Boozing in Banff

We had heard a lot of good things about Banff, mainly because it's a fantastic ski resort with a terrific nightlife, so we were very excited about visiting here. As the ski season was still a few weeks away, we were going to have to enjoy the nightlife to the full, and as were arrived on a Friday, were we well positioned to do so!

The campsite in Banff was our most basic yet as it was our first "winter" campground. This basically means you only have electricity on your allotted campsite and there are showers / restrooms available to use too. It was however, one of the more picturesque stops and certainly the cheapest to date- $25 per night.

We did arrive late after our long day travelling from Jasper, so we took a short drive around Banff to get a feel for the place before retiring for the night.





After a bit of a lie-in the next day, we walked the downhill route towards the town centre to grab some breakfast. The Lonely Planet Guide recommend Melissa's as the best place for brekkie and who were we to argue? After our 30 mins walk, we had worked up an appetite and headed straight for the restaurant to find the queue nearly out the door, but soon learnt that the wait was only 15 mins or so. Was it worth the wait I hear you ask??? Certainly. The place serves up a brilliant "Big Breakfast" with huge, thick pancakes complete with Maple Syrup. This set us up nicely for our boozy afternoon.

As we were both very full, a walk around time was needed before we could crack on. Banff is full of souvenir shops selling everything from gold plated maple leaves to Rocky and Bullwinkle pyjamas. We did notice on our walk however that the place was littered with pubs! It was time to stop walking and start drinking, and where better for an English man to start off than in an Irish bar! A few scoops in there before heading off to other bars that our waitress in Melissa's had told us to visit. The second was a sports bar that was showing the local derby CFL game (Canadian Football League) between Calgary and Saskatchewan. I assumed that everyone would be supporting Calgary as they were the closest town to Banff, but I was wrong. Everybody in there was a huge Saskatchewan fan. The game went one way and then the other, with the result ending up 44 - 44 after overtime. I just had to look that score up was we were on our 7th beer by the end of the game.

We meandered from bar to bar before settling back at the Irish bar, where live music was about to kick off. It did seem that a lot of bars had live bands on each Saturday - all of which were a little bit average if I'm honest, but the locals seem to like it! After taking in another live band, we called it quits at about midnight.

I can see why Banff is such a great ski resort. We were there at probably the quietest time of year and the place still has a real buzz to it.

The next day we were heading the short 1.30hr drive to Calgary, but decided to stop at a local tourist spot called Lake Minnewanka. I think the only reason for this is we were being really childish and kept laughing at the name of the lake. But I'm glad we did as this was yet again, a lovely, picturesque lake in Canada. Clear waters surrounded by snow capped mountains.


After about an hour here we hopped back in the RV and headed off to Calgary.

Our Banff pics can be found here.

Stuoobs

xxx