Jasper National Park

Why this park

Jasper is the largest national park in the Canadian Rockies and immediately feels roomier and wilder than Banff: less traffic, more elk and bighorn sheep along the road, and a town that has stayed a village. Highlights are Maligne Lake with Spirit Island, the canyons and waterfalls of the Athabasca and the Sunwapta and the Columbia Icefield on the southern edge, where the Icefields Parkway arrives from Banff. Jasper is also one of the largest Dark Sky Preserves in the world.

For an RV trip, Jasper is the natural turning point of a Rockies loop: you arrive via the Icefields Parkway, stay two nights near town and drive back via the same Parkway or via Highway 16 and Mount Robson into British Columbia. The big campgrounds sit a few kilometres from town, so you cycle or take a short drive to the supermarket. Important to know: the wildfire of July 2024 hit part of the town and part of what the park offers. Much has reopened, but check the Parks Canada site for what is open this season.

With kids

Athabasca Falls is the easiest wow: a paved path with platforms and small bridges of a few hundred metres above a thundering waterfall, right on the Icefields Parkway. Sunwapta Falls, a little further south, is just as short. At Maligne Canyon you walk from bridge to bridge above a narrow gorge; as far as the second bridge it is flat and short, descending further is for those who feel like it. Maligne Lake, at the end of a 45-kilometre road with a good chance of wildlife, has a lakeshore path and a boat cruise to Spirit Island that even toddlers last through. Closer to town are Pyramid Lake with its little island reached by a footbridge and the beaches of Lake Annette and Lake Edith for swimming. Children aged six to eleven pick up the Parks Canada Xplorers booklet at the visitor centre.

The wildlife rules are the same as in Banff — thirty metres from elk and sheep, a hundred metres from bears, everything edible inside the closed RV — and you need them more often here, because the chance of a bear along Maligne Lake Road or the Parkway is real. On the Columbia Icefield the ice itself is off limits without a guide: the commercial ice explorers and the Skywalk are booked in advance, and on the Toe of the Athabasca Glacier Trail you stay behind the markers. Nights are cold, even in July; pack warm sleeping bags. And stay up after dark: with no moon you see the Milky Way from the campground like nowhere in Europe.

Camping and reservations

Whistlers Campground, a few kilometres south of town, is Parks Canada's largest campground and was completely rebuilt in 2021, with sites offering full hookups, electricity only or nothing, wide loops for big RVs and a free campground programme in summer. Wapiti, next door on the Athabasca, has electric sites and is partly open outside the season too. Further from town are Wabasso on Highway 93A, Snaring and Pocahontas in the north and, along the Icefields Parkway, simple campgrounds such as Honeymoon Lake, Jonas Creek and Wilcox Creek near the Columbia Icefield — mostly first-come, first-served and for shorter vehicles only. Everything goes through Parks Canada.

As in Banff, Parks Canada opens reservations for the season on pre-announced days in winter; the hookup sites at Whistlers for July and August go fast. Create your account in advance and put the launch date in your calendar. Outside the park, Hinton (an hour east on Highway 16) and Valemount (an hour and a half west in British Columbia) are the safety nets with RV parks, and Mount Robson Provincial Park has BC Parks campgrounds at the foot of the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies. Check the Parks Canada site every season for which campgrounds are open after the 2024 wildfire and whether restrictions apply.

Driving an RV

The Icefields Parkway (Highway 93) is the road you come for and is very drivable in a rental RV: wide enough, paved, with long climbs and descents around Sunwapta Pass and plenty of pullouts for the views. Fill up in Jasper or Lake Louise, because along the way the only fuel is at Saskatchewan River Crossing and only in season. Highway 16 (the Yellowhead) through town and on to Hinton or Mount Robson is an ordinary wide main road. Maligne Lake Road is paved and winding but fine for RVs; the car parks at Maligne Canyon and the lake are tight for long vehicles, so arrive early. There are no tunnels or height restrictions to worry about.

In the town of Jasper you park the RV in the designated large-vehicle areas on the edge of the centre, not in the shopping streets. Highway 93A, the old road past Athabasca Falls, is narrower and partly seasonal — check its status on the Parks Canada site. A valid Parks Canada pass is mandatory throughout the park, including on the through roads.

Frequently asked questions