When you enter one of the Rocky Mountain national parks, you'll have to pay an entry fee. For the purposes of fees, Banff, Jasper, Kootenay, and Yoho National Parks can be considered one large park--your entrance purchased at one is valid at all the others.
You can purchase your pass for the number of days you need (or get an annual pass) when you first arrive at a park gate. You will be given a receipt that you attach to your windshield for subsequent pass checks.
Whether it would be more cost effective to buy daily passes for the number of days you intend to spend in the national parks or buy an annual pass depends on the duration of your visit and your plans for the next year.
An annual Park Pass is valid in 27 of Canada's national parks for 365 days from the date of purchase. It becomes more cost effective to buy an annual pass if you are going to spend seven (7) or more days in the national parks. The annual pass can also make a nice souvenir, once your trip is over; they are made of heavy plastic, similar to a phone card, and the attractive image on the front of the pass (usually of Canadian wildlife) is changed each year. An annual Discovery Package ($165.80 for family/group, $84.40 for one adult) not only allows access to the national parks, but also to many national historic sites, such as the Banff Museum, Cave and Basin, and Bar U Ranch. Check Parks Canada's website for a list of participating national parks and participating national historic sites.
A group of between two and seven people travelling in a single vehicle pays C$19.60 for a day's pass and C$136.40 for an annual park pass. A day is defined as the day of entry, regardless of time of entry, until 4.00 p.m. the following day.
Additonal notes:
- At the most popular entry points to the mountain national parks, for example, the east entrances of Banff National Park and Jasper National Park, the entrance gates are very prominent, in fact inescapable. They consist of several kiosks that look like toll booths. The entry gates are less obvious at entry points that receive fewer visitors. For example, the little hut at the west entrance of Yoho National Park a few kilometres outside of Golden, British Columbia is off to one side.
- You will not have to pay again, or even show your pass, when you cross the border from one national park to another, e.g., when you cross from Banff National Park to Yoho National Park, or Banff National Park to Jasper National Park.
- You can use cash or a major credit card to pay the national park entry fee.
- The money raised from the entry fees stays in the national parks to pay for maintenance and upgrades of aging infrastructure (roads, picnic areas, outhouses, parking lots, signage, etc.), as well as park staff and programs.
- Here is a tip if you'll be visiting Banff National Park for only a day during the busy months of July and August. You can bypass the line ups at Banff National Park's east gate if you purchase your national park pass from the Husky gasoline station at Dead Man's Flats. If you are driving westwards from Calgary, you reach Dead Man's Flats just before Canmore. The limitation with the Husky gas station is that it only sells single day passes to the national parks.
- You can order your national parks pass over the phone before you depart for your vacation. Parks Canada will mail it to your home address. Call (403) 760-1343 between 8.00 a.m. and 4.00 p.m. (North American Mountain Time Zone) from Monday to Friday.
- If you happen to be in Calgary before heading for the mountains, you can purchase your national parks pass from Parks Canada's office at Room 552, 635 - 8th Avenue SW. Their telephone number is (403) 292-4401. They are open 8.00 a.m. - 4.00 p.m., Monday - Friday.
- Annual passes for the national parks are available throughout Alberta from:
Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC)
Alberta Motor Association (AMA)
Note : If you are a member of the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) or the American Automobile Association (AAA), you qualify for the discount that applies to AAA members. - The entrances to the national parks have a drive-through lane for folks who already have national park passes or who do not intend to stop in the national parks. This means that if you use the town of Canmore as your base for visiting the mountains, you will not need to stop at the east gate to Banff National Park every time you drive into the park.
- View of Banff East Gate from drive-through lane (on far right)
- You do not have to pay a national park entry fee if you will not be stopping in the national parks. Not stopping in the national parks is defined as keeping all four wheels of your vehicle on the paved part of the TransCanada Highway (Hwy #1) if you are going via Banff and Lake Louise or the paved part of the Yellowhead Highway (Hwy #16) if you are going via Jasper. If you pull off the highway to look at the view, to take a photo, to fill up with gas, to have a meal, that is defined as stopping.
- Although you may travel for free on Hwy #1 or Hwy #16 (provided you don't stop), you do have to have a national park pass to travel on the Icefields Parkway (Hwy #93) between Lake Louise and Jasper, regardless of whether or not you stop on the Icefields Parkway.
You can consult Parks Canada - List of Fees to find out more details, e.g., rates for seniors and youth, campground fees, fishing licence fees, etc.
