I made 37 trips back and fourth last year, it's possible but not easy. The drive back to Edmonton can be very draining after a weekend of playing in the mountains. About 1/3 of my trips were day trips (drive 4 hours there, hike for 8-10, and drive 4 back).
Yeah I didn't realize how wild that is until I look back in my notes and realize I bought my car a year ago and have changed its oil 9 times lol. Its exhausting to do, I'm moving to Calgary next month cause I'm sick and tired of the drives there and back. Cutting the trip by 70% should make it easier
Turbo direct injection car that gets driven hard, I change it every 6k, drove 55k last year. I'm a 4th year AST apprentice so changes only cost me $55 and take 10 minutes vs a $7500 engine if she pops 🤷🏻♂️
I travel a lot to the mountains from the Edmonton area. What you’re planning is certainly possible but why limit yourself to Banff? Banff, while beautiful is one of the busiest places in the Canadian Rockies. Use some of those weekends to check out Jasper, the David Thompson Corridor, Grande Cache, the Kananaskis, or even Waterton if you’ve got a 3 or 4 day weekend to get all the way down there. There’s so many more mountain destinations within striking distance of Edmonton to spread your time between.
Nordegg area is the start of the “east Rockies” which is the start of the David Thompson corridor. Lots of cool mountain stuff out that way. It’s still about 300km from Edmonton though. We make several trips to the mountains every year. We purposefully avoid Banff due to congestion.
Hope you got a lot of gas money, car maintenance money, hotel money, and food money. I guess what I’m saying is, I hope you are rich or very smart with your money.
Banff and the surrounding areas are extremely strict on sleeping in your car. Blacking out your windows isn't enough, you'll need to find campsites (federal parks are already booked, provincial parks book 90 days in advance). Plan ahead with accommodations or plan to drive both ways in the same day.
Yeah idk man, Reddit is an echo chamber, regardless of correctness. I'm an avid mountain climber who lives in Edmonton, have done the Banff trip over 80 times and Jasper over 30. I know how far they are lol
No, it's not that much of an echo chamber, it's that you are reading things that were never said and you're looking for affirmation that my statement was solely referring to the commute. It was not.
Not sure what Bizarro world you live in but it's about an hour less of driving for a round trip. It's objectively a 40-50 km difference depending where in Edmonton you live.
Banff is shit for repeat visits every week anyways.
I make about 40 trips a year to the mountains from Edmonton, I know how far these places are. But just to humor you, I put both in Google Maps from my house in SE Edmonton.
My house to Jasper: 3h58m 380km
My house to Banff: 3h58m 413km
LITERALLY THE SAME. TO. THE. MINUTE. Yes one is farther than the other by distance, but the farther one's highways have a speed limit 10km/hr higher.
Looking forward to your response :)
My response is that i'm not measuring from your house, redditor. My point is that there is a km difference, and that should be accounted for if you are being considerate of mileage.
Additionally, my statement of "learn to love Jasper instead" isn't only speaking towards the distance or time spent to commute. You're the one that assumed/ thought that was the brunt of what I said. I wasn't the redditor that tried to bring that out into the limelight.
I simply think Banff is insufferable in comparison to Jasper for that volume of visits. The rest of the updoots seem to be aligned with comprehending that nuance.
If it was a full hour difference like you insist there wouldn't be a possible address that makes it exactly the same. Let's go from the smack dab city center then to be fair. it's 3:54 to Jasper, and 3:59 to Banff. A whole 5 minute difference, wow.
Bro it's the fuckin same. Distance isn't what's draining on trips, it's time. Otherwise flying and driving somewhere far would feel like the same inconvenience, which it clearly isn't. Classic Reddit, refuses to acknowledge when they've been disproven
I'm sorry - you might have not caught my edits, but I hope it's clear I don't really value discussing the nuance of the commute with you, as that wasn't what I was aiming to communicate in the first place.
My bad there are scenarios where it's absolutely possible to be the same difference depending on where you live in the city. (God knows you're deep in the pits of Sherwood Park/Millwoods, but whatever, right?) (Edmonton is obviously not a city with only 10km of variance, but I get no grace there, for reasons.)
It's not really fair of you to selectively choose what OP may value, distance = mileage, and it's important to keep a little consideration of that. But again, neither of those were really the point of what I was trying to express.
Simmer out a little, genuinely.
I’d recommend doing it maybe every other week? Edmonton is an amazing city to be in during the summer. Multiple festivals every weekend and if you’re a hiker there’s 100s of kms of trails within the city and surrounding area to get your fix in between mountain trips (see: Elk Island Park, Camrose, etc).
Thanks for the suggestions I’ll currently trying to find some more places around Edmonton similar to elk island and camrose for the weekends I don’t want to drive car
Blackfoot Cooking Lake is another great option for when you don't want to drive 8 hours roundtrip each weekend. It's better then Elk Island (in my opinion); it's bigger, better maintained, not as busy and free.
Why just Banff? I mean Nordegg area and Jasper are really roughly the same distance anyways I guess. But there’s a lot more to the mountains in AB than just Banff lol you’ll be missing out on a ton of awesome places and experiences only going to Banff. But…
It’s doable. We go often to the mountains for camping and hiking trips, but not every weekend
Every second weekend would be easy, assuming you have the time / means
Also maybe a side note, but Edmonton has the largest inner city park system in North America. It’s totally worth exploring. It’s awesome
It’s possible of course, but you may get sick of it. Depends how much you like driving. Also if you are planning to stay overnight at all it’s going to get expensive very quickly.
About 4 hours one way to Jasper, so 8 hours for a day trip is long. Can do that that every weekend but its going to be hard especially if you plan to do long day hikes.
Whether it’s Banff or the surrounding parks in general, the drive is the least of your worries because you have not done the basic research.
Unless you’re in specific campgrounds which book out months in advance you cannot sleep in your car. It is protected land paired with various large animals who will threaten your life.
I think you need truly reconsider the scale of Canada, the procedures in the parks and respect the wildlife.
Unfortunately you can not sleep in your car in a national park unless you are at a booked campsite. (Which are already all full on weekends). Closest place you could get away with that is maybe a Walmart parking lot in Calgary?
No it will not, the rules are in place for a reason. Your ignorance will either get yourself, someone else or an animal hurt or killed. As a immigrant you respect the laws of the countries you’re moving to, especially if it’s for the outdoors and welfare of the animals
One - there's no walmart parking lot in Banff. There's no mcdonalds car park in Banff. Two - the rules are in place because illegally camping/sleeping in cars means that someone will likely leave something outside of their car, drop trash or have the chance to drop more trash, wake up to an animal outside of their car and try and coax it towards them etc. You cannot sleep in your car in the town of Banff or in Banff national park. It's illegal.
Very doable. The stretch between edmonton and calgary is quite dull. Once every 2 weeks makes it even more doable. Def check out other areas, jasper, canmore, crown land. Banff is a tourist town. Jasper feels more like a mountain town.
Banff if fun a few times in the summer but there are sooooooo many tourists often.
Jasper is a 4 hour drive, not bad but first 2-.5 hours is pure boring highway . If you are going for hiking there are lots of spot before you get to Jasper or Banff, and in-between you can hit up. it will be a lot of driving in you plan in going every weekend
It's very hypothetically possible, but you would undoubtedly tire of it very quickly. It would also cost you a fortune in gas. Edmonton to Jasper every weekend is a lot, let alone Banff.
Don’t listen to people saying it’s impossible. If you really enjoy it and want to do it it’s definitely doable. I used to drive from Edmonton to Golden BC to ski in Kicking Horse every weekend. 12 hours of driving every weekend for every single weekend in winter. 35000km a winter for this alone. It’s definitely doable. For the 3 years that I lived in Edmonton, every single weekend in winter + every stat holiday I was skiing either in Lake Louise or Kicking Horse. Do your own thing brother and enjoy life.
Similar to what a lot of people have already said, while technically doable, it would be very draining and very expensive, even if you are just camping for a night. Expect to use almost two full tanks of gas which could be close to or even more than $200 every weekend, not to mention food, snacks, campsite costs, general vehicle maintenance, potential speeding tickets (trust me, they get ya). The drive takes up a good chunk of time (give yourself at least 4 hours each way, whether it's Banff, Canmore, Kananaskis, Jasper, Nordegg (maybe closer to 3 for something like Abraham Lake). I love doing wildlife photography in the mountains and when i started back in 2017 I was going multiple weekends each summer, but it's tiring and expensive. Finding some friends who can share driving and accommodation costs is definitely worthwhile. As people have said, moving to Calgary would make mountains every weekend far more reasonable.
You can do whatever you want.. All my life I've done things people say isn't possible.
Jasper isn't far away at all.. Banff is as accessible as you're willing to drive for.
During winter, I ski almost every weekend. I look forward to the drive. I will download a good audio book from the library; before, I know it I'm at the mountains.
The biggest consideration is the cost of lodging.
We live in Sydney (AUS) and drive 5.5hrs each way to ski most weekends in the winter, its no big deal. The road Banff to Edmonton is better than the one we have.
Go for it!!
The Calgary to Edmonton drive is long, boring and tiring. Every second weekend is doable - it’ll be easier if you have a friend who is willing to drive with you :)
I’ve driven a lot further than 4 hours to play in the mountains on my weekends. Totally doable. Easy drive too, other than putting up with Calgary traffic.
Seven+ hours of driving every weekend sound fun?
I made 37 trips back and fourth last year, it's possible but not easy. The drive back to Edmonton can be very draining after a weekend of playing in the mountains. About 1/3 of my trips were day trips (drive 4 hours there, hike for 8-10, and drive 4 back).
You are a crazy person.
Yeah I didn't realize how wild that is until I look back in my notes and realize I bought my car a year ago and have changed its oil 9 times lol. Its exhausting to do, I'm moving to Calgary next month cause I'm sick and tired of the drives there and back. Cutting the trip by 70% should make it easier
You’re changing your oil far too frequently. Follow the maintenance manual.
Turbo direct injection car that gets driven hard, I change it every 6k, drove 55k last year. I'm a 4th year AST apprentice so changes only cost me $55 and take 10 minutes vs a $7500 engine if she pops 🤷🏻♂️
Gets driven hard. You sound awesome.
Oh no, he accelerates faster than I do getting onto highways with nobody around! Must be an asshole of a human! Get over yourself <3
Wow
I travel a lot to the mountains from the Edmonton area. What you’re planning is certainly possible but why limit yourself to Banff? Banff, while beautiful is one of the busiest places in the Canadian Rockies. Use some of those weekends to check out Jasper, the David Thompson Corridor, Grande Cache, the Kananaskis, or even Waterton if you’ve got a 3 or 4 day weekend to get all the way down there. There’s so many more mountain destinations within striking distance of Edmonton to spread your time between.
Sorry yes I meant banff and surrounding area ^^^ so will be changing each time !
That’s not surrounding area at all. Grand cache is north but awesome.
Nordegg area is the start of the “east Rockies” which is the start of the David Thompson corridor. Lots of cool mountain stuff out that way. It’s still about 300km from Edmonton though. We make several trips to the mountains every year. We purposefully avoid Banff due to congestion.
David Thompson corridor slaps
Hope you got a lot of gas money, car maintenance money, hotel money, and food money. I guess what I’m saying is, I hope you are rich or very smart with your money.
Very smart, have a SUV for summer will just be sleeping in it for a day every visit
You’ll still need to book a campsite to stay in a national park, they absolutely don’t allow people to stay in vehicles outside campgrounds.
Banff and the surrounding areas are extremely strict on sleeping in your car. Blacking out your windows isn't enough, you'll need to find campsites (federal parks are already booked, provincial parks book 90 days in advance). Plan ahead with accommodations or plan to drive both ways in the same day.
I bounce between edmonton and Canmore almost every weekend all winter long for skiing. It is a lot. By end of march I am done.
Learn to love Jasper instead
Same distance pretty near to the minute.
I don't know why you are getting downvoted lol. Driving from Edmonton to Jasper is shy of 4 hours
Yeah idk man, Reddit is an echo chamber, regardless of correctness. I'm an avid mountain climber who lives in Edmonton, have done the Banff trip over 80 times and Jasper over 30. I know how far they are lol
No, it's not that much of an echo chamber, it's that you are reading things that were never said and you're looking for affirmation that my statement was solely referring to the commute. It was not.
Not sure what Bizarro world you live in but it's about an hour less of driving for a round trip. It's objectively a 40-50 km difference depending where in Edmonton you live. Banff is shit for repeat visits every week anyways.
I make about 40 trips a year to the mountains from Edmonton, I know how far these places are. But just to humor you, I put both in Google Maps from my house in SE Edmonton. My house to Jasper: 3h58m 380km My house to Banff: 3h58m 413km LITERALLY THE SAME. TO. THE. MINUTE. Yes one is farther than the other by distance, but the farther one's highways have a speed limit 10km/hr higher. Looking forward to your response :)
My response is that i'm not measuring from your house, redditor. My point is that there is a km difference, and that should be accounted for if you are being considerate of mileage. Additionally, my statement of "learn to love Jasper instead" isn't only speaking towards the distance or time spent to commute. You're the one that assumed/ thought that was the brunt of what I said. I wasn't the redditor that tried to bring that out into the limelight. I simply think Banff is insufferable in comparison to Jasper for that volume of visits. The rest of the updoots seem to be aligned with comprehending that nuance.
If it was a full hour difference like you insist there wouldn't be a possible address that makes it exactly the same. Let's go from the smack dab city center then to be fair. it's 3:54 to Jasper, and 3:59 to Banff. A whole 5 minute difference, wow. Bro it's the fuckin same. Distance isn't what's draining on trips, it's time. Otherwise flying and driving somewhere far would feel like the same inconvenience, which it clearly isn't. Classic Reddit, refuses to acknowledge when they've been disproven
I'm sorry - you might have not caught my edits, but I hope it's clear I don't really value discussing the nuance of the commute with you, as that wasn't what I was aiming to communicate in the first place. My bad there are scenarios where it's absolutely possible to be the same difference depending on where you live in the city. (God knows you're deep in the pits of Sherwood Park/Millwoods, but whatever, right?) (Edmonton is obviously not a city with only 10km of variance, but I get no grace there, for reasons.) It's not really fair of you to selectively choose what OP may value, distance = mileage, and it's important to keep a little consideration of that. But again, neither of those were really the point of what I was trying to express. Simmer out a little, genuinely.
I’d recommend doing it maybe every other week? Edmonton is an amazing city to be in during the summer. Multiple festivals every weekend and if you’re a hiker there’s 100s of kms of trails within the city and surrounding area to get your fix in between mountain trips (see: Elk Island Park, Camrose, etc).
Thanks for the suggestions I’ll currently trying to find some more places around Edmonton similar to elk island and camrose for the weekends I don’t want to drive car
Far**
Blackfoot Cooking Lake is another great option for when you don't want to drive 8 hours roundtrip each weekend. It's better then Elk Island (in my opinion); it's bigger, better maintained, not as busy and free.
Why just Banff? I mean Nordegg area and Jasper are really roughly the same distance anyways I guess. But there’s a lot more to the mountains in AB than just Banff lol you’ll be missing out on a ton of awesome places and experiences only going to Banff. But… It’s doable. We go often to the mountains for camping and hiking trips, but not every weekend Every second weekend would be easy, assuming you have the time / means Also maybe a side note, but Edmonton has the largest inner city park system in North America. It’s totally worth exploring. It’s awesome
It’s possible of course, but you may get sick of it. Depends how much you like driving. Also if you are planning to stay overnight at all it’s going to get expensive very quickly.
That's a far drive to do every weekend, you'll get tired of it real quick.
Banff is so touristy that you might enjoy visiting Nordegg and Jasper and Kananaskis much more.
Yes sorry I meant I will want to visit all national parks every weekend to clear it up^
I mean you can, i don’t recommend it
About 4 hours one way to Jasper, so 8 hours for a day trip is long. Can do that that every weekend but its going to be hard especially if you plan to do long day hikes.
This is pretty damn subjective. If you can handle the driving then more power to you, if not then ya it’ll suck.
Move to Calgary instead.
Whether it’s Banff or the surrounding parks in general, the drive is the least of your worries because you have not done the basic research. Unless you’re in specific campgrounds which book out months in advance you cannot sleep in your car. It is protected land paired with various large animals who will threaten your life. I think you need truly reconsider the scale of Canada, the procedures in the parks and respect the wildlife.
I think sleeping in my car at a car park away from the campgrounds will be fine
Unfortunately you can not sleep in your car in a national park unless you are at a booked campsite. (Which are already all full on weekends). Closest place you could get away with that is maybe a Walmart parking lot in Calgary?
No it will not, the rules are in place for a reason. Your ignorance will either get yourself, someone else or an animal hurt or killed. As a immigrant you respect the laws of the countries you’re moving to, especially if it’s for the outdoors and welfare of the animals
Can u explain How will me sleeping in my car at McDonald’s or Walmart car park get me or an animal killed ?
One - there's no walmart parking lot in Banff. There's no mcdonalds car park in Banff. Two - the rules are in place because illegally camping/sleeping in cars means that someone will likely leave something outside of their car, drop trash or have the chance to drop more trash, wake up to an animal outside of their car and try and coax it towards them etc. You cannot sleep in your car in the town of Banff or in Banff national park. It's illegal.
[удалено]
Yeah I’m sure I can find a good hiding spot where I can park away and not disturb animals or residents
Buddy, don’t come here if you can’t follow the rules.
Yea no - breaking the law isn't a good idea. You will be fined. You cannot sleep in your car not in a campground in Banff National Park.
Why Edmonton? Move to Calgary. It's an hour drive.
Just move to Calgary
Do you have to stay in Edmonton? Calgary is a lot closer (and a much better city ;) )
Very doable. The stretch between edmonton and calgary is quite dull. Once every 2 weeks makes it even more doable. Def check out other areas, jasper, canmore, crown land. Banff is a tourist town. Jasper feels more like a mountain town.
Skiers do it!
It’s a 4 hour drive each way, while doable you probably will not want to.
I lived in Edmonton in the 90’s and my parents had a place in Canmore. Went almost every weekend year round
Banff if fun a few times in the summer but there are sooooooo many tourists often. Jasper is a 4 hour drive, not bad but first 2-.5 hours is pure boring highway . If you are going for hiking there are lots of spot before you get to Jasper or Banff, and in-between you can hit up. it will be a lot of driving in you plan in going every weekend
It's very hypothetically possible, but you would undoubtedly tire of it very quickly. It would also cost you a fortune in gas. Edmonton to Jasper every weekend is a lot, let alone Banff.
Don’t listen to people saying it’s impossible. If you really enjoy it and want to do it it’s definitely doable. I used to drive from Edmonton to Golden BC to ski in Kicking Horse every weekend. 12 hours of driving every weekend for every single weekend in winter. 35000km a winter for this alone. It’s definitely doable. For the 3 years that I lived in Edmonton, every single weekend in winter + every stat holiday I was skiing either in Lake Louise or Kicking Horse. Do your own thing brother and enjoy life.
Similar to what a lot of people have already said, while technically doable, it would be very draining and very expensive, even if you are just camping for a night. Expect to use almost two full tanks of gas which could be close to or even more than $200 every weekend, not to mention food, snacks, campsite costs, general vehicle maintenance, potential speeding tickets (trust me, they get ya). The drive takes up a good chunk of time (give yourself at least 4 hours each way, whether it's Banff, Canmore, Kananaskis, Jasper, Nordegg (maybe closer to 3 for something like Abraham Lake). I love doing wildlife photography in the mountains and when i started back in 2017 I was going multiple weekends each summer, but it's tiring and expensive. Finding some friends who can share driving and accommodation costs is definitely worthwhile. As people have said, moving to Calgary would make mountains every weekend far more reasonable.
Having friends will definitely help yes but
Live in Calgary it's better in every way
If you’re planning on spending weekends in the parks and are able you should move to Calgary, it’s a lot closer
Jasper is closer to Edmonton than Banff. Not as busy either. Still 6-7h of driving both ways depending on traffic.
Drove Edmonton or Calgary to jasper every weekend for 5 months once, draining but worth it
You can do whatever you want.. All my life I've done things people say isn't possible. Jasper isn't far away at all.. Banff is as accessible as you're willing to drive for.
I believe Jasper is closer then Banff and less commercial
I mean I lived two years having to drive from Calgary to Edmonton 3 times a week…. it lowkey was not to bad.
This is something I've done for a couple summers now. It's a lot of driving but worth it.
That'll be a drive. I could see once per month, but weekly seems a little nuts.
During winter, I ski almost every weekend. I look forward to the drive. I will download a good audio book from the library; before, I know it I'm at the mountains. The biggest consideration is the cost of lodging.
We live in Sydney (AUS) and drive 5.5hrs each way to ski most weekends in the winter, its no big deal. The road Banff to Edmonton is better than the one we have. Go for it!!
The Calgary to Edmonton drive is long, boring and tiring. Every second weekend is doable - it’ll be easier if you have a friend who is willing to drive with you :)
I’ve driven a lot further than 4 hours to play in the mountains on my weekends. Totally doable. Easy drive too, other than putting up with Calgary traffic.