Experience Banff Without the Stress
Premium guided tours through Moraine Lake, Lake Louise, and Banff National Park. Same guide, same vehicle, all day.
SHUTTLES/TOURS
PRIVATE TOURS
TRANSFERS
Moraine Lake
Lake Louise
Larch Valley
Moraine Lake
Lake Louise
Larch Valley
Moraine Lake
Lake Louise
Larch Valley
Moraine Lake
Lake Louise
Larch Valley
Moraine Lake
Lake Louise
Larch Valley
Moraine Lake
Lake Louise
Larch Valley
Experience Banff Without the Stress
Premium guided tours through Moraine Lake, Lake Louise, and Banff National Park. Same guide, same vehicle, all day.
Moraine Lake
Shared Tours
Private Tours
Experience Banff Without the Stress
Premium guided tours through Moraine Lake, Lake Louise, and Banff National Park. Same guide, same vehicle, all day.
Shuttles & Tours
Private Tours
Transfers
5 stars, 500 times over
4.95 average on Google, and we're counting.
Canmore's #1 pick
Ranked first out of 87 tours on Tripadvisor
Skip the parking
Pickups in Canmore, Harvey Heights, and Banff because mountain roads are more fun from the passenger seat.
True mountain locals
Your guide calls these mountains home and will introduce you to them like old friends.
No crowded buses
Groups capped at 14, so your guide knows your name and the mountains feel like yours.
Daily Departures
Private Tours of the Canadian Rockies
You've made the trip. The mountains are right there. A private tour means your group only, your own pace, and a guide who has spent years in these mountains pointing out what you'd miss, pausing where it matters, and making sure the day feels like yours.
About private tours
How Private Banff Tours Work
Private tours of the Canadian Rockies are offered by Canmore Travel as fully customized, guided day trips with pickup in Canmore, Harvie Heights, and Banff. Tours cover Banff National Park, Yoho National Park, the Columbia Icefields, Johnston Canyon, and Lake Louise, with a 14-passenger van reserved exclusively for your group. Your guide handles the driving, the parking, and the timing. You handle deciding which lake gets the extra half hour.
10% discount on return transfers or any additional service/tour you book with us. Please use the promo code SUBSEQUENT when booking online.
★ 4.95
950+ reviews across Google, Tripadvisor, and GetYourGuide
Local Guides, Not Seasonal Staff
Your guide isn't a seasonal worker who arrived last spring. These are people who have lived in the Rockies for years, some for decades. They know the road conditions, the wildlife patterns, the exact spot on the trail where you'll want your camera
Your Day, Your Way
We adapt to your group: slower pace for families with kids, deeper geology for the curious, quiet time at the water's edge for the ones who just want to take it in.
The process
How to Book a Private Tour in the Canadian Rockies
Step 01
Choose Your Tour
Browse the options below and submit the private tour request form. We handle every private booking personally and will help match the right tour to your group's interests, fitness level, and schedule.
Step 02
Hotel Pickup
On the day of your tour, your guide picks you up at your accommodation in Canmore, Harvie Heights, or Banff. You walk out the door and the van is waiting. Driving and parking are taken care of.
Step 03
Your Day in the Mountains
Your guide drives the full route, shares local knowledge throughout, and adjusts the pace to your group. Want more time at the waterfall? Stay. Want to skip a stop and spend longer at the lake? Done.
Step 04
Door-to-Door Return
At the end of the day, the same guide and the same van bring you back to your hotel. Straight to the door you started from. One vehicle, one guide, all the way through.
May – September
Summer Private Tours in Banff and the Canadian Rockies
Summer in the Rockies runs from late May through September. These tours cover the landscapes most people come here for: glaciers, canyons, turquoise lakes, and high alpine passes that look like someone painted them.
Evening Glow at Lake Minnewanka & Two Jack Lake
Lake Minnewanka is Banff's largest lake, 24 km long, backed by a wall of peaks, and hauntingly quiet once the afternoon crowd clears. The evening light hits differently here. Wildlife tends to move more freely at dusk, and your guide knows where to be when it does.
Banff, Lake Louise, Bow Lake, Peyto Lake
The Icefields Parkway is regularly named one of the world's great drives. Bow Lake and Peyto Lake are its landmarks: two glacially fed bodies of water in shades of blue and green that photographs consistently fail to capture. This is the tour for guests who want the full Parkway experience without sharing a viewpoint with a tour bus.
Columbia Icefields Tour
The Columbia Icefield is one of the largest accumulations of ice in the Rocky Mountains south of the Arctic. It's retreating. Your guide puts that in context on the drive up the Parkway. Walk on it, stand at the edge of the Skywalk, and understand what you're looking at in a way the crowds at the public attraction rarely do.
Lake Louise & Johnston Canyon Tour
Johnston Canyon is one of Banff's most walked trails. Most people only make it to the Lower Falls before turning back. With time and a guide who knows where the trail opens up, the Upper Falls and the ink pots reward the patience. Pair it with Lake Louise for a full day.
Yoho National Park: Takakkaw Falls, Emerald Lake, Natural Bridge
Cross into British Columbia and most of the tour buses don't follow. Yoho National Park (Takakkaw Falls, Emerald Lake, Natural Bridge) is what Banff looked like before the crowds arrived. Your guide has been making this drive for years and knows exactly when to stop, where to look, and how to make the most of a full day in one of Canada's quietest great parks.
Lake Louise and Moraine Lake
The Parks Canada shuttle to Moraine Lake is free. It also means driving to Lake Louise Ski Resort, queuing up to two hours in any weather, and spending the day watching other buses pull in. This tour covers both lakes privately — five hours between them, at your own pace — with the Moraine Lake access fee already included in the price.
Johnston Canyon and Moraine Lake
Johnston Canyon takes you into Banff's geology — catwalks through limestone carved by glacial melt, past a cave and two waterfalls most visitors turn back before reaching. Moraine Lake in the afternoon means the worst of the crowds are already leaving. The access fee is included. Your guide knows the timing.
Banff, Lake Louise, Johnston Canyon
Lake Louise, Johnston Canyon, and Banff town — Surprise Corner, Bow Falls, the Hoodoos. Each one is worth a full day on its own. This tour fits all three into one, with a guide who knows how long each stop actually needs and plans around it. Most guests cover more in this day than they'd manage in three days on their own.
Moraine Lake, Lake Louise, Bow Lake, Peyto Lake
Moraine Lake to Peyto Lake — four glacially-fed bodies of water, each a different shade, each framed differently by the peaks around them. The Moraine Lake access fee is included. Travelling the Parkway north in a private van, without a fixed schedule, is the version of this day that stays with people.
Banff Gondola & Banff Tour
The gondola takes you to the summit of Sulphur Mountain, where the town, the Bow Valley, and the ranges behind them finally make sense as a whole. Then you come back down to Cave and Basin, Bow Falls, the Hoodoos, and Two Jack Lake. Gondola and Cave & Basin tickets are not included — guests book separately. Everything else is.
November – March
Winter Private Tours in Banff
Winter in the Rockies is quieter, colder, and more honest. Frozen lakes, snow-loaded peaks, and a stillness that the summer crowds never see.
Banff Winter Tour
The same route as the summer tour, but the light is lower, the lakes are frozen, and elk move openly through the townsite in ways they don't in July. Winter driving in the Rockies requires someone who knows the roads. Your guide has been navigating them in every season for years.
Lake Louise Winter Fun
Lake Louise in winter is the version that ends up on Christmas cards: the Chateau rising from a frozen, snow-covered lake, horse-drawn sleighs on the ice, the peaks behind it all lit cold blue. Ice skating, ice carving, the Tea House up the hill. Your guide sets the day up and lets the scenery do the rest.
YEAR-ROUND
Banff Night Sky and Stargazing Tours
Banff sits inside one of Canada's few remaining dark sky preserves. On a clear night, the Milky Way isn't a concept. It's directly overhead.
Banff Stargazing
Away from Banff townsite, the light pollution drops away quickly. Your guide knows the best vantage points and the best windows in the season, and has the patience to wait for the shot. If the aurora is active, they'll know before you do.
Moraine Lake Stargazing
There are very few people at Moraine Lake at night. The colour of the water reads differently under a full moon or a sky full of stars. This is one of those rare combinations — landscape and dark sky together — that's hard to find anywhere else.
Every private tour
What's Included in Every Private Tour
Included
Dedicated expert guide for the full duration
Private 14-passenger van high roof, AC, panoramic windows
Door-to-door hotel pickup and drop-off
Possible wildlife spotting, photography stops, trail guidance
Flexible pacing and itinerary adjustments throughout
Not Included
Parks Canada Pass (required for all guests; purchase online in advance at parks.canada.ca)
Gratuity for your guide
Meals and personal snacks
Canoe rentals at the lakes (~$160/hr)
Glacier Skywalk or Ice Explorer admission on Columbia Icefields tour
Why it's differenT
Why Choose a Private Tour
You're not paying more for fewer people. You're paying for a completely different kind of day. On a group shuttle, the schedule is fixed, the stops are shared, and the guide is managing twelve different expectations at once. On a private tour, your guide's only job is your group.
We come to you, not the other way around
Door-to-door pickup locations across Canmore, Harvie Heights, and Banff. No need to drive yourself to Lake Louise and wait in a parking lot for your shuttle. Walk 1 to 5 minutes and we will take you straight to the lakes.
One guide. Both lakes. No switching.
Every departure comes with a local guide who knows Banff National Park the way you know your own fridge. Wildlife habits, the geology of the Valley of Ten Peaks, exactly when the light lands on the water: ask a question, get a real answer from someone who lives here.
Flexible cancellation
Cancellations for private tours and private transfers bookable on our website must be made at least 7 full days before the scheduled pick-up time to receive a full refund. Cancellations made within 7 days of the scheduled pick-up time are non-refundable. No-shows or failure to cancel a reservation will result in no refund.
Right for you if…
Who Private Banff Tours Are For
Anniversary trips and milestone travel.
If you've been planning this trip for years, like a 25th anniversary, retirement, or a 60th birthday, the day should feel like it was built for you. It will be.
Multi-generational groups.
Adult children bringing aging parents. Families with a mix of ages and energy levels. Private tours flex around the group. Group shuttles don't.
Small friend groups (3 to 8 people).
If you're travelling with people you care about and don't want to spend the day managing strangers, this is the right format.
Solo travelers who want it handled properly.
A private tour means one guide, full attention, and someone who takes your photo without being asked.
Testimonials
What Guests Say About Private Tours
★ 4.95
950+ reviews across Google, Tripadvisor, and GetYourGuide
#1 of 93
Tours & Activities in Canmore on Tripadvisor
2020
First Canmore-based
Moraine Lake tour company
Questions you might ask
Private Banff Tour FAQ
What's the difference between a private tour and a group shuttle?
On a group shuttle, you share the van with other guests on a fixed schedule. On a private tour, the van is exclusively for your group. You set the pace, the guide adapts to you, and the day runs around your preferences, not a shared itinerary.Do I need a Parks Canada pass?
Yes. All guests must have a valid Parks Canada day pass or annual pass. If you're staying in Banff, you already need one. If you're in Canmore or Harvie Heights, please purchase online in advance at parks.canada.ca.
What's the cancellation policy for private tours?
Private tours require a 25% non-refundable deposit at booking. Cancellations made 7 or more full days before departure receive a full refund of the remaining balance. Within 7 days, the full amount is non-refundable.Can I customize the itinerary?
Yes. That's the point. We will work with you before the tour to build the day around what your group wants to see. On the day itself, your guide adjusts on the fly: longer at one stop, shorter at another, a detour if wildlife appears.
