Icefields Parkway Travel Guide

The Icefields Parkway Travel Guide encompasses snowcapped peaks, vast icefields, beautiful glacial lakes, and thundering rivers on the 230-kilometre (143-mile) route between Lake Louise and Jasper.

The Icefields Parkway is one of the most scenic, exciting, and inspiring mountain roads ever built. From Lake Louise it parallels the Continental Divide, following in the shadow of the highest, most rugged mountains in the Canadian Rockies.

The first 122 kilometres (76 miles) to Sunwapta Pass (the boundary between Banff and Jasper National Parks) can be driven in two hours, and the entire parkway in four hours. But it’s likely you’ll want to spend at least a day, probably more, stopping at each of the 13 viewpoints, hiking the trails, watching the abundant wildlife, and just generally enjoying one of the world’s most magnificent landscapes. Along the section within Banff National Park are two lodges, three hostels, three campgrounds, and one gas station (summer only).