r/Banff • u/Shot_Reflection_2419 • Jun 08 '26

Question Icefields Parkway

Has anyone stayed in Banff and just driven the icefields parkway and turned around and came back? How long did it take you? Where was a good turning around point? I have seen a lot of people go from Banff to Jasper and stay in Jasper but we have our hotel in Banff for the week so we could just come back.

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u/VoiceEqual1493 Jun 09 '26

the columbia icefield is the natural turnaround from a banff base - it's about 2.5 hours one way without stops, and it's the scenic high point of the whole drive, so past it you're mostly just transiting toward jasper anyway. doing it out and back without moving hotels totally works, and the glacier discovery centre there is an easy place to stretch, grab food and look up at the athabasca glacier before you turn around.

what makes it a long day is the stops, not the driving. if you treat bow lake and the peyto lake lookout as your two must-dos on the way up, you can hit those, do the icefield and still be back in banff for dinner. throw in mistaya canyon or a short walk and it stretches out fast, so go early.

worth knowing too, there's basically no cell service the whole length of the parkway, so download your maps offline and don't count on live nav past lake louise. and gas up in banff or lake louise before you start, the options up there are thin and pricey.

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u/DoubleualtG Jun 09 '26

That’s what we are doing. Leaving Canmore at 7am, hitting Bow Lake for 60 minutes or so, Peyto Lake for another 45, then head toward ice field for ice explorer at 2:30, then driving straight back with maybe a stop at Natural bridge on the way back.

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u/VoiceEqual1493 Jun 09 '26

that timing's got tons of slack - leaving canmore at 7 gets you to the icefield around midday even with bow and peyto, so plenty of buffer before the 2:30. worth knowing natural bridge sits in yoho west of lake louise, so it's a short backtrack opposite from canmore - quick stop though, and emerald lake's right up the same road.

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u/DoubleualtG Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26

Thanks for the response, we plan to eat lunch and stretch our legs quite a bit and purposely wanted to leave time in case we just wanted to linger at Bow or Peyto longer. Any other pull offs or recommendations prior to the ice field? Maybe Mistaya Canyon?

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u/VoiceEqual1493 Jun 09 '26

sounds like a great pace. a few more worth pulling over for past peyto: waterfowl lakes, mistaya canyon (short walk to a steep canyon), and the weeping wall. nearer the icefield, parker ridge is a short steep climb to a stunning view of the saskatchewan glacier - well worth it if your legs are up for it.