Need suggestions for campgrounds in Banff

[HappyMan]

I'm planning my trip to Banff tonight and I'm looking for some advice on campgrounds. I'll be taking my beloved Tigger and riding advance and I'd like to be near Banff and keep it my home base and ride out from there but if you have suggestions further north I'll take them. I do not favor staying inside the National Park system either. When I arrive I'll be meeting other family members pulling pop ups and fifth wheelers so I need to meet their HUGE needs as well.

 

We will all be coming from the MN area.

 

Thanks in advance!

[Crazy_Canuck]

I stayed at Tunnel Mountian and liked it. Check it out

[HappyMan]

Yes, it looks like a good place and one of the sites we are considering. Seemed to be a very large place with camp sites on top of each other though. Was that not the case? We are also looking at the Echo park in Golden. Anyone have any thoughts on either of these? Most of the sites in the Park system don't allow tents and we will have a combination of family coming in trailers, pop ups and my lowly tent.

 

Thanks for your input Crazy Canuck!

[Whip]

Banff itself ain't much, but north of there on the way to Jasper is somethin special.

 

Are y'all looking forward remote outdoor kinda place or do ya wanna be closer to some action/other peeps with restaurants and shopping????

 

 

[Lmar]

Tunnel Mountain campground is nice. I always stay there when I am taking a trip to Banff.

 

Price is about $27.00/night, nice camp spots, treed, paved roads thru out. Showers and washrooms are cleaned everyday between 9:00 - 11:00 am. If you check in prior to 6:00 PM local time you should have no trouble getting a spot.

 

Tunnel mountain also has a large RV campground that is adjacent to the tenting campground. Nice camp spots, drive thru and good for multi campers.

 

Make sure you bring some sturdy spikes and a plastic mallot to pound the spikes in. The small pegs you get with most tents won't work in the mountains.

 

Make sure you take a ride to Jasper via the Columbia Ice Fields. It is one of the most beautiful rides in Canada. About 150 miles from Lake Louise to Jasper.

 

If you need more info, PM me.

[MikeRC]

You really don't have much choice but to stay in a National Park campground. Golden certainly isn't central to much. It's an hour away from Lake Louise and an hour and a half from Banff. The nicest campgrounds are Johnston Canyon (but it's first-come-first-served) and Lake Louise (reservations accepted, tenting area protected from the local grizzlies by an electric fence). As you move up the Banff-Jasper Parkway (Icefields Parkway) the campgrounds don't have any hot water and they are COLD at night (near freezing most nights). But of them, Waterfowl Lake is in the nicest location. Remember that the only groceries (other then a 7-Eleven style shopping) is Banff or Jasper.

 

See Camping in Banff National Park

 

The campgrounds near Jasper are really nice (Wapiti and Whistlers have showers) but I'm not sure if the tenting area has an electric fence.

 

The nicest campgrounds are in Kananaskis Country -especially Mt Kidd, but they are a fair distance from Banff and the Kananaskis/Spray Lakes area is a destination of its own.

 

Mike Cassidy