We started the day with a quick 10 minute drive to Lake Louise a little after 7 am. We were in for a nice surprise upon arrival to find that the guest parking lot had filled by 6:45 am! Trekking back to our hotel, we got lucky with the last spots on the 8 am shuttle from our hotel back to the lake. Point of this story: Plan ahead! Everything online said the lot filled up by 8 am, but things were definitely filling up earlier with it being a holiday weekend.

Since we had all day, we hiked Lake Agnes Trail – Lake Louise Highline – Big Beehive – Little Beehive. There is a shorter option if you just do the beehives and skip the highline, but with that being the more challenging and less populated part of the hike, we’re glad we kept it. Once we arrived at the Tea House, there were a ton of hikers waiting to get in for some tea and treats. We opted to bring our own snacks (Werther’s, duh) and chose to keep moving along to Little Beehive, which had the best views of the lake!

Although we didn’t go full fancy and stay at the Lake Louise Fairmont (base of the lake), we got a little taste of the good life when we snagged a terrace spot for lunch. The lunch was scrumptious and the views of the lake and mountains were stellar.

Fully satisfied, we jumped on a bus to Moraine Lake since were done earlier than expected and it was another gorgeous day. Side note – make sure you check out transportation options if you’re wanting to venture to Moraine Lake. At the time we went, they did not allow private vehicles on the road out, so you’ll need to plan ahead and make a shuttle reservation. We got dropped off and set to pumping up the SUPs. Since the kayak rentals were closed for the day due to wine, we basically had the lake all to ourselves. We pumped ourselves up for another dip AND…you guessed it!! water was still freezing.

Putting on nice clothes for the first time, we ventured over to the Fairmont again for sunset cocktails (bonus – guest parking is free after 7). On non holiday weekends, there would be no problems getting in but we were lucky enough to snag another spot on the terrace before it got busy (we arrived around 6pm). After drinks, we went back to our hotel for delicious elk burgers with a blackberry jam. Honestly, they were bomb! We also crushed sweet potato fries.

And here is the kicker, while we were waiting for our dinner table, Anna caught wind of Saturday night s’mores. So yes, we had dessert before dinner! But hey, we deserved it right?