Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada

5Backpacker59 5:00 PM Jun 7, 2022

Beautiful - avoid the summer crowds
Beautiful lake with a nice easy walk around it and lots of other more difficult hiking options. We visited at the start of June and the lake was still mostly frozen over. They said it was a few weeks behind the normal schedule for thawing. The guide said the best time to go is late September, to see the lake unfrozen but also avoid the crowds. The guide said that in the summer they get 20,000 visitors to the lake a day, not including the Fairmont hotel guests, so I imagine it would be very crowded in the summer. During the winter you can cross country ski and ice skate on the frozen lake. In the summer you can rent a canoe (it is very expensive - 150 dollars an hour!!). During this time when it is slowly thawing you cannot go on the lake.

5J P 5:00 PM Aug 25, 2022

Gorgeous Lake! Here are some tips to enjoy it!
Lake Louise is one of the most stunning lakes I've ever seen. You'll want to arrive early to grab a parking spot, there is a fee, it's currently $12.25 CAD. If you arrive by 7 am in the summer you should be okay. Watching the sunrise over the lake is fantastic, so it's well worth it to arrive early. When you first arrive you'll likely see a ton of people all crowded around the same spot taking photos, but if you walk around the whole perimeter of the lake, there are so many stunning viewpoints, you can easily get a photo without any people in it. The Fairmont hotel is located right next door, and is a great bathroom spot and also has a cafe for snacks/coffee, etc and a gift shop. We did the Lake Agnes trail because it was supposed to be the most popular and was labeled "moderate." Little did we know it was all uphill in the woods for 90 mins to get to the top! The Six Glaciers trail takes you around the edge of the lake so you get more views before it keeps going, so if you just want lake views, you can take that and then walk back before it goes on beyond the lake. The Lake Agnes trail was worth it, but it did not feel moderate, it felt rather challenging, and I'm in pretty good shape. You hike up to Mirror Lake and then you have to go uphill another 15 mins and you finally reach Lake Agnes where there are pit toilets, and a little cafe to grab snacks/beverages. You can walk around the edge of Lake Agnes as well.