Dreamy Travelogues: 24 Magical Hours at the Iconic Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise

Drawing the curtains to our private view of Lake Louise, it’s even dreamier than expected. This is a “pinch me” place. An… “Am I really here? Is this real?” kind of place. We’re giddy with anticipation for our next 24 hours in the iconic Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise...

This stay has been at the top of my dream-big wish list for a long time. Ever since my Mom shared stories growing up about a wealthy boss who vacationed here. Ever since the Chateau was featured on an episode of The Bachelor. Ever since I saw my first picture of this grand hotel sitting on the shore of the most beautiful mountain lake I could imagine.

And now… somehow, someway… we’re waking up in the hamlet of Lake Louise with a reservation to stay one night in a Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise Lakeview Room this evening.

*PINCH ME*

It’s 7am when we wake up from our campsite at the Lake Louise Soft-Sided Campground, and there’s no need to debate what to do or when. We pack up and drive straight to the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. Although our room won’t be ready until later, we can park in the hotel’s garage and explore the trails around Lake Louise while we wait.

The door from the garage to the hotel’s lobby is sensor-operated, so it casually swings open when we get within arms-length. This might sound like a small thing, but for us, it marks a clear delineation from budget travel to luxury travel, with this being one of our first immersions in luxury travel since we started road-tripping in 2019. Sure, we’ve traveled well with our families before, but this is the first time we're footing the bill for a 5-star hotel ourselves.

So, as the door to the Fairmont Chateau’s lobby opens automatically upon our arrival, we’re giddy with anticipation.

We enter the hotel, walk past a set of elevators on our right, and turn the corner toward the main lobby. Channeling my inner ‘Bridgerton’ character, “I’m ruined” is the first thing that pops into my head as we walk down the large staircase leading to the hotel’s first-floor entrance. (You know... ruined for all other hotels — and campsites — to follow on this Icefields Parkway Road Trip.)

It’s magnificent.

Our senses first pick up on the smoky, almost woodsy scent that reminds us each of something we can’t immediately place. It’s comforting. But while our noses are distracted—incense!—our eyes are drawn to the restaurant on the far side of the lobby and its huge floor-to-ceiling windows.

They’re framing what makes the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise Hotel so spectacular—an unobstructed, postcard-worthy view of the iconic Lake Louise and its turquoise blue waters calmly situated beneath the Rocky Mountains and Victoria Glacier.

I know it’s possible to dream about a place and feel disappointed when you finally get there. Maybe you expected more or even just something different. Or you imagine you’ll feel a certain way but don’t.

This is not my experience walking into the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise.

The hotel is as elegant as I hoped but not stuffy. It’s warm. Sure, I can already see the masses of people at the shore of Lake Louise waiting for their perfect picture, but that’s part of what makes this place so special. Right outside this gorgeous hotel, with its fancy dining, luxurious amenities, and comfortable accommodations, sits a view you only expect to see by way of roughing it after a long hike.

Before making our way outside, we ask a hotel receptionist if we can get a key that’ll allow us to enter and exit the garage in case we want to grab sandwiches from Lake Louise Village for a picnic lunch later today.

Instead, she helps us check in and get our actual room key—granting us access to the garage AND all hotel amenities!—and puts us on a priority list for early check-in. And if we don’t want to head into town during our stay, she points us in the direction of the “Guide’s Pantry,” with various picnicking, breakfast, coffee, lunch, and to-go options.

We’ll get a text when our room is ready, no later than 4pm, so we head outside to be greeted with our first exterior glimpse of the famous Lake Louise.

It, too, is just as magnificent as imagined.

Here, we join the (hundreds of) people at the shore of Lake Louise, watching as the sun rises over the mountains to our back and lights up the lake in front of us more and more each minute.

To our right is someone who’s been filming a time-lapse video for about an hour and a half, keeping his phone in the same spot from dawn until the entire lake’s lit by the sun. To our left is a fellow road tripper, someone else who, surprisingly enough, drove from Texas to explore the Icefields Parkway from Banff to Jasper National Park. He shares a few recommendations for our trip ahead as he’s on the back half of his.

There are a few obvious benefits of staying at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise—it’s luxurious, offers fine dining and relaxing spa treatments, and can’t be more convenient for exploring Lake Louise, Banff, and the surrounding Canadian Rocky Mountains. You also don’t have to worry about parking or booking a shuttle to see the lake since the garage has plenty of space to accommodate all guests. You can even book a shuttle to nearby Moraine Lake and skip the hassle of securing a shuttle reservation with Parks Canada.

But, of course, one of the main reasons to book this hotel is that you get to be at Lake Louise all night and day, allowing plenty of time to enjoy the view without crowds. This luxury of time means never feeling in a rush to get all of the pictures you want.

So, as the shoreline gets busier, with more people arriving by shuttle each hour, we begin our hike for the day.

We’re hiking the “Big Beehive Trail,” an approximately 6.5-mile trail past Lake Louise, Lake Agnes, and the Lake Agnes Tea House to the summit of Beehive Mountain for a bird's-eye view of Lake Louise and the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise Hotel.

While checking in, we received a recommendation to follow the shoreline up Big Beehive rather than ascending via Lake Agnes. This means we’re walking around the right-hand side of Lake Louise, eventually arriving at the very back of the lake.

Lake Louise is famous for its milky turquoise color, which it gets from rock flour carried by the meltwater of glaciers. Walking past the backside of the lake, we can see the changes in color as the small rivers seemingly carrying rock flour meet Lake Louise.

To distract ourselves from the incline to the summit of Big Beehive, I ask Jonathan, “So, what are you going to get for dinner tonight?”

After checking in this morning, we made reservations with the hotel concierge to eat at the Lakeview Lounge, the restaurant with the spectacular floor-to-ceiling window that caught our eyes earlier. It has a three-course fixed menu with 2 to 4 options for each course.

“I don’t really remember the menu,” Jon answers, “I just remember liking everything I saw when we looked at it.”

We browsed all of the menus before making reservations this morning, but the fixed menu of the Lakeview Lounge stood out to both of us. We were equally surprised, as I’m generally too picky for a fixed menu, but there’s a striploin steak with asparagus and russet potatoes that feels like a fancy version of a burger and fries. (Which would have been my go-to had it been on the dinner menu 😜)

The path evolves from a gentle incline to a steady climb, so even daydreams about dinner can’t distract us anymore. We’re at the point in an uphill hike where you’re asking everyone you pass, “Are we close?” or “Is it worth it???” We’re tired, and this is more of a workout than expected.

We eventually make it to the summit of Big Beehive (finally!) and walk to the very end of the path for an overlook of Lake Louise and the Fairmont Chateau Hotel.

It’s hazy from wildfires in surrounding areas, so we don’t have a lot of visibility when it comes to distance, but that doesn’t impact our ability to see the lake. The color and vibrancy of Lake Louise are even brighter from a bird’s eye view. Its creamy turquoise pops against the gray haze in the sky and the Chateau on the far end of the lake.

But since the haze obscures things in the distance, what you’re looking at seems all the more surreal. Am I really looking at four huge mountains with back-to-back glaciers on their peaks, or are those clouds or another illusion from the fog? You have to squint to know for sure you’re seeing mountains and glaciers—plural!—looming over the lake.

The Beehive Trail can be done as an out-and-back hike or a loop. We opt for the loop so we’re descending past Lake Agnes and the Lake Agnes Tea House as we make our way back to the shore of Lake Louise. The Lake Agnes Tea House is one of the most popular places to visit for its panoramic views of Lake Agnes and its cafe with teas, homemade baked goods, soups, and sandwiches.

The appeal of the tea house is obvious—it’s next to a gorgeous alpine lake and offers refreshments you know taste better than almost anywhere else, if only because you eat them after a grueling uphill climb. This side of the loop is shorter but much steeper than the side we ascended, so there’s little doubt a tea here tastes better than anywhere else because of how hard you have to work for it.

That said, midday on the Sunday of a holiday weekend is not the time to be at the Lake Agnes Tea House. People are ev-er-y-where! Swimming in the lake. Hanging out on its shores. Seated at tables on the restaurant’s patio. Standing in line for to-go food and drinks.

And because it’s a much smaller lake, Lake Agnes feels busier and more overcrowded than Lake Louise, so we walk straight past the tea house to make our way down the mountain.

We get back to Lake Louise around 1:30pm, and not five minutes after letting Lincoln in the lake to cool off, Jon gets a text… Our room is ready!

We head directly to room 573, open the door, and beeline to the curtains on the opposite wall.

Behind them lies a private view of Lake Louise in all its glory—turquoise waters, mountains, glaciers, even the gardens of the hotel—and it’s even dreamier to see this view out a hotel window than I ever could have imagined. Drawing back the curtains to a framed view of Lake Louise is truly a “pinch me” moment. This hotel is a “But am I really here? Is this real?” kind of place.

After settling in, we walk through the hotel to grab lunch at the Guide’s Pantry—a chicken Caesar wrap for me and a club sandwich for Jonathan. We take our sandwiches (and a chocolate croissant to share) to the gardens overlooking the lake.

We’re back in our room by early afternoon. The sun’s shining brightly through the window, and it’s time for us to get ready for dinner. Well, it’s time for me to get ready while Jonathan and Lincoln enjoy the comforts of a traditional bed after two nights in the car and opt for a short nap.
There’s no dress code for the hotel or its restaurants—at least not one where you’ll be turned away for not honoring. But the hotel is “resort casual,” and we’re happy to get out of the hiking clothes we’ve been wearing for the last few days.

Since we’re on the road for months at a time, we try to pack as light as possible, and that generally means leaving behind bulkier items like dress shoes, jackets, and even multiple pants. But we do bring at least one nicer outfit each season.

Typically, that outfit is reserved for dinners with friends or family who join us on the road, but sometimes it’s for the occasional travel season date night… like tonight! Jon dons a button-down and khakis while I put on a dress, and we head to the lake about 40 minutes before our dinner reservation to take a couple of photos.

Jonathan has the idea to head inside a few minutes before our reservation to see if we can get a table on the Lakeview Lounge outdoor patio. (You can usually also request this when making a dinner reservation but we didn't think to this morning.) He checks us in with the hostess and asks for a table outside by the railing.

“Sure,” she says, “Let me shuffle a few things around…” before leading us to the last open table on the patio with the most stunning view overlooking the gardens and Lake Louise. We spend the next two hours around sunset dining in low 70-degree weather, enjoying a glass of red wine and a mango mule alongside our three-course meal.

Jon opts for the lamb kebabs while I pick the peach salad as a starter. We both choose the striploin steak and potatoes for dinner, followed by the strawberry sorbet with a raspberry glaze and candied basil leaf for dessert.

The only thing that could possibly be better than our dinner with a view is this bowl of strawberry sorbet. “This is the kind of artsy dish I’d actually want to learn how to make!” Jonathan says as we clean our plates. (I mean... it was that good.)

By the time we’re done, I feel like Laura in 'The Santa Clause' stumbling upon Scott at Charlie’s soccer game with the line of kids sharing what they’d like for Christmas. She exclaims in disbelief… “I never in my wildest--Well, no, okay, maybe my wildest--But certainly never in my normal dreams would l….”

This is how I feel finishing dinner.

It’s a gorgeous summer day, and we’re sitting on a patio at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. This is somewhere I never dreamed I’d be… well, clearly in my wildest dreams, but to actually be here? It’s special and surreal. We’re dining at the foot of one of the most iconic lakes in the Canadian Rockies before retiring to a comfortable, decked-out hotel room with a private view of said lake.

How is that possible?

And I don't just mean how is it possible that we are here, but how is it possible that a lake like this is available in this way? This is one of those places that, despite the crowds, feels intimate and remote, like we should have to backpack to be here.

It’s soon time for us to get some sleep since we’ll be up early for a sunrise canoe experience on the lake. We take Lincoln outside one final time and enjoy walking around the grounds of the hotel after those visiting for the day have left. The next morning, we’re up before the sun to take advantage of the sunrise canoe experience offered exclusively to guests. Generally, the Boathouse is first-come-first-serve, starting around 8:30am. However, guests can book a “sunrise canoe experience” to be on the lake while the sun rises. It’s about 6:30am as we walk to the Boathouse, get fitted for life jackets, and step into one of the hotel’s iconic red canoes—canoe number 35—for an hour and a half on the water. I’m happy to sit in the middle of Lake Louise, turning my head to the left for a view of red clouds as the sun rises over the Fairmont, then to the right for a view of the sun bouncing off the Victoria Glacier, to the left again. But Jon wants to take advantage of seeing the entirety of Lake Louise by water, so he offers to paddle while I bask in the moment without assisting. (What chivalry!) We canoe from the Boathouse to the back of Lake Louise by Victoria Glacier.

Red clouds turn into pink skies as the sun continues to rise and, little by little, shines a light upon the lake and its surrounding features. It’s as dreamy and magical of a morning as it sounds! We’re gliding on the icy blue water, watching the moonlight, then the sunlight cast a reflection on its surface.

We’re on the water for an hour and a half, so we have plenty of time to canoe the length of the lake and sit smack dab in its center in awe.

Once we’re at the end of our sunrise canoe experience, we exit our canoe and walk past a line of people waiting on the shoreline of Lake Louise. It’s only 8:15am, but many people are already in line to hop in a canoe once first-come-first-serve rentals begin. Many more people are lining the shore of Lake Louise between the Boathouse and the Fairmont Chateau to capture the sunrise over the lake.

We walk past the crowds of people...and a shorter trail we plan on walking later today... but first, we brunch!

Perhaps this is just a me-thing, but when I think of a 5-star hotel stay, I think of in-room breakfast. This is what my luxury travel dreams are made of.

I want a rolling cart.

With a stack of blueberry pancakes dripping in butter and maple syrup.

I want an artsy but delectable avocado toast topped with fried eggs over easy… yolks just one tap of a fork away from running over the edges.

I’m craving hot coffee, orange juice, waffles or french toast, crispy bacon, and whatever else I can order from a room service menu to ensure the cart arrives practically overflowing.

So… largely because I’ve been dreaming about this in-room brunch since the moment we booked our night at Lake Louise… that’s what we do when we get back to our room after our moring canoe. I pull up the hotel’s in-room brunch menu and request every. single. item that sounds good.

And then, when our rolling cart full of plates, mugs, and garnishes arrives at our room, we ask for it to be rolled right over to our window with a view and position the two room chairs directly behind it.

This is what dreams are made of!

We watch as people stroll the shore of Lake Louise, canoes scatter among the lake, and guests walk through the gardens below our window as we slowly dine on the delicious food and drink in front of us.

The Basketball World Cup is taking place, so Jon puts the Canada vs. Spain game on in the background, and we watch as Canada comes from behind to qualify for the Olympics for the first time since 2000. It’s a fun moment, not only because we’re in Canada right now but because one of the Dallas Mavericks basketball players is on the team. You can feel the emotion on his and all of the players’ faces as they qualify and become Olympians for the first time. (When we're not traveling, we're at our home base in Dallas, watching the Mavericks play in person. You can read the story of how our "basketball seasons" and "travel seasons" came to be here.)

Once we finish eating, we walk the hallways and floors of the hotel that we haven’t explored yet, finding more wings with shops, ballrooms, living rooms, and dining options. Finally, our noon check-out has arrived, so we reluctantly but contentedly turn in our keys and pack up our car once more.

It’s raining lightly, so we grab umbrellas to hike the other side of Lake Louise before we go. This time, we opt for the Fairview Lookout Trail, a short walk through the forest that leads to a shorter but similarly beautiful overlook of the Chateau.

We use our vouchers from this morning’s sunrise canoe experience to pick up a to-go lunch from the Guide’s Pantry on our way out and officially leave the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise Hotel and all of its glory... feeling so very grateful for an abundance of time in a place so beautiful.

Until next time, Lake Louise!

P.S. If you're here because you're thinking about booking a stay at the Chateau and are wondering if it's worth it, my answer is a wholehearted "Yes!" — particularly if this hotel has been on your bucket list 💖

P.P.S. Keep reading about our Icefields Parkway Road Trip by clicking one of the links below:

Friday, August 23, 2024

24 Magical Hours at the Iconic Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise