Hiking the Alta Via 1: Lago Braies to Fanes

January 3, 2026January 2, 2026 / Maria / Leave a comment

The Alta Via 1 is a premier hut to hut hiking trail located in the Dolomite mountains in northern Italy. Europe is well known for its hut to hut hiking. Unlike Canada, the mountains in Europe are very developed, with lots of infrastructure and roads scattered throughout, making hiking trails extremely accessible. One of the most popular hut to hut hiking routes is the Tour du Mont Blanc, which hikes through the Alps in France, Switzerland, and Italy. The Alta Via 1 is located further east in Italy, and is one of a series of “Alta Via’s” or “high routes” that traverse the region from North to South. The most popular route is the Alta Via 1, which if hiked in full, extends 120km from Lago di Braies to the town of Belluno.

If I’m being honest, I’d never heard of the Alta Via 1 until my friend Kristine approached me about hiking it with her. I was keen on the opportunity to go hiking in Europe, so I said yes, even though me and Kristine didn’t know each other very well. We had only met once in real life when we decided to go to Italy together, but fortunately, I didn’t end up with any regrets about the trip!

I flew into Venice in mid-September and we met in Cortina, spending 2 days together before starting the hike. Similar to Canada, bookings for popular hiking trails can be hard to get. Because the mountains are so developed, there are limited opportunities for camping along the Alta Via 1, meaning that most people stay in mountain rifugios. These are basically hostels, providing room and board for hikers, and they can book up far in advance. I’m familiar with my local booking platform, but it’s intimidating to try and tackle a whole new system (especially since the Alta Via 1 doesn’t have a consolidated platform and you have to book each hut separately), so we opted to use a third party.

I’m sure there are some good third party sites out there, but we went through a company called Mac’s Adventures, and they were really terrible. I wouldn’t recommended them for a ton of reasons that I don’t really want to get into, but at a high level, they sold us an itinerary that they couldn’t deliver and then tried to cancel our trip rather than attempt to fix it. We ended up resolving the logistical challenges ourselves to stop the trip from being cancelled, for which we received no discount. I’m pretty good at logistics, so if I had my time back, I would have just done the work myself, because Mac’s demonstrated no critical thinking or problem solving skills and I ended up doing the work anyways.

The rifugios usually release early in the year, around January, so you should be prepared to book pretty early. There are lots of options, but if you want to stay in one of the really popular huts (like Rifugio Lagazuoi), then you need to book right away. The entire hike is 120km, but lots of people (us included) just hike a portion of the trail. We ended up hiking 100km, approximately 80km of which was on the traditional Alta Via 1 trail. In hindsight, I wish I’d done the whole thing, but I still had a great time on the section of trail we chose.

Our base point for the trip was in Cortina, but the trail actually starts at Lago di Braies. We caught the 445 bus from Cortina to Dobbiaco in the early morning, followed by the 442 bus to Lago di Braies. Both are city buses that leave fairly frequently, but can get very busy. We were able to buy our ticket in advance for the 445, but since we started late in the season, we couldn’t buy it in advance for the 442. We managed to get on board, but it was very full and some people were denied entrance, so you should book this one in advance too, if possible.

As a Canadian, Lago di Braies reminded me a lot of Lake Louise. It’s a very popular lake, and there’s no hiking required to visit it. They run a very expensive boat rental if you want to canoe on the lake, which many people do, so it’s always very busy. I started my hike by grabbing a sandwich from one of the stalls for later and then we began our trek, walking around the eastern shore of the lake. It had poured while we were on the bus, but it stopped raining right when we arrived at the Lake, and we were surprised to see the sun come out so quickly. I was really keen to swim in as many lakes as possible, so I took a quick dip at the back of the lake. I did google whether this was allowed before I went, but I’ve heard since that you’re not supposed to swim in the lake, so I’m not sure if I was in the wrong. The water is quite cold, so it was a very short lived dip.

Once you get to the back of the lake, the trail starts a very long ascent up to the alpine. It feels as though you’re hiking straight uphill as you tackle ~1000m of elevation gain in just over 4.5km. Despite it being late September, it was quite warm and there was limited shade, so it was a bit of a struggle up to the top. The first part of the trail is more or less in a boulder field. There are a few benches along the way, but the trail feels like it just keeps getting steeper the further up you go. There is a small section with some ropes in the middle of the trail before you hit the alpine, but it’s not overly technical.

After the rope section, you reach the alpine and there’s another uphill slog to the top of Forcella sora Forno, which was the highest point of elevation for us on our first day. From there, you can continue to hike up to Croda del Becco, which is a popular viewpoint looking down on Lago di Braies, but it’s another 400m of uphill and it’s a more technical scramble, so we opted to skip it. The views from the Forcella (pass) are beautiful though. You can look down on the first rifugio of the trail, Rifugio Biella. It wasn’t our final destination, but Kristine had a pretty rough ascent up the trail, so we were enthusiastic about stopping for a break.

It was hot on the trail, but windy on the Forcella, so we quickly cooled down at Biella. We had our first sweet treat of the trek, a fruit encrusted cheesecake. We still had another 3.5km of hiking to get to our first rifugio, but it was easy walking in comparison to the climb up. The clouds moved back in and we had a gentle walk down a mountain road before crossing the barren alpine. It didn’t take us too long to arrive at Rifugio Sennes and Kristine was thrilled to see lots of cows hanging around the hotel (she’s a big livestock enthusiast). In total, we hiked 9.5km on day 1, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but it was paired with 950m of elevation gain, so it still felt like a big day.

We didn’t know it at the time, but Rifugio Sennes would be once of the fanciest huts on our trip! We lucked out with our assigned room, which slept 4, but never ended up filling up. So we had the room to ourselves and were able to get a hot shower before dinner. Supper and breakfast were included at all our rifugios and I had a very yummy meat stew for dinner, along with a glass of wine. I mentioned in my post about hiking Tre Cime that the Italian Dolomites are more German influenced than Italian, which was especially reflected in the food, but there was plenty of good Italian wine to go around!

We had very nice neighbours at Sennes and we quickly be-friended a guy from the UK who was starting what sounded like a pretty amazing gap year, as well as a newly married couple from Calgary! The British guy was hiking way faster than us, so we never saw him again after Sennes, but we caught up with our Calgarian friends again the next day for lunch. We also had the luxury of wifi at the huts, so we were able to check in with our families every evening.

On day 2, we’d be hiking a similar distance to day 1, 10.5km, but with half the elevation gain, so it felt much easier. It was cloudy and cool when we set off from the rifugio in the morning, but we enjoyed that the trail was much less busy than the previous day. We started by hiking through the forest to nearby Rifugio Fedaro Vedla, which is a great alternative option to Sennes. Since it was still early in the day, we didn’t stop for a break and instead continued hiking on to the next hut, Rifugio Pederu.

The trail continues down over the mountain towards Pederu, which is accessible by car. The Alta Via 1 is an interesting experience because almost all of the huts are accessible by vehicle in some way or another (that’s how they transport supplies), it’s just that many of the roads are 4×4 or closed to the public. Pederu itself is accessible by bus and you can even pay to have your backpack shuttled between Sennes and Pederu.

The hike down to Pederu runs along the gravel mountain road that connects Pederu to Fodara Vedla. It’s an easy trek if you’re hiking down, but I didn’t envy those who had to hike up it. We lost 300m of elevation in less than 2km, so it was quite steep! We had to redo that elevation loss after lunch, but fortunately it was a more gentle climb. We arrived at Pederu before the lunch service had started, so we had some snacks with our new friends. Kristine had her daily cappuccino and I had my homemade iced tea (since I don’t drink coffee). It became a bit of a ritual for us: coffee and iced tea in the morning, and then every evening Kristine would have a coke zero and I would have a glass of wine. Plus we both indulged in a sweet treat whenever available!

We started the afternoon with another climb, but we fared much better than the previous day. The nice thing about doing this hike in late September was that I’d already done over 400km of hiking earlier in the year, so I was feeling very strong. We also have the benefit of living in the mountains year-round, so we’re used to the elevation gain. Even so, we couldn’t keep up with the Europeans, who seem to be on another level of fitness entirely, running up and down hills like it’s nothing!

Some of the tourists from less mountainous parts of the world were definitely struggling. Hut to hut hiking may sound cushy (which it is compared to the wilderness style of backpacking I do in Canada), but the Alta Via 1 covers some serious elevation over the course of your trek. We rarely hiked along flat terrain and would sometimes do 2 or 3 passes in a single day. We passed a group from Ontario in the afternoon who were finding the constant uphill very challenging. My advice would be to still pack light on these hut to hut hikes. The weight of extra clothes and snacks can really add up, so keep your packing list simple.

I really enjoyed the afternoon on Day 2. The sun came out and once we got over the initial climb, we meandered through the alpine with beautiful views of the surrounding mountains. We passed by a small cafe and stopped to admire the cows, before arriving at our destination, Rifugio Fanes, in the mid-afternoon. We didn’t get so lucky with our room assignment at Fanes, as we ended up in an 11-person dorm room, but we were the first people there, so we got first pick of the beds. Despite sharing the room with so many people, it was surprisingly quiet and I ended up enjoying the experience more than some of the smaller rooms we stayed in at other rifugios.

This was probably because it was still a very nice rifugio. It served one of the best meals we had on the trip (eclipsed only by Rifugio Averau) and Kristine was very enthused about the resident cat, Minka, that she was able to befriend. Kristine is a cat person and I am a dog person. I feel like this is reflected a little bit in our personalities, but we made it work!

Before dinner, we decided to visit neighbouring Rifugio Lavarella. Fanes and Lavarella are located less than 1km apart, near a small alpine lake. The sun came out in full, so I went for a quick dip in the lake, which was extremely cold, but refreshing, before we stopped by Lavarella for a beer. This is an important pit stop on the trail (whether you’re staying in one of the huts or not) because Lavarella is actually home to the highest altitude micro-brewery in Europe! We each enjoyed a beer before heading back to Fanes.

We made more new friends at Fanes, primarily Americans this time. There was a friendly female professor who was visiting for a conference, as well as several trail runners, who made us feel particularly slow by doubling our mileage every day. Overall, we had a really nice stay at Fanes and enjoyed using their patio telescope to spy on some alpine ibex on the nearby mountain meadows. Tune in next week for more on the trail!

Hiking Tre Cime di Lavaredo

December 27, 2025December 10, 2025 / Maria / 2 Comments

Now that I’ve finally gotten caught up on writing about all of my summer adventures in BC, it’s time to loop you in on an exciting holiday I took in late September! If you follow me on instagram, you probably already know that I spent two weeks exploring around the Dolomites. If you’re not following me on instagram, do it! I post so many photos and reels there @mariaadey.

The Dolomites is a mountainous region in Northern Italy. If you follow many outdoor influencers, you’ve probably already seen photos of them because the area has become increasingly popular among hiking enthusiasts. To be honest, it wasn’t really on my radar or bucket list. I was more intrigued by the Tour du Mont Blanc in France, but when an opportunity came up to join my friend Kristine on a trip to the Dolomites to hike the Alta Via 1, I couldn’t pass up the chance! The Alta Via 1 is a popular hut-to-hut thru-hike that extends for 120km through many popular hiking areas in the region. But more on that later, first I want to focus on a very well known hike called Tre Cime di Lavaredo.

I flew into Venice in mid-September and immediately jumped on a bus to meet Kristine in Cortina D’Ampezzo. You may have heard a lot about it recently because it’s one of the main host cities for the 2026 Winter Olympics. We had two days in Cortina to prepare for the Alta Via 1, but while there, we couldn’t miss the opportunity to hike Tre Cime di Lavaredo, which is located just east of Cortina. I landed in Venice at 4pm, was on a bus to Cortina by 6pm, and by 8am the following morning, we were waiting to catch a bus to the trailhead. So I certainly didn’t waste any time hitting the mountains!

If you’ve been to the Dolomites, or follow anyone who hikes there, chances are, you’ve seen photos of this hike. Tre Cime is to the Dolomites, what Joffres Lakes is to Vancouver. It’s an incredibly scenic hike that is fairly easy to hike and reasonably accessible. Every tourist in the Dolomites seems to have heard of this hike and plans to do it. That might make it a little bit unattractive to some – I definitely prefer to avoid these kinds of hikes at home – but when in Italy, I don’t mind sampling the main attractions!

It is possible to transit to most places in Italy, but it is definitely a confusing system to navigate. Most visitors drive through the Dolomites, but even that has its challenges because crowded parking lots have led to new tolls and restrictions (not unlike at Joffre Lakes). If you want to visit by bus, you need to reserve a ticket in advance, as they will sell out. It took me a crazy amount of time to figure out the bus system and I’m hesitant to even share because the routes are constantly changing.

In the summer, I believe you can take a bus direct from Cortina to Misurina, then pick up the shuttle to the trailhead from there. If you’re travelling in the Fall (like us), then you have to take the 445 bus to Dobbiaco, and then double back on the 444 shuttle (which goes through Misurina) to the trailhead. The 445 bus is a city bus and can be booked through the Sued Tirol Mobil app and the 444 is also a city bus, but it’s been contracted to a third party. This is the most important one to book and the bus that most often sells out. It’s called the 3 peaks hike and can be booked through Drei Zinnen https://www.drei-zinnen.bz/en/ticket.

Both buses travel the same route along highway SS51, so we decided to get off at Lago di Landry instead of going all the way to Dobbiaco. We had a bit of time waiting for connections, but it was a really beautiful stop next to the lake and there’s a little cafe there, so we were able to grab coffee while we waited. The 444 bus picked us up on time and we were able to bypass a lot of confused looking tourists who had parked at the lower lot and we’re looking for a shuttle up to the top of the road where the trail starts.

The trailhead is located next to Rifugio Aurenzo, so it’s a good landmark for planning your day. It’s actually the trailhead to two different hikes: Tre Cime di Lavaredo and Cadini di Misurina. I would say that Cadini di Misurina is just as popular as Tre Cime and I would have loved to do both, but I read that Misurina is a shorter hike with a popular viewpoint that gets extremely crowded with a line to the summit. Tre Cime is also crowded, but due to the longer trail, people get somewhat dispersed. So we just did Tre Cime, but maybe one day I’ll go back for Misurina.

Like I said, we visited in mid-September, but we did this hike on a Sunday, so it was still extremely busy. We got some excellent views as we were driving up the road to the trailhead, but it was quite cloudy when we arrived at the top. The nice thing about this hike is that it’s a loop, so you don’t have to re-do any of the terrain. You can hike in either direction, but more people like to do the route counter-clockwise – it’s supposed to make the elevation gain easier.

The hike is certainly forgiving when you start, as you walk along a wide road that looks down over the valley. We didn’t get many views on the way out due to the clouds, but Kristine is a huge livestock enthusiast and there were lots of cows, so she was running around trying to photograph them all. It’s ~1km of easy walking to a small church that looks out over the valley, and then another ~600m to the first hut of the trail: Rifugio Lavaredo. In total there are 4 huts along the route (including Aurenzo at the trailhead), but Lavaredo was my favourite one. Kristine was immediately distracted by the hut’s pet goats, while I purchased our first sweet treat of the trip!

One thing I quickly discovered about Italy is to enjoy the opportunities for sweet treats and coffee. Unfortunately I am not a coffee drinker, which was too bad because there’s a huge coffee culture there, but Kristine would always grab a cappuccino and we quickly started making our way through as many of Italy’s sweet treats as possible. The first one was a cannolo, which was a chimney cake filled with cream. It was delicious, but rarer than we thought, as I didn’t encounter any more hut cannolo’s until the end of the trip! We hung out for a while at the hut in order to give the clouds some time to clear off. It didn’t really work, but we still enjoyed the break.

After Lavaredo, you head up towards Tre Cime, which translates to “three peaks”. It’s ~1km to hike up to the top of the pass. You can follow the road, or take the shortcut along the mountainside. We just followed the road because it’s less steep. It was very busy at the top of the pass and from there, a lot of people branch off to explore via ferratas and other routes. I would say that the top of the pass is one of the best views on the trail, so take the time to enjoy it. We had a great view looking down the other side of the pass to the next rifugio, but the peaks were still shrouded in cloud. Personally, I think this just added to the experience and we got cool misty photos of the huge rock monoliths.

At this point, we’d hiked less than 3km at a very slow pace, so we decided we had to try and pick things up a bit. This was easier said than done as the views are so incredible along the entire route and we were constantly taking photos. I took 500 photos over the course of the day, which I thought was a bit extreme for one hike, but Kristine took over 800, so I finally found someone even more enthusiastic!

It’s a pretty easy walk down from the pass, but there is a short climb to get up to the next rifugio, which is known as the Dreiszinnenhutte. It was the biggest hut on the trail and a popular place to stop for lunch. The hut looks down on a small lake and there’s another little chapel next to the hut. One of the first things I was surprised to learn was how heavy the German influence is in the Dolomites. The hut architecture throughout the region is very Bavarian, as is the cuisine. I was expecting to see lots of pizza and pasta, and while there was pasta, I didn’t see a lot of pizza. Instead, there was lots of bratwurst and schnitzel on the menus.

Kristine ordered a bratwurst for lunch and I ordered a “split pea soup with dough balls”. If you’re from Newfoundland, you can definitely guess what I was envisioning for this meal. A thick, pureed split pea soup with balls of cooked bread. What I actually got was a thin and greasy vegetable broth with green peas that had been battered and deep fried. Honestly, it wasn’t a bad meal, but it definitely didn’t sit well in my stomach after so much traveling. But at the time, we enjoyed a nice lunch break with some German beer.

Dreizinnenhutte marks the halfway point of the hike, so we continued on after lunch with some downhill switchbacks through the alpine. I think this section of trail is why it’s recommended to hike counter clockwise – the switchbacks make for a tiring hike if you walk the other direction. We still stopped a lot for photos along the way. It was our first introduction to the Italian alpine environment, which is very barren. I’m sure it’s not helped by the fact that we were heading into Fall and everything was dying, but it did surprise me how accessible the alpine is in Italy. I’m used to hiking all day through the trees to get to the alpine in Canada, but in Italy, you can easily start and finish in the alpine. It makes for a scenic hike, but it can also be very tiring with the lack of shade. Fall seemed to be the perfect time for us. It was still warm enough to wear shorts most of the time, without having to deal with summer levels of heat. Although it was still hotter than we’d anticipated.

What was disappointing to see was all the people not following leave no trace principles. In the same way that people like to stack rocks in North America, people have gotten into the habit of re-arranging rocks in the alpine to spell out names and messages. There’s a large flat valley at the bottom of the switchbacks and the entire meadow was filled with rock signs, which really mar the landscape – it was sad to see.

After crossing the valley, we were rewarded with a big climb up the other side. It was a struggle as it was getting warmer, but we crawled our way up to the top and continued on to the last hut of the day. The clouds had lifted a lot since we’d started the hike and we got a great view of the three peaks along the last section of trail. We stopped at the final hut and got some photos hear a little pond that made for a nice viewpoint. After the hut, you crest the top of the pass and you get a view out towards Cadini di Misurina, so we stopped here for a while to admire the jagged peaks, and then concluded the hike at Rifugio Auronzo.

We celebrated with an apple strudel and boarded our bus back to Cortina. We stopped again at Lago di Landry, but the cafe was closed for the day. I temporarily freaked Kristine out with a malfunctioning bus ticket for the last segment of our trip. This was my first time using an e-sim while traveling (usually I buy a sim card locally or just go without). The e-sim was a really cheap and an easy way to use data while traveling and I’ll definitely be using it again, but sometimes my phone would get confused choosing between networks and we weren’t able to load our bus ticket at the lake because there was limited service. The bus driver let us ride anyways and I eventually figured it out, but overall, the bus system is really not very intuitive.

Either way, I felt that Tre Cime was a great introduction to the Dolomites! I’m glad we did it before the Alta Via, because I think it wouldn’t have been quite as impressive after a week on that trail, but I really did enjoy the experience, in spite of the large crowds. If you want to visit, make sure you do take the time to plan out your trip and how you will get there, because you won’t necessarily be able to visit on the fly. Be prepared to do the hike with 5000 other people, but fortunately, the views will outshine the crowds!

Guide to Lake O’Hara

December 20, 2025December 17, 2025 / Maria / Leave a comment

Lake O’Hara is one of the most popular lakes in the Canadian Rockies, but it’s one of the hardest lakes to visit (except maybe for Berg Lake). Other popular lakes like Lake Louise, Moraine Lake, and Emerald Lake, can all be visited by car, whereas Lake O’Hara is located at the end of an 11km road that is only accessible on foot or by Parks Canada shuttle bus. For that reason, it sees fewer visitors than other lakes in the Rockies, but has one of the most exclusive permitting systems. Whether you want to backpack or day hike at Lake O’Hara, if you want to avoid the 22km round trip journey on the access road, you need to secure a bus pass. If you’re lucky enough to get one, you’ll be rewarded with some of the most incredible views in Yoho and all of the Rockies.

Getting There

Lake O’Hara is located in the heart of Yoho National Park, along Highway 1 (Trans Canada Highway), shortly outside of the small town of Field. It’s easily accessible from both Alberta and BC. It’s located an hour from Banff on the east side and an hour from Golden on the west side. Unfortunately, there isn’t any public transport running to the Lake O’Hara parking lot, so you will need your own vehicle or to connect with other hikers. You can park in the base lot for free, but you cannot drive the access road, you must reserve a spot of the Lake O’Hara shuttle bus.

The Attraction

Why is access to Lake O’Hara so sought after? It’s because of the incredible views once you arrive at the lake and the concentrated access to scenic alpine terrain. 22km is a big hike for most people, but the access road is fairly straight forward and not too challenging. If you just want to see the lake, you could hike in and out on the access road.

However, the reason most people prefer to skip the 22km access hike is to spend more time exploring the alpine. Lake O’Hara is home to the famous alpine circuit, a ~12km loop hike through the alpine that encircles Lake O’Hara. While the alpine circuit can be broken into 3 sections that can be hiked individually, if you’d like to hike the entire circuit, you’ll want to take the shuttle bus in. I hiked the trail and stayed at the campsite for 2 nights in 2023, you can read my full trip report here.

The alpine circuit starts at the base of the lake, hiking straight up to the Wiwaxy Gap and Huber’s Ledges, which will take you to Lake Oesa. From there, you continue on the Yukness Ledges to Opabin Lake and the viewpoint at Opabin Prospect. This is the most popular view in the park, and many visitors will focus on hiking to this viewpoint rather than doing the whole circuit. If you want to finish the circuit, you then continue hiking the All Souls route, which will take you along the edge of Mount Shaffer and back to where you started. Other hiking routes in the park include Lake McArthur, Odaray Grandview, and Linda Lake, though these are not as popular as the sections of the Alpine Circuit.

Other attractions include visiting Le Relais, a small cafe run by Parks Canada, for hot chocolate and carrot cake; visiting the lodge for high tea; or renting a canoe to explore the lake (although this might only be available to those staying at the lodge, I’m not sure).

With so many options for hiking, staying overnight in the park is an attractive option for many visitors. The overnight options include a pricey stay at the O’Hara Lodge, a lottery ticket entry to stay at the ACC’s Elizabeth Parker Hut, or a permit for the backcountry campsite managed by Parks Canada. More on each of these options below.

Time of Year

There are a few options for when to visit Lake O’Hara, but the most popular option is to visit in the summer. The backcountry campground is usually open from late June to late September and it will be sold out for the entire season. July is a great time to visit if you want warm weather and to avoid the wildfire smoke that will inevitably roll in at some point in the summer, but there may still be snow on some of the high routes in July. September is also a popular time to visit because there are many larch trees around the lake that turn bright yellow in the Fall.

Winter is a less popular time to visit as there is no shuttle service in the winter, but it is still possible. You can ski or snowshoe up the access road and the ACC’s Elizabeth Parker Hut is much easier to book in the winter. However, I don’t have experience with the winter route and I believe it does pass through an avalanche run-out zone, so please do independent research if you visit in the winter and ensure that you have the proper avalanche safety training.

Permits

Getting permits is really the crux of this blog post. Without a doubt, scoring a day pass on the shuttle or an overnight camping permit (which includes a bus pass) will be the hardest part of your trip. The day pass secures you a ride up and back on the shuttle bus and allows you a full day of hiking in the park. The day pass is managed using a lottery system, so it’s easy to enter the lottery, but no guarantee that you will be lucky enough to get a pass. The shuttle bus lottery for 2026 will run from March 2 to March 23. There is a $10 non-refundable fee to enter the lottery, plus if you are successful, a $15 fee for the bus.

In contrast, the camping permits are issued all at once for the season. Camping permits for 2026 will be released on January 22 at 7am PST (8am MT). Permits are ~$30 per night and they will disappear fast, so you need to be ready to book right when they release. I will try and update the release dates for permits every year, but they are usually announced by Parks Canada in late November or early December for the following year – so keep an eye on their page of release dates in future years. To make your bookings, visit https://reservation.pc.gc.ca/.

Here’s a few tips for getting your camping permit:

Get on the booking website 15 minutes early using as many devices as possible (computers, phones, ipads, etc). At release time, everyone on the website is entered into a random generator that assigns you a position in the queue. All of your devices will be assigned a place in line, then proceed to book your permits on whatever device has the shortest queue. You may have to wait up to an hour to get in, so try not to be discouraged.
Once you get access, be flexible. Search for your desired dates and then click on the Lake O’Hara backcountry campsite, followed by the “calendar” option on the left sidebar to see all available dates.
If you don’t see any availability, keep refreshing for at least 15 minutes. With so many people trying to book campsites, dates are always disappearing and then becoming available again, so if you don’t see anything, keep refreshing.
If you’re trying to get multiple dates, it can be hard to get two consecutive nights on the same booking. If both nights aren’t available at once, book one night first, and then try and get the second night after. You will have to pay the reservation fee twice, but it will increase your odds of getting a booking (or at least securing one night). Just make sure to call Parks Canada later and get them to combine your permits (because they both include in a bus pass and if you don’t show up for the bus on the second day, they will give your camping permit away for the second night).
Be prepared that you might not get anything. The first year I tried for permits, I wasn’t successful. The second year, I managed to get two separate 1 night bookings that I combined. If you don’t get anything, sign up for cancellation notifications on Schnerp.
Parks Canada will give away “no shows” on the day of the reservations. So you can try to get a permit by showing up at the parking lot. But be advised that a lot of people do this, so no guarantees. You can also hike up and try and grab a spare seat on the bus on the way down, but again, there is usually a long line of people trying to do this.

If you would like to try for alternative overnight options, the Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) also runs a lottery for their Elizabeth Parker Hut. This lottery is available for entry between December 15, 2025 and January 30, 2026, and there is a $16 fee to enter. You can also book into the swanky Lake O’Hara lodge, but be prepared to book early and pay ~$1000 per night.

National Park Pass

In addition to backpacking permits, which are specific to your campsite, you must also have a National Park Pass. These are much easier to obtain – there is no booking period and the number of passes are not restricted. The most common option is to purchase the discovery pass, which is available for $150 for a family, or $75 per person. It’s essentially an annual pass that covers everyone in your car. You leave it hanging in the car while you’re on the trail and it acts as a parking pass. Alternatively, you can buy single adult day passes for everyone, which are $11 per person, per day. However, in 2025 and 2026, Canadians can obtain the Canada Strong Pass for free, which includes a free discovery pass and 25% off bookings! You can purchase passes online, in advance, or in person at the Banff park entrance.

Overnight Options

As discussed in the permit section, there are 3 options for accommodation:

Lake O’Hara Campground (Parks Canada) – This is a backcountry campground with 30 tent pads. There is a cooking shelter, picnic tables, potable water, bear lockers, bag storage, and a communal firepit with wood provided (when there is no fire ban). You must have a permit to stay here and check-in with the park rangers both when you board the bus and at the campsite. You must cook in the communal cooking area. Book on January 22, 2026 at 7am PST at https://reservation.pc.gc.ca/

Elizabeth Parker Hut (ACC) – This is a backcountry hut that sleeps 24 people and has a water source nearby. You must have a permit to stay here and can enter the lottery for $16 between December 15, 2025 and January 30, 2025 at https://alpineclubofcanada.ca/hut/elizabeth-parker-hut/. You can obtain a bus pass through the ACC if you are successful in the lottery.

Lake O’Hara Lodge (private) – This is a fully catered hotel experience, including a private bus up to the lodge, hotel style accommodations, and prepared meals. Be prepared to pay a high price for this experience, but I’m sure it’s very luxurious. Book at https://www.lakeohara.com/

Itineraries

I’ll keep this simple. If you’re planning a hike to Lake O’Hara, take what you can get. I think my dream itinerary would be to stay for 3 nights at the campground, doing two day hikes on the Alpine Circuit and to Lake McArthur. But you can get creative with other options. There is enough time to bus up in the morning and do a full day hike. I took the bus and did the alpine circuit on the same day. There is bag storage at the campsite, so you can also do a day hike on the day you leave. We tried to do Lake McArthur on our last day, but it was very rainy, so we bailed halfway.

Day Hikes

There are lots of options for hiking from Lake O’Hara. I have done the Wiwaxy and Yukness sections of the Alpine Circuit and hiked around the lake, but I have not done the other hikes. I’ve included them here as a base for you to research further.

Lake O’Hara – An easy 3km walk around the Lake. A great option if you’re not up for the challenge of the alpine circuit or you’re tired from hiking up the access road.

Opabin Prospect – A 4km out and back trail to one of the most scenic viewpoints in the park. If you’re doing the full Alpine Circuit, you can visit this viewpoint enroute, but if you don’t have the time or energy for the full circuit, you can hike 2km each way from the bus drop-off.

Lake O’Hara Alpine Circuit – a breathtaking 12km trail that wraps around Lake O’Hara through the alpine. This is a very challenging trail as it covers a lot of elevation gain (up and down 3 times). However, there are lots of exit points if you don’t want to hike the full trail. I don’t recommend attempting this one if you also have to walk up and back the access road. If you would like a shorter version, I recommend doing the Wiwaxy Gap/Hubers Ledges to Lake Oesa, followed by the Yukness Ledges to Opabin Lake and Opabin Prospect, but cut out the All Souls section of the trail. Exercise extreme caution on this trail if it is rainy, or pick an alternative trail.

Lake Oesa – A beautiful lake that is an easier alternative to the Alpine Circuit. The easiest route is to hike 3km each way along the northern shore of Lake O’Hara, or add in a full circuit of Lake O’Hara on your way back. If you’re looking for more of a challenge and would like to sample the alpine circuit, you can hike up to the Wiwaxy Gap and take Hubers Ledges down to Lake Oesa, returning via Lake O’Hara (7km total). Another option could be to combine the Opabin Prospect viewpoint with the Yukness Ledges section of the Alpine Circuit to visit the lake, returning via Lake O’Hara (9km total).

Lake McArthur – An 8km round trip hike to another gorgeous alpine lake. There are lots of branches on this trail, so it is possible to turn it into a loop trail. The trail will take you over McArthur Pass and past the Elizabeth Parker Hut. You could combine this hike with the All Souls route of the Alpine Circuit to visit Opabin Prospect (10km total).

Linda Lake – a 10km trail that starts from the Lake O’Hara campground. It was recommended to me as an alternative hike to the alpine circuit on a rainy day, so I’m assuming it’s mostly forested.

Odaray Highline – only 4 groups per day are permitted on this trail to protect the wildlife corridor, which is managed through a self-registration system at the trailhead. It’s approximately 9km round trip from the Lake O’Hara bus stop.