The pristine beauty of Banff National Park is one of the reasons people are drawn to the region's three ski resorts—Lake Louise, Sunshine Village and Ski Banff @ Norquay.

While flying into Calgary during the day provides awe-inspiring views of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, perhaps the best surprise is to arrive late at night, when everything is enveloped in pitch black, and make the hour-and-a-half-long drive to Banff. That way, the next morning when you draw back the curtains, the massive craggy mountains are suddenly right there, in your face. What a wake-up call!

OVERVIEW OF THE BANFF REGION

Banff is home to three resorts—Sunshine Village, Ski Banff @ Norquay and Lake Louise. The three mountains provide very different ski experiences, just one of the reasons Banff makes a fabulous ski trip. For those who have never skied out West, it's easy to be overwhelmed by the massive amount of terrain and the steep craggy peaks. You can plan your vacation accordingly to start at the smallest of the resorts and work up to the larger and more difficult ones: Spend your first day at Ski Banff @ Norquay, the next at Sunshine Village, then head to Lake Louise. We highly recommend you also take a side trip to Marmot Basin, some three hours away in Jasper National Park. After a week of skiing and riding these Alberta resorts, you'll return to your favorite mountain ready to conquer parts where you previously feared to go.

VACATION SPECIALS | VACATION PLANNING

There is a true sense of being swallowed up by the wilderness—embraced by Mother Nature and then gently released to be part of her bountiful gifts here. Wildlife is plentiful, sightings of elk herds in town are common. Mule deer and bighorn sheep live in the Bow Valley, and sometimes bears and wolves can be seen along less-traveled roads.

From the castle-like Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, one gazes down a densely wooded valley framed by towering mountain walls and dissected by a shimmering river. To see this scene is to understand the spell which must have overcome the builders of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the late 1800s.

The completion of the coast-to-coast railway in 1885 made one of the most picturesque and remote pockets in the Rocky Mountains suddenly accessible. This virgin landscape—formerly known only to Native Americans, fur traders and explorers—was now open to everyday travelers and tourists. That same year, Canada established its first national park, Banff. Later, four other national parks were created nearby: Yoho, Jasper, Kootenay and Glacier, which explains why much of the region's rugged beauty remains essentially unspoiled. The scenery is still as magnificent as it was to the train travelers of the late 1800s with snow-capped mountain ridges, cliff faces pocked by glaciers, mountain lakes and hot springs.

Contrast this with the beautifully designed, compact, yet very cosmopolitan townsite of Banff (that's the word locals use instead of "town"), filled with excellent restaurants, nightclubs, shops and lodging. The atmosphere is a uniquely Canadian blend of quaint and rustic, set amid some of the most rugged scenery in the Rockies—sort of like a good Canadian whiskey sipped smooth but with enough bite to remind you of the point of the exercise.

Because summer is the high season in the park, crowds diminish in winter and lodging prices are rock bottom, even at the most luxurious hotels. The temperature can be numbingly cold, or pleasantly warm if a Chinook wind blows. Unlike the Canadian resorts closer to the Pacific Ocean, ski areas in Banff receive a dry, fluffy powder that is the best thing this side of Utah.

And speaking of dry, fluffy powder that's the best thing this side of Utah… As much as we hate to say it, you won't catch first tracks at Sunshine Village and Lake Louise if you rely on the shuttlebuses—unless you wake up really early, in time for the first one of the morning (it's appropriately called the "Powder Express"). They make a lot of stops along the way before they head out to the resorts.