Moraine Lake: No Private Cars, Shuttles and Tours June to Mid-October

As of early October 2026, Moraine Lake’s season is in its last days. Parks Canada set its 2026 shuttle season for the lake at 1 June to 12 October, weather permitting, and Banff & Lake Louise Tourism and Roam both gave the road’s 2026 season as 1 June to 12 October. Parks Canada has published no 2027 dates, fares or booking date.

That season is for shuttles and tours. Moraine Lake Road has been closed to personal vehicles all year since 2023, and a superintendent’s order of April 2026 keeps it that way, with a maximum penalty of CA$25,000. In winter Parks Canada grooms the road as an 8.9 km ski trail that ends at a viewpoint of Consolation Valley and the Ten Peaks, and says the lake itself is inaccessible because of avalanche hazard. Do not book a Moraine Lake trip for any date after 12 October 2026.

Who may drive the road, and the four ways in

The order lets four groups use the road: commercial operators holding a Moraine Lake Road licence, Parks Canada shuttles, registered guests, staff and contractors of Moraine Lake Lodge, and emergency services. An accessible parking placard does not open it and there is no accessible parking at the lake; visitors with mobility restrictions use Parks Canada’s accessible shuttle, by reservation. Taxis cannot qualify, since a licensed vehicle must carry 11 or more people.

Everyone else has four ways in. Parks Canada’s and Roam’s prices below are in Canadian dollars; tour prices on this page are in US dollars.

• Parks Canada’s shuttle leaves from the Lake Louise Park and Ride at the Lake Louise Ski Resort, 1 Whitehorn Road, where ticket holders park free. In 2026 it cost CA$12.75 an adult, CA$6 a senior and CA$4 a youth, plus a CA$3.50 online reservation fee. Forty per cent of the seats went on sale on 15 April, the rest at 8 am MT two days before each travel day. One ticket covers both lakes, the Lake Connector between them and the ride back, but not the park pass.
• Roam’s Super Pass, CA$30 an adult in 2026, is the only public-transit way to the lake. It starts in Banff, on route 8X to the Lake Louise Lakeshore, then the Lake Connector. Roam says it cannot be used by anyone starting in Lake Louise, and Roam does not serve the Park and Ride.
• A licensed shuttle or tour, like those on this page, from Canmore, Banff or Lake Louise hotels.
• A bike. Cyclists may ride the road, about 14 km one way from the community of Lake Louise with 527 m of climbing, alongside steady tour traffic from June to October. Parks Canada does not recommend walking it, 28 km there and back.

How to get to Moraine Lake goes through each option step by step, with the reservation rules and the timetables.

Sunrise

Parks Canada’s pre-dawn service is the Alpine Start, with departures at 4 am and 5 am from 1 June to 12 October 2026. It leaves from the Lake Louise Lakeshore lot, where you must pay for parking before boarding, and comes back on the Lake Connector. Parks Canada does not call it a sunrise shuttle, so do not count on it for sunrise at the lake. Two trips on this page are sold around sunrise by their operators, Via Via Moraine Lake Shuttle and Jumper Tours, and both listings time the drive to reach the lake for sunrise (Jumper Tours: “just in time for sunrise”).

What you find at the lake

The Bank of Canada Museum confirms that the scene on the $20 note of its Scenes of Canada series, first issued in June 1970, is Moraine Lake in the Valley of the Ten Peaks. Parks Canada calls the Rockpile Loop “one of the most iconic Moraine Lake photo locations”: 0.7 km and about 30 minutes, starting on the Consolation Lakes Trail (turn right at the first junction), with a request not to climb on the rocks. The lakeshore trail is 1.3 km, about 45 minutes. Larch Valley, 4.5 km one way and 570 m up, is the larch hike above the lake, and Parks Canada says a group-of-four restriction is often in place on it in summer.

Parks Canada says the lake usually melts by late May; Banff & Lake Louise Tourism says the high lakes start to thaw in early June, with the turquoise appearing from late June.

Parks Canada describes the lake as a backcountry location, with no cell service, running water, lighting or services, and only pit toilets. Reception returns about 5 km down the road; if you miss the last shuttle, a list of after-hours transport providers hangs beside the free community phone in front of Moraine Lake Lodge. Under Banff’s 2026 water-zone order no private canoe or board may go on the lake. The lodge rents canoes from mid-June to mid-September at CA$170 plus tax a canoe for an hour.

How long to stay, and who it suits

Parks Canada counted about 6,000 visitors a day at Moraine Lake in the 2025 season, 48% of them on its shuttle, with an average stay of 1.5 hours. That covers the lakeshore and the Rockpile. Allow 3.5 to 4 hours for Larch Valley and 4.5 to 5.5 for Sentinel Pass, Parks Canada’s estimates.

The lake suits anyone who can plan around a reserved seat or a booked tour between June and mid-October. It does not suit a spontaneous drive; outside the season no shuttle or tour runs, and in winter Parks Canada says the lake cannot be reached. In those months Lake Louise, whose lakeshore Parks Canada keeps open all year, is the lake you can still see.

What is undecided for 2027

Parks Canada’s visitor-use plan for the Lake Louise area is due to be finalized in fall 2026 and applied from spring 2027. Limits on commercial vehicles at both lakes are among the options, with 18 months’ notice promised before any capacity allocation. Until Parks Canada publishes the 2027 season, treat any 2027 shuttle date or price as unconfirmed.

The half-day shuttle tour, and five others

The tour on this page is the half-day shuttle tour run by Vancouver Journey. It costs from US$39 as of October 2026 and is rated 4.8 from 2,076 reviews. It leaves fixed points in Canmore and Banff in the morning or afternoon, spends 1 hour 15 minutes at Lake Louise and 1.5 hours at Moraine Lake, and includes the national park pass and GST. Meals are extra, and the listing names a guide tip of CA$10 a head in cash, compulsory for groups of six or more. Cancellation is free up to 24 hours before.

Mind the date. The listing visits Moraine Lake from 1 June to 11 October and Johnston Canyon from 12 October to 31 May. Parks Canada closes the canyon trail to both falls, and its P1 lot, from 13 October 2026 for rock-slope work, with no reopening date. From 13 October a date on this calendar is neither the lake nor the canyon walk the listing describes, so ask the operator what it includes.

If you are in Canmore or Banff by 11 October without a Parks Canada seat and want both lakes in half a day, this is the trip to book.

See the last Moraine Lake dates →

lakelouisemoraineshuttle.com goes through the shuttle tours to both lakes from Canmore and Banff in more detail.

Via Via Moraine Lake Shuttle’s sunrise trip (from US$89, 4.8 from 475 reviews) collects from hotels and Airbnbs in Canmore, Harvey Heights, Banff and Lake Louise, brings hot drinks and blankets, and includes the park pass; it is not for children under 2. Jumper Tours’ sunrise trip (from US$106, 4.8 from 207) gives 2 hours at each lake, about 6.5 hours in all, from 21 pickup points in Canmore, Banff and Lake Louise, and is not suitable for people with mobility impairments.

The same operator as this page’s tour runs a shuttle with 2.5 hours at each lake (from US$53, 4.7 from 356) from Canmore or Banff. Cool Banff Tours & Transportation’s shuttle (from US$36, 4.7 from 382) gives 1.5 hours at each lake without a guide and needs four guests to run. Tour for Discount’s timetabled shuttle (from US$47, 4.7 from 242) stays 80 minutes at each lake and lists a CA$10 driver service fee outside the price.