Canmore, Alberta
The Bow Valley town outside the park gates, and the gateway to Kananaskis
Canmore sits just outside Banff National Park, which means no park pass and fewer rules, and it is the way in to Kananaskis Country — Nakiska, the Nordic Centre and the quietest big mountains in Alberta.
Canmore began in 1884 as a Canadian Pacific siding and became a coal town, mining until 1979. Being outside the national park boundary has shaped everything since: land can be developed here in ways it cannot in Banff twenty minutes west, so Canmore has grown into a town of 15,000 with a real year-round population, while Banff remains capped and controlled. The 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics brought the Canmore Nordic Centre, which is still one of the best cross-country facilities in North America and is open to the public.
For skiing, Canmore is a base rather than a resort. Nakiska, built for the 1988 Olympic alpine events, is about 40 minutes south in Kananaskis Country — a compact, reliably groomed, snowmaking-heavy mountain that is much the best place in Alberta to learn, and far quieter than the Banff hills. Banff Sunshine, Norquay and Lake Louise are all within an hour or so the other way, which makes a week here workable without ever buying a park pass for your accommodation.
Kananaskis Country itself is the thing most visitors miss. It is a provincial recreation area rather than a national park, enormous, and largely ignored by the tour buses that fill the Bow Valley — the same mountains as Banff with a fraction of the people, and a conservation pass rather than a park pass.
Where People Live
Downtown & Main Street
Eighth Street's restaurants, outfitters and galleries, with the Three Sisters and Mount Rundle visible from the end of the block.
Canmore Nordic Centre
The 1988 Olympic cross-country venue above town: trails, biathlon ranges, night skiing on lit loops and a mountain bike network in summer.
Three Sisters & Spring Creek
The newer residential and resort development southeast, with most of the condominium accommodation.
Kananaskis Country
Forty minutes south: Nakiska, Kananaskis Village, the Smith-Dorrien road and some of the best quiet hiking in Alberta.
Must-see attractions
Silvertip Golf Resort
2000 Silvertip Trail, Canmore, Alberta T1W 3J4
Rundle Forebay Reservoir
10509 Smith Dorrien Spray Trail, Canmore, AB T0L 2C0
Where to stay
Banff Gate Mountain Resort
302 George Biggy Sr Rd, Dead Man's Flats, AB T1W 2T8, Canada
Restaurants & places to go
Airports
Banff Airport (YBA) 19 km to the centre
Banff, AB, CA — Indoor waiting area, but you walk out to the aircraft to board — bring an umbrella or a coat if the forecast is poor.
Local transit
Roam Transit
Public transit · Schedules & GTFS data
Trains & rail
VIA Rail Canada
National rail
Coaches & shuttles
Sunshine Coach → Banff, Alberta
Free Bus Transportation from Calgary and Canmore to Sunshine Village with the purchase of a lift ticket. (child ticket excluded) · Banff, Alberta guide →
Banff Airporter ← Calgary, Alberta
Calgary airport to Canmore, about 90 minutes. · Calgary, Alberta guide →
Ebus
Intercity coach
Rider Express
Intercity coach
Tours & experiences
Snowy Owl Sled Dog Tours Inc
Sightseeing
Living Here
The season
- Ski season runs roughly late November to early April, with the highest terrain holding into late April or May in a good year. Opening and closing dates move with the snowpack every season — check the resort before booking flights around them.
- Nakiska generally opens in early December and runs to early April, and relies heavily on snowmaking — which is why it is dependable in a lean year when the natural-snow hills are not.
- Chinooks are a real feature of the Alberta Rockies: a warm wind can take ten degrees of cold away and soften everything in a day, then reverse. It affects Canmore and Kananaskis more than the higher Banff hills.
Getting there and around
- Calgary International is about an hour and twenty minutes east on the Trans-Canada — the easiest major-airport access of any Rockies town.
- Canmore is outside the national park, so no park pass is needed to stay here; Kananaskis requires a Conservation Pass and Banff a park pass when you drive in.
- A car is close to essential for Kananaskis. Banff is served by regional transit.
When the snow goes
- The Canmore Nordic Centre's trails become a large lift-free mountain bike network, and the Highline and Riders of Rohan trails are locally famous.
- Whitewater rafting on the Kananaskis River runs all summer and is gentle enough for families; the Bow is calmer still.
- Hiking: Ha Ling Peak and the Grassi Lakes from town, and the Kananaskis classics — Ptarmigan Cirque, Burstall Pass, Chester Lake — within an hour.
Practicalities
- Canmore General Hospital serves the Bow Valley; Calgary takes anything major.
- Wildlife corridors run through the town and are taken seriously — bear and elk closures on trails are routine and enforced.