The Icefields Parkway: Stops, Winter Rules and the Day Tours

As of early October 2026, the Icefields Parkway is in the last days of its summer season. The Columbia Icefield Adventure, Pursuit’s Ice Explorer ride onto the Athabasca Glacier, and the Columbia Icefield Skywalk close for the winter after 12 October, and Parks Canada says services along the road run “from early May to mid-October”. After that it is a winter drive, with no fuel or phone signal for 232 km.

Lake Louise to Jasper on Highway 93 North

Parks Canada describes the Icefields Parkway, Highway 93 North, as “the 232 km route” connecting Lake Louise in Banff National Park with the town of Jasper. Banff & Lake Louise Tourism puts the drive at about three hours without stops; Parks Canada’s own Banff-and-Jasper itinerary gives it a whole day. From the town of Banff, add the 55 km to Lake Louise on the Trans-Canada Highway. Roam, the public transit around Banff, runs no route north of Lake Louise.

The stops, south to north

With Parks Canada’s distances:

• Bow Lake, 37 km north of Lake Louise. A short gravel trail reaches the shore all year, and The Lodge at Bow Lake, the former Num-Ti-Jah Lodge, opens from May to October.
• Peyto Lake, from a lot 40 km north of the Lake Louise junction: a 0.6 km walk to the viewpoint, about 30 minutes there and back, or a barrier-free 0.3 km path from the upper lot, which only accessible vehicles and buses may use. Bow Summit nearby, at 2,070 m, is the parkway’s highest point.
• Mistaya Canyon, 72 km north of the junction: a short walk down to a bridge over the canyon, in summer only.
• Saskatchewan River Crossing, 80 km from Lake Louise, with the parkway’s only fuel, in summer only. Highway 11 leaves here for Abraham Lake, outside the national park.
• The Weeping Wall, 109 km from Lake Louise: a 300 m cliff where snowmelt streams pour down in spring and early summer.
• Sunwapta Pass (2,035 m), the Banff-Jasper boundary.
• The Columbia Icefield Discovery Centre, 128 km from Lake Louise and 104 km from Jasper. The Ice Explorer and the Skywalk are paid; the trail to the toe of the Athabasca Glacier is free with a park pass. Columbia Icefield covers both.
• Sunwapta Falls, 54 km south of Jasper, and Athabasca Falls, about 30 km south. Parks Canada says the 23 m Athabasca Falls are “not very high by Canadian Rockies standards”, but the size of the river makes them “one of the most powerful falls to be found in the mountain national parks”.

Parks Canada says lakes on the parkway typically thaw by late June, when Banff & Lake Louise Tourism says their turquoise colour starts to appear.

A park pass, even if you never stop

“A valid national park entry pass is required to drive the Icefields Parkway,” Parks Canada says, and a Banff superintendent’s order of 8 September 2026 exempts only drivers going straight through on Highway 1 or Highway 93 South. In 2026 a day pass costs CA$12.25 an adult or CA$24.50 for a family or group of up to seven in one vehicle, youth aged 17 and under go free, and a pass is valid until 4 pm the day after you buy it. Free entry under the Canada Strong Pass ended on 7 September 2026. The tour on this page includes the pass; the Ice Explorer and Skywalk tickets do not.

Services, signal and winter

• Services run from early May to mid-October, and the only fuel, at Saskatchewan River Crossing, is summer-only. Fill up in Lake Louise or Jasper.
• Parks Canada says limited cell coverage exists only at the Columbia Icefield, from May to early October. In winter there is none, and no fuel, restaurants or hotels between Lake Louise and Jasper.
• Snow tires or chains are mandatory from 1 November to 31 March, or whenever the road is covered in snow and ice.
• The road can close for extreme weather or avalanche control, as it did from 18 March 2026, and its 38 major avalanche paths are no-stopping zones. Road conditions are posted on 511 Alberta.

Wildlife by the road is part of the drive, and Parks Canada’s advice is to slow down, stay in your vehicle and move on. In Jasper National Park in 2026 it is illegal to be within 100 m of a bear, cougar or wolf, or 30 m of elk, moose or sheep, anywhere within 400 m of a road, unless you stay inside a legally positioned vehicle.

Who should take a tour

A tour suits you if you have no car or would rather not drive a remote road. Tours from Banff to the icefield and back take 8 to 10.5 hours, and tours that reach the town of Jasper are one-way, so a “day trip to Jasper” in a tour title usually means the Columbia Icefield, at the southern end of Jasper National Park. If the town itself is the goal, take the one-way trip below or stay a few nights; Jasper covers what is open there in 2026. To drive it yourself, the Banff to Jasper guide goes stop by stop.

If you arrive after 12 October hoping to ride onto the glacier, the season is over; Pursuit gives 1 May to 11 October as its 2027 dates, though tickets may not be on sale yet. The free stops remain.

The Columbia Icefield day, and five more

The day on this page is Banff Tour and Travels Limited’s Columbia Icefield, Skywalk, Peyto Lake, Glacier & Lakes Tour, from US$60 as of October 2026 and rated 4.7 from 946 reviews. It collects from set points in Calgary, Canmore and Banff, with a local guide, the park pass, snacks and water included.

The US$60 does not include the Columbia Icefield Adventure or the Skywalk. The listing calls them optional, but the day is built around them, and the operator asks you to buy both in advance for a 2:00, 2:15 or 2:30 pm slot. It is not suitable for pregnant women, people with heart problems or wheelchair users, and cancellation is free up to 24 hours before. The Icefield season ends on 12 October 2026, and from 15 October the operator’s winter route visits Lake Louise and Marble or Johnston Canyon instead. Johnston Canyon closes from 13 October 2026 for rock-slope work, with no reopening date published, so ask which canyon a winter date includes.

If you are in Calgary, Canmore or Banff on or before 12 October without a car and want the lakes and the glacier in one day, this is the day to book; buy the Ice Explorer ticket as soon as your date is fixed.

See dates for the Icefield day →

icefields-parkway-tour.com sorts the parkway’s day tours by where they start, from Banff, Calgary or Jasper.

The same operator’s Banff & Jasper National Parks Tour (from US$53, 4.7 from 454 reviews) is a similar day, park pass included, with the Ice Explorer and Skywalk as paid extras and the same winter route.

Two round trips go further north to the falls, without the Ice Explorer or the Skywalk. The Sunwapta and Athabasca Falls day (from US$91, 4.9 from 522 reviews) picks up in Calgary, Canmore and Banff and at the Lake Louise Visitor Centre, and from 1 December to 31 March it swaps Sunwapta Falls for Abraham Lake, weather permitting. Rockies Journey Inc.’s Athabasca Falls day (from US$92, 4.9 from 315 reviews) spends 45 minutes at Athabasca Falls with a guide who speaks English, Cantonese and Mandarin.

The Columbia Icefield and Abraham Lake day (from US$84, 4.9 from 142 reviews) includes the park pass and free professional photography; the Columbia Icefield Adventure tickets are not included (the listing asks you to arrange them with the operator in advance, or buy on site if space is left). Its summer route, with 3.5 hours at the icefield, runs to 12 October; after that it goes to Abraham Lake from 1 December to 31 March and to the two falls otherwise. Like the falls day, it is sold by Vancouver Journey.

SunDog Transportation and Tours’ one-way trip to Jasper (from US$245, 4.8 from 75 reviews) collects from hotels in Banff or Lake Louise and ends in Jasper, with the Glacier Adventure, the Skywalk and a picnic lunch included. Those two close after 12 October 2026, so for a later date ask SunDog what the day includes.