Things to do at Bow Falls

Bow Falls sits a five-minute walk from the centre of Banff, below the Fairmont Banff Springs, and it is one of the easiest waterfall visits in the park: a paved path, a lookout platform, no permit and no admission fee. Allow 20 to 30 minutes there and back, longer if you continue over the Bow River Bridge or up to Surprise Corner for the view down onto the falls and the hotel.

The drop itself is modest, a wide staircase of rapids rather than a plunge, so this is a short add-on to a Banff town day rather than a destination in its own right. It is not Johnston Canyon, 26 km away on the Bow Valley Parkway, where the falls are taller and the canyon walkway is the main event.

Bow Falls suits families with strollers, anyone with an hour to fill before dinner, or a stop between the Banff Gondola and downtown.