Banff Townsite and the Cascade Gardens

We woke up to a wet gloomy day on our first morning in Lake Louise, not good weather for hiking at all. I had been wanting to visit the Banff townsite for a few years so that is what we decided to do for the day. It would be nice to give our bodies a rest after several days of hiking.

I think many other people had the same idea as we did as it was very busy in Banff that day. We had to drive around for a while to find somewhere to park, we ended up finding a parking garage as all the street parking was taken.

Banff was adorable, very pretty and clean but definitely very touristy. There were touristy shops everywhere as well as mainstream shopping such as The Gap,  The Bay, Body Shop, etc.

My dad is from the Okanagan Valley in BC and we always laugh when we see signs such as the one below. We have seen "OK Go-Karts, "OK Pizza" etc. My dad likes to say, "It's not great, it's not good, it's just ok". Anyways, it made us laugh to see this "OK Gift Shop" on the main street of Banff, especially since we were not in the Okanagan.

We walked up and down Banff Avenue wandering into shops and window shopping. The dogs garnered lots of attention as usual with people constantly stopping to pet them.

I adored these plaques in the sidewalks that indicated the intersecting streets. 

One of the spots that I really wanted to visit while in town was the Cascade Gardens which is located at one end of Banff Avenue. To get to the gardens you have to cross a bridge that goes over the Bow River. 

Dogs are not allowed in the gardens so Dad and the stepmother waited outside while I went in. There is no admission that needs to be paid to see the gardens and they are located behind the Parks Administration building.

I loved the gardens, they were very pretty. I loved the winding paths, gazebos, stone bridges, etc. 

Here is a video that I took of the gardens: Cascade Gardens

After I enjoyed the gardens for about half an hour I rejoined the family and we made our way back up Banff Avenue. We stopped and grabbed Subway for lunch and enjoyed it while sitting on one of the many benches they have along the streets in town. The stepmother had wanted to eat at a restaurant on one of the patios but we could not do that as we had the dogs with us.

We also stopped in a confectionery and bought some delicious fresh fudge, yum!

Once we had our fill of the shops we got back in the car and drove over to take a peek at the Banff Springs Hotel, another beautiful  hotel that I would love to stay in some day. There was no parking nearby so I did not get to explore the inside and had to settle for some pictures of the exterior.

Located near the hotel is Bow Falls so I asked if we could stop there as well.

We then drove up Tunnel Mountain to get views of the Banff Springs Hotel and of the townsite. 

We then made a stop at the Safeway to pick up a few items. We needed to restock on juice and milk and we also picked up some croissants to have for breakfast.

Overall I really liked the town of Banff. It was very beautiful and had several interesting sights and good shopping if you are looking for something to do on an off day from hiking.