How to spend 5 days in Vancouver and Banff National Park!
How to spend 5 days in Vancouver and Banff National Park! Can you see both in a short amount of time?
As background, this trip was an extension of the beginning of my parents Yellowstone/Grand Teton trip. After spending 3 days with them we flew from the Grand Tetons to Vancouver.
While these areas are incredible enough to stay WAY longer, if you only have a short time to visit, THEY ARE WORTH IT!
Here is how to spend 2 days in Vancouver and 3 days in Banff National park! The perfect mix of city break and INCREDIBLE nature!
Views from the Plain of Six Glaciers Tea House Trail
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Day 1: Gastown and Chinatown
Catch an early-enough flight to be able to see parts of Vancouver on your first day! Once you land, bus into the city (about a 30 minute bus ride from the airport to downtown Vancouver) and have the early afternoon and evening to explore Vancouver.
Explore Chinatown and Gastown on the East side of Vancouver on your first evening.
Chinatown
Head to Chinatown, Canada’s oldest Chinatown, upon arriving in Vancouver. T
his will give you daylight to see the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Chinese Garden, a beautiful botanical garden.
This garden has incredible, traditional Chinese architecture and koi pond and you can see the cityscape of Vancouver towering behind.
There is also good shopping in Chinatown consisting of boutiques, crafts, home goods and more as well as a good variety of food and spices.
Gastown
Gastown was the original settlement of Vancouver and is now a historic district. It is a cute neighborhood with its cobblestone streets and unique architecture!
For some reason, Gastown has become known for its steam clock. It is powered by steam and whistles to tell time, but, I’ll admit, it isn’t all that impressive 🙃 But, you will likely come across it in Gastown anyway, so stop and get your photo of it!
Gastown is also full of great dining, shopping and a strong nightlife leading to its growing popularity among locals and tourists. And, it is especially known for its trendy restaurants!
Take a Walking Food Tour!
Gastown is the prime place to take a food tour in Vancouver!
-Price: 85 euros
-Duration: 2.5 hours
-Includes: 7 food tastings with 2 desserts as well as 4 alcoholic beverages
Day 2: Bike around Downtown and Suspension Bridge
On your second day in Vancouver, rent bikes (we got them free from our hostel), and explore downtown Vancouver and Granville Island!
Biking Around Vancouver
You can ride bikes for miles and miles along the Vancouver Seawall and see tons of highlights including:
- Stanley Park
- Lions Gate Bridge
- English Bay Beach
- Port of Vancouver
- Granville Island market
Granville Island Market is a shopping district with a large public market located south of Vancouver, just over the Granville Street Bridge. Here you can find many restaurants, boutiques and arts and crafts stores to look around before heading back to the mainland of Vancouver.
Vancouver has an incredible cityscape with the ocean in front and mountains in the back and you can really get great views of it via bike!
If your accommodation doesn’t provide bicycles, you can rent them for an affordable price around the city. Typical price is about $30 USD for 3-6 hours.
Suspension Bridge
After biking, spend your afternoon visiting a suspension bridge! There are a few to choose from with Capilano Suspension Bridge being the most popular. However, there is also a free one you can visit if you would rather save money!
Capilano Suspension Bridge
One of the larger and most popular suspension bridges near Vancouver is the Capilano Suspension bridge. This bridge is located about 30 minutes north of Vancouver.
Capilano Suspension Bridge is about 140 meters (459 ft) long and suspends 70 meters (229 ft) above the river. However, there are also several other smaller bridges that are suspended in the rainforest as well.
A perk of the Capilano Suspension Bridge is that they offer free shuttle services from either Canada Place or the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Vancouver.
Visit Capilano Suspension Bridge
-Cost: ~50 per person
-Duration: 2 to 2.5 hours to get through the park
-Hours: 9am to 7pm
-Free shuttle service from Vancouver
Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge
Lynn Canyon suspension bridge is in North Vancouver and is free to enter.
Whereas Capilano has several smaller bridges, there is only one suspension bridge at Lynn Canyon.
However, we visited with MAYBE one or two other people, so if you want to avoid crowds, this can be a good option!
Getting to Lynn Canyon Suspicion Bridge:
You can get to the bridge via bus 210, take a ferry/sea bus to lower Lonsdale from the Port of Vancouver and then jump on bus 228 or taxi.
- A taxi ride is your fastest route at 22 minutes, but also your most expensive between $30-40.
- Ferrying/busing takes between an hour and an hour and a half, but will only cost ~$5-10.
In all honesty, if you are willing to pay for the taxi fare to Lynn Canyon, you should probably just pay a little more to visit Capilano Suspension Bridge.
Day 3: Travel Day, Lake Minnewanka Downtown Banff
Day 3, transfer from Vancouver to Banff!
Catch an EARLY train ride to the Vancouver airport and fly directly from Vancouver to Calgary, Alberta. RENT A CAR at the airport and head to Banff!
To adequately visit Banff National Park with only 3 days, you are going to want to rent a car. It will allow you to get up and going before the crowds (and there will be crowds!)
And, the views in the park are INCREDIBLE and there is a good chance you are going to want to pull over to take in the views A LOT.
Rent a car for an epic trip to Banff National Park!
If you catch an early flight, you’ll land in Banff mid-morning and have plenty of the day to explore!
Start your day by driving to Lake Minnewanka! We didn’t spend a lot of time here, because the weather was garbage for us (cold, wind, sleet) and the views were less than optimal. Hopefully when you go, the weather will be better and you can pick a short and scenic hike!
Either spend the rest of your day hiking around Lake Minnewanka or head back to town to explore downtown Banff. There are lots of shops and restaurants!
Day 4: Icefields Parkway
Spend day 4 taking an EPIC DRIVE! Day 4 is an early morning, because this will be your first day inside Banff National Park and you DON’T want to be late!
Surprisingly, we woke up to snow on the ground which resulted in poor views at Moraine Lake and Lake Louise. This obviously won’t be the case for everyone, but I recommend spending your first day in Banff National Park driving up Icefields Parkway (hopefully not in a snowstorm like us!)
The views along Icefields Parkway are INSANE. There are loads of places you are going to want to stop.
Drive along the parkway until you reach the Athabasca Glacier. There is a parking lot at the foot of the glacier; you can opt to take a tour ONTO the glacier if that is something you are interested in. But, the tours that take you onto the glacier are full day tours and will cut into your time of seeing other parts of Banff and the Canadian Rockies.
As you can see from the photos below, again, day 4 did not give us good hiking weather. However, if you visit during the summer, you are going to want to stop at Peyto Lake!
The drive from Banff to Athabasca Glacier is about 2 hours. Therefore, you should have plenty of time to hike around Peyto Lake before sunset if you are visiting in the summer and have better weather!
Guided Tour of Athabasca Glacier and Peyto Lake
If you are wanting to visit both Athabasca Glacier and Peyto Lake in one day, your best bet may be to take a guided tour that includes both. Most of the guided tours that will take you on Athabasca Glacier are no less than about 9 hours, so it will take most of your day.
Therefore, to get the most out of your time, you may want to do a tour that will take you to other areas as well.
Know, though, that the tour will take you TO Athabasca Glacier and not ON it like the others. So, if you have a car, you can visit all of these places on your own. At this point, its personal preference!
Icefields Parkway, Peyto Lake & Bow Lake!
-Price: Around $77 USD
-Duration: full day (less if you are getting picked up in Banff rather than Calgary)
-Includes: Icefields Parkway, Athabasca Glacier, Peyto Lake, Bow Lake, Lake Louise and optional Columbia Icefield Skywalk
Day 5: Moraine Lake & Plain of Six Glaciers Teahouse Trail
Day 5 was probably my favorite day of the 5 days in Vancouver and Banff! We woke up to much better weather and were able to see the peaks of the rockies and the brilliant colors of the lakes!
Spend day 5 visiting one of the most famous lakes of Banff National Park and then take an EPIC hike in the Canadian Rockies!
NOTE: We visited in 2018 when you could freely drive up to both Moraine Lake and Lake Louise. Now, you have to shuttle to both, so you want to be able to catch the first shuttle available!
First, as soon as you wake up, head straight to Moraine Lake to beat the crowds! This is a great spot to watch sunrise if you are willing to get up early!
After you take in the views, head to Lake Louise.
I recommend doing the Plain of Six Glaciers TeaHouse Trail. It was amazing! Though this trail is strenuous with a steep climb and 6.8 miles round-trip, it is worth it!
You get epic views of Lake Louise from the top, jutted mountain peaks and a CUTE teahouse at the top!
Read more about the Plain of Six Glaciers Teahouse and what to do in Banff!
5 Days in Vancouver and Banff Recap
This is a fun way to spend 5 days in Vancouver and Banff, but this trip can honestly easily be extended with a few more days in Banff to hike and explore surrounding parks.
Banff is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. But, know that Banff’s growing popularity is effecting the accessibility. Therefore, it doesn’t hurt to consider some of the close national parks such as Yoho or Kootenay in the Canadian Rockies near Banff.
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