Jasper is brilliantly set up for getting out on the trails, whatever your ability, and in many ways it feels even more geared towards hiking than Banff. There are several easy routes that start right from town, including the eight-kilometre Discovery Trail, a largely flat loop that circles Jasper and links together natural viewpoints and local history, including the town’s railway heritage. If you’re after something more challenging, longer trails climb up into the hills and thread through the forest, and mountain biking is also hugely popular, with plenty of well-regarded off-road tracks close by.

Wildlife is very much part of the Jasper experience too, so it’s worth keeping your eyes open as you explore. Elk are commonly seen around town and along the valley, and bighorn sheep are also frequent visitors in the area.

If you’d like a bigger perspective on the landscape, the Jasper SkyTram is a great option, taking you up to over 2,200 metres for wide-open views across Jasper National Park. From the upper station you get that classic, high-alpine feel and sweeping 360-degree panoramas over the Athabasca Valley and the surrounding peaks, and there are short walking trails at the top if you’d like to stretch your legs while you’re up there.

A little further out, Maligne Lake is one of Jasper’s standout spots, a vivid, glacier-fed turquoise lake backed by dramatic mountains. You can drive there independently and join a boat cruise, then spend some time afterwards along the shoreline, or hire a canoe for an hour if you fancy getting out on the water. There’s also a lakefront café, which makes it a very easy place to slow down for a while.

The drive to Maligne Lake is scenic in its own right, and it’s well worth stopping at Maligne Canyon en route. A series of footbridges and viewpoints let you look down into the limestone gorge as the Maligne River funnels through it, with several waterfalls and churning sections of water along the way.