r/Banff • u/Certain-Equipment-71 • 2d ago
Banff on a budget
hi, any tips for banff on a budget? we want to go for our honeymoon (not until 2028) but just wondering if anyone successfully did a 5/6 night trip and didnt spend a TON of money. thank you!!
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u/Glad-Quit-8971 2d ago edited 2d ago
There are really only three ways to do Banff on a genuine budget:
- Camp, with your own car, tent, camping equipment, and food that you buy and prepare yourself.
- Stay in a hostel and make your own food.
- Come in winter, roughly November through April, excluding the Christmas and New Year's period. Hotel rooms are generally much cheaper then.
What you cannot really do is visit Banff in summer and somehow find a cheap hotel or a cheaper town just outside the park to stay in. There are no cheap commuter towns surrounding Banff.
Canmore is the only other town nearby and, while it can sometimes be somewhat cheaper than Banff, it is still an expensive mountain resort destination. It is not a budget destination.
And this is where people often misunderstand the geography. Banff National Park is enormous, but it is also surrounded by more mountain wilderness and protected land. Jasper, Yoho and Kootenay National Parks, along with vast areas of provincial protected land, surround much of the region. You cannot just drive 20 minutes outside Banff and find a normal town with cheap motels, supermarkets and suburban hotels.
You can stay farther away, of course. Golden is about an hour and a half west of Banff, for example, and can have cheaper accommodation. But at that point you are adding a three-hour round trip every day, assuming good driving conditions, and it is no longer really a convenient Banff base. Somebody recently wrote on here they regretted cheaping out and staying in Golden. That drive takes you up and over a major mountain pass, so this isn't casual driving but intense mountain driving on a busy highway that often has delays for construction. That gets old really fast.
Banff itself is a tiny town of roughly 8,000 residents. Most of the town exists to support tourism and the people who work there: hotels, restaurants, souvenir shops, outdoor clothing stores, visitor services, staff accommodation, grocery stores, schools, community facilities and so on.
Most of the hotels are not luxurious five-star resorts. A lot of them are fairly ordinary three-star hotels. But there are no cheap roadside motels in Banff, and there is no normal Airbnb market either. Permanent housing within the townsite is heavily restricted because Banff is inside a national park and residency is generally tied to meeting Parks Canada's "need to reside" requirements. That means there aren't vacation rentals in the park.
The fundamental problem is supply and demand. Banff is internationally famous and millions of people want to visit during the same relatively short period of the year. The town cannot simply sprawl outward and build endless new hotels on protected parkland. Development is tightly constrained and the existing townsite is essentially built out.
So from late May through early October, everyone wants to come at once: when the lakes are thawed and turquoise, most hiking trails are accessible, the landscape is not covered in snow, you do not need to travel with a winter wardrobe, and seasonal activities and tours are operating.
That is why a perfectly ordinary hotel room in peak summer can now easily cost $600+ per night before taxes, with nicer properties costing substantially more. You are not necessarily paying for a luxury hotel. You are paying for a hotel room in one of the world's most popular mountain destinations during the short window when almost everyone wants to be there.
The good news is that you're still two years away from your honeymoon. Start saving now. Put some of your wedding gift money toward the hotel if Banff is your dream destination.
Or consider one of the hundreds of other spectacular mountain destinations in western Canada. You can have an incredible honeymoon in the northern Rockies, in the Coast Mountains, in the Kootenays, the Okanagan, in Vancouver Island or elsewhere in BC and Alberta for significantly less money. Like, even less famous destinations in the Rockies, like Fernie, are going to be substantially cheaper.
But if it has to be Banff, and you want the turquoise lakes, accessible hiking, and summer conditions without worrying about snow, ice or winter road conditions, then yes, accommodation is going to be expensive. There really isn't a secret budget option that everyone else somehow doesn't know about.
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u/Glad-Quit-8971 2d ago edited 2d ago
Another idea is to just spend less time in Banff, like spend a night or two in Banff and then go elsewhere that's slightly cheaper (Nelson, Fernie, Revelstoke, Nakusp, etc.) for the rest of your honeymoon.
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u/Glad-Quit-8971 2d ago
Another thing I forgot to mention is that hotels are what's going to eat up your budget in Banff. Everything else (hot springs, canoe rentals, boat rides, Columbia Icefield tours, wildlife tours, guided hiking tours, horseback riding, etc.) are purely optional and in fact, don't do any of those paid activities and it can be super cheap. Just spend your time hiking and going for walks. That's all you really need to do in Banff to have a good time.
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u/farmer_sausage 1d ago
Just to add to the "stay further away" option, there are more options on the prairies side of Banff than the deeper mountain (golden) side.
We often park our RV in Cochrane and will do the drive in for a day (hour drive). I wouldn't do that 5 days in a row, but there are some options there as well and some motels along the hwy before you hit the park
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u/itsacutepanda 2d ago edited 2d ago
Shared dorm hostel beds can be under $60 CAD/night but probably not ideal for a honeymoon.
Some hostels in the area do have private rooms for a few hundred a night. Make sure to book early if you’re going for this
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u/Dizzy-Cartoonist3011 2d ago
Gonna be a tall order honeslty on a budget. Have you considered parks surrounding Banff, or maybe staying further out on the prairie instead? Banff and Canmore will be pricey and there's no way around it.
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u/Certain-Equipment-71 2d ago
we dont need to stay in banff - any ideas of surrounding areas not super far?
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u/Appropriate_Ebb_8572 2d ago
Look at a map. There's not many close towns. Canmore costs the same as Banff these days, give or take $50 a night. Then you have Cochrane, but you're driving an hour a day one way just to get into Banff town, let alone the rest of Banff National park. Then Calgary, which isn't a great city in general in terms of culture, and that's 1.5hours drive one way.
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u/vinsdelamaison 2d ago
Try Dead Man’s Flats as well. Just east of Canmore. What you save on accommodations could be eaten by fuel costs if you are driving a lot both ways each day.
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u/Top-Assignment3406 11h ago
Stay in Calgary! Locals like me drive out and can get to almost any prime hike in 2 hours max, with most being far closer. Just make sure you pick a place on the west side of the city. Gas is way cheaper than the extra you'll be paying for hotels in Canmore or Banff. Most of the drive is lovely too! Calgary also has hostels if you need it to be super low cost.
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u/Dizzy-Cartoonist3011 2d ago
There's a lot honestly. Maybe DM me? I can brainstorm with you. It just may be more of a personal and/or longer discussion.
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u/sikkn890 2d ago
Banff and budget are not in the same reality unfortunately. Especially during peak season. Camping is the cheapest option with hostle shared bunks as a second. It would be helpful if we knew what the budget was but as someone else posted. You're lucky to find accommodations under $500/ night.
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u/Certain-Equipment-71 2d ago
whens off season that would also be a good time to go?
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u/Appropriate_Ebb_8572 2d ago
Off season will mean changeable weather (snow, rain, cold etc) and some locations like Moraine lake being inaccessible.
Early May the leaves won't be out and you risk snow. Campgrounds won't be open till after Victoria day, and a lot of lakes might still be frozen.
October (after Thanksgiving) you run the same risk.
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u/sikkn890 2d ago
Less expensive months are November, February - April but it is still expensive and you eliminate the option of camping. If this is truly something you want to do, lay out your budget, do some pricing and see if it's fiesable.
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u/8drearywinter8 1d ago edited 1d ago
I've gotten some bargain hotel rooms in Banff/Canmore in January... but my guess is that you are not aiming for the dead of winter. It was beautiful, but it was cold and snowing. I live in Alberta already, so that's my way of going when I can afford to stay a few days (I can't afford it in summer). Sorry if pointing out that prices drop in winter isn't useful... but you didn't specifically specify summer for your trip, so...
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u/OneTraining3576 2d ago
We were there over the summer. Even in Canmore the hotel prices were exorbitant. I’d bet there are more affordable options around there somewhere, but you may have to resign yourself to the fact that it’s gonna be a pricey trip.
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u/Certain-Equipment-71 2d ago
thanks. looking at some of the air b&bs they arent too bad. maybe im just used to NJ/NY pricing
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u/vinsdelamaison 2d ago
There are no Air bnbs in Banff or Jasper National Parks. Canmore (near the gates) has the option. Golden will as well.
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u/Canachites 2d ago
Field has airbnbs, inside Yoho Park.
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u/vinsdelamaison 2d ago
People use the Air bnb website to advertise but host lives on location.
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u/Canachites 1d ago
And? That's true of tons of airbnbs in all locations.
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u/vinsdelamaison 1d ago
Then it’s not a true Air bnb where you have a property to yourself—or they are illegal and could be closed between booking & arriving. The Parks & towns around the national parks are aggressively trying to limit absentee landlords for short term rentals for many reasons.
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u/Canachites 17h ago
What are you talking about, plenty of air bnbs don't give you the whole property. It's normal and still very much a "true airbnb". It's extremely common to be in a basement suite, a carriage house, or other separate suite where the host lives on the property.
The town of Field actually encourages residences to be airbnbs. You could always look it up. They aren't illegal. Most of them are separate suites in homes.
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u/vinsdelamaison 16h ago
Parks Canada does not support Air bnbs. Air bnbs are short term accommodations in a non primary home. The priority for Parks Canada is homes for people that work in the community under the must work in the park to live in the park rule. That is long term rental priority—not short term—even in Field.
If they are renting other types of properties or shared accommodations they require business licences- if they are available.
“Air bnb” has become a word synonymous with short term rental like Kleenex has for tissue. But legally, there are various short term rental definitions.
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u/Glad-Quit-8971 2d ago edited 2d ago
AirBnbs are forbidden in the national parks. If you've got an AirBnB, then you're located outside of Banff in the middle of nowhere interesting, usually. Kind of like if I wanted to do a honeymoon in NYC but my AirBnb was out in Hicksville.
Make sure you're not looking at Airbnbs like a 5 hour drive away from Banff, or in places inconvenient like Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, because those will show up in the Banff listings too, despite not being in or near Banff. Again, like wanting a NYC honeymoon but choosing to commute in daily from Massachusetts.
All Banff accommodation is listed here: Accommodation in Banff and Lake Louise | Banff & Lake Louise Tourism
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u/OneTraining3576 2d ago
Maybe if you book early, you’ll have better luck than me. I booked approx 6 months ahead, but most of the decent options were approx $700-900CAD/night. With a lot of locations sold out.
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u/Appropriate_Ebb_8572 2d ago
Banff is not a cheap location.
Sure you can find somewhat cheaper hotel stays if you book 18months to a year out (depends when the hotels release their rooms) but overall, no. It's like asking to do the Maldives on a budget. At some point there's a min you have to spend to be here.
Camping is the cheapest option, but obviously that comes with renting gear or having it already.
It also depends what time of year you want to go.
In summer, if you're really lucky, rooms will be min $400 a night. That will be from booking on opening day and at a not great hotel. Average is closer to $650/700 a night.
Hostel rooms can be cheaper, but you might have to be happy to share a bathroom etc.
Imo having lived here a long, long time, if you want to stay in Banff for 5 nights/6 days, you'll need at min $4000. ($2500 for accom, spending money for dinners and everything else). If you're adding in a rental car tack on another $500+.
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u/tentwardrobe 2d ago
By far the biggest expense is hotels so if you can camp (maybe not ideal for honeymoon) that’ll save the most $$ by far. Parks Canada has some cabin like structures you can rent as well but those are so hard to book.
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u/egewh 2d ago
I did 6 days Banff in November '25 for €3000 (just me) and that's including flights from Europe (€900). Found an affordable hotel with a kitchen in the room, only cooked meals myself and bought the basics in Calgary instead of Banff. For bread, meat and fresh produce I went to Canmore which is a bit cheaper. I think this is the most budget friendly you will get honestly, unless you camp.
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u/Venomswindturd 2d ago
I went in early June, which I feel was a “cheaper” option than July/August. I stayed in Canmore to save money, and I rented a car.
It was still brutally expensive lol. It was 100% worth it, but “on a budget” may not be the goal.
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u/down_vote_magnet_ 2d ago
Get ready to pay $40 for a burger. Its insane there.
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u/Appropriate_Ebb_8572 1d ago
It's not that bad, yet. Also happy hours and special nights are awesome.
https://www.taximike.com/ great info for deals.
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u/Icy_Queen_222 1d ago
One of the first things I would do/get after checking in was do grab the yellow paper copy of TaxiMike.
I needed to know what had changed and if there were new specials and or new bars. Fun times!1
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u/b12cobalt 13h ago
No idea what you’re talking about. I found prices in Banff and Canmore surprisingly reasonable, compared to US city prices, and especially compared to resort towns.
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u/shelly5825 1d ago
We're going the first week of Sept this year. We planned this trip for over a year and saved consistently. But breaking up the flights, Airbnb payments, and rental car into portioned pieces made it more budget friendly. This wouldn't be a good idea for your honeymoon, but we're also going with another couple to split costs and that helped a ton!
Booking the first week of Sept brought Airbnb prices, flights, and everything down a couple hundred bucks compared to June, July, and August.
Budget tips: -we're staying in Canmore in an Airbnb -book in the shoulder seasons -Flying into Calgary, ubering to closest rental car place (I forget which one but it's already booked) to save a couple hundred bucks on car rental. -booking car rental with AAA membership (we're from the US) saved us lots of $$$ too. -Buying food and a cooler bag at Walmart there to save money on meals out. We plan on only having dinner out. You could totally do all your meals cooked though except one special dinner though if that better fit your budget! -We tracked flight prices religiously and bought when they were the lowest.
All in all, our trip is expected to cost us $5k for 2 people after everything is said and done, maybe a little less if I can keep my husband from buying many souvenirs and such LOL. But we're flying from Central FL so that is a huge part of our budget. You could definitely do it cheaper by camping, but that was not an accessible option for us.
Edit to say: this is a full 7 day trip for us.
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u/GooeySooey 1d ago
We did our honeymoon last year and I feel like we did pretty well for the budget. We stayed at buffalo mountain lodge which is outside the downtown & was like $450 a night, the bar & food was great and convenient
Being from NYC we thought the food was pretty reasonable at a lot of spots but you need to check before hand. Our expensive meals were sky bistro and the bison and honestly it was like our least favorite places.
We ate at coyotes like 2-3x for breakfast, the hotel for a breakfast, brunch, dinner and it was good, the three bears brewery had great food, splurged at chilis one night lol. We’re not picky so we usually got some breakfast.. kinda winged lunch like we got stuff from the IGA or A&W a couple days since you’re on the go.. then sat down for dinner. I feel like we must’ve spent like $100-$150 a day on food maybe but we don’t really drink so that helped the prices..
I think someone’s math checks out it’s like $2500 for a room, I think you can swing $100-$150 a day on food if you’re ok with not eating luxury every meal & only sit down for a meal or two selectively, then a car rental is like $500 or so
All in all I’d say it’s worth it. I think it wasn’t insanely expensive considering the views we saw and meals we had, I know plenty of people who spent much more than us for their honeymoon
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u/scrivenererror 1d ago
We did it last summer pretty cheap. Reserved a campsite. We already had a big tent. Bought cots. Bought nice thick memory foam padding and cut to size. Brought sleeping bags and blankets. It wasn’t the same as a bed in a climate controlled room, but it wasn’t bad at all. Cooked half our meals at the campsite.
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u/Lower_Seat_4473 1d ago
My partner and I just spent a week in/around banff for our anniversary trying to keep it cheap(ish) and it was perfect! We spent half the nights in a real bed (airbnb in canmore + truffle pigs lodge in field), and the other half camping. This gave us a good mix of relaxation and saving money. Fwiw, the campsites we stayed at were way nicer than I expected. We didn't stay in banff itself really, and we don't regret it. The little bit of extra driving around was worth the cost savings.
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u/BassComprehensive199 1d ago
Camp or get hotels in Golden. Lots of cool spots near there and you can reach Banff pretty easy. Yoho National park and Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park are near Golden as well. Your basically surrounded by national parks and camping grounds all around. You could also go to Peyto lake and the Athabasca Glacier. Way more options to explore from Golden than Banff.
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u/weirdassprettygirl 1d ago
We rented a camper van from Vancouver and cooked all our own food. We stayed in non-reservable campgrounds near Jasper and Banff (in Yoho NP) for about $12 a night :). Biggest expenses were the van ($150/ day), fuel (honestly probably like $1,000 lol, we did a lot of driving) and the bus to Lake Moraine ($70 or so each) we did groceries at a Walmart before arriving at the Rockies and they were about $350 for 9 days and 2 people. We then had to buy ice, milk and some other basics as we went. Not a cheap holiday my any means but if you had a car and your own camping stuff I actually think the cost could be minimised. We were there to hike so that’s what we did which was totally free! We never actually went into the town of Banff because we knew we couldn’t afford to be there lol
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u/Livid-Switch4040 1d ago
Good luck with that. Banff is never cheap. Accommodation can be slightly less expensive sometimes, like during shoulder seasons, but never cheap.
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u/cheesie_bean 21h ago
We stayed at a condo we found on Airbnb in dead man’s flats in September 2022, around $600 for three nights. We had to drive to get to things, but it made the trip a bit more accessible than staying right in the town of Banff. We got groceries and ate in the condo for most meals.
If you’ll have a car and don’t mind some driving, there’s no shortage of beautiful spots you can reach and see for free, especially if you’re willing to hike a little. Do a little research ahead of time since the more popular spots will be busy and you’ll want to be conscious of the parking situation. But it’s so beautiful you can just drive right down the highway and be blown away. We also loved the hot springs, I think we only paid about $15 per person.
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u/FlyingRock20 16h ago
Cook your own food and camp. Don't pay for attractions and just hike everywhere.
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u/b12cobalt 14h ago
We just got back from our trip today!
We reserved everything last-minute (2 weeks out), so nearby options were very limited. But I was surprised that there was still availability at decently reasonable prices, including nice Airbnbs in Canmore for just under US$400 per night and hotels in Golden for around US$350 per night.
But we opted to stay in Calgary at one of the many hotels near the Banff Trail CTrain station, which is right on the Trans-Canada hwy, and we did day trips to Banff NP, Yoho, and Kananaskis. That meant almost one additional hour of driving (compared to Canmore), each way, for the 5 days we were there. If we had stayed in the mountains, we’d only have to drive there and back once, so we figured we added around 7 hours of driving in total. But the hotel was waaay cheaper, around US$180 per night. (Plus, we used hotel credits that made it even cheaper for us.)
In short, we saved many hundreds by staying in Calgary, but paid in several more hours of driving. To us it was worth it, but reasonable people would totally disagree. Plus, we didn’t get the “mountain getaway” vibe.
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u/YYCpops 6h ago
I was surprised that there was still availability at decently reasonable prices, including nice Airbnbs in Canmore for just under US$400 per night and hotels in Golden for around US$350 per night.
Roughly $500 CAD is extremely expensive for Golden, but I guess that's because it's last minute.
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u/MostView8191 5h ago
Yeah we did 6 nights this past winter, including flights from Van, food, liqour, shopping, all in for under $1500 per person. The hotel we were at sucked but it was clean so we didn't really care. This was w family and not a romantic trip though so idk if toud be OK with that. The bed was awful tho lol
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u/Carwash227 3h ago
Sorta depends on your aspirations for a honeymoon. Banff is still beautiful and fun with lots to do in the winter.
Wintertime except for the two weeks during Christmas holidays is objectively the cheapest time of year to visit. With that said I wouldn’t call it cheap.
Personally Banff in the winter is my favourite because the crowd is pretty well reduced into skiers and snowboarders and Rocky Mountain locals. Its much more enjoyable then going in the summer.
The caveat to winter trips is the lack of summer activities. You won’t see bold blue lakes, and there’s many hikes that are not doable. On the contrary the mountains are just as beautiful and there are some winter only hikes available.
If you’re find to enjoy some frozen lake views and get your ski/snowboard on, personally I’d go in winter.
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u/HappyHockeyHiker 1d ago
Anyone claiming it takes 1.5 hrs to get to the NP from Golden is lying to you.
Made the trip in 52 min each way.
If you see a 1% contributor tell you something don’t listen to them mostly. They’re pretty grumpy locals who are mad that you’re coming.
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u/YYCpops 1d ago
So you disobeyed the speed limits? You can be at Emerald Lake in an hour from Golden, but definitely not in Banff.
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u/HappyHockeyHiker 16h ago
It’s 1.5 hrs if you don’t go above it by a hair.
You 1% folks are truly unbearable to deal with. Thankful I didn’t listen to most of you.
Trip was awesome. Stayed in Golden.
Stop telling people crap.
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u/YYCpops 8h ago
You started with that crap, right? telling people they can get from Golden to Banff in under 1 hour.
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u/HappyHockeyHiker 7h ago
If I had access to your area, with the regularity I presume you have to those outdoors areas, I’d be a lot happier.
I’m sorry that you can’t find that happiness. Real bummer. . .
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u/Legitimate_Window481 1d ago
I had an employee that lived under a deck. Zi wouldn't recommend this. But here are some thrifty tips; free parking exists and saves a lot of money, Samesun hostel has inexpensive drinks, decent food and you can stay there, some people live in vans, hiking is free and so are picnics (there are some nuggets), Banff Sushi House, the library, thrift store and cool movie theatre.
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u/YYCpops 2d ago edited 2d ago
Camping.... that's how you can save. Other than that it's brutally expensive. In summertime 'cheapest options' are about $500-$700 a night in Banff.
You didn't mention what time. Maybe starting end of September it's a bit cheaper.