Canada (Banff)
Country visited: Canada
Places visited: Calgary (Banff and Jasper National Parks)
Dates visited: 1st week September 2018.
General tips:
(1) Turquoise lakes do exist!!!
(2) Surprisingly Banff has excellent Indian food :)
(3) Jasper does not have much - spend more time in Banff than Jasper.
Visa to Canada:
If you hold a US passport or green card, you don't need to get a visa in advance for Canada. Your passport will be stamped on arrival. Visitors from other countries such as from India will need to get a Canadian visa beforehand. We got the Canada visa for my mom (who has an Indian passport) from the Canadian embassy in LA. The people at the Canadian embassy in LA were (1) very friendly and (2) provided clear instructions (also available on their website) about mailing them the visa forms - we got my mom's passport back with the Canadian visa in about 1 week.
Flights to Calgary:
Flights to Calgary from SF are actually quite inexpensive if booked well in advance. We booked flights with United. Our flights scheduled departure was around 8.30 am and we arrived at the airport at about 6.45 am. Clearly this was not enough time if flying with United as we learnt that morning. After being incompetently directed to several different lines for check-in, I lost my cool and demanded that a responsible employee of the company help us. It was 7.32 when this happened - which was apparently <1 hour from flight departure time and hence we were rebooked on a flight the next day.
To make sure we make our flights given we were flying with United, we made sure we arrived tat the airport 2.5 hours before our flight the next day. We made it ....phew!
Lesson learnt: If flying with United, always allow plenty of time for check in*!! [*this is based on several similar experiences with United by yours truly]
Accomodation in Banff and Jasper:
When we looked our accommodations online, hotels in Banff appeared to be completely booked or too expensive so we booked an AirBnB in Canmore. We loved Canmore and the AirBnB was great but its about a 30 minute drive from Banff and there is nothing to do in Canmore. And when we actually arrived in Banff, we found that there was plently of inexpensive accomodation in Banff, so we actually ended up cancelling the last couple nights in Canmore and booked a place in Banff which is way more accessible to everything.
We also stayed a few nights in Jasper, but I would not recommend this. There is nothing much to do in Jasper except for a couple of water falls. The drive from Banff to Jasper is pretty good though. I would recommend driving from Banff to jasper with several stops in between to enjoy the scenery, stay the night in Jasper and drive back to Banff the next day with an optional stop at a couple of water falls in Jasper.
Things to do/see in Banff and Jasper:
(1) Lake Moraine and Lake Louise are an absolute must to do in Banff. Do the boat ride in atleast one of them (it's more popular in lake Louise and is also the one I'd recommend).
(2) Walk around downtown Banff and the flower garden which is on one end of the main downtown street.
(3) The Columbia Ice fields and glacier walk are very popular. I'm personally not a big fan of glacier walks because I see not point walking in such cold temperatures and so I didn't do it. But I heard from my husband who loves glacier walks that it was pretty awesome but also extremely cold and he wasn't sufficiently protected. Please go well-prepared if you'd like to walk on the glaciers.The glacier skywalk is not a must do according to me - but wasn't bad either. The bus ride to and fro the sky walk was comfortable.
(4) Athabasca falls in Jasper.
(5) Bow falls in Banff (optional).
(6) Johnstone canyon falls in Banff
Food:
Indian food at the Indian Curry House is VERY VERY good! We were trutly surprised to find great Indian good in such a small town in Canada. We has dinner here twice and loved it both times. Apart from Indian food, there are several hip and very good restaurants in Banff. Overall, food in Banff is not an issue at all!
Things are a bit different in Jasper. We didn't like most places in Jasper - they either looked dated or had ridiculous prices or the pictures of food on the menus looked funny and inedible. We were happy to find a Subway.
Places visited: Calgary (Banff and Jasper National Parks)
Dates visited: 1st week September 2018.
General tips:
(1) Turquoise lakes do exist!!!
(2) Surprisingly Banff has excellent Indian food :)
(3) Jasper does not have much - spend more time in Banff than Jasper.
Visa to Canada:
If you hold a US passport or green card, you don't need to get a visa in advance for Canada. Your passport will be stamped on arrival. Visitors from other countries such as from India will need to get a Canadian visa beforehand. We got the Canada visa for my mom (who has an Indian passport) from the Canadian embassy in LA. The people at the Canadian embassy in LA were (1) very friendly and (2) provided clear instructions (also available on their website) about mailing them the visa forms - we got my mom's passport back with the Canadian visa in about 1 week.
Flights to Calgary:
Flights to Calgary from SF are actually quite inexpensive if booked well in advance. We booked flights with United. Our flights scheduled departure was around 8.30 am and we arrived at the airport at about 6.45 am. Clearly this was not enough time if flying with United as we learnt that morning. After being incompetently directed to several different lines for check-in, I lost my cool and demanded that a responsible employee of the company help us. It was 7.32 when this happened - which was apparently <1 hour from flight departure time and hence we were rebooked on a flight the next day.
To make sure we make our flights given we were flying with United, we made sure we arrived tat the airport 2.5 hours before our flight the next day. We made it ....phew!
Lesson learnt: If flying with United, always allow plenty of time for check in*!! [*this is based on several similar experiences with United by yours truly]
Accomodation in Banff and Jasper:
When we looked our accommodations online, hotels in Banff appeared to be completely booked or too expensive so we booked an AirBnB in Canmore. We loved Canmore and the AirBnB was great but its about a 30 minute drive from Banff and there is nothing to do in Canmore. And when we actually arrived in Banff, we found that there was plently of inexpensive accomodation in Banff, so we actually ended up cancelling the last couple nights in Canmore and booked a place in Banff which is way more accessible to everything.
We also stayed a few nights in Jasper, but I would not recommend this. There is nothing much to do in Jasper except for a couple of water falls. The drive from Banff to Jasper is pretty good though. I would recommend driving from Banff to jasper with several stops in between to enjoy the scenery, stay the night in Jasper and drive back to Banff the next day with an optional stop at a couple of water falls in Jasper.
Things to do/see in Banff and Jasper:
(1) Lake Moraine and Lake Louise are an absolute must to do in Banff. Do the boat ride in atleast one of them (it's more popular in lake Louise and is also the one I'd recommend).
(2) Walk around downtown Banff and the flower garden which is on one end of the main downtown street.
(3) The Columbia Ice fields and glacier walk are very popular. I'm personally not a big fan of glacier walks because I see not point walking in such cold temperatures and so I didn't do it. But I heard from my husband who loves glacier walks that it was pretty awesome but also extremely cold and he wasn't sufficiently protected. Please go well-prepared if you'd like to walk on the glaciers.The glacier skywalk is not a must do according to me - but wasn't bad either. The bus ride to and fro the sky walk was comfortable.
(4) Athabasca falls in Jasper.
(5) Bow falls in Banff (optional).
(6) Johnstone canyon falls in Banff
Food:
Indian food at the Indian Curry House is VERY VERY good! We were trutly surprised to find great Indian good in such a small town in Canada. We has dinner here twice and loved it both times. Apart from Indian food, there are several hip and very good restaurants in Banff. Overall, food in Banff is not an issue at all!
Things are a bit different in Jasper. We didn't like most places in Jasper - they either looked dated or had ridiculous prices or the pictures of food on the menus looked funny and inedible. We were happy to find a Subway.
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