauce to an amazing vacation is variety. When we visit a national park, we try to see the best sights. We try to do a little bit of recreation. And adding a city onto your trip will make it so memorable. And big cities don't have to be expensive. They can be. And when we visited Calgary, we did the tower and we paid money to do a few things. But our very favorite thing was going on that friendship bridge and walking along the river. And that was absolutely free. Our family loved our time in Calgary and I bet you he will too. Next is visiting Banff without a game plan. This is a big park with so much to do and it's a little complicated. In fact, I'd say the trickiest vacation we've ever planned. But you're in luck because we have a game plan for you. If you visit wearintherockies.com, we have a Banff itinerary already done to get you to the best sights at the best times. Walking distances, travel times, how long it takes to get places. All the things you need to know to have an amazing trip to Banff National Park. We co-wrote this guide with the Mountaintown Ramblers, a Canadian couple that visits this park every month. It has all the tips and tricks you need to have a successful trip. Thank you for watching and until next time, go West Young Traveler.