Lake Louise & Moraine Lake Tour from Calgary with Pickup

4.97

(230 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

I’ll be honest—our start was a bit chaotic. I spilled coffee on my sleeve right as our guide pulled up in Calgary (pickup was right on time, of course). The van smelled faintly of pine and someone’s cinnamon bun. We picked up a few more folks in Canmore, everyone shuffling around with that early-morning politeness. Our guide, Samir, joked about “mountain weather moods” and handed out extra napkins—apparently I wasn’t the first coffee casualty.

The drive to Lake Louise felt quick once we started climbing into the mountains. Samir pointed out the Three Sisters peaks through the window—he called them Faith, Hope, and Charity, which made me smile for some reason. When we finally stepped out at Lake Louise, the cold air hit my cheeks and I could smell woodsmoke drifting from somewhere near the old hotel. The lake was this wild blue that almost didn’t look real. I tried to take a photo but honestly it never captures how it feels to stand there with your boots crunching on gravel and all those glacier peaks pressing in.

Moraine Lake was next—and here’s the thing: regular cars can’t get up there since 2023, but this tour has some kind of special permit. So yeah, we got to see it when nobody else could. The water looked like melted turquoise glass under clouds that kept rolling by. Samir told us about how wildfires had scarred some of the trees nearby; you could still smell a hint of char if you paid attention. Someone asked if bears ever show up—he just grinned and said “not today.”

We wandered through Banff town later for lunch (I went for poutine—messy but worth it). There was this couple arguing gently over which steakhouse to try; it felt oddly comforting to hear normal life happening against all those mountains. On the way back we stopped at Bow Falls, where the river noise sort of drowns out your thoughts. I still think about that view sometimes when city sounds get too much—you know?