Visit Canada's famous glaciers on a full-day seasonal excursion from Banff. Your personalized small group tour takes you through an awe-inspiring landscape carved by glaciers and remnants from the last ice age, as you travel along the Icefields Parkway, one of the world's most scenic highways.
On your trip to Canada's glaciers, you'll hear stories of the early explorers who opened up these valleys. You'll enjoy an alpine picnic and visit the Columbia Icefields Centre, with the opportunity to join an exciting all-terrain tour onto Athabasca Glacier (included in the cost of the tour).
Highlights of the tour include:
Lake Louise: A brief photo stop at the most famous lake in Canada
Crowfoot Glacier: One of the day's many up-close glacier views
Peyto Lake: The classic emerald green jewel of the Canadian Rockies
Saskatchewan Crossing: A rest stop/coffee break
Mountain picnic lunch: Enjoy a hearty lunch with your choice of sandwich at a scenic stop along the Icefields Parkway
Bridal Veil Falls: Fantastic view over the Icefields Parkway and the falls
Columbia Icefields: Venture onto the Athabasca Glacier on the Ice Explorer!
Bow Lake: The headwaters of the mighty Bow River
This tour is seasonal, operating from April through to October.
The tour guide Alice was brilliant ! She made the trip informative and interesting with her great knowledge and sense of humour. Alice ensured everyone on the bus looked after. No one was ignored or left out as sometimes can happen in a group trip. My only disappointment was that there was not enough time on the glacier. The 15-20 mins flew past and seemed very rushed. The picnic stop turned out to be amazing as we got lucky and saw a bear in the woods !. A big thank you to Alice for looking after the group. Highly recommend the tour and company.
Review by: nnicolosi, October 2017
Coming from the deep south, this was such an unique experience!!! Totally impressed by the beauty and majesty of the area! We only had 3 full days for the visit, so we took tours each day. Each tour was different. We know we would not have seen and enjoyed a fraction of the things we experienced if we had tried to do it ourselves. The guides were knowledgeable and friendly. Would go back again in a heartbeat!!
Review by: Jennifer E, October 2017
Fantastic day. Stunning stops to and from the glacier, and Ed was a lovely, informative guide with a lot of knowledge. This trip was the perfect first jaunt into the park. The glacier itself was a little touristy, but when on vacation, it's okay to be touristy.
Review by: Kimberly G, September 2017
Awesome day. Stop at Bow Lake was spectacular!
Review by: Leah H, August 2017
The sites were stunning. Be prepared for a long drive with a few stops along the way for photos, washrooms and lunch. A little disappointed because the tour description mentioned a stop at Lake Louise, which didn't happen, not sure why as no reason was provided...we had to make our way there the next day a Saturday with tons of other visitors and had to park in the overflow lot and take the shuttle, and it wasn't even 9:00am. The glacier was an amazing experience, freezing, but amazing. Remember that when your Ice Explorer guide/driver gives you a time to be back on the bus, BE BACK ON THAT BUS, as our driver almost left the glacier without a couple who were too busy taking photos to keep track of the time. The buses run on a very precise schedule which is a well oiled machine. Be sure to do the hotel pick-up as there is no full day parking in the bus pick-up lot. Despite having spoken to someone from the tour company the previous day and being told that we could park in the lot, we returned from the tour to find a 50.00 parking ticket on our car, and we weren't the only ones from our tour who returned to this surprise. If you're good with driving and packing a lunch, I'd suggest doing the drive yourself, as there are tons of turnouts and washroom stops along the parkway for breaks and photos, all with signs and interpretive boards providing the history and explanations of everything. Driving yourself will also give you more or less time at each stop so you won't feel rushed or have to wait for others to load the bus.
Review by: Hervé N, August 2017
Départ du centre-ville de Banff vers 9h30 AM, on emprunte la magnifique Iceflieds Parkway.
Review by: Rona R, August 2017
Very pristine scenery surrounded by mountains and glacier ice/snow which has been there since the ice age time. The weather cooperates on the way up until we stepped on the glacier snow walk. Highly recommended for people who loves cold weather.
Review by: Rene F, July 2017
This was an amazing one-day tour. Our tour guide, Hugh, was great. He had lots of interesting information and stories about the geography and people who had discovered and developed these areas of the Canadian Rockies. He was very flexible on timing for stops along the way, and when weather and logistics issues required some minor changes. The scenery is beautiful. The experience on the glacier was one you will not want to miss. The next time we do this, I think we will consider the glacier ice walk. We ended up staying in Canmore, rather than Banff. They were very helpful to direct us to a centrally-located meeting place in Banff to meet the tour bus in the morning.
Review by: Tirthankar D, July 2017
The ice field parkway is a must visit. Very pretty.
Review by: David P, July 2017
This was a very nice trip with a lot of great scenery and wonderful to be in such a small party. Our guide was very informative and helpful and I would highly recommend the store to anybody who wants to see the sights.
Review by: Stephen H, October 2016
Tour was very good. Saw a lot more than we would have done trying to do it by car. Guide was very informative and the glacier ride well organised.
Review by: Domenic R, September 2016
This tour was on a smaller bus with about 17 individuals. The smaller group size meant less time was spent waiting for individuals to return to the bus after the various stops. The reservation and boarding process went without a hitch.
Review by: Lucy, August 2016
Fantastic Tour. Our tour guide Ben was friendly and knowledgeable and even handed out bottles of water throughout the day. The glacier is a must see. _br/_ The lunch was delicious and fresh. _br/_ We really enjoyed our day.
Review by: metonyc, July 2016
We took the full day Athabasca Glacier tour with Discover Banff Tours booked through Viator. The tour itself has some wonderful sites and the Columbia icefield was definitely worth seeing. However, our tour guide Terry was horrible. We were told to stand outside of our hotel for pickup. He did not bother to look for us and went straight to our concierge and then left without even calling out our name. We had to call the tour company to get him to come back. He was rushing through the whole tour and even skipped a stop that was on the itinerary. If anyone was 1 minute late he would berate them on the bus microphone. He also yelled at little kids for bringing on ice cream on the bus there was no sign or any mentioning of food not allowed . He made fun of a lady because she wants to make a restroom stop and told the couple in front of us that seat changes are not allowed. Even though there was no assigned seats. He also yelled at them for talking while he was talking. All this was done over the bus speaker in front of the whole group. He treated us like we are in kindergarten. I would do this tour again but not while Terry is a tour guide.
Review by: jasdoit92, July 2016
Felt very rushed. Not enough time during Lake Louise and Peyto Lake stop. Our guide Dale was very dismissive, not friendly except to select few passengers. He was indifferent for most of the tour. Even the Athbasca glacier stop felt too rushed. What a let down
Review by: Lisa M, July 2016
Rose our driver was excellent . She was very knowledgable and it was obvious she loves the area. It and #39;s nice to know what you and #39;re looking at and the history of the area. We packed in a lot of sightseeing into the day. Smaller Bus size was a plus.
Review by: Jane O, July 2016
Terrific tour with a terrific guide! Very knowledgeable! It was nice to be with a smaller group also rather than a large tour bus.
Review by: sheila.pollecutt, July 2016
A wonderful trip. The whole day was so enjoyable - so much to see along the way. Obviously the glacier was the highlight of the day, but we also enjoyed our picnic in the warm sunshine in a field surrounded by snow clad mountains. Our driver was excellent.
Review by: Teresita I, July 2016
This tour was amazing!
Review by: Joe, July 2016
The journey to/from the Athabasca Glacier takes several 2-3 hrs each way and is the best part due to our very experienced and knowledgeable tour guide, Graham McDonald. Saw deers and 3 black bears along the way.
Review by: Charlotte F, June 2016
Anick our guide was awesome. Tour was great and we got to see a grizzly bear and two brown bears.
Review by: Parichat W, June 2016
Love the trip. Our guide tour was excellent and knowledgeable! We had so much fun ! This was a trip to remember. It was worth it. All the staff were very helpful and informative as well. Both Viator and Discovery staff did a good job. We encountered rain, sunshine, and snow all in one day but Athabasca Glacier trip was a unique experience that we'd never forget. We love Western Canada.
Review by: Adrienne S, May 2016
The trip was really a wonderful experience. What made it truly enjoyable was our guide, Hugh. He was extremely informative, which meant that we learned a lot about the history of the area, and he even let us stop on the way back to take some pictures of one of the only lakes that was not still frozen! We were also able to stop numerous places along the way to enjoy a variety of sites. Great experience for sure!
Review by: Erna L, September 2015
although we did not have nice weather for our trip, we still enjoyed it very much. Our guide and chauffeur was excellent, giving us plenty of information at the different sites we visited.
Review by: Lori D, September 2015
Great scenery, great tour. Highly recommend this tour.
Review by: Adam T, July 2015
Was a fairly big day. A long drive to see the glacier but was along one of the most scenic roads in the world so can't complain.
Review by: Amy E, June 2015
A wonderful experience. The drive was very pleasant and the guide informative and well organised. I would thoroughly recommend this tour.
Review by: Trevor, May 2015
Decent tour but Athabasca Glacier itself is far too commercialised although the area was nice.
Review by: Scott M, August 2014
This was an outstanding tour. The tour guide was fantastic. Full of knowledge and always willing to help and offer information. Highly recommend this. Some more time on the glacier would have been nice.
Review by: jj, December 2013
wonderful.
Review by: Sunil K, September 2013
Accually v dd not went there
Review by: trevor.dianne, July 2013
Very enjoyable day. Our guide, Jack, picked us up on time and provided very knowledgeable commentary during the whole tour. At Lake Louise we had time to walk around the lake and take in the beautiful scenery. At the glacier it was snowing and visibility was low due to the conditions but it was still a worthwhile experience. On the return journey Jack stopped to allow us to view elk by the side of the road.
Review by: Pauline J, October 2012
the drivers and guides for the day were fantastic, the whole trip was a great day not only the ice walk.
Review by: IYWRBR, July 2012
We had a great guide, Magda, who was friendly, patient, accommodating, knowledgeable and above all very passionate and caring about wildlife preservation. Between her and great scenery of the stops as well as wildlife animals we got to see along the way, we enjoyed the tour very much. The only thing that could have made it better was to have fewer people at the glacier, but the tour itself did a great job. Thank you!
Review by: 1016Dublin, July 2012
We had a great guide, Magda, who was friendly, patient, accommodating, knowledgeable and above all very passionate and caring about wildlife preservation. Between her and great scenery of the stops as well as wildlife animals we got to see along the way, we enjoyed the tour very much. The only thing that could have made it better was to have fewer people at the glacier, but the tour itself did a great job. Thank you!
Review by: Alexei G, August 2011
Wonderful trip! I loved every part of it!
Review by: Alan J, June 2011
For those without their own transportation, good way to see the sights and hear a lot of information about the area between Banff and the glacier. Actually saw and took pictures of two brown bears on the way up. The actual trip onto the glacier was well worth the trip.
Review by: BORTOLOTTI S, October 2010
Very nice tour to be take part of. It is a pity you can stay on the glacier for a short time.
Review by: BORTOLOTTI S, September 2010
Very nice tour to be take part of. It is a pity you can stay on the glacier for a short time.
Review by: Anonymous, August 2010
Very good trip, absolutely superb guide!
Review by: Daniel B, August 2010
Very good trip, absolutely superb guide!
Review by: , August 2010
Very good trip, absolutely superb guide!
Review by: Victoria F, May 2010
Great tour, fabulous guide, what Pam did not know was not worth knowing. Enjoyed the Ice Explorer. Nice packed lunch too!
Review by: PATRICK C, August 2008
The trip fulfilled the one glaring omission we had on our two and a half week "Across Canada" holiday. Our fellow tourists were extremely envious when we showed them some marvelous photos the following day. A few of them were engineers and would have given their "eye tooth" to have seen the Ice Explorer. Our group did not visit Peyto Lake, which was the most beautiful of all the lakes we came across on our trip. But above all, the trip was made so enjoyable because of our guide, he was absolutely brilliant and undoubtedly the best of all the tour guides we encountered on our holiday. The range of knowledge he possessed was incredible and he delivered it in an interesting way. Thanks again for providing us with one of the highlights of a wonderful holiday in a wonderful country.
Review by: Anne S, August 2008
My granddaughter and I had a fantastic experience. The guide was so knowledgeable and gave us plenty of time to take pictures both on the journey to and from the Glacier. We were also fortunate enough to see a black bear and some ground squirrels. The Glacier, well you just have to do it. As my granddaughter said it's 'the biggest ice cube ever.'
Review by: PATRICK C, October 2007
The trip fulfilled the one glaring omission we had on our two and a half week "Across Canada" holiday. Our fellow tourists were extremely envious when we showed them some marvelous photos the following day. A few of them were engineers and would have given their "eye tooth" to have seen the Ice Explorer. Our group did not visit Peyto Lake, which was the most beautiful of all the lakes we came across on our trip. But above all, the trip was made so enjoyable because of our guide, he was absolutely brilliant and undoubtedly the best of all the tour guides we encountered on our holiday. The range of knowledge he possessed was incredible and he delivered it in an interesting way. Thanks again for providing us with one of the highlights of a wonderful holiday in a wonderful country.
Review by: Robert T, October 2007
We were unable to do the Glacier part of the tour due to bad weather, but we were refunded for that part of the trip. Otherwise, it was a very good and pleasant tour with a helpful guide. I would recommend it.
Review by: Robert T, May 2007
We were unable to do the Glacier part of the tour due to bad weather, but we were refunded for that part of the trip. Otherwise, it was a very good and pleasant tour with a helpful guide. I would recommend it.
Review by: Anne S, September 2006
My granddaughter and I had a fantastic experience. The guide was so knowledgeable and gave us plenty of time to take pictures both on the journey to and from the Glacier. We were also fortunate enough to see a black bear and some ground squirrels. The Glacier, well you just have to do it. As my granddaughter said it's 'the biggest ice cube ever.'
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