This was a fun excursion that I would highly recommend to anyone who visits the area. You lead up to the experience driving on the Icefields Parkway, a very cool (no pun intended) experience. We arrived at the visitor center where we had some lunch at the cafeteria while viewing the glacier. There was a lot of anticipation as we were all looking forward to the ride on the ice designed vehicle that can get to speeds of up to eight miles an hour. There are only 23 of these specialized machines designed for glacier travel and 21 of them are located here at the Columbia Icefield and the other 2 are in Antarctica. It's a 6 wheel drive vehicle with 6 monstrous wheels and it can travel up or down a 35 degree incline at at a blazing speed of only 5 mph The other part for me [besides having my wife and great friends to share the experience with] was our fabulous tour guide Riley. She is a wonderful-enthusiastic person. MAKE SURE, you hit the restroom prior to the trip as there are no restrooms on the glacier. We exited the vehicle once we landed on the Athabasca Glacier. We were told to be careful of the puddles, and potholes were clearly marked. I stepped out of the bus into a puddle... So much for listening. Once you're there, you just walk around, enjoy the scenery and snap lots of pictures. I was with Riley snapping many pictures. Again, she is a terrific guide. I walked a glacier 25 year's ago in Alaska and that was fun arriving by helicopter. Again, I highly recommend this tour as it becomes part of the whole Canadian Rockies experience. read more

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The new highway carved its way through the valley - smooth asphalt, gleaming guardrails, a new artery for the restless who needs to travel. It's 1936 and the new highway broke ground as it passed through and the day it opened, people came in waves, chasing postcards of blue ice and rugged peaks - chasing the myth of the North, that used to mean something. But the old-timers saw it, and we're seeing it now for what it was: the beginning of the end. The Athabaskan Icefields once breathed life into this valley -- a slow, grinding pulse of ancient water, stretching out like time itself. Decades ago, you could feel the power of it. One look at it, you can hear it tell you to shut the hell up for a minute - and take in the majesty that carried history under every creeping inch of ice. Now, it's retreating, inch by brutal inch, pulled back into the mountains like your crypto-folio crashing about. Hundreds of yards, definitely more, gone since the highway came through. A couple of generations from now, there won't be anything left but a plaques that indicated where the glacier was before man decided it needed a short cut through the mountains and build a camp around the base. They still sell the dream, of course. Buses groaning under tourist weight, snowcats crawling up the last surviving frozen waves of ice. If you've got the money, you can still touch it -- still tell yourself you've "seen" a glacier. But it's not the same. It's like watching a dying legend from behind the hospital curtain. You stand there, wind biting your face, and realize you're not looking at a wonder anymore -- you're looking at a eulogy written about our brief time in existence and how millions of years of glacial life is coming to an end. The Earth is moving on, and we're the ones who stayed too long at the bar. I'm not a huge environmentalist, or a tree-hugging, birk and socks, bearded hippy. BUT after struggling to get to the end of the walkway and barriers, AND still be 100's of yards away from touching history is disappointing. I may have ticked this off the bucket-list, but I may need to do that SnowCat tourist thing before I kick the bucket. Cheers. read more

Pretty easy hike to get up close and enjoy a glacier from viewing distance of the parking lot; not a lot of glaciers are this easily accessible from the road. Again, some regulation from the park staff would be great but the views are the best in the Rockies in this area. read more

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Amazing experience that I highly recommend if you are visiting Banff. I mean where or when else will you be able to ride in one of these special vehicles to get onto a glacier. Apparently, there are 22 vehicles like this in the world, and 21 of them are here in Canada. I hear the other one is Antarctica. Pretty epic adventure I must say. Dress warmly and realize your shoes may get wet so it might be wise to bring an extra pair of socks and or shoes. Excellent place to take some great pictures and enjoy mother nature. Bring a water bottle or tumbler as you can drink some of the glacier water which is really cool! 5 solid stars and two thumbs up! read more

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This was one of the coolest Experience everybody should def do, if you are looking for something to do this activity will blow your mind away! Arrive 30 min early cause you will want to grab something warm to drink, use the restroom and be ready for your time slot to be called to board the bus to take you there. I can't say this enough but wear layers lots of them, wear boots that have grip and not tennis shoes or cute Ugg boots. Trust me on that, wear thick jackets and bring gloves. When you get dropped off at the Glacier it's windy, and cold and slippery so be prepared. The drive down there on the big red bus with the big wheels can be a bit intimidating cause you have to go down a big hill and the driver had to be concentrated to do that and the same when it goes back up. It's like a few min of this but the rest is easy. The tires are so huge they have amazing grip as well, the drivers are trained and they have some fun information and jokes the way there. There is a Starbucks where you can grab a warm drink or snack as well. There are 2 restaurants upstairs one that is more like a fancy upscale buffet and the other is like a cafeteria type food but still good. After the experience the bus takes you to the Skywalk that's included as well with the tour. It's so neat if you are afraid of heights just hold on tight. Such a RAD Activity to do in Canada. read more

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A trip to the Columbia Icefield is a must do if in the Banff and/or Jasper area. Our 125 mile drive up from Lake Louise was on the Icefields Parkway and it was one of, if not the, most scenic drives I have ever experienced.  The Parkway drive is an integral part of the Icefield experience.  As far as the icefield itself, it was a fantastic experience to actually walk on a massive glacier and also have a drink of the pristine glacial water right from the source (so good, cold, and refreshing!).  It was windy and cold for our visit, but we were adequately dressed for it.  It was actually a bit slushy by where the vehicles parked and our regular gym shoes got wet but not enough to soak our socks fortunately.  Our tour guide told us he had never experienced such slushy conditions, but it got drier after walking maybe 100 feet away from the vehicles and towards the glacier source.  You have to stay within a good sized roped off area which is checked every day for deep, dangerous, and potentially deadly crevices.  Getting to the Athabasca glacier aboard an Ice Explorer vehicle was also very interesting.  There are only 23 of these specialized machines designed for glacier travel and 21 of them are located here at the Columbia Icefield and the other 2 are in Antarctica.  It's a 6 wheel drive vehicle with 6 monstrous wheels and it can travel up or down a 35 degree incline, granted at only 5 mph, but it was a fascinating and impressive ride going to and fro. Besides the glacier walk, there is also an attraction on the site called the Skywalk, and which has its own review site.  In fact, the way the Icefield tickets are structured, it's a mandatory visit as the bus will take you there from the glacier and not to the visitors center, and you take another bus back to the visitors center from the Skywalk. Besides these two main attractions, the visitors center has a couple of cafeteria style restaurants and they are quite capable of handling the big crowds here.  I had a pizza slice ($13 CAD or $9.60 USD) for lunch and it hit the spot for me.  You can also enjoy some great views of the Athabasca glacier while having your lunch. read more

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This is a good experience if it's your first time exploring Icefields parkway. We bought tickets online to "save time" but it actually extended our time because it required another line to scan our code and print our tickets, go figure lol. After you are scanned in, you ride a bus to the explorer, and the explorer takes a little trek onto the glacier where you spend about 20-30 minutes walking around and trying glacier water if you are so inclined. All in all, we are glad to have gone, but this is definitely a one and done sort of situation. The tickets should include the skywalk too, which is a fun time if you aren't afraid of heights and standing on glass thousands of feet up in the air. The skywalk was my kid's favorite part of this excursion. The visitor center (where you park) has a Starbucks and some ok-ish bathrooms before you head on the long trip either back to Lake Louise or to Jasper. read more

My husband and I booked the Columbia Icefield Adventure experience for a Tuesday morning. We really lucked out on the weather as it was very windy and raining the day before, and very windy and raining the day after. The day of our tour, we parked at the visitor center and checked in. Our tour begin promptly and we were transported from the visitor center to the Ice Explorer loading station. Once on the ice explorer, we took the short drive up to the glacier and had 30 minutes to walk around and take photographs. It was a wonderful experience and worth visiting. After our time on the glacier, the rest of our tour was spent at the lookout over the cliffs, which was a little unnerving, especially if you are afraid of heights. But the photos from the lookout were stunning. All in all this is a really nice experience with tons of great information and tremendous tour guides. Some of our guides that were worth mentioning were: Rocco, Tex, and Rhys. read more

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We came here as part of our tour and it was something here in Jasper National Park, at the Colombian Ice Fields glacier. Everyone working here is very friendly but they have a short season for tourist May-Sept otherwise the area is covered in snow! The huge snow machine which take you to the glacier made me feel like I was on the Arctic! The wind was estimated 80 MPH so I thought I might fly away! Lol this experience I will remember! read more

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I've done this many years ago and decided to do it again! The experience was very different from before! I think it's because the glacier has been receding and we had to take a bus to the glacier instead of just walking right up on it! It was an experience for anyone that loves to walk on the glacier and even drink the glacier water! It was so refreshing and ice cold! Definitely worth it! The ticket also includes the skywalk! read more

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Amazing tour of the glacier. Thank you Arielle! You get to spend about 20-30 mins on the glacier itself. Nothing like it. Highly recommend this tour! read more

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Great experience and not overly priced, the only downside is that you are only allowed 15 minutes before having to return. read more

Columbia Icefield Glacier & Centre - Visitor Centers Near Me - Jasper, Alberta

An incredible, once in a lifetime experience! Getting the chance to walk on top of the glacier is so fun. It's cold and windy so make sure to dress warm, but you'll be enjoying the full 30mins out on the ice. You'll have an excellent view of the bright blue ice under the snowy patches, the mountains surrounding you, and the glacier water run off. There's a few slippery spots as expected, but it's pretty easy to get your footing and walk around. Our tour guide Logan was amazing and answered all of our questions about the park area, the glacier, and animals around. The drivers on the way to the glacier also do a great job of explaining everything and providing fun facts about the glacier. It's very surprising to see how much smaller the glacier is now in comparison to 20, 40, 60 years ago. So get out there and enjoy the experience and surroundings! read more

Columbia Icefield Glacier & Centre - View from glacier - Visitor Centers Near Me - Jasper, Alberta

Dinner here was delicious. I had the char and I was cooked to perfection. The waitress Nicole was super friendly and very attentive to my allergies. The strawberry sangria was amazing. Definitely glad we stopped by here read more

Our party of nine decided to come to the Glacier Icefield and glass bridge. It was a really pretty day and clear skies so it was very nice to come out and look at these beautiful aspects of nature. For the glacier tour, we arrived at the center where we boarded these buses that took us up to the rovers that will take us to the glacier. Took about 20 to 30 minutes waiting for the bus and getting up to the glacier itself. It was a really interesting site to see, and the tour guides are very nice. The tour guides also taught us and shared some very nice information, as well as made sure we were safe on our journey. When you arrive at the glacier you have about 30 minutes to walk around take pictures and drink some glacier water. Afterwards the rovers would take you back to the buses and from the buses to the glass bridge. The glass bridge is about a 10 minute drive down the road, and you can see really pretty views from there. Overall was pretty good experience and very nice, the only thing was that it was summer when we came so it was a bit hot and stuffy in the bus. We recommend wearing masks on the buses and rovers since it is pretty crowded with people as a big tourist spot. read more

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Just want SENIORS to know that there are a " million" very steep stairs outside to enter the visitors center. we followed a dirt path to the left as you approach the stairs-take that & a right at the T & follow that to the building entrance. brings you into building at a Starbucks- keep walking inside building to ticket areas. read more

I've been here a number of times over the years, but I really remember two visits well. One with my parents and siblings, and one when I was older with my significant other and some of his family. This centre is great in that it has great washrooms, some food options, a great gift shop and the option to buy Glacier Adventure tickets and Skywalk tickets. There is also a theatre and interpretive centre of sorts but both were closed on the more recent visit. I like the deck on which you can relax and look out at the glacier while having a snack or otherwise relaxing. It is definitely worth a stop here while driving through the icefields parkway. read more

Great stop between Banff/Lake Louise and Jasper. Educational tour given by our driver, Jack, was informative for the kids and adults in our party. Had dinner here, opted for the portobello mushroom burger instead of the Buffett option. Wonderful friendly service by all the staff! read more

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Great experience. Brought my wife and two daughters with me and it was really a good chance to see the nature world. Employees were friendly and the local guide were very funny as well, could not stop laughing on the tour. The food at cafeteria is just regular causal food, nothing special. read more

We have visited here last week and had a great memorable experience. Our tickets were for Icefield and skywalk both. Walking on the glacier was amazing experience. Skywalk was also nice. It wasn't tiring at all. We reached Icefield an hour earlier than the ticket time , there is a restaurant where you can buy food and eat in the open seating area on the deck. If you have choice, please choose the day when there is little or no rain. We were lucky and rain started after we finished with Icefield and skywalk both. One bus takes you from ticketing area to start of the glacier mountain and other bus takes you from there to glacier. They gave us 25 mins to see the glacier and same bus takes you back to the start of the glacier mountain. Then next bus takes you to skywalk and after that back to ticking counter. It took us around 2.5-3 hours to finish everything. read more

Don't waste your time getting a ticket online it's only a voucher it does not save you time you still have to wait on a long line .very unorganized very disappointed big waste of two hour ride from from Banff.never again.Not even worthy of one read more

Lots of parking. Very nice view from the patio. We ordered poutine coffee and soft drink. Free refill. There is a theatre in the basement level to learn more about glacier. read more

You must arrive and line up long before the departure- plan to be in line 30 minutes or more. We arrived 10 minutes prior to our reservations and were told the bus left already. So a 3 PM bus leaves around 2:45.. not sure why they call it a 3PM bus. We got screwed!!! They kindly offered us passage 2 hours later - really? If a reservation has no meaning why would I believe it will work on a later bus? Avoid - Scam read more