Sunrise at Moraine Lake

I spent most of the summer looking forward to seeing the Canadian Rockies and specifically catching the sunrise at Moraine Lake.

Moraine Lake in Alberta, Canada has become one of the most “instagrammable” places in Banff and for good reason. The water in the lake is so blue and the lake is surrounded by towering mountains. One of the best things about this lake is that you do not have to do a huge hike to experience its splendor.

One of the biggest challenges though is getting parking. Moraine Lake has only recently become popular and because of that, it is a tough place to visit. The parking lot is small and it is hard to get to from town. The Canadian National Park system has the parking very heavily regulated and will close the lot when the parking lot fills up. Since I was not chancing it on getting there when the parking lot was full, I got camped as close as I could to the national park, set my alarm for 3am, and drove the hour into the lake to arrive at about 4:15am. Once I arrived, I went back to sleep in the van for a bit but was feeling glad to have gotten there so early because the lot was already half full.

If you do not want to wake up in the middle of the night, there are shuttles from town that drive in to see Moraine Lake throughout the day. Stop by the tourist center for more info when you arrive in town or look online to book a shuttle in advance.

When I woke up, I walked over to the lake and watched the sun come up across the lake. It was a pretty magical experience with the sun moving over the mountains over the glacier blue water.

Moraine Lake is a must see in Banff!