For our last day in Banff, we woke up early, ate breakfast, then checked out of the hotel. Our hotel had given us free transit passes to ride the local bus, called Roam. We ended up using it to take the bus up to Sulphur Mountain to ride the gondolas.

We arrived at the base of Sulphur Mountain a little early. It was really foggy that morning, so you could hardly see the top of the mountain. After exchanging our tickets, we were on the way up. It had snowed the night before, so the viewing decks had a layer of snow on top. The pathway along the SummitWalk was also covered with snow.

Since we were the first group to hike along the SummitWalk, we were a little hesitant at first, only cause there was a sign indicating to walk at your own risk. LOL. Thankfully, it wasn’t nearly as slippery as I thought, and the walk was actually quite nice. The mountain was still covered in a thick layer of fog as we made our way towards the Cosmic Ray Station. There wasn’t much you could see in the distance, but the fresh morning air was definitely welcomed. Luckily by the time we made our way back to the observation deck, the fog was breaking, so you could see a bit of the valley below. The entire hike took about an hour, so we had finished much earlier than anticipated.

After we headed down, we took the Roam bus back towards downtown Banff, then had an early lunch at a Thai restaurant called Bamboo Garden.

For the rest of the afternoon, we spent about 90 minutes inside the Whyte Museum. Parts of the museum were closed to the public since they were installing a new exhibit, so we spent our time browsing through the permanent collection. The admission to the museum is by donation only and it was totally worth taking the time to visit.

Since we still had so much time before we were due to collect our luggage, we ended up hiking along the Bow River Trail. We had wanted to hike towards Bow Falls, but there were signs along the trail indicating the passage was closed for the winter. Despite not being able to visit the falls, it was still breathtaking being surrounded by all the mountains as we hiked along the trails.

Before we left Banff, we stopped by Sushi House to grab an early dinner. The only reason we decided to go there was because they had kaiten sushi on top of a mini railway track. The food was just average, but it was so cute seeing the train loop around the counter carrying plates of sushi.

Finally we ended up going back to our hotel. We picked up our luggage, then waited for our Brewster bus to take us towards Calgary Airport. We weren’t actually flying that night, but it would be easier for us to leave the next morning if we were closer to the airport. After we arrived, we took a shuttle bus to our hotel. Best Western Premier is actually a very nice hotel. It was the first time I got a welcome package for being a member. =)

Since there was still time before the pool closed, we quickly dashed upstairs to change then headed to the pool. There was a hot tub as well (and a huge slide which I refused to go on), so it was a good way to unwind before we called it a night. Thanks for a great time Banff!