At dinner on our first day in Banff we were told that if we want to visit Lake Louise we really need to be in the parking lot by 6:30 a.m. Needless to say, we were not too happy to hear that. So, like any good traveler we did some more research…and found that every local we asked said the same thing. ☹️
The parking lot for Lake Louise was about a 40 minute drive from our hotel in Banff, which meant that we were up at 4:45 and out on the road by 5:45 a.m. to make sure we could get a parking spot.
We had decided that we wanted to hike up to the Lake Agnes Tea House (click on the link for information about this hike). It was really cold early in the morning (41f/5c) so we bundled up in layers and took pictures of the Chateau Fairmont at Lake Louise.
From Lake Louise we started up the trail to the Tea House.
Almost to the top
Near the top there is a waterfall next to the trail and final steps to the top.
Once you climb the staircase then you are at Lake Agnes. There is a tea house up here which has hot tea (they dipped their kettles right into the lake for our tea!) and some bakery items. It is cash only but they accept both Canadian and US dollars. The exchange rate for USD is horrible so we stopped at an ATM in Banff before this hike.
The trip down the trail took only an hour compared to almost 2 to get up (though I think most people take only about an hour to get up the hill while we moseyed for almost 2 hours 😂).
We decided to have lunch at the Chateau before heading off on our next adventure. Be aware that they give priority seating to guests staying at the hotel, so if you are not a guest you may not be seated right away. In our case, we were at the restaurant right when they opened at 11 a.m. and were seated immediately.
Here are pictures of the “horrible” view we had at this restaurant.
We noticed a garden when leaving the chateau. My brother-in-law Dennis made fun of me for getting even more pictures…but I didn’t care.
We went our separate ways after lunch. Joel and I decided to take the Lake Louise Tram (there is another one in Banff which is much busier). More to come in our next post…
WoW! So beautiful!!! Makes me miss Colorado.
With the awesome views of Lake Louise and Lake Agnes, it is worth the hike up and down!! It is a perfect place for meditation and definitely a good setting for the tea house and the chateau ‘s restaurant.
The hike to the tea house was the highlight of our time up at Banff.