Thanksgiving Weekend in the Alberta Rockies: A Realistic Plan

Canadian Thanksgiving falls on the second Monday of October, and it is the last long weekend before winter. Everyone in Calgary who has been meaning to get to the mountains goes to the mountains. If you are one of them, some planning turns a frustrating weekend into a very good one.

The traffic, and how to beat it

Westbound on the Trans-Canada is busy from about nine on the Friday morning and heavy all Saturday morning. Eastbound on the Monday afternoon is the worst of it, routinely an hour longer than it should be.

Leave before seven or after seven. That is the whole trick. An early Friday start puts you in Canmore for breakfast with an empty road behind you. Coming home Monday evening rather than mid-afternoon saves most of the queue.

Book these before you go

• Any restaurant in Banff or Canmore you actually want to eat at, especially Sunday dinner.
• The Moraine Lake shuttle, if it is still running by your date.
• Accommodation, which is at summer prices for this one weekend.
• Banff Upper Hot Springs, which is not bookable but is worth arriving at when it opens rather than after dinner.

Where to go instead of Banff townsite

• Kananaskis. Fifteen minutes further from Calgary and a fraction of the crowd. Troll Falls, Ptarmigan Cirque and Chester Lake all work as family days.
• Canmore. Better restaurants than its reputation suggests, easier parking than Banff, and Grassi Lakes on the doorstep.
• The Highwood. Open until 1 December, and quiet even on this weekend.
• Waterton. Three hours south, and you will feel like you have the park to yourself.

The weather to plan for

Snow is likely somewhere above 2,000 metres and possible in the valley. The high trails may be in winter conditions with summer signage. Take microspikes if you plan on anything steep, and treat any objective above treeline as weather dependent.

If you would rather not drive it

Thanksgiving is our busiest fall weekend for a reason: a chauffeured trip means the person who would otherwise be gripping the wheel through the Monday queue is asleep in the back instead, and it means everyone can have a drink with dinner.

We take bookings for the October long weekend from about six weeks out, at a fixed rate agreed in advance, for Canmore, Banff, Lake Louise and Kananaskis. Book early: this is the one weekend we sell out.