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Banff to Athabasca Glacier: Icefields Parkway Day Trip & Skywalk

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Duration11h

GroupUp to 24

LanguagesEN

PickupAt your hotel

Icefields Parkway road trip with glacier walks, lakes, and mountain air

You’ll feel glacier wind on your face at Athabasca, taste pure ice water right from the source, and cross the glass-floored Skywalk above Sunwapta Valley—all with a local guide from Banff and picnic lunch included. Expect moments of awe (and maybe cold toes) as you travel along Icefields Parkway past Bow Lake and Crowfoot Glacier.

11h

Step-by-step itinerary

Travel along Icefields Parkway
Stop at Crowfoot Glacier
Visit Bow Lake
Ride Ice Explorer on glacier
Drink glacier water
Walk on Glacier Skywalk

The Experience

First thing I noticed was how cold the air felt when we stepped out at Bow Lake—like it snuck under my jacket and woke me up for real. Our guide, Jen (she’s from Jasper, knows every mountain by name), pointed out a patch of turquoise water where the glacier melt runs in. I tried to take a photo but honestly, it never looks the same as standing there. There was this sharp smell—pine mixed with something almost metallic from the rocks. People were quiet, just taking it in. I caught a couple whispering in French behind us about how blue everything looked.

The drive along Icefields Parkway is one of those things you hear about but don’t really get until you’re actually winding through it. We stopped at Crowfoot Glacier for a quick look—Jen told us the glacier used to have three “toes,” now only two are left. It made me weirdly sad thinking about that. The bus felt warm after standing outside, everyone shaking snow off their boots and laughing because someone (me) managed to spill coffee on their sleeve.

Getting up onto Athabasca Glacier in that huge Ice Explorer thing—it’s like a monster truck for ice. The tires alone are taller than most people. When we got out, the wind hit hard and my cheeks stung; I bent down and scooped up some snow just because I could. Drinking glacier water straight from a stream was colder than I expected—almost sweet? Li laughed when I tried to say “glacier” in Mandarin—probably butchered it but she grinned anyway.

The last bit was the Glacier Skywalk—just glass under your feet and nothing but air between you and the valley below. My legs went kind of wobbly at first but then you look out and see all these jagged peaks lined up forever. It’s loud with wind but somehow feels quiet too. Even now, sometimes when things get noisy back home, I think about that silence hanging over Sunwapta Valley.

What’s included

Your day includes hotel pickup (or meeting point option), all transport along Icefields Parkway with a small group, entry to both Columbia Icefield Glacier Adventure (with time on Athabasca Glacier) and the glass-floor Skywalk experience, plus a picnic lunch before heading back toward Banff in late afternoon.

Good to know

Easy physical levelPublic transport nearby

Operated by Discover Banff Tours