We've been to Banff, Canada dozens of times and on Christmas eve we decided to visit the Cave and Basin Historic site for our first time. This is what first made Banff so special, it is why they built the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel and made Canada's first national park. The way the light filters into the cave through a little hole brightens up this place making it extra special.
We always assumed this place was crowded in the Summer and hot springs aren't our thing. If you had a seasons pass for Canadian National Parks - A must have if you enjoy hiking as much as we do, it was free to get in. They no longer allow people to go into the pools, they aren't very large and there are some rare snails that only live here.
Asides from looking at the pools, there isn't much to. They had some little curling games set up and a small museum. We just took a few photos and continued our walk around town to build up an appetite for Christmas dinner.
The outdoor pool is beautiful and it helped that there weren't crowds of people around trying to get a selfie. It's not a bad place to visit in the winter, there isn't much walking involved and plenary of indoor space to hide from the cold. The best part about these hot springs is that they look natural. While some work was done to make them safer and more accessible we aren't talking about pipes and tiling.
If you want to go into a hot spring, the type with the tiles and piping, you can go to the Banff Upper Hot Springs, further up Sulphur Mountain. Speaking of Sulphur, this place stinks. I don't mind the smell of sulphur but bathing with crowds of people sitting close together in unchlorinated water is not our thing.
It's hard to decide which pool is nicer, is it the one in the Cave or the one outside the cave? It was much more difficult to get a quality photo of the one inside, camera's aren't optimized for such a unique thing. The outside spring was significantly more vibrant.
All photos taken with an S22 or iPhone 15 Pro
The beauty of any place like this in winters increases a lot and visiting a place with such a scenic view is so much fun and relaxing to see all the things.
Winter doesn't matter when you're in a cave with a hot spring :D
Yeah you are right.
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