The cave inside which is a natural hot spring is peaceful to look at…read more The boardwalk trails are a very easy stroll but really allows you to enjoy the landscape perfect for forest bathing. You can check out the exhibits inside which are interactive and educational in a fun way. I could spend hours at the Cave and Basin just enjoying the scenery and is a must visit for me to experience the true magic of Banff magic

Located in the outskirts of Banff and it's not within walking distance. When we went, it was free…read moreso we didn't have to pay for anything. Even though it was free, the place was pretty much empty. The first building you see right off of the parking lot is the gift shop. You'll want to walk up the hill if you have questions about the place and this is where the cave and other parts of the experience is. You can probably do this all within 30 minutes. It's not very big, but there are other trails you can explore if you want. It's pretty neat that these snails are exist here and they are so tiny that you will have a hard time seeing them. Overall, it's a nice clean place, but doesn't really add much of an experience IMO. I would have been upset if I had to pay for entrance.

The Whyte museum was named after Peter and Catherine Robb Whyte, local artists and philanthropists,…read more who created a museum where visitors could see the culture and landscape of the Canadian Rockies. Paintings of the original settlers, the Indians, and their clashes with the white men explorers in the 19th century. Building of the railway, including an interactive tunnel view. How the railroad tracks were laid through mountainous areas, and the effect of frequent avalanches. Picture of the golden spike where the trans Canadian railway was joined. No Chinese workers, who did all the hard work, in the picture, just business men in formal clothing, gathering around the railroad track. Early women tourists in their long ankle length skirts exploring the glaciers in pictures. Men and women of wealth in pictures showing their fancy dress for crossing the Rockies by rail. Cutaway view of a automobile from the 1920s, with a film of automobiles in the Canadian Rockies at that time. The Canadian Rockies contribution to the war effort in the world wars, including descriptions and pictures of heroic actions by locals fighting the enemy. The Canadian Rockies in the movies, including posters of 'Saskatchewan', and 'River of No Return'. Helicopter skiing in the late 20th century, where helicopters would ferry skiers to the top of mountains, to ski down. Mountain climbers going up mountains, with display showing how they slept in tents anchored off the cliffs. Great way to spend time indoors when Banff was suffocating under forest fire smoke. $10 per adult, $9 for seniors, and AAA discount. Wife had no objection when I paid for 2 senior tickets, even though she was not yet 65. You know you are getting old when the museum cashier doesn't ask to see identification with dob!

Small but well designed museum, worth a short visit! It was a perfect rainy afternoon activity…read more Learned lots of history about Banff, and we enjoyed the temporary art exhibit Canoe. Would recommend!

A place to see all the animals you didn't see live in Banff National Park…read more We didn't see a lot of wild animals in our trip to the Canadian Rockies. Trout in Maligne Lake, pikas at Morraine Lake, elk on the Icefields Parkway, and bison at a ranch in the Kananaskis Valley. Here in the heart of Banff is a two story 100+ year old building, constructed out of Douglas Fir, renovated, so that the interior structure looks spanking new, with varnished wood beams. Entering the front door, and I feel like I'm in the center of a stage, with all the animals seated in the stands and bleachers, looking right down on me, with open eyes, ready to pounce! Individual airtight glass cases, to keep out destructive insects and live rodents, and keep the dust down. Wolves, lynx, elk, moose, bison, mountain lion, ox, beaver, bear, deer, mountain goat, owls, birds, and pronghorn sheep. Two stories, with the second floor being a corridor running along the sides, with a center gap, looking down on the displays. Many of these animals, I've seen live in Yosemite, Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. Today for the 150th anniversary of Canada, free admission throughout 2017. A great place to spend a few hours during our stay in Banff, under forest fire smoky skies, this first week in September.

One of the perks for running the Banff Marathon was free entry into the Banff Park Museum. It was…read morevery convenient since the race finished right at Central Park. So after the race, my friend and I stopped in here to check things out. Before we began looking around, the guy at the entrance made sure to let us know that some of the exhibits were over 100 years old and cautioned us not to touch any of them. There were 2 floors full of exhibits including a room with videos. A lot of the animals that we saw were ones you probably don't want to come across out in the wild! Overall I thought it was a museum definitely worth checking out.

I love to learn about Native American history (US), or First Nations People in Canada. I had high…read morehopes for this museum - it had some excellent artifacts and information posted. It's a traditional-type museum that is self-paced with still, quiet displays & dioramas. I'm not a fan of the mannequin-style dioramas because it feels a little creepy to me, but that's just my aside thing. I hope one day they will update their museum to have interactive elements and to modernize. I'm glad to support this museum with my entrance fee. We spent about an hour here browsing the displays and enjoying the space.

Museum about the native Canadian Indians, inside a building resembling a 19th century log fort,…read morecomplete with towers, near the center of downtown Banff. Lots of mannequins with painted faces and hands, covered with traditional native Canadian Indian clothing. These mannequins are not in display cabinets nor in dioramas with background settings, but just out in the open behind security ropes. Low budget from the 1970s. Display showing warriors hanging from their chest muscles from the ceiling, in a ceremony. Women weaving behind a small hut. Women washing clothes. An Indian warrior on horseback using a bow and arrow to shoot a bison. Indians herding horses, with a dog running aside. Warriors in teepee. Indian chief presiding over a gathering. Canadian Mountie and Indian warrior side by side with their horses. Displays of headdresses, papoose, stuffed animals such as mountain lions and bison. Crafts, artifacts, native artifacts of the first nations. Gift shop with free coffee, except that I'm not addicted to coffee, unlike most of my fellow Yelp friends. Would have like to have seen big display dioramas of battles in the French and Indian Wars, and other wars involving native Indians in Canada. No showing of massacres. Would I come back? Only reason to come here is that all outdoor events smoked out by the smog created by the forest fires, causing me to cough.

I was there from Saturday to Monday for a work conference…read more staff: pleasant. To be honest I did not interact with them too much except for at breakfast buffet and they were friendly. service: front desk staff friendly, restaurant staff friendly, staff in conference area friendly. They were discrete as to not interrupt conference and still kept everything running smoothly. establishment: nice, quaint, comfortable rooms - from style - but perfect for sleeping and desk area to work. Bathrooms big and roomy. Conference room nice and big with big windows to outside. Restaurant fantastic. Great food and nice big windows to see the scenery while you eat! food: great! Buffet breakfast nice big spread and variety. Just the buffet lines were awkward - please find a smoother system for making the buffet lines. Buffet lunch was great - Indian/Mediterranean foods and flavour! Conference food and health breaks were a nice variety.

Had dinner at the MacLab and this is the slowest place for service. Once I got my food, no one had…read morechecked on if I needed anything , then it was 30 minutes after I had finished my dinner that my plate was picked up and I got my bill. There were 4 servers and two behind the bar.

This is a historic home and garden first settled in 1905. Wealthy individual who started many…read morebusinesses in Banff. Period decor. Quite a number of mounted animal heads. Nice garden on the side of the house. Price is by donation. Worth a visit.

From the owner: Only 1 block off Banff Avenue, this Heritage Home museum offers a small oasis in this busy tourist…read moretown. Visit to tour the home, sip a cup of tea, sit in the garden, relax and enjoy.

This is a free contemporary art museum located in Banff Centre in Banff National Guard…read more So while the hours are limited, you really can't complain since it's free! Check out their website to see current features and exhibitions: https://www.banffcentre.ca/walter-phillips-gallery The gallery is "Exclusively committed to the production, presentation, collection and analysis of contemporary art and curatorial practice."

From the owner: Walter Phillips Gallery is exclusively committed to the production, presentation, collection and…read moreanalysis of contemporary art and curatorial practice. For contemporary artists, particularly those engaged in alternative forms of practice, Walter Phillips Gallery remains an essential and principle site where art is presented to an audience for critical reception. In an effort to ensure a broad and balanced representation of the different areas of research at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, the Gallery displays and collects painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, textiles, photography, and new media-based works.

My friend and I originally signed up to run the Banff Half Marathon in June of 2020. As we are all…read morewell aware, the world shut down a few months prior and the Banff Marathon did not happen in-person in 2020. After some back and forth communication with event organizers, my friend and I were able to defer our registrations. I mean, this was definitely the right thing to do because we were not even permitted in the country and, as another reviewer has already posted, running around my neighborhood for a virtual race was simply not the same as running around beautiful, gorgeous Banff. Go forward two years and my friend and I finally got to participate in this event, in person and in Banff! Yes, we originally signed up for the Banff Half Marathon but ended up dropping down to the 10K which was a wise choice considering our training levels. We stayed at a hotel very close to both packet pick up and the start line so there were no worries there. I was a little disappointed by the "Race Expo," as it was basically nonexistent. The morning of the race, however, I was so surprised at how many people were participating in this event! I loved it! The energy was great and the views were spectacular. I actually enjoyed every minute of the run - shocking for me!!! When we crossed the finish line, there was so definite confusion with our medals because we had dropped down to the shorter race and, well, I'm not entirely sure why. We were able to get a medal after some explaining. The post-race area was crowded and there was one woman who left a very sour taste in my mouth as she screamed at my friend and I to keep walking - completely unnecessary. The event wasn't perfect and came with several hiccups but what a perfect "excuse" to get up to Banff. I would love to run this race again, perhaps a longer option, for the views and another opportunity to visit beautiful Banff! I am aware organizing races is no easy feat so thank you to the organizers for many, many years of hard work and organizing!

I honestly had zero doubt in my mind I'd be leaving a 5 star review for this marathon,…read moreunfortunately covid hit and everything changed. Being a US registered runner I can't even get into Canada if I tried. I wanted so badly to participate in this marathon this summer but it was canceled and turned into a virtual, which I deeply despised. Being a runner from Los Angeles and having just run the LA Marathon taking to my regular neighborhood streets for 26.2 miles is not an easy task without street closures. I knew this was totally out of the question when it occurred. I had also just recently broken my foot so I was somewhat less concerned with the race being canceled and more concerned with we weren't going to be refunded at all. By race day (or race week I think it turned into) I was healed up enough to get out and run the 10K portion, I probably could have even done the half mary but didn't push it in June since I was just healing up from the broken foot. My t-shirt and medal arrived which I will not display with my others because I really don't see the point in a Banff marathon shirt or medal when I literally ran around my neighbohood and uploaded those results on my freshly healed broken foot. As a recreational marathoner I'm really trying to come around to the idea of these virtual races but they just aren't exactly my style. Banff says they will offer a 50% off promo code to put towards next years marathon, but I feel the keeping our full payment without a deferral for a t-shirt and medal that is literally garbage to me, to run around my own neighborhood is just not at all cool. Parts of this area near the National Park are now opening and they continue to promote and encourage coming out to run the course and even gifted prizes for the area but they really aren't thinking as a global buisness/organization. That's all peachy for their local runners but if registration was open to those outside of Canada who can't cross their borders it's all pointless to me. Obviously I was able to cancel my hotel, but like most runners who have out of state/city/country marathons we are dealing with the loss of our flights with airlines, car rentals, hotels and more. Hoping this all clears up in time for 2021's race and as much as I was upset with not receiving a refund and only a promised 50% off of next years race I will probably register with it and pay again to run this marathon because it looks absolutely right up my alley and gorgeous. Congrats to all who participated in the virtual, hope to see you at the start line in 2021!