Banff Highlights and Wildlife Small Group Tour with Gondola
Description
Explore with Banff's top-rated tour operator down backroads teeming with wildlife, plus the selection of Banff’s best viewpoints and secret spots. Along the journey, you’ll be wowed by local tales and the fascinating history of Banff’s indigenous and European past as well as fun facts about the local wildlife, as we explore Banff’s backroads travelling through forests, mountain passes and wildlife corridors that bears, elk, moose, bighorn sheep, lynx, cougars, coyotes, foxes, deer and more call home. Thanks to the small group and tour vehicle size, the access to areas of Banff that we have and the expert local guides insider knowledge, we see wildlife on 95% of the daily summer departures.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Your expert local guide will tailor make the itinerary for each tour. Every day, we connect with other tour operators and Banff locals to gather information about recent wildlife sightings and consider seasonal weather conditions & big bus tour company schedules to ensure that you're getting the best, most authentic experience without the crowds! The destinations listed below are just some of the amazing stops you'll make on this tour.
Ascend up Mount Norquay, the home of Banff's first ski resort and visit our favourite viewpoint showcasing the town of Banff and the big mountains that surround it.
Keep your eyes peeled for bears, elk, bighorn sheep, deer, coyotes, foxes & other wildlife as we travel deep into Banff National Park to explore the deep blue glacially fed lakes of Lake Minnewanka & Two Jack Lake.
Take a short walk to one of Banff National Parks red chair destinations with epic views of the Hoodoo's and the Canadian Rockies as they sprawl across the Bow Valley
Gaze through the alpine forests up Tunnel Mountain through to a famous local hotel that resembles a castle in the sky!
Visit the incredible Bow Falls, home to the famous scene from the 1953 Marilyn Monroe film "River of No Return".
Ride to the summit of Sulphur Mountain for sweeping 360° alpine views.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
Pickup times may shift by 5 to 10 minutes depending on group size, so please be ready a little early. To keep your day running smoothly, be sure to select your pickup location before the tour. We can only collect guests from a confirmed pickup point.
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Service animals allowed
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Children 8 and under are unable to join our small group adventures
Reviews(26)
We went on the Banff Highlights and Wildlife with Gondola tour with Ellie. It was a great start to a wonderful vacation. Ellie was an amazing guide! We saw a family of big horn sheep and a mama bear with 3 cubs. Thank you for the great memories Radventures!!
Very knowledgeable and great guide!
Our guide Liam was great. Very knowledgeable and friendly
The tour was very informative and Liam was a great guide!
A fabulous tour with the lovely Emily who was very knowledgeable about the location and the animals.
Fabulous and lovely, Emily will be very happy reading this. She has a genuine passion for the wildlife and the landscape that comes through whether she's explaining animal behaviour or pointing out a peak you'd have driven past without a second look. Really glad it delivered. Hope to have you back sometime.
TL;DR: EVERYTHING about this tour was exceptional! From the moment our amazing guide, Gabi, picked us up we knew we were in for a great tour. The small group made it very easy to feel personally engaged as we weren’t lost in the crowd. The fact that Gabi was talking WITH us and not TO us made it even better. As we drove through town, even on our way to pick up additional guests, she was already giving us excellent content and helping us to gain an appreciation of what we were to see. Throughout our journey to each of our stops, Gabi gave great information and insights while allowing us to also just take in and appreciate the immense beauty of the majestic scenery. She had a keen eye for spotting wildlife and making sure we had ample opportunities to observe and photograph. While sites to be seen from the top of the gondola ride were magnificent and largely self-explanatory, Gabi circulated throughout the observation areas, making sure to interact with each of the guests on the tour - answering questions and just engaging in conversation. By the time we ended the tour, we felt that we had not only gained a deeper appreciation of Banff but established a connection with our excellent guide. A truly wonderful tour that we would recommend to anyone! (And if you get Gabi, BONUS!)
This might be one of our favourite reviews ever, honestly. "Talking WITH us and not TO us" is exactly what we want every guide to do, and it's so good to hear Gabi nailed it from the first pickup all the way through the gondola. That bit about her circulating the observation deck to chat with everyone, that's just who she is. Thank you for such a thoughtful writeup, and yeah, if you get Gabi, you've basically won the lottery.
Our tour guide Marnie was amazing, full of facts and history about Banff. We went to beautiful locations and managed to see quite a bit of wildlife. Elk, a big horned sheep and baby, a bald eagle and a coyote with pups. Definitely worth it. A great way to see Banff and its wildlife.
Thank you so much for this wonderful review! Marnie's depth of facts and history really does bring Banff to life and we're so glad it added so much to your day. What a wildlife lineup too, elk, a bighorn sheep with her baby, a bald eagle and a coyote with pups, that is a genuinely impressive haul. We're thrilled it felt so worth it and we'd love to welcome you back for another great way to see Banff soon!
This is a must do if you are in Banff for a day or two. The evening time is fantastic as it’s not as busy in many of the places you visit and more chance for that amazing photo or spotting wildlife. Gareth our guide was superb! He had so much local knowledge, history, animal information and just generally knew his stuff. He was very attentive and continuously checked in with us to see if we were happy, wanted more time and offered to take lots of photos at the great spots he took us to. Highly recommend!
Thank you so much, what a brilliant review! You've picked up on something we really believe in, evenings in Banff are genuinely magical for exactly the reasons you describe, and Gareth is the perfect guide to make the most of them. His local knowledge, history and attentiveness to the group are what set him apart, and we love that he made sure you had plenty of time and great photos at every stop. We'll make sure he sees this, and we'd love to welcome you back for another evening adventure soon!
Very comfortable tour. Georgia knew plenty of stories about the places we were visiting. As story fiends this was the best part for us. The tour was our first one after arriving and gave us a good overview of the area as well. We got lucky and saw a little bear family :) wildlife is a luck thing. This tour doesn't go hunting for wildlife sightings but drives along roads where there's a higher chance of seeing wildlife. There was some miscomm regarding the pickup. Over the tripadvisor chat we had agreed upon a location different to what was on the pickup list. Had we not called radventures, we're not sure if we would've still been picked up. So do ensure signals aren't crossed when arranging the pickup or if you find yourself waiting at the location after a few minutes. Georgia was still so fantastic even after the miscommunication.
Thank you for such a thoughtful and balanced review! We're so glad Georgia's storytelling hit the mark, fellow story fiends are exactly the kind of guests she loves 😄 and a little bear family is always a magical sighting. We also genuinely appreciate you flagging the pickup miscommunication. You're absolutely right that signals shouldn't get crossed and we're sorry for the confusion it caused. We'll look at how we manage pickup agreements across different communication channels to make sure this doesn't happen again. We're glad the call resolved it quickly and that Georgia made the rest of the experience so fantastic. We'd love to welcome you back again soon!
Terrific outing, especially If you're not in town long; this is a great way to cover a lot of ground and take in breathtaking vistas in comfort. Our savvy and thoroughly entertaining guide, Liam, a careful driver on the mountain roads, made sure we made the most of it. He had a story - well, usually more than one - for every turn and at every stop, and answered questions not just patiently but enthusiastically. Wildlife sightings are not guaranteed, of course, but we spotted mule deer, bighorn sheep, elk, and a little fox trotting cheerfully down the road. The gondola ride, offering spectacular views, was the highlight, of course. We would have been happy to spend more time at the excellent mountaintop facility, with its 360-degree terraces and fascinating indoor displays; do dress for substantially cooler temps than at ground level.
What a beautifully written review, thank you so much! You've captured exactly what makes a Liam tour so special, a story for every turn and every stop, answered questions with genuine enthusiasm, and a knack for making sure no moment goes to waste. A fox trotting cheerfully down the road alongside mule deer, bighorn sheep and elk is a wonderful wildlife haul too! 🦊 We also love the practical tip about dressing for cooler temps at the summit, wise words for future guests reading this! We'd love to welcome you back again soon.
