Icefields Parkway and Jasper
A road that threads glaciers, milky lakes and walls of ice over 232 km: the Icefields Parkway is North America's finest day of driving — and deserves to last two.
Suggested stay — 1 night on the road + 2 nights in Jasper
Between Lake Louise and Jasper, Highway 93 unrolls an almost indecent geological best-of: wolf's-head-shaped Peyto Lake, Bow Lake beneath its glacier, the Columbia Icefield from which you walk to the toe of the Athabasca Glacier, and the Sunwapta and Athabasca falls carved into limestone. Mountain goats at the viewpoints, black bears in the summer avalanche paths: you drive with your eyes everywhere, which is why it pays to split the road in two with a night at the rustic Wilcox Creek or Jonas Creek campgrounds.
At the end, Jasper breathes wider and wilder than Banff: the park, ravaged by the 2024 wildfire, is regenerating visibly and the wildlife has never been easier to see — elk, bighorn sheep, and one of the region's best bear densities. Maligne Canyon, Maligne Lake and Spirit Island, the turquoise pools of Lake Annette, and the night sky (Jasper is one of the world's largest dark-sky preserves) easily fill two days.
Don't miss
- The Peyto Lake viewpoint early in the morning, before the coaches
- The walk to the toe of the Athabasca Glacier at the Columbia Icefield
- Maligne Canyon and the cruise to Spirit Island on Maligne Lake
- An evening of stargazing in the Jasper dark-sky preserve
Our tips on the ground
- Fill up at Lake Louise or Saskatchewan River Crossing: it's the only pump in 232 km, priced accordingly.
- Drive the Parkway south to north in the morning: the light hits the glaciers head-on and the key viewpoints are on the right side.
- Check the state of services in Jasper before setting off: since the 2024 fire, campgrounds and businesses are reopening progressively — the Parks Canada website is the reference.
Our flagship guide — €29
Guide available“Canada on Your Own”, the complete edition, is out
10 chapters: day-by-day itineraries, driving and transport, a costed budget and checklists — the same method as our Namibia guide.
The guide is currently written in French — an English edition is in the works.
Before you go
Readers' questions about Icefields Parkway and Jasper
Can the Icefields Parkway be done in one day?
Yes if you're driving, no if you're travelling: 232 km non-stop folds into 3.5 hours, but every viewpoint earns its own and two or three short hikes (Parker Ridge, Wilcox Pass facing the glaciers) change everything. The ideal: a night at a rustic mid-route campground, sunset and sunrise over the ice included.
Can you walk on the Athabasca Glacier?
Not freely: the glacier is crevassed and visitors have paid dearly for improvising. The free trail leads to the ice toe (impressive and free beyond the park pass); to walk ON the ice, two guided formats — the Ice Explorer bus, expensive and industrial, or the guided crampon walk, slower and far more memorable.