Amazing Things To Do in Banff, Alberta in the Winter

Banff National Park is full of stunning scenery and is Canada’s oldest national park. We visited during the winter in December for our Honeymoon, here are some of our favorite things we did.

Introduction

We chose Banff, Alberta as our honeymoon destination because:

1. I found a great flight deal

2. We wanted to go somewhere that would have snow because my soon-to-be husband had never seen snow before! Both of us are Florida natives so we are used to beaches not mountain weather.

3. It looked absolutely stunning in pictures.

We traveled from Orlando, Florida on a direct flight to Calgary Airport the morning after our wedding. Banff at the beginning of December is cold, but not uncomfortably cold. We made some wonderful memories and are already planning to go back for our 5 year wedding anniversary! Here are a few of our favorite things we did while in Banff!

Ice Skating on Vermillion Lakes

We grabbed breakfast at a coffee shop one morning to discuss what we wanted to do for the day. A Banff local was sitting nearby and we struck up a conversation. She told us we should rent skates at a shop in town and walk to Vermillion Lakes about a mile down a trail at the edge of town. We are so glad we followed her advice as it is still one of my favorite memories to this day! We had the entire lake to ourselves and you better believe we were slipping, falling, and laughing until it hurt.

Banff Gondola and Dinner

Taking the Banff Gondola provided a panoramic view of the Rocky Mountains and as we ate at the Sky Bistro we watched the sunset over the mountains. We try to steer away from touristy traps, but we decided to invest in this to celebrate our dating anniversary. It was well worth it, the view from the overlooks and dinner were remarkable. We got to try ice wine and eat some delicious food at the Sky Bistro. Definitely recommend this even if you just get tickets for the gondola so that you can see the view of the Rocky Mountains!

Upper Banff Hot Springs

The temperature during the day in Banff was around the 20’s-40’s Fahrenheit, so the walk from the building to the hot springs in a bathing suit was frigid, but so worth it. This was our first experience with hot springs and how cool is it that the Earth can do something like that! We enjoyed it so much and it was a fun, romantic thing to do together. We got to chill in the spring and look around at the beautiful mountains surrounding us.

Dinner at The Maple Leaf

The Maple Leaf has some seriously good food and game meats that we had never tried before. We got a local meat and cheese board which had Elk and Boar on it which you don’t typically see in the US! It is in the $$$ price range for dinner so if you are affordably exploring their brunch and lunch menu look equally as delicious!

Hiking Trails

There are a plethora of hiking trails throughout Banff National Park. We stayed at a resort that had trails we could walk to from our room so each day we ventured out to a new one and saw all sorts of beautiful views. There are a mix of short/long trails so if you are an avid hiker or just want to take a light stroll there is something for everybody.

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