# The best family hotels in Banff

Written 2026-10-10 by Play Day. Banff hotels for a family: the ones downtown you can walk from, the Banff Avenue lodges with kitchenettes and free breakfast, and the two grand hotels up the hill. Most have an indoor pool.

Elk walk down the main street in Banff, and a day of gondola rides, Lake Minnewanka and Lake Louise ends in a pool. Most hotels here have an indoor pool, and the Moose Hotel and Suites has two rooftop hot pools that face Cascade Mountain.

The town is one main street, Banff Avenue, with the shops and restaurants at the south end by the river and the motels and lodges strung out to the north. Downtown you walk everywhere; up the avenue you drive or take the Roam bus. Both ends are a short drive to the gondola, the hot springs and Lake Minnewanka.

## Downtown, on foot to everything

### [Banff Park Lodge Resort Hotel](https://ourplayday.com/places/banff-park-lodge-resort-hotel-banff)

Area: Lynx Street, downtown

Big and plain, a block from Banff Avenue and two blocks from the river, with a hot tub beside the indoor pool and Central Park's playground a few minutes away. The suites give a family a second room.

- Suites: Yes
- Fridge: Yes
- Pool: Yes, indoor
- Indoor pool: Yes

### [Peaks Hotel and Suites](https://ourplayday.com/places/peaks-hotel-and-suites-banff)

Area: Lynx Street, downtown

A newer hotel across the road from the Banff Park Lodge, with a pool, and a kitchenette in the suites so breakfast happens upstairs. The restaurants, the river path and the bus are a walk.

- Suites: Yes
- Fridge: Yes
- Kitchenette: Yes
- Pool: No

### [Moose Hotel and Suites](https://ourplayday.com/places/moose-hotel-and-suites-banff)

Area: Banff Avenue, downtown

The rooftop hot pools face Cascade Mountain, with the indoor pool beside them. Suites come as one or two bedrooms, right on the main street.

- Suites: Yes
- Fridge: Yes
- Kitchenette: Yes
- Pool: Yes, indoor
- Indoor pool: Yes

### [Banff Ptarmigan Inn](https://ourplayday.com/places/banff-ptarmigan-inn-banff)

Area: Banff Avenue, downtown

A straightforward downtown hotel, with a steam room beside the pool, a restaurant downstairs and the whole of Banff Avenue at the door.

- Fridge: Yes
- Pool: Yes

### [Fox Hotel and Suites](https://ourplayday.com/places/fox-hotel-and-suites-banff)

Area: Banff Avenue

The pool is a grotto (it's modeled on the Cave and Basin springs). Some suites have two bedrooms, the shops are a ten-minute walk down Banff Avenue and the bus stops outside.

- Suites: Yes
- Kitchenette: Yes
- Pool: Yes

### [Basecamp Suites Banff](https://ourplayday.com/places/basecamp-suites-banff-banff)

Area: Marten Street, downtown

Apartment-style, with in-suite laundry, on a quiet residential street near the river, and there's a pool. Good for a family of five downtown, or a week where you'd rather cook.

- Suites: Yes
- Fridge: Yes
- Kitchenette: Yes
- Pool: Yes

## Up Banff Avenue, with a kitchenette

More room, a drive or a bus from downtown.

### [Canalta Lodge](https://ourplayday.com/places/canalta-lodge-banff)

Area: Banff Avenue, north

A modern lodge with a games room and a heated outdoor pool. Breakfast is free, the bus into town stops nearby, and we'd book it first on this stretch.

- Fridge: Yes
- Kitchenette: Yes
- Pool: Yes
- Free breakfast: Yes

### [Rundlestone Lodge](https://ourplayday.com/places/rundlestone-lodge-banff)

Area: Banff Avenue, north

Stone and timber, with a hot tub by the indoor pool and loft rooms that work for four. Downtown is about fifteen minutes on foot, or the bus.

- Suites: Yes
- Fridge: Yes
- Kitchenette: Yes
- Pool: Yes, indoor
- Indoor pool: Yes

### [Banff Rocky Mountain Resort](https://ourplayday.com/places/banff-rocky-mountain-resort-banff)

Area: Banff Avenue, far north end

Condo-style suites with fireplaces, out at the edge of town, where elk wander through the grounds. There's a pool and a tennis court. You'll drive or ride the bus to dinner, and you get a whole condo for it.

- Suites: Yes
- Fridge: Yes
- Kitchenette: Yes
- Pool: Yes, indoor
- Indoor pool: Yes

### [Hidden Ridge Resort](https://ourplayday.com/places/hidden-ridge-resort-banff)

Area: Tunnel Mountain

Condo units with kitchens on the hillside above the town. The hot tub looks over the valley, and downtown is a drive down.

- Fridge: Yes
- Kitchenette: Yes
- Pool: Yes
- Free breakfast: Yes

### [Tunnel Mountain Resort](https://ourplayday.com/places/tunnel-mountain-resort-banff)

Area: Tunnel Mountain

Chalets and suites on the Tunnel Mountain road, with a playground and trails that start at the door.

- Suites: Yes
- Fridge: Yes
- Kitchenette: Yes
- Pool: Yes, indoor
- Indoor pool: Yes

## The grand hotels up the hill

### [Fairmont Banff Springs](https://ourplayday.com/places/fairmont-banff-springs-banff)

Area: Spray Avenue, above the river

The castle has a bowling alley and pools indoors and out, and it's big enough to explore, with long corridors and the view of the Bow Falls from the terrace. Rooms in the castle are historic, and there are suites. Town is a twenty-minute walk or a short bus.

- Pool: Yes

### [Rimrock Resort Hotel](https://ourplayday.com/places/rimrock-resort-hotel-banff)

Area: Sulphur Mountain

Up the mountain road at the top of town, beside the gondola and the hot springs, with a pool. Everything else is a bus or a drive down.

- Suites: Yes
- Fridge: Yes
- Pool: Yes, indoor
- Indoor pool: Yes

Page: https://ourplayday.com/guides/canada/alberta/banff/family-hotels