Jack's Outdoor Adventure Blog: Banff Townsite

Monday, August 6, 2012

Banff Townsite

After mountain biking in Canmore, we headed to the town of Banff. Months ago we had reserved a private room at the hostel in Banff for the bargain price of $150. Banff is an extremely expensive location, even more so than the generally high prices we encountered most everywhere in Canada. I found the town to be uncomfortably touristy-on-steroids. However, we did find some interesting things to do and are certain there are many more that we didn't have time to discover.


The main drag in Banff is full of high-end shops and restaurants and the scene we experienced was dominated by non-English speaking visitors. We heard primarily Japanese and French most of the next week.

Cristin wanted to check out the Banff Center, a arts, cultural, and educational institution and conference facility. We knew about this center because of the annual Banff Film Festival, which stops in Minneapolis every November on its world tour. Several of the year's award winning, short action adventure films are shown. The Banff Center is not a tourist center and no films or performances were playing that evening so we just walked around the campus for a few minutes.

On the Banff Center Campus

Then we checked out the European castle known as the Banff Springs Hotel. I thought it would be impossible for me to be impressed by a hotel, but I must admit is is an impressive building.and location.


Credit: Banff Springs Hotel website 8/12/12: http://www.fairmont.com/banff-springs/

"What should we do here at the castle?", I wondered. I had an idea:

A drink in a large, classy lounge in the castle.

The view from our seats.

On the way back to Banff for dinner at a location better suited to our style than the castle, we stumbled on the Bow River Falls. The interpretative information at the falls on the geology of the area was a welcome opportunity to learn about the local geology. What a find! There would be many more such opportunities over the next week!