Where to Stay in Jasper, Alberta, Canada - Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge
There’s something in the air as you enter Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge. Surrounded by pristine lakes, rivers, mountains with snowy peaks, unlike any of the Fairmont properties we have visited before, staying at Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge feels more like sleeping a luxury basecamp than just a mountain resort. In fact, in the 1910s, they used to have 10 luxury sleeping tent sitting on the exact location as where the resort is now. The Tent City, they named it, was set up for dining and socializing. Then in 1921, Canadian National Railways took over Tent City and renovated the existing camp to eight log cabins and Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge was born.
The lodge sprawls throughout the forests, along the lakes with a central building . Hundreds of cedar chalets and cabins are connected with picturesque paths. For those, who wants a quieter, more rustic and return-to-nature experience, this is the perfect place for you.
Breakfast is served in restaurant Orso Trattoria with with a spectacular view to Lac Beauvert Lake and Canadian Rockies. You can find family-style buffets made with some purest, healthiest produce in Canada. Dinners can be truly magical, too with sitting in the Emerald Lounge, watching the sun going down behind the snowy mountains, sipping on a couple of sundowners, and biting into some hearty burgers and veggie wraps.
Being in the national park also means you will be neighboring with some amazing wild lives. During our walk along the lake, we encountered five Mule deers walking casually by. One morning, when we opened our cabin door to let some fresh air in, we saw some white-tail deers eating grass off the lawn outside our cabin. Then there are stories shared among the guests on seeing grizzly bears on the golf course, Elk on the path, chipmunks running in front of you, coyotes standing by the lake, and many many more (not all at the same day, of course!). The point is Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge is in the nature, where the wild animals live as well. That’s why it is so important to know what to do and respect these wild lives. Don’t feed them. Don’t approach them (30 meters away from elk and 100 meters from bears). Stay on designated trails.
Another advantage of being right in the middle of the national parks is there is so much to see, do and experience through out the year! Skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, golfing, fat biking, ice walking, skating, glacier adventures, biking, rafting, horseback riding, ice climbing, and much more. During our stay, we rode SkyTram to the mountain top and then snowshoed to the peak. The view was just breathtaking. It was such a wonderful way experience the Rockies. Another very special expeience that you definitely shouldn’t miss is stargazing! In 2011, Jasper was designated as a Dark Sky Preserve by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, due to its limited light pollution that creates ideal conditions for dark sky viewing. At 11,000 square kilometers, Jasper National Park is the world’s 2nd largest Dark Sky Preserve. In other words, Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge is a magnificent place to watch out for the stars! You can even set up a Northern Light call with the concierge, who would ring you up when this phenomenal natural wonder appears over the lodge.
On our last day at Jasper, I happened to wake up super early and witnessed the most epic sunrise/moonset by the lake. There was no one else, but the birds and ducks singing and quacking nearby. I remember feeling so grateful to be there and have this truly authentic “unwind and reconnect with nature” experience.
Sadly, leaving Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge also means the end of our 9 days Canadian adventures. As we started driving off the resort and heading toward Edmonton Airport, one of the kids said. “I wonder how this place looks like in summer?” Well, good question! I guess, we will just have to come back and see for ourselves, no?
*We are invited as guests by Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, but all opinions are our own.
