Accommodation

Want to sleep close to the trailhead? This page covers the three main ways to do it — campgrounds, hostels, and backcountry huts — plus how the booking systems work and which spots are reservable versus first-come, first-served.

Start with How Booking Works for the reservation systems and launch dates, then pick your area below.

These are all frontcountry campgrounds — car-accessible, drive-up sites you use as a basecamp, not backcountry sites you hike into. (For huts you hike to, see Backcountry Huts.)

Each area below has its own page, using the same area names as the Popular Locations weather page so you can line up the forecast with a place to sleep. Within each area, the important campgrounds are grouped by how you get a spot:

• Reservable — book ahead through the operator's reservation system (see How Booking Works).
• First-come, first-served (FCFS) — no reservations; you claim a site in person, so arrive early on summer weekends.

Kananaskis and the Foothills

Close enough to Calgary to decide on the morning of.

The Rocky Mountain Parks

The Bow Valley up the Icefields Parkway to Jasper — Parks Canada reservations and the chain of HI mountain hostels.

Southern Alberta and the Montana Border

Alberta Parks and Parks Canada sites in the south, plus the one area that books through the US system.

Interior and Coastal BC

Weekend-trip range, west of the Rockies.