The Gondola
The BANFF gondola is located at the base and peak of Mt. Sulfur in BANFF National Park. The lower terminal is located 2.5km from the center of town. From our lodging in Golden, BC, it was about an hour and a half drive to Bow Valley, where the park is located.
If you can get out of bed early enough, you can drive up to the lower terminal however, I recommend having a fantastic breakfast at the Farm & Fire restaurant and then catching BANFF ROAM public transit, which picks you up just on the other side of the block. If you purchase your ticket from the official gondola website (https://www.banffjaspercollection.com/attractions/banff-gondola/ ) your ticket to the gondola is also your ticket for the public transit.
The good thing about us traveling in early June was that most of the attractions weren’t as crowded as they would have been. The important thing here would be to make it up to the summit before 10 AM so that you can avoid crowds. The Lower Terminal has tickets for sale if you didn’t buy any before hand , it also has a gift shop and a Starbucks inside. Once you have your tickets and get them scanned it’s a quick ride up 2,292ft to the summit of Mt. Sulfur which is about 10 min. The weather for our trip was foggy and misty so the views were really dark and dramatic.
Once you reach the summit you step out onto the a 4 story state-of-the-art upper terminal building. From new restaurants and interactive exhibits to a multi-sensory theatre and a breathtaking 360-degree rooftop observation deck.
Overall, we had an amazing time. We think this attraction is totally worth it. When we got to the lower terminal there was no line. We got there pretty early and early June is still off season enough to avoid crowds. Honestly, for me, the ride up to the summit was kind of scary - I am terrified of heights. After the ride, we got off and checked out the little map that they have of their floors. We climbed maybe a floor or two and browsed the museum and stumbled onto a theater. We ended up watching a short film about Canada and soon after that, we headed to the top where we got a mimosa and listened to some live music. It was relaxing. After downing our drinks we headed onto the patio to see the valley.
As mentioned, it was foggy, misty, and very dramatic. The valley would peek through the clouds if the wind blew the right way. We stayed cozy by one of the fires they had lit on the patio and watched the people take pictures with the bear statue. After a couple of hours the patio became inundated with people and we wanted to explore the town so we headed back down the mountain.
