Banff-to-Jasper Icefields, Canada
The Icefields Parkway is the most scenic drive in North America. Peyto Lake, the Columbia Icefield, and Maligne Lake.
Best time to visit
Weather by month
| Month | High | Low | Rain | Season |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | -10° | -14° | 65 mm | |
| Feb | -9° | -14° | 46 mm | |
| Mar | -5° | -11° | 59 mm | |
| Apr | 0° | -7° | 52 mm | |
| May | 5° | -1° | 60 mm | |
| Jun | 10° | 3° | 91 mm | prime |
| Jul | 16° | 7° | 86 mm | prime |
| Aug | 16° | 7° | 76 mm | prime |
| Sep | 10° | 2° | 69 mm | prime |
| Oct | 1° | -6° | 75 mm | |
| Nov | -7° | -12° | 82 mm | |
| Dec | -11° | -16° | 59 mm |
30-year averages (1995–2024) from ERA5 reanalysis via Open-Meteo. Rain is the monthly total.
Cost
Serves travellers at Backpacker→Premium level. Typically around $190 a day on the ground.
Ranges are typical costs, not quotes. Check the real price before you book.
What's on
Jasper Dark Sky Festival October
Stargazing in the world's second-largest dark-sky preserve
Worth knowing
Cards everywhere, including park gates. Tipping is expected in restaurants and bars.
money · editorial
A national park pass has to be displayed on the dashboard for the whole drive. Fuel on the Parkway exists at Saskatchewan Crossing and nowhere else, so the tank is a planning decision.
know before · editorial
From autumn through spring the Parkway is a winter highway with long serviceless stretches and side roads under snow. Midsummer fills the car parks before sunrise and increasingly brings wildfire smoke.
when not to go · editorial
Banff town for services, Canmore just outside the park boundary and calmer, Lake Louise for the trailheads, Jasper at the northern end. The Parkway between them has campgrounds and a couple of isolated lodges and nothing else.
where to stay · editorial
A car, unavoidably. The Parkway has no public transport, the viewpoints are pull-offs and the trailheads are spread over 230 km. Banff and Lake Louise run local shuttles in summer, and Moraine Lake is closed to private vehicles entirely.
getting around · editorial
Calgary is the airport. Banff is about ninety minutes west by road, Jasper another four hours up the Parkway itself. Shuttle coaches run to Banff; beyond that you drive.
getting there · editorial
Quests
Icon
Athabasca Glacier
The tongue of ice you can reach from the road. It retreats every year, and you can see it.
Peyto Lake lookout
Twenty minutes up from the car park to wolf-shaped blue water.
Bow Lake
The lake at the roadside with the glacier behind it.
Athabasca Falls
Not much height and a great deal of water. The noise arrives first.
Sunwapta Falls
Two drops and a narrow canyon in between.
Maligne Lake
The long lake at the end of the side road, with the island in the middle.
See
Stop at the Peyto Lake lookout on the way
Eat
Fill the flask with coffee before Lake Louise; there is nothing for 200 kilometres
Eat a sandwich off the bonnet at any roadside viewpoint
There is no restaurant between one stop and the next. That is the plan.
Drink coffee from a flask before the sun hits the road
Two hundred and thirty kilometres and almost no petrol stations.
Moment
Drive the whole Icefields Parkway in a day, with a full tank
Stop the car and stand five minutes without speaking, away from the car park
The road makes noise. Nothing else does.
See the Milky Way from the road, with no torch on
Protected dark sky. Give your eyes twenty minutes to open.
Trail
Walk up Wilcox Pass and look down on the glacier
Three hours, ridge wind, and the best view of the icefield.