Banff National Park in Canada has been on our bucket list for quite a while.

I started to plan the logistics one month before the trip. It was sort of last minute. I had no idea we were looking in the peak season, and many places were sold out. As I scrambled with little result online, I called some hotels directly and was told many people made reservations at least six months ago.

That was the first lesson! Never travel to a popular destination in the peak season and in the last minute, or you would end up few accommodation choices and lofty prices. That was the principle we usually followed. Apparently, our memories got a bit rusty over the pandemic.

Soon after I started designing our itinerary, I learned the second lesson. I didn’t realize how much I didn’t know about Banff. Banff National Park is connected to three other national parks: Jasper, Yoho and Kootenay. They collectively contribute to the natural wonders of the Canadian Rockies. I thought we were just going to see Banff, and we ended up seeing three national parks - Banff, Jasper and Yoho. 10 days might be enough for a small national park, but is too short for the Canadian Rockies.

Nevertheless, here’s our itinerary.

Day 1 & 2 - Washington & Idaho

We drove through Washington and spent the second night in Idaho. For the first time we stayed in an RV airbnb. Over the years, I’ve been intrigued by the RV lifestyle from other travelers. I always wondered if we would enjoy it as a family. Luckily, we tested the water and piqued our curiosity, although it was only for one night.

I liked that we were in a remote little town. Our RV was parked in an open field on the north bank of a river. The sky was clear. And… it was almost new moon!

Are you able to connect the dots? It was perfect to photograph Milky Way. Well, almost.

I waited till midnight and sneaked out of the RV. Picking a spot in almost entire darkness was always tricky. I had to set the tripod in the bushes, aka, crowd of mosquitos, at the river front in order to get a reasonable clean shot. There was some level of light pollution, but the Milky Way was visible overhead.

Just as I wondered what foreground I should include in my photo, a train roared through a bridge in front of me, somehow spicing up an otherwise storyless image. It wasn’t anywhere close to perfect, but I loved it. (Check out my Milky Way photo stories in Chile and Argentina)

Day 3 - Lake Louise, Banff

We crossed the US-Canada border and arrived at Banff in mid afternoon. The drive itself was very pleasant with mountain scenes all around in spite of the on and off rain. You could hardly miss a view because almost everywhere was a view!

We went straight to Lake Louise. It was one of the iconic Banff locations that everyone recommended. I could certainly see why. The turquoise lake with the glacier backdrop literally looked like a painting.

On the flip side, the place was very crowded. Taking pictures with my telephoto lens, Canon RF70-200mm f2.8, was extremely challenging (see my lens portfolio of Canon RF70-200mm f2.8). I had to grasp whatever split of seconds available to me just to snap a shot.

Photo Tips

Is there a best lens to take photos in crowded scenes? The short answer: any lens could work.

I’ve used wide angle lens, telephoto lens or anything in between. There is no “must” or “best” formula.

👉If you use wide angle lens, the best is to focus on landscape. Use people as foreground, eg. looking at your focused landscape, to tell the story. Or if your subject is people, make sure to put your subject in the middle of the frame, or they will be terribly distorted. The closer they stand on the edge of your photo, the more distorted they look. Of course you can use this distortion to your advantage and create drama for portrait, but that’s a different story. (Check out the lens portfolio of my favorite wide angle lens)

👉If you use telephoto lens, pay attention to details. Use shallow depth of field, blur both foreground and background to create depth. It’s a common technique I use for my travel photos using long lens. (Check out the lens portfolio of my favorite telephoto lens)

If you’d like to take better vacation photos with a mirrorless or DSLR camera, check out my free video training.

We had our first dinner at Vermillion Room of Fairmont Spring Banff. Sitting right next to the window, we probably paid more attention to the double rainbow outside than our food. I couldn’t help clicking my camera and eventually couldn’t resist walking outside.

Our next few days were packed with hiking and sightseeing activities. We bypassed all the places that required tickets in advance so as to maximize our flexibility to travel with two kids.

It’s hard to rank our favorites. We absolutely loved everything we saw except the crowd. The following are the highlights of each day.

Day 4 - Tunnel Mountain Summit & Johnston Canyon Upper Falls

We hiked for over 10km for the day. Although this was not their longest day hike distance, I was super proud of my boys. (Check out our day hikes with kids in Oregon and North Cascades National Park)

We started our day to Tunnel Mountain Summit (below images). It was a 4.8km out and back mountain trail. You could easily see the Banff town and surrounding mountains from trail openings.

We went to Johnson Canyon (below images) immediately afterwards. It was so crowded that we had to skip the lower falls. Taking pictures, once again, was a matter of split second exercise. Check out my top 10 tips on how to take better travel photos on crowded tourist scenes.

Both of our kids (aged 7 and 4) completed two hikes without much help. In hindsight, it would be wise to spread out the hikes over two days, so we could balance physical exercise with sightseeing.

Day 5 - Banff to Jasper, Icefield Parkway

We spent over 10 hours on the road between Banff and Jasper. There was only one road between the two national parks - the 232km Icefield Parkway (see below map). It was rated one of the top drives in the world. Undoubtedly, it was one of the most beautiful roads we had seen.

We made about 10 stops along the way and had to skip many on the Jasper side as we ran out of time. A few highlights include:

• Two Jack Lake (above), Banff National Park

• Castle Mountain (middle below), Banff National Park

• Bow Lake (left below), Icefield Parkway

• Peyto Lake (above right and below 3), Icefield Parkway. This lake was so beautiful that it should deserve a chapter by itself. If I had to choose one place to spend the day, this would be it!

We checked in our Airbnb in Jasper after 9pm. There was no rain. Given the rain forecast for the whole trip, this would be my only chance to score some colorful landscape photos. So I spent a late evening out on my own while my husband watched the boys. Unfortunately, I had to give up my most preferred spots due to either the distance or bear appearance.

I made a quick stop at Lake Annette, as it was within close distance from our Airbnb in Jasper town. There was a sign to leave the area at 10pm, but the sunset was at 10:20pm. I took a quick recon and settled on an east-facing lake side for my golden hour shot (below).

I left the place and made several attempts in surrounding area after 10pm. The clock was ticking quickly into the blue hours. Trying to photograph landscape in an unfamiliar place typically meant improvising on plans and gambling on luck. It was both challenging and exciting.

Unfortunately I didn’t find a great location. As the colors were fading, I turned into Becker's Chalets, a hotel right along Athabasca River near Jasper.

I ended my day with a few long exposure shots. The one below captured a few cars driving by, leaving a light trail in my frame. Similar to my Milky Way shot in the beginning of the trip. The photo was by no means perfect, but I loved it. Sometimes the journey was more special than the outcome.

Day 6 - Jasper National Park, Southern Section

It was July 1, Canada Day. We had a relatively relaxing day seeing the waterfalls, lakes, rivers, and mountains.

Our major stops included:

• Sunwapta Falls (above and below 3). We hiked to the lower Sunwapta Falls. It was an easy 2km hike and definitely worth it.

• Athabasca Falls (below). Very powerful waterfall and very crowded scene.

• Medicine Falls (below). It was one of my sunset photo spots, but we were there in midday.

The weather appeared to be friendlier than the forecast and didn’t rain until the evening.

Day 7 - Jasper National Park, Northern Section

Our original itinerary included:

• Patricia Lake (below) and Pyramid Lake

• Athabasca River (below)

• Sulphur Skyline (below) 1 hour drive north of Jasper town. It was an ambitious plan to hike the 8km on the mountain to begin with. Shortly after we started the hike, it began to rain. We soon turned back and dropped the plan.

• Talbot Lake (below). We were on our way back and stopped at the Talbot Lake for the second time. Our surprising discovery of turquoise water and white sand turned this unplanned stop into 2-hour beach time. Our boys tirelessly played with tadpoles and their sand toys. I had to admit, sometimes having no plan was the best plan.

Day 8 - Jasper to Yoho, Icefield Parkway

We drove through the iconic Icefield Parkway for the second time. There were unlimited number of photo opportunities.

If I had the chance, I would literally have lived on this road for days or weeks, and never got tired of photographing it.

We hiked along Wilcox Pass (above) and Mistaya Canyon (below) and made a few other planned and unplanned stops, until we ran out of good weather.

We ended our day at Emerald Lake at Yoho National Park. It was another crowd scene like Lake Louise in Banff. We decided to wrap up fast and didn’t walk far.

day 9 - Yoho National Park

There was heavy rain. We made the typical tourist stops at Natural Bridge (above) and Takakkaw Falls (below).

Day 10 was the return trip. 10 days for a national park road trip in Canada was simply too short. I took thousands of photos and tons of videos. Both my husband and I loved Icefield Parkway and rated it as the top site of our trip.

If there were any regrets, we didn’t see Moraine Lake of Banff National Park. I wasn’t prepared to get up at 3am and drive there before its parking lot was full before sunrise. This probably will be our big reason to go back one day, perhaps in a different season with less crowd.

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