Banff Townsite
On August 18, we arrived in Calgary, Alberta. This was a planned two day stop to do laundry and get provisions for our stay at Banff, N.P. We stayed at a very nice private CG on the west side of Calgary in the town of Cochrane. We were told that it was the nicest private CG in all of Canada. We were backed up to the Bow River which had a nice walking path along the river.
It pays to be in or near a big city. There were plenty of banks where our ATM cards worked, good grocery stores, restaurants, and best of all, a Costco nearby. We did load up.
Sat morning, August 20 we drove about an hour west to enter Banff NP. We sailed right in because we had bought a year pass to all of Canada's NPs. It pays for itself if you stay for at least a week. Knowing that this is the height of the season, we had made reservations for the Tunnel Mt CG. Our reception was much different here than at Waterton NP. The courteous girl at the kiosk assigned us a site but said come back if you don't like it and we will assign you a new spot. One thing that is different in the Canadian NP is you have many choices for different campsites: no hookups, just electricity, full hookups, fire pits, no fire pits. We picked full hookups and luckily the sites were far apart and fairly private. Plus, the CG is fairly close to town. The sites at Tunnel MT 1 are very nice, located in the trees, very private but without hookups. We probably would have picked this CG if we had known ahead of time how nice it was.
The town of Banff is very upscale with many shops and fine restaurants. There is also a well stocked grocery store that we don't often see in NP. There are lots of crowds here, especially on the weekends. The weather has been surprisingly warm, in the 80's, but cooling off at night. In the winter Banff is an upscale ski area since the town is surrounded by majestic mountains and peaks. There are also lots of trails in town and out. Some of the trails are closed because of bear activity. It's the height of berry season and the bears are active.
It pays to be in or near a big city. There were plenty of banks where our ATM cards worked, good grocery stores, restaurants, and best of all, a Costco nearby. We did load up.
Sat morning, August 20 we drove about an hour west to enter Banff NP. We sailed right in because we had bought a year pass to all of Canada's NPs. It pays for itself if you stay for at least a week. Knowing that this is the height of the season, we had made reservations for the Tunnel Mt CG. Our reception was much different here than at Waterton NP. The courteous girl at the kiosk assigned us a site but said come back if you don't like it and we will assign you a new spot. One thing that is different in the Canadian NP is you have many choices for different campsites: no hookups, just electricity, full hookups, fire pits, no fire pits. We picked full hookups and luckily the sites were far apart and fairly private. Plus, the CG is fairly close to town. The sites at Tunnel MT 1 are very nice, located in the trees, very private but without hookups. We probably would have picked this CG if we had known ahead of time how nice it was.
The town of Banff is very upscale with many shops and fine restaurants. There is also a well stocked grocery store that we don't often see in NP. There are lots of crowds here, especially on the weekends. The weather has been surprisingly warm, in the 80's, but cooling off at night. In the winter Banff is an upscale ski area since the town is surrounded by majestic mountains and peaks. There are also lots of trails in town and out. Some of the trails are closed because of bear activity. It's the height of berry season and the bears are active.
posted by John @ 9:17 AM
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