Canadian Pacific Railway opened its ‘Castle in the Rockies’ in 1888 to persuade the world to cross Canada by train, and the persuasion still works. The baronial pile above Bow Falls is one of the most photographed buildings in the country, a granite fantasy of turrets and vaulted halls set inside Banff National Park, with Mount Rundle and Sulphur Mountain crowding the windows and the town of Banff a short walk downhill.
With 757 rooms this is a small town rather than a hideaway, and it behaves like one: there are shops in the corridors, a bowling alley in the basement and tour groups in the lobby. The rooms themselves span everything from snug heritage doubles, where castle romance means compact dimensions, to river-facing suites with proper sitting rooms. Book for the view and accept the quirks; a century-old landmark was never going to feel like a new build.
The 1888 Chop House handles the big-night steaks, and Grapes, the wine bar tucked into one of the oldest rooms in the hotel, is the more charming table. The Fairmont Spa’s mineral pool does post-piste recovery properly, there are indoor and outdoor pools, and the 27-hole Stanley Thompson golf course along the Bow Valley is among the most scenic anywhere. In winter the hotel shuttles guests to three ski areas including Sunshine Village and Lake Louise; in summer the hiking starts at the door. It is theatrical, busy and occasionally chaotic, and entirely worth it.
