Flew into Calgary rented a car and drove to this fabulous destination. Hotel provides complimentary parking in an underground heated garage. However, it’s peak season and the spots are very very limited. If you’re not in the garage by 5pm forget parking there.

Ps- if you are driving here and this is your first time few miles before the entrance to Banff National Park off the highway you will see booths. It’s rather confusing as the highway continues and the booths are off to the side. Since lots of cars cruise on not paying attention to the booths nor stopping we kept going. However, we had to turn around those booths sell the entry pass for the car into Banff National Park. Every car going into Banff needs a pass. Most of the cars were locals with season passes so it through us off from stopping and we had no idea. Pass must be displayed all times in window. In all parts of Banff especially the tourist things park enforcement is out ticketing like crazy!

Rooms were clean and spacious and super cozy. Hence the name of the hotel Caribou lodge, felt exactly so. Wood burning fire in the lobby filled with all the wood paneling gave it that cozy feel. Hotel provides a pass for free bus transportation into Banff. The bus runs once an hour so not a very convenient way to get into town. If your dressed warm and don’t mind a walk it’s only 15 minutes walk into the heart of the city. Lots of bars and restaurants nearby including a liquor store. Most of the major attractions, cable car, ski, hot springs, lake Louise or moraine, etc you will need a car to get to. For the price and quality of product you get this place can’t be beat!

We booked a wonderful snowmobiling excursion at the front desk. Motorized winter sports are not allowed in Banff National Park. Therefore, you will need to travel 2 hours to British Columbia to partake in the excursion. Worth every penny such a blast!

This is our second family trip to Banff and the second time we stayed in a Banff Lodging Co. hotel; we like staying at the hotels in this group as they are locally owned and the profits stay in the area. Last time we stayed at the Inns of Banff, but we liked this one better as the room was a bit bigger. Our Caribou room was clean and nicely decorated; my teenage son actually took photos of the photos on the wall because he liked them so much! The room was in generally good repair - the only annoyance was the closet door dragged too much on the carpeting. There was some wear and tear - scuffs on the wood shelves, but we certainly didn't find this detracted from our visit at all. The shower and sink had new fixtures and no discolouration in the grout. The room was warm at night, but we opened the window a bit and used the blanket provided by the hotel instead of the duvet and that seemed to work fine. The hotel was very quiet,at night even with several children staying on our floor. The only negative is the hotel restaurant is the Keg, which is very good but pretty pricey when you get in late and you have two teens to feed. The breakfast buffet wasn't too bad price-wise, but we generally did our meals at other restaurants in the Banff downtown.

The staff at the front desk was very friendly and efficient. The room cleaning staff were also very good.

We liked a few of the extra touches that were in this room - mostly hooks. We really appreciated the big coat hooks & shelf by the entrance to our room as trying to mash winter coats/scarves/toques and mitts into a closet is a nightmare. We also appreciated the hooks in the shower for bathing suits - why don't more hotels do this?! Lastly, even though my kids are teenagers, they must have called the elk bugling on the phone 50 times - their only complaint was it was only one sound when they remembered multiple animal sounds on the Inns at Banff phone system; in any case, it's a nice touch for kids young and old. We will definitely stay at the Banff Caribou Inn on our next visit to Banff.

Room was very dusty , vents plugged with dust, chips on floor , small dark room . Were told it was full paid top rate of 247 a night . Sink was plugged , no ac room so hot , had to leave patio door open .