Canadian Rockies Complete Guide 2026: Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper, Yoho & the Icefields Parkway
Browse more guides: Canada travel | North America destinations Canadian Rockies Complete Guide 2026: Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper, Yoho & the Icefields Parkway TL;DR I treat the Canadian Rockies as one long ribbon of mountains running along the Alberta-BC border and plan it as a single road-trip rather than five separate parks. The core is four contiguous UNESCO World Heritage parks (Banff, Jasper, Yoho, Kootenay) inscribed in 1984 with Mt Robson and Mt Assiniboine provincial parks, covering roughly 23,000 km² of peaks, glaciers and turquoise lakes. Banff townsite sits at 1,383m, the highest town in Canada; Jasper at 1,062m runs quieter and darker (the world's 2nd-largest Dark Sky Preserve since 2011). Between them, the 232 km Icefields Parkway (Highway 93N) traces the continent past the Columbia Icefield, a 325 km² mass of ice that feeds three oceans. Add Yoho's Emerald Lake and 384m Takakkaw Falls, Kootenay's Radium Hot Springs, Waterton's 1932 peace-park union...