About The Banff Guide

We're Kevin and Jill. We moved from the UK to the Bow Valley in 2006 and have lived here ever since - twenty years of Banff in every season, including the ones nobody puts on a postcard.

That's the whole point of this site. We're not writing about Banff from a desk somewhere else. We know which trails have parking left at nine on a Saturday, which lookout is worth the drive in October, and which week in June the bugs arrive.

What you'll find here

Practical guides to Banff, Lake Louise, Canmore and Kananaskis, written from having actually done the thing. When to go, where to stay, what to book ahead, and what you can safely skip.

We update weekly with events, trail conditions and seasonal advice, because most of what matters here changes month to month. A guide written in July is close to useless in November.

If something is overrated, we say so. If a place is busy, we tell you when to go instead. That is more useful than another list of ten things you already knew about.

How we ended up here

Our first trip to Western Canada was in the late 1990s, and it was meant to be a short one. It wasn't. We came back, and in 2006 we moved for good.

Since then we've raised two sons in the valley, skied and biked and hiked most of what's within reach of the house, and worked our way steadily through the region's breweries and wine lists - beer is Kevin's department, wine is Jill's.

We've travelled plenty elsewhere too. Everest Base Camp, a spell living in Istanbul, a lot of Southeast Asia. It's a decent way to learn what makes somewhere genuinely good to visit, and it keeps bringing us back to these mountains.

Whether you're visiting or you live here

If you're planning a first trip, start with Plan Your Trip - the seasonal guides and the where-to-stay pages will save you the most time.

If you live in the valley, Local Life and News are where we put the things worth knowing about the place we all share.

Either way, we're glad you're here.