My partner and I have wanted to visit Alberta for a few years now (Especially Banff & Lake Louise).

We are thinking of coming over for a couple of weeks on our honeymoon in August this year but want somewhere really special - ideally a luxury self catering lodge/cabin.

Can any of you guys recommend somewhere or a website as i'm getting some mixed hits on Google.

Thanks in advance

Mike

Hello Mike,

Congratulations on your upcoming marriage.

Baker Creek Chalets is in the forest, about 20 minutes' drive from Lake Louise Village. Although the units are self-catering, there also is a pleasant on-site restaurant.

If you want to be closer to the village, you might consider staying at Paradise Lodge and Bungalows. The property is located half way between the village of Lake Louise and the lake of Lake Louise (so about 1.5 miles from each).

Banff townsite has some self-catering properties, but while they are decent enough I would not describe them as luxurious. They include Tunnel Mountain Chalets, Douglas Fir Resort and Hidden Ridge Resort.

I recommend that you include Jasper in your trip. There I recommend Alpine Village, although Becker's Chalets and Patricia Lake Bungalows are nice too.

Although some of the self-catering chalets are very nice indeed, none of them is super luxurious. If you want smaller, more intimate, luxurious (but not self-catering) properties, you could consider:

• Post Hotel in Lake Louise Village (get a room on the preferred side, which faces the river, rather than the side that faces the parking lot -- the hotel has the best (albeit expensive) restaurant in the Canadian Rockies -- if you're willing to splurge, you should dine there even if you don't stay there)
  
• Moraine Lake Lodge (rate includes complimentary services of a naturalist who takes guests on guided hikes if they wish -- the parking lot is filled with the vehicles of day trippers, but you should be out and about sight seeing yourselves and they should not worry you -- the place does get quiet in the evenings when the day trippers have left -- it's at the end of a winding road, 9 miles from Lake Louise -- the most beautiful lake that can be reached without major effort such as hiking -- be sure to see it even if you don't stay there)
  
• Emerald Lake Lodge (in a secluded spot about 15 minutes' drive from the hamlet of Field, British Columbia, which in turn is about 20 minutes' drive west of Lake Louise -- a popular spot for honeymooners and people who want total rest and relaxation -- a limitation is that, once you've eaten at the excellent on-site restaurant once or twice and want a change, you have to drive quite far -- another limitation is that, once you've done the beautiful walk around the lake, there is not that much good hiking in the area -- Lake Louise and Moraine Lake are in the heart of terrific hiking territory)

Large luxury hotels in the area are:

• Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel - the "grand old lady" of Banff -- interesting architecture -- magnificent views -- inconsistent room sizes
  
• Rimrock Resort Hotel -- just outside of Banff -- modern and hence less interesting, to my taste, than the Banff Springs -- also has magnificent views -- unlike the Banff Springs, room sizes are consistent
  
• Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise -- has a drop-dead gorgeous view overlooking Lake Louise -- what I don't like about it is that lots of tour groups stay there
  
• Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge -- although this is a large hotel, it doesn't feel like it -- chalets are scattered through the grounds, overlooking the golf course and a small lake

A while back TripAdvisor, which is a travel website that includes a travel discussion forum, invited people to contribute information in a collaborative effort (something along the lines of Wikipedia). I authored a page called Planning a Summer Trip. My intention was to address, one by one, each issue that a traveller needed to consider -- timing of their trip (which you've already sorted out), methods of transportation, itinerary, clothing that is required for the quirky mountain weather, etc., etc.

Quite a bit earlier than that I had created my own non-commercial travel website for Calgary, the Canadian Rockies and the west coast. But, since another TripAdvisor poster called Country_Wife and I have contributed so much information to TripAdvisor's Inside Calgary and Inside Banff National Park sections, I believe they now supersede my own website in terms of usefulness.

Hope that helps.

I went through the same thing as you when I booked my honeymoon a couple of years back. Google would bring back results and half the time it would be the same few hotels on a million different sites.

In the end I trusted reviews of hotels from http://www.tripadvisor.com/

It's written by real people and people usually back up opinions on hotels/resorts with pictures.

Have fun

We stayed at Baker Creek Chalets a few years ago and they were ok but not great and I think you want great for a honeymoon!

No actual issues, they are just on their own and whilst the restaurant is ok, I think we would have preferred somewhere nearer Banff or by Lake Louise in hindsight and we are normally content with our own company so that's saying something.

No tv and quite cramped, which may or may not be an issue on a honeymoon....

Obviously, this may have changed and I would now rely on the websites mentioned for more up-to-date comments.

But I think the area as a whole is great for your honeymoon and I wish you great happiness!

One of my most favourite places we have stayed at is Num-ti-Jah lodge at Bow Lake, it's really pretty and sweet but not self catering.http://www.num-ti-jah.com

We also stayed at a place by castle mountain which was really lovely and self catering.http://decorehotels.com/castleMounta...mmodations.htm

1st time i've tried links so hope they work

Thanks to everyone for all of the help - those pictures look amazing and i appreciate Judy taking the time to give me all that advice.

I'll look over some of the recommendations and let you know where i end up!

The other place of interest was Pacific NW and a beachside place, some of the pictures from there also look fantastic.

Mike