Moraine Lake and Lake Louise from Banff – Day 6

Moraine Lake and Lake Louise from Banff were the top two priorities for Day 6 of our Canadian Rockies vacation. We intentionally left the rest of the day open, giving us flexibility to explore Bow Falls and downtown Banff before our afternoon tour.

Our original plan was a late-day tour that combined Moraine Lake, Lake Louise, and a wildlife drive along Lake Minnewanka, timed to finish around sunset. Two nights before the tour, however, we received a late-night text telling us it had been cancelled because too few people had booked it.

That changed the shape of our day — but ultimately gave us a very good afternoon at both lakes.

Getting to Moraine Lake: Shuttle or Tour?

Moraine Lake Road was closed to personal vehicles beginning in 2023 after years of severe congestion, parking problems, and safety concerns. Today, most visitors reach Moraine Lake by Parks Canada shuttle, Roam Public Transit, licensed commercial tour, taxi, bicycle, or e-bike.

For travelers focused primarily on price, the Parks Canada shuttle system is one of the most economical ways to visit.

I did not want to build one of the most important days of our trip around trying to grab a last-minute shuttle reservation. For us, paying more for a tour with a fixed date and time — and the ability to cancel up to 24 hours beforehand — was worth it.

It also gave us the flexibility to watch the weather forecast and, if conditions looked poor, potentially switch the entire day with another open day, as long as we could find a private tour on the new date.

I searched both Viator and GetYourGuide and booked a Moraine Lake, Lake Louise, and Lake Minnewanka sunset tour through Viator. The total price was $234 USD for two people.

I also received a 20% Capital One Shopping reward, which I typically redeem for gift cards. Rakuten was offering a Viator promotion as well, although the return was lower at the time we booked.

This was the only paid tour of our eight-night Canadian Rockies vacation.

When the Tour Was Cancelled

Sometimes the best plans simply do not work out. Two nights before our scheduled tour, I received a late-night text saying it had been cancelled because not enough people had signed up. The operator offered us an earlier tour as a replacement.

My first response was “maybe.”

We had paid for a premium itinerary that included Lake Minnewanka and sunset, and the replacement did not. I checked the remaining last-minute tour options online and found that prices had increased considerably. Sunrise tours were also available, but I had no interest in waking up around 3 a.m. to catch a tour bus.

After discussing it with the operator, I negotiated a $134 USD credit and accepted their 3 p.m. tour. Their pickup point was only about a five-minute walk from our hotel, we would go directly to Moraine Lake, and they agreed to drop us in downtown Banff near our new dinner reservation at El Patio.

Bow Falls

We started the morning slowly with a couple of cappuccinos at the hotel. One thing we had noticed during the trip was that the hotel tended to empty out by about 9 a.m. and stayed quiet until late afternoon.

We left around 9:45 and drove to Bow Falls. The Bow Falls Trail can be walked from downtown Banff, but we chose the easy option and parked directly by the falls. The parking lot was less than half full, and the area was peaceful with very few people around us.

Bow Falls is not a towering waterfall — it is only about 9 metres high — but its width across the Bow River and the surrounding mountain scenery make it impressive.

Its location just outside downtown and below Fairmont Banff Springs also makes it one of the easiest scenic stops to add to a day in Banff.

There are multiple viewpoints where you can see the falls. We climbed the stairs to the upper viewing area, and the perspective from above was worth the effort. You can also follow the trail farther if you want more of a walk.

For anyone staying in Banff, I would put Bow Falls on the list. You can make it a very easy scenic stop with almost no hiking or turn it into a longer walk if you want more activity.

Lunch and Shopping in Downtown Banff

From Bow Falls we headed downtown for lunch and a little souvenir shopping. We had already spent time in downtown Banff earlier in the trip, so this time we had a couple of specific targets.

Caribou Street between Banff Avenue and Bear Street has a pedestrian-friendly design and outdoor patios. That was target number one.

We parked near the Banff Farmers Market, which operates on Wednesdays. We did not spend time at the market — Chicago gives us no shortage of farmers markets, festivals, and art fairs — but it looked clean, open, and nicely arranged in its park setting.

If we had more time, or had not found the souvenirs we wanted downtown, we would have wandered through.

It was only a short walk to the restaurant patios on Caribou Street. We looked at posted menus for each outdoor patio before returning to The Maple Leaf Steak & Seafood on the corner of Banff Avenue and Caribou Street.

By the time we sat down it was noon, and we both already knew what we wanted: fish and chips for me and a burger for Leslie. As usual, we split both meals so we could share.

The weather was perfect — low 70s and sunny — and dining outside surrounded by the Canadian Rockies was hard to beat. The Pacific Coast cod was excellent.

My family lived in Ottawa when I was just starting school, and one thing I brought home from Canada was a lasting preference for malt vinegar on fish and fries.

Our total lunch bill was about $80 USD including tip, which felt very reasonable compared with what we are accustomed to paying in Chicago.

After lunch we picked up souvenir T-shirts and a hat at Cool As A Moose just around the corner. We liked the quality and the Banff branding better than the generic souvenir merchandise we had seen elsewhere.

Moraine Lake and Lake Louise Tour — Finally!

Our shuttle pickup was on time at 3 p.m. The smaller vehicle was exactly what I had wanted when I originally booked; I did not want to experience Moraine Lake as part of a huge tour-bus group.

Our driver and guide, Greta, immediately began pointing out local sites and identifying the mountains we passed. She had an environmental degree and had previously worked studying bears in their natural habitat. She was hopeful we might see wildlife during the afternoon and promised to keep an eye out.

On the drive she also explained the history of Moraine Lake’s popularity, the traffic backups that once occurred on Moraine Lake Road, and why private-vehicle access was eventually restricted.

I had already read about this while planning the trip, but hearing a local describe what the road had been like gave the story much more meaning.

Moraine Lake and the Rockpile Trail

Before arriving, I asked Greta about the Rockpile Trail, which I had identified during my research as the viewpoint I most wanted to reach.

I was less concerned about distance than I was about uneven footing and balancing on rocks.

Greta told me the path was much more manageable than the name “Rockpile” suggested and that she thought I would be fine. That immediately made it our first target.

The Rockpile Trail is short, but it does include roughly 120 steps and is not wheelchair accessible. Visitors who do not want to tackle the stairs can still enjoy excellent views near the canoe docks and along the Moraine Lake shoreline.

While we were near the top, I noticed a woman having difficulty with one unusually high step. I reached out an arm for her to hold and she made it up.

My advice is simple: take your time and do not be afraid to accept or ask for a hand if you need one.

The reward at the top exceeded every expectation I had.

I have seen Crater Lake, Torch Lake, Lake Tahoe and Jenny Lake, and I lived on Lake Superior for years. Our honeymoon in 1975 was a Lake Superior Circle Tour in a pickup truck with a topper. Today we live on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago overlooking Lake Michigan.

We are lake people.

Moraine Lake immediately joined my list of favorites. The combination of the turquoise water and surrounding mountain peaks is extraordinary.

We spent more than an hour taking in the views and crisp mountain air, then took a short shoreline walk before returning to the shuttle for our 4:45 meeting time.

We were the first ones back, which gave us our choice of window seats for the ride to Lake Louise.

That is one drawback of any organized tour: you operate on someone else’s schedule. In this case, though, we had enough time to enjoy Moraine Lake without feeling rushed, and the photographs we brought home will last forever.

Lake Louise in the Late Afternoon

The drive from Moraine Lake to Lake Louise took about 25 minutes. Because we arrived after 5 p.m., the tour-bus parking area was less than one-quarter full and Greta was able to park close to the trail.

She told us that earlier in the day the area can be far more congested, with full parking areas and crowded paths around the lake.

Our changed tour schedule had unexpectedly given us a benefit: we had no parking delays, no huge crowds, and no need to rush.

I understand the appeal of seeing the lakes at sunrise, but a 3 a.m. pickup simply was not for us. Mountain weather is also unpredictable. Clouds, fog, or rain can obscure the views at any hour.

Our late-afternoon visit gave us excellent visibility and a relaxed experience.

Returning to Lake Louise After 27 Years

I had been to Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise once before, in 1999, when I drove up from Calgary to speak about fiber-optic networking.

It was a quick business trip rather than a vacation, and I returned to Calgary that evening for an early flight the next morning.

I had visited Lake Louise well before the advent of the current era of social-media-driven tourism.

The Fairmont remains one of the iconic places to stay in the Canadian Rockies, but it is expensive, particularly during peak season. Travelers who want the Lake Louise resort experience should budget accordingly and plan well ahead.

Personally, if I were choosing a lake lodge for the setting alone, I would pick Emerald Lake Lodge. It is more rustic and private, and Emerald Lake was at least as beautiful to us as Lake Louise — perhaps even more so — without the same level of commercialization.

We visited Emerald Lake earlier in the trip while driving our Emerald Lake Loop from Golden to Banff .

For this trip, our four Marriott free-night certificates went toward the Moxy Banff instead. That proved to be of tremendous value and gave us a convenient base for exploring the park.

We spent approximately one hour walking along the Lake Louise waterfront and photographing the scenery. The shoreline was uncrowded, providing ample space to pause, appreciate the view, and take high-quality photographs without frequently waiting for people to clear the frame.

Our Personal Ranking of the Banff-Area Lakes

That is obviously a personal ranking — Lake Louise is world-famous for a reason — but Moraine, Emerald and Bow Lake simply made a stronger impression on us.

We visited Bow Lake the previous day during our Icefields Parkway road trip from Banff .

A Wildlife Bonus on the Ride Back

Once again, we were among the first people back to the shuttle and grabbed good window seats. About ten minutes after leaving Lake Louise, that turned out to be an excellent decision.

Greta slowed the van and pointed out three black bears on the hillside beside the road. We could not get a good photograph or video through the windows, but we sat there for about ten minutes watching them forage.

Greta told us the two smaller bears were yearlings and that we were fortunate to see all three together.

Sometimes the best moments of travel are the ones you do not manage to photograph. We have no great bear picture from that afternoon, but we certainly remember sitting quietly in the shuttle watching them on the hillside.

Dinner at El Patio and the End of Day 6

We arrived back in Banff just before 8 p.m., and Greta dropped us about a block from El Patio , where we had made new dinner reservations after the tour schedule changed.

The rooftop restaurant sits above Magpie & Stump on Caribou Street, and we got a great outdoor table. We shared fajitas and a burrito along with a couple of margaritas.

Our total bill was about $95 USD including tip.

Then it was back to the Moxy for a good night’s sleep. The next morning, we would check out and begin the drive toward Calgary for our early flight home.

Day 6 Takeaways

Day 6 did not go according to the itinerary I had originally built — and that turned out to be perfectly fine.

We still visited Bow Falls, enjoyed lunch and shopping in Banff, spent more than an hour at Moraine Lake, saw Lake Louise without the daytime crowds, spotted three black bears, and finished with dinner on a rooftop in town.

The biggest planning lesson was simple: build flexibility into a Banff itinerary. Even a tour booked well in advance can be cancelled or changed.

Having an intentionally open day gave us room to adjust without sacrificing anything that mattered.

And if I had to choose just one lake from the entire trip to see again? Moraine Lake would be first.