The Fairmont Banff Springs

Set into the Bow Valley inside Banff National Park, the hotel has stood for 125 years as a stone landmark among the peaks, styled after a castle turret by turret. It holds 768 rooms and suites across a main building, a Gatehouse wing, and upper floors reserved for Fairmont Gold. Fairmont Gold occupies the fourth and fifth floors, with private check-in, a lounge, and its own breakfast and evening canapes. Bathrooms there run to granite vanities and slate floors. The Turret One Bedroom Suite keeps a lofted bedroom reached by a spiral staircase, with a free-standing bathtub below, a favourite for honeymoons; the Crown Two Bedroom Suite sits at the top of the hotel with panoramic views and two and a half bathrooms. Families tend toward the Gatehouse, near the Adventure Centre, where rooms run larger with extra storage and, in one configuration, four built-in bunk beds. It is not a small hotel. Golf runs on the Stanley Thompson-designed course through summer. You can walk from the hotel into the town of Banff in minutes, past galleries, hot springs, and the gondola. Winter brings access to three ski areas nearby. Rooms vary by view, facing the Bow Valley, Spray Valley, or Tunnel Mountain, and each Fairmont Gold room adds a work desk and bedside charging point.