What were your must do Banff excursions?

[Anonymous]

Besides the hiking trails obviously.

Can you recommend anythign you thought was super fun? We'll have three kids with us (7, 9, 10).

[Anonymous]

Absolutely no suggestions for kids that young. Bring a lot of things to keep them amused. We hiked and you needed to be a healthy adult to keep up. You certainly wont be going far into the park with kids. Maybe the hot springs, but you can do a pool here...

Not a place young kids will find fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely no suggestions for kids that young. Bring a lot of things to keep them amused. We hiked and you needed to be a healthy adult to keep up. You certainly wont be going far into the park with kids. Maybe the hot springs, but you can do a pool here...

Not a place young kids will find fun.

What if your young kids love hiking?

[Anonymous]

We went last spring break with our 9- and 11-year olds. We skied, snowshoed and did an ice hike with rented crampons. We had a blast! I don’t know about summer activities there, but can imagine that if your kids enjoy hiking, biking and swimming, they’ll love it. I have no idea why PP would say it’s not a place to take kids—they have WiFi in Canada too, people.

We saw a moose in town! Honestly, Banff is beautiful and kids love to be outdoors even without planned “activities”.

[Anonymous]

I went when I was that young. In the winter. We took a horse drawn sled to a waterfall that was memorable.

We didn’t stay at the chateau on lake Louise. But we visited it. There was a display with a lot of chicks hatching it the lobby at the time. I wonder if there are other activities or a restaurant you could do there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely no suggestions for kids that young. Bring a lot of things to keep them amused. We hiked and you needed to be a healthy adult to keep up. You certainly wont be going far into the park with kids. Maybe the hot springs, but you can do a pool here...

Not a place young kids will find fun.

OP kids are not that young and I think there are plenty of fun family things to do. My son at that age loved hiking- still does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely no suggestions for kids that young. Bring a lot of things to keep them amused. We hiked and you needed to be a healthy adult to keep up. You certainly wont be going far into the park with kids. Maybe the hot springs, but you can do a pool here...

Not a place young kids will find fun.

OP kids are not that young and I think there are plenty of fun family things to do. My son at that age loved hiking- still does.

With kids that age in Banff, they won't really be hiking. They'll be walking a bit. But yes, as someone pointed out Canada does have Wifi.

Winter with kids would be great. Summer, not so much

[Anonymous]

I did a trip with my 5 year old many years ago, just the 2 of us. It turned out to be one of our favorite vacations.

Some things we enjoyed: “white” water rafting (in quotes because the trips that allowed kids under 6 were pretty tame so it was more like “blue” water rafting)

Seeing Lake Louise and the Chateau. We had high tea overlooking the lake.

Horseback riding

Little museum in town

Hiking

Lots of great food

We stayed at a hotel with a giant water slide.

[Anonymous]

Can't believe all the negativity here. We went with a small child and had a fantastic time. We got a book called walks and easy hikes in the Canadian Rockies, so yes we skipped some of the more demanding hikes but we still walked around around a couple of lakes and saw lots of beautiful areas. I bet with older kids they'd like going up to Jasper and riding an ice coach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can't believe all the negativity here. We went with a small child and had a fantastic time. We got a book called walks and easy hikes in the Canadian Rockies, so yes we skipped some of the more demanding hikes but we still walked around around a couple of lakes and saw lots of beautiful areas. I bet with older kids they'd like going up to Jasper and riding an ice coach.

PS we moved around the Rockies a fair bit-- stayed in Banff, Lake Louise, one or two other places

[Anonymous]

The hot springs
Lake Louise kayaking or canoeing
Tea at the Fairmont
A train ride if you have time

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely no suggestions for kids that young. Bring a lot of things to keep them amused. We hiked and you needed to be a healthy adult to keep up. You certainly wont be going far into the park with kids. Maybe the hot springs, but you can do a pool here...

Not a place young kids will find fun.

Huh?

My kids love to hike. We'll obviously be sticking to the easier trails but it'll be nice just to be out there and taking photographs.

In addition to hiking, we're also planning to do the hot springs, the Banff cave, take the gondola up the mountain and walk around up there, the Johnston Canyon, canoe on Emerald Lake or Morraine Lake, tea at the Fairmont, the lookout at the Columbia Icefield. Our hotel has a nice outdoor pool so we'll probably spend some time there just relaxing and watching them play.

I was really asking more if anyone had done a tour they had paid for that was a "must do" in their opinion. I've noticed that there are some wildlife tours that might be good for kids.

[Anonymous]

We enjoyed hiking the Hoodoos. Very cool rock formations.

You can rent boats on Lake Louise, in addition to the hike up to the tea house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely no suggestions for kids that young. Bring a lot of things to keep them amused. We hiked and you needed to be a healthy adult to keep up. You certainly wont be going far into the park with kids. Maybe the hot springs, but you can do a pool here...

Not a place young kids will find fun.

OP kids are not that young and I think there are plenty of fun family things to do. My son at that age loved hiking- still does.

With kids that age in Banff, they won't really be hiking. They'll be walking a bit. But yes, as someone pointed out Canada does have Wifi.

Winter with kids would be great. Summer, not so much

Why so negative?

Kids are a lot more capable than people give them credit for. We've done various NP vacations and our kids have always done great. Sure we don't pick the most strenuous hikes out there but even at 4 my son could manage 4-6 mile of hiking. At 6 my son hiked a pretty strenuous trail with the name switchback in if it that give you any indication of how tough it was.

Op- we're also headed to Banff with kids this summer (6 and 9) and can't wait! Following this post for any suggestions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely no suggestions for kids that young. Bring a lot of things to keep them amused. We hiked and you needed to be a healthy adult to keep up. You certainly wont be going far into the park with kids. Maybe the hot springs, but you can do a pool here...

Not a place young kids will find fun.

OP kids are not that young and I think there are plenty of fun family things to do. My son at that age loved hiking- still does.

With kids that age in Banff, they won't really be hiking. They'll be walking a bit. But yes, as someone pointed out Canada does have Wifi.

Winter with kids would be great. Summer, not so much

Why so negative?

Kids are a lot more capable than people give them credit for. We've done various NP vacations and our kids have always done great. Sure we don't pick the most strenuous hikes out there but even at 4 my son could manage 4-6 mile of hiking. At 6 my son hiked a pretty strenuous trail with the name switchback in if it that give you any indication of how tough it was.

Op- we're also headed to Banff with kids this summer (6 and 9) and can't wait! Following this post for any suggestions.

The kids who can hike like that on a trip are the kids whose families prioritize walkability and hike often at home. My guess is the PP is a suburbanite or otherwise car-oriented and they probably do a lot of strollers even at age 4. Nothing wrong with that as there are other ways to get exercise but OP should think about how far her kid can walk at home and assume that the number won’t change dramatically on vacation.