Banff and Jasper Accommodations
Finding and booking accommodations for Jasper and Banff can be fun and challenging. You won’t see the large chain hotels in Banff or Jasper, with the exception of the Fairmont. Most hotels, inns, chalets, and cabins are privately owned, many operated by the owning family. The lack of familiar names can be unnerving for some because its hard to decide where to stay in Jasper, Banff, Lake Louise or other places in the Canadian Rockies.
When we started putting together our Canadian Rockies itinerary for 7 days, we spent much time figuring out places to stay in Jasper and Banff. As part of the research, we asked several close friends for recommendations. Most friends and family had stayed at the Fairmonts in Jasper, Banff, and Lake Louise within our comfort zones. But we also got recommendations for independent places to stay for different experiences.
Read our 7 Day Itinerary for Touring the Canadian Rockies, 3-Day Itinerary of Banff in Winter
Contents
Challenges in Finding Banff and Jasper Accommodations
Finding places to stay in the Canadian Rockies can be challenging for several reasons but none too daunting in themselves
- Hotels, resorts, cabins, cottages, bungalows, and other accommodations in Jasper and Banff are not very familiar chain hotels. Familiar hotels provide familiar services and serve as a baseline for evaluating other hotels in most destinations. If it’s your first time visiting the Canadian Rockies, it’s hard to figure out the baseline and how to compare the places to stay in the Canadian Rockies.
- The process for booking hotels or cabins in Jasper and Banff almost certainly requires calling the reception or booking person. For the most part, bookings aren’t done on the web.
- Several accommodations in Jasper and Banff have pictures but they’re not too professional. So the actual accommodation may be nicer than the pictures advertised online or maybe not.
- In 2019 and probably in most years, summer is extremely busy for the Banff and Jasper hotels. It can be very difficult to find the accommodation you like. They fill up months in advance. Additionally, in peak season and based on when you book, prices can be 2x to 3x of the non-peak rates.
In this article, I’ve shared our pictures from some of the hotels where we stayed or our friends stayed. I’ve also listed some hotels I had shortlisted but not able to find bookings for our travel dates. These are included in the itinerary outlines.
Check out our itineraries of the Canadian Rockies.
NOTE: We have no affiliation with any of the accommodations mentioned here.
Jasper Accommodations
Alpine Village Jasper
As we arrived in Jasper, we instantly fell in love with the Alpine village. The little cottages at the entrance looked like the quintessential Jasper log cabins, perfectly fitting in the woods that surrounded the property.
Alpine village has been welcoming guests to the lovely cottages by the Athabasca river in Jasper for the last 70 years (since 1946). Over the decades, several new cabins for guests, owners, crew, and maintenance have been built and updated.
There is a beautiful red book in the cabin with answers to all the questions one could possibly have. I enjoyed reading every page of it. Especially the following on one with the story of the lodge.
Allow me to take you through a tour of our cabin in the woods.
Jasper town has excellent grocery stores with organic produce. The reception also had a pantry with the basics for sale, making it very convenient to make snacks or meals in the cabin.
A fun family activity to do in log cabins is to make a fireplace with fresh logs from the woods. We thought the logs in the backyard were for that purpose. It turns out, one could either buy logs from the reception or even better, borrow an ax and chop your own firewood. There was a covered area with dry logs at the other end of the property. I have to confess, it sounds so much fun but we didn’t get to try it out. I have a hunch that it’ll be harder than it looks.
Like many places to stay in Jasper and Banff, Alpine village is owned and operated by the Allin family that has their house on the property. The current and fourth owners, Chris and Rena of Edmonton bought the property in 1986 and have made many updates and built new cabins.
The cabins are outside of town but close enough to do all activities around Jasper.
Check out Things to do in Jasper National Park
Walk Along Athabasca River in Jasper
After checking in to the Alpine village we took a walk along the Athabasca River. Even though it was drizzling and cool, the walk was a great way to stretch our legs after the flight and long drive from Calgary to Jasper.
Check out the Drive from Calgary to Jasper and Drive from Jasper to Banff.
The following morning we went river rafting on the Athabasca River. From our raft, we saw people relaxing on these green chairs onshore.
Read my article on River Rafting in Jasper.
Jasper House Bungalows
As I mentioned earlier, its quite difficult to get accommodation in Jasper, especially for multiple consecutive nights at the same place. To add to the challenge, we made our vacation plans just a few weeks before the trip. We could get Alpine Village for only 2 nights. For our third night, we luckily got Jasper House Bungalows.
Relatively speaking, it was simplistic but functional and beautiful. The bungalows had two bedrooms (one small one), a living room, a kitchen, plus the Athabasca river in our backyard. The staff was friendly and gave us many ideas on things to do in Jasper, including wildlife viewing spots and the secret hike to the most incredible viewpoint in Jasper.
Becker’s Chalets
Our friend Ruchira and her family stayed at Becker’s Chalets, a cluster of cabins in the woods along the Athabasca River. They visited a few weeks before us and highly recommend we stay there for our trip to the Rockies. However, we could not find reservations for our dates.
Check our Ruchira’s Canadian Rockies Itinerary
Places to Stay in Jasper
Jasper downtown has numerous hotels on the main street, some of which look pretty cool with rustic mountain chalet style. Others look like regular hotels and motels. I would check TripAdvisor if I wanted to stay in downtown Jasper and be close to the restaurants and activity. None of our friends mentioned staying there.
Here is a list of recommendations, tried by us or friends –
- Alpine Village Jasper
- Jasper House Bungalow
- Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge
- Becker’s Chalets
Banff Accommodations
Charltons Banff
Over the last couple of decades, Banff has grown into a large tourist town. Entire streets are lined with hotels to stay in Banff. We stayed at Charltons, one such hotel in Banff. Unlike cabins in Jasper, this one didn’t have a kitchen but had breakfast included. The on-site parking and proximity to town were very convenient.
Some reviews on TripAdvisor talked about old and aging rooms. We didn’t see any such issues. The room was brand new and well maintained.
Places to Stay in Banff
Here is a list of recommendations, tried by us or friends –
- Fairmont Banff Spring
- Charltons
- Hidden Ridge Resort
- Rimrock Resort
- Elk + Avenue
- Rudlestone lodge
Check Things to do in Banff and Canmore
Lake Louise Accommodations
Here are some Lake Louise hotels tried and recommended by friends –
- Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise
- Storm Lodge
- Post hotel
Check out Things to do in Lake Louise area
Canmore Accommodations
Canmore is located between Calgary and Banff. It is more economical and it’s easy to cover the southern part of the Canadian Rockies. There are many wonderful hikes in Canmore. I got recommendations for the following for Canmore.
Check out Things to do in Canmore
Accommodation Between Banff and Jasper
The Crossing Resort is one of the few hotels located almost midway between Banff and Jasper, on Highway 93. We stayed there ago in 1996. It is still owned and operated by the same family.
We took this picture on a quick stop during our Jasper to Banff drive but didn’t have the time to stop and see how much it has changed.
Check out the gorgeous views on the Jasper to Banff drive.
Check out Things to do along the Icefields Parkway
Tips for Finding Banff and Jasper Accommodations
Finding a place to stay in Jasper or Banff can be hard so here are a few tips to make it a bit earlier.
- Check reviews in TripAdvisor and other sites to find accommodations. But not knowing the reviewers, pay additional attention to what they have to say – positive or negative and how it applies to you.
- Go through the TripAdvisor forum for the Canadian Rockies and ask specific questions. The travelers on the forum are exceptionally helpful.
- Book several months in advance to get availability and reasonable price for Banff and Jasper hotels, cabins, hostels, etc.
- Call the accommodation and talk with them about the booking, location and more.
We like to stay in traditional resorts, hotels, Airbnbs, and the like. But where possible we love to stay in unique accommodations most authentic to the places we visit. For example, in Namibia, the most authentic experience is staying in the national park in houses fashioned with local material and designed in local styles like Sousse Dune Lodge. Likewise in Jasper, nothing screams authentic experiences more than a cabin in the woods.
Our Articles on the Canadian Rockies
- 7-Day Itinerary of Canadian Rockies
- 3-Day Itinerary of Banff in Winter
- Itineraries of the Canadian Rockies
- Rafting in Jasper National Park
- Banff’s wildlife crossing
- Red forests in Jasper National Park
- Calgary to Banff to Jasper Drive
- Jasper to Banff Drive
- Things to do in Banff and Canmore
- Things to do in Lake Louise and Moraine Lake
- Things to do in Jasper
- Things to do on Icefields Parkway
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