Banff National Park    Two years after 3 railway workers of the Canadian Pacific Railway discovered hot springs in this territory, it was declared a nature reserve. It is the oldest National Park of Canada. The park covers 6,641 km² and is called the pearl of the Rockies. It owes this name to the great diversity of natural beauty in this territory. There are beautiful emerald lakes, hot springs, high mountain summits and forests to be found. Yearly the park is visited by millions of tourists.

Hoodoos   These weather eroded columns are situated at the edge of the town Banff and you can reach them via a small trail. From here you have a wonderful view of the Banff Springs Hotel in the distance.

Sulphur Mountain Gondola  The gondola takes 8 minutes to reach the top of the mountain at 2,281 m height. From there, you have a wonderful view overlooking Banff and the Rocky Mountains. Via a boardwalk you reach the Sanson’s peak on which a weather station has been built, made of stone. This station dates back to 1903. From then until 1945, Norman Sanson climbed the mountain more than thousand times to do scientific observations for the Canadian government. The gondola itself took 2 years to build after which it was opened in 1959.

Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel The hotel was built in 1888 by William Cornelius Van Horne and has been built in the style of a Scottish castle. In those days it had 250 rooms and was one of the biggest hotels in the world. In 1928 the expansion of the hotel was completed after which it offered 829 rooms. At this luxurious hotel you can find a world famous 27-hole golf course. Fames names who have stayed at the hotel are Winston Churchill, Marilyn Monroe and Paul Newman.

Lake Louise This is one of the most photographed lakes of Canada. It is situated about 90 km from Banff at the base of the Victoria Glacier. At the edge of the lake is situated the enormous Chateau Lake Louise Hotel.

Peyto Lake The lake is named after Bill Peyto, a mountain guide. It is situated 40 km from Lake Louise at the Icefields Parkway close to Bow Summit. From here you can reach the viewpoint at 2,137m. The beautiful view of the Mistaya Valley in the north is breathtaking.

Glacier National Park   This large park is 1350 km² and gained its status as a National Park in 1886. There are more than 400 glaciers to be found. It rains a lot in the summer and in the winter there is an abundance of snow. Halfway through the park you can find Rogers Pass. A little way past the pass is the Time Zone. Towards the east is the Pacific Time zone and towards the west the Mountain Time.

Rogers Pass   The pass is named after Major Albert Rogers who was sent to find a passage through the mountains. He succeeded in 1882 and began with the construction of a railway through the pass. Because of the heavy snowfall and the many avalanches the CPR began in 1916 with the construction of a 8 km long tunnel through the mountain. The Trans-Canada Highway, which links Canada from coast to coast, was only finished in 1962 by the Rogers Pass. Nowadays you can find a monument at the pass.

Johnston Canyon   You can reach the canyon from the Bow Valley Parkway. In the canyon there are trails running to the Lower and Upper Falls. The trail to the latter is 2.7 km long. A visit to the Ink Pots 5.8 km further ahead is certainly worthwhile. Here you can find a number of little lakes with blue and green colours from where water bubbles up once in a while.

Yoho National Park The name of the park is derived from the Indian language and means something as “awe and amazement”. It’s not for nothing that it got this name, in this 1313 km² large park you can find beautiful mountains, lakes and waterfalls. One of the most beautiful waterfalls in the territory are the Takakkaw Falls. Living in the park are, among others, deer, bears, moose, mountain goats and 180 different bird species.

Natural Bridge This natural bridge is situated near Highway 1 in the Yoho National Park. The Kicking Horse River which runs right across the park, has cut a hole in the rocks after age-long erosion and as a result of which a 15 m long natural bridge arose.

Emerald Lake    Not far from the Natural Bridge you will find this beautiful lake. It owes its deep green colour to small particles of grit which are taken along by the melting water of the glaciers. These particles mainly reflect the deep green part of daylight.

Takakkaw Falls    This third best waterfall of Canada has a fall of 254 m, after which the water runs into the Yoho River. The name comes from the language of the original inhabitants and means “it is beautiful”.