Tunnel Mountain Village II sits just above the Banff townsite, holds electrical sites through the winter, and has a Roam stop that runs you down into town. Book that site before you book the van. The campground is the scarce half of a Banff trip, and Parks Canada opened 2026 frontcountry booking back in mid-February. If you want water out the back door instead, Two Jack Lakeside is 10 km toward Minnewanka, unserviced, lakefront, and capped at 27 feet.
Lake Louise sits under Victoria Glacier 55 km up the Trans-Canada, and Moraine Lake Road above it is closed to personal vehicles. Leave the van at the Lake Louise Ski Resort Park and Ride and ride the Parks Canada shuttle or Roam to both lakes. The ice comes off in late May, and from then on the lots fill before sunrise.
The hard-sided campground at Lake Louise is the other year-round option, and it is the one to take if you would rather wake up at that end of the park. Soft-sided vans and pop-tops go to the electric-fenced loop next door, which closes for the season. Anyone who needs more beds or a longer rig than the Two Jack cap allows should look at RVs for rent in Banff.
Johnston Canyon is a limestone catwalk bolted over the creek 25 km along the Bow Valley Parkway, and the lower falls come into view through a hole in the rock. Unless you already hold a site at the canyon campground, sleep back at Tunnel Mountain and drive out in the morning.
Just past the Banff East Gate, Canmore is the other van town on Highway 1.
Icefields Parkway north from Lake Louise
Highway 93 North leaves Lake Louise and climbs to Bow Summit, where Peyto Lake sits about 43 km north. Crowfoot Glacier and Bow Lake come up just before the boardwalk.
Mosquito Creek is the one to aim for if you are rolling north without a reservation. Silverhorn Creek takes longer units, and Waterfowl Lakes and Rampart Creek sit farther up, still on the Banff side of the icefield.
Saskatchewan River Crossing is the fuel stop, roughly 80 km north of Lake Louise, and it runs early May into mid-October. There is no reliable cell on that stretch, so settle where you are sleeping before you pull out of Lake Louise.
Keep going on 93 North and the parkway drops you into Jasper at the far end.
