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Discover Grizzly Bears from Banff

Badge of ExcellenceBanff, Canada

10 hours (approx.)
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

Pursue the elusive Canadian Grizzly Bear on this 10-hour excursion through Banff and Yoho National Parks, perfect for animal- and nature-lovers alike. Head out for a gondola ride up to 7,700 feet for a mountain-top lunch at Canada’s highest restaurant, and then take a chairlift ride up to the world’s largest enclosed and protected grizzly bear habitat to see Boo the resident bear rescued as a cub. This full-day trip also includes round-trip transportation, professional guide, lunch and light refreshments.

Day trip to grizzly country from Banff
Visit Emerald Lake, Takakkaw Falls and the Spiral Tunnels
Take a gondola ride up to 7,700 feet with panoramic views of the Rocky Mountains
Meet Boo at the Grizzly Bear Refuge
Enjoy lunch at Canada’s highest restaurant

What's Included

Professional guide
Lunch at Eagle's Eye Restaurant, Canada's highest restaurant
Gondola ride at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort
Chairlift ride
Visit to a grizzly bear refuge
Return transport from Banff
Small group size (up to 24 guests per guide)
Pick up from the public bus parking located behind the Mount Royal Hotel

Optional gratuities

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

Mount Royal Hotel
138 Banff Ave, Banff, AB T1L 1A7, Canada
All guests must wait at the public bus parking located behind the Mount Royal Hotel at 138 Banff Ave. You must be ready 5 minutes prior to the tour pick-up time of 8:12am.

Start time

08:30 AM

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

Get up close and personal with the world of the Grizzly bear on this 10-hour tour from Banff, created with animal lovers in mind. Explore the dramatic natural landscape the Grizzly Bear calls home with stops at gorgeous Takakkaw Falls (the second highest waterfall in Canada) and stunning Emerald Lake

You will head to the Grizzly’s home turf for a gondola ride to the summit of Kicking Horse Mountain. On the way up, be on the lookout for potential Grizzlies in the area below, and take in the fantastic scenery. At the top, enjoy an included gourmet lunch at Eagle's Eye Restaurant, the highest restaurant in Canada.

From there, your tour continues on a chairlift ride to the Grizzly Bear Refuge for an intimate encounter with Boo, an orphaned bear that calls the refuge home. Observe the behaviors of this magnificent animal at close range as it roams and plays in the refuge’s natural Grizzly habitat.

The day also includes a chance to visit some of the Banff area’s most spectacular natural wonders, including Emerald Lake and Takkakaw Falls, offering more opportunities to further explore the Grizzly Bear’s one-of-a-kind habitat. End your trip with a return to Banff.

Please note: this tour is seasonal and only operates from June through September. Early and late season bookings may be subject to itinerary changes.

Takakkaw Falls

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Kicking Horse Mountain Resort

3 hours • Admission Ticket Included

Emerald Lake

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Near public transportation
Most travelers can participate

Early and late season bookings may be subject to itinerary changes, the Takakkaw Falls Road typically opens late June. Alternative stops are usually the Spiral Tunnels and Natural Bridge..
Infant rates do not include food.
Group bookings of 9 or more guests have a 7 day cancellation period.
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 24 travelers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.

Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Featured review

Frazer_W

Fabulous day, would recommend this to anyone. All 3 stops - Takakkaw falls, Emerald Lake and the resort in Golden were all magnificent. Ollie was a great guide for the day as well.

Reviews

4.5

112 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

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Showing 1-10 of 112 reviews

Brilliant - best tour of our trip !!

Dudsy, Sep 2023

The whole trip was excellent - our guide was knowledgeable and obviously enjoyed his job - the lunch that was included was unexpected and again more than we could have hoped for. Great pics of Boo 🐻

Discover Grizzly Bears

Liz_L, Aug 2023

We were able to see the bear. Due to a storm that rolled in, our time was extended on top of mountain, but restaurant provided additional hot chocolate & coffee. Knowledgeable staff, Jake, tour guide was courteous & fun!

Must do

Frazer_W, Aug 2023

Fabulous day, would recommend this to anyone. All 3 stops - Takakkaw falls, Emerald Lake and the resort in Golden were all magnificent. Ollie was a great guide for the day as well.

Fabulous way to spend a day

claire_b, Jul 2023

Travelled to Banff for my husbands 50th and he has always been fascinated by bears so a must do trip for us. Bobby the guide was fantastic and really made everyone feel so welcome. Boo of course was the star of the show and put on a brilliant display.

Brilliant

christine_l, Jul 2023

Seeing boo and hearing his story. There should be more boo places in Canada to protect bears like him

Discover the Trans Canada Highway

Katrien_D, Jul 2022

This tour should be called discover the TC highway. All we did was driving. The bear refuge was only 20 min and no decent explanation for the group. Just some random stories. The tour guide did explain about the Rockies but please don’t call this a grizzly experience!!! It’s all about the geology, which he knew well but not what we signed up for.

Great trip

Dan_M, Jun 2022

Jeff the guide was awesome. Lots of knowledge and engaging stories. Scenery was spectacular. Saw lots of wildlife. Highly recommend this

Must do !

Brian_K, Aug 2021

Great experience and totally worth it !! You must plan this in your next trip to Banff !! Lots to see and discover ..

Fantastic day.

Carrie_M, Jul 2021

What a great day from start to finish. Jeff our tour guide was fantastic. Lots of info and great stories. From the waterfalls to the restaurant and boo the bear. Lunch was really good and the views were unbelievable. Boo put on a great show for us. Would highly recommend this tour. Picked us up at the hotel and when we were dropped off we were greeted by some white tailed deer. 😊

Great tour

Purplexo02, Aug 2019

Great tour, staff were friendly and knowledgeable ,very clean bus. In all it was a fantastic day. Would recommend this to everyone

Exceeded our expectations

Roy_M, Jul 2019

Two of us experienced the Discover Grizzly Bear Tour from Banff on July 22, 2019 with Ronnie as our excellent guide. Warning, it is a 10+ hour tour, that includes a total of 3 additional stops to and from the Grizzly Bear Sanctuary in Golden. We were fortunate to travel on a beautiful sunny day and saw many wildlife such as a Black Bear, Marmot and a mama Grizzly Bear along with her two cubs. At Golden, we took the Gondola to the top of the mountain for a fantastic view and delicious lunch. Then rode up a chairlift to observe Boo the rescued Grizzly Bear. He was very active that day and we got many up close pictures. The amazing scenic stops were at Takaka Falls, Emerald Lake and Natural Bridges. Ronnie took good care of us and entertained/educated us with stories and facts throughout the day. Overall a great experience. Highly recommend.

Great discovery

Bram_S, Jun 2019

Besides the fact that we actually have seen Boo, in refuge, we saw quite a lot other wildlife during our trip from Banff to Golden as well. Great guidance from Becca who was very enthousiastic and customer friendly. The fact that we actually left Banff and went all the way to Golden was disappointing.

Thumbs up!

EmiLiana_G, Sep 2018

We joined this tour to meet and spend time with Boo, the Grizzly bear, which we accomplished successfully, Our tour guide, Niel, was very knowledgeable and engaged us throughout the tour; the tour guide at the Bear’s Refuge area was very informative too, We learned a lot about bear and Banff surroundings. The view of Emerald Lake took our breaths away, Lunch was delicious, overall thumbs up for this tour! We are glad we took it.

Grizzly Bear Refuge, Golden, British Columbia

Bob_W, Aug 2018

The purpose of the trip was to see a grizzly bear in a 20 acre refuge on Kicking Horse Resort in Golden, BC, Canada. Our guide Hugh picked us up at our hotel in Banff in a comfortable air conditioned bus, which filled up with 24 guests from various parts of the world. This was a 10 hour day which included scenic spots along the way. Hugh is very knowledgeable about bears, so he gave us excellent commentary while enroute. Upon arriving at Kicking Horse Resort we boarded a gondola which took us up the mountain to a ski resort restaurant for a good lunch. After lunch we rode the gondola back to base and then road a chair lift back up the mountain to the bear refuge to see Boo, a 600 lb Grizzly. The refuge is forested, so there is a chance the bear may not appear in the open, but this was a very hot day, so Boo gave us a good show by cooling off in a natural pool of water in his fenced in enclosure. The price of gondola tickets, lunch and chair lift tickets is included in the package. Long day but an excellent trip worth the money. Bob

A grizzly bear at close range! How...

Jennifer E, Oct 2017

A grizzly bear at close range! How could this trip be anything less than 5 stars? So amazing. The tour guide at the refuge was fantastic, and Neal Neil? E. was a wonderful guide for the day with a lot of knowledge. Several stops to and from the refuge were beautiful, and the gondola ride/chair lift ride were added bonuses.

This was a really enjoyable tour...

Alexander_H, Sep 2017

This was a really enjoyable tour with a very informative guide. The stops at Takakka falls and emerald lake were wonderful. Also really liked the gondola ride to the top of the kicking horse mountain and had a very nice lunch at the eagles eye restaurant. Then we rode the chair lift to the grizzly bear refuge which was a very lovely experience but sadly we didn't see Boo as he was hiding that day but that can't be helped. We had to meet at the parking lot behind the mount royal hotel and it would have been good if we had been told before hand that parking was not in the lot but had to find a space on the street

This was an excellent day tour...

Bette G, Sep 2017

This was an excellent day tour! Chris was a fun, knowledgable and caring guide. He was a pretty amazing driver too. My sister and I enjoyed the smaller bus. Our noon meal and restaurant were a nice additon.

Ed our tour guide was great . The...

Nicola D, Aug 2017

Ed our tour guide was great . The tour was well organised and he was very informative . We had a great view if boo the grizzly and takkakaw falls was amazing !

This was a great tour. The tour...

Mary T, Sep 2016

This was a great tour. The tour guide was wonderful and very informative. The scenery was beautiful and Boo the grizzly bear was very cooperative. I would definitely recommend taking this tour!

Marvelous trip with tour guide Mike who...

Qinghua L, Aug 2016

Marvelous trip with tour guide Mike who is humorous and knowledgeable and from Australia!

...