Emerald Lake Lodge sits on a peninsula in the most aptly named lake in the Canadian Rockies, its waters a startling jade green beneath the peaks of the President Range. Hidden in Yoho National Park, just over the Continental Divide from Banff, it offers a quieter, more intimate alternative to the grand railway hotels of Lake Louise, with fireplaces in every room, canoes at the shore and trails leading straight from the door.
Emerald Lake Lodge sits on a peninsula in the most aptly named lake in the Canadian Rockies, its waters a startling jade green beneath the peaks of the President Range. Hidden in Yoho National Park, just over the Continental Divide from Banff, it offers a quieter, more intimate alternative to the grand railway hotels of Lake Louise, with fireplaces in every room, canoes at the shore and trails leading straight from the door.
Location: Yoho National Park, British Columbia, Canada
The lodge lies at the end of a short road in Yoho National Park, British Columbia, about 15 minutes' drive from the village of Field and around 40 minutes from Lake Louise. The lodge is car-free: guests park nearby and walk or are shuttled across a small bridge to the property. Calgary International Airport is roughly two and a half hours away.
Yoho, whose name comes from a Cree expression of awe, is famous for its waterfalls, including Takakkaw Falls, one of the highest in Canada, and for the Burgess Shale, a UNESCO-listed fossil site of world importance, which can be visited on guided hikes.
The lake owes its extraordinary colour to fine glacial sediment suspended in the water, which reflects green light, and the effect is at its most intense on sunny days in July and August. Mount Burgess, Wapta Mountain and the peaks of the President Range rise around it, their glaciers and waterfalls feeding the lake.
Rooms and suites at Emerald Lake Lodge
The lodge has 85 rooms spread across a cluster of timber chalet buildings around the main lodge. Every room has a wood-burning fieldstone fireplace and a balcony, and there are no televisions, so the landscape outside is the entertainment. Interiors are rustic and cosy, with timber furniture, quilts and soft lighting.
Options include standard rooms, a number of Emerald Suites with extra space, and the secluded Point Cabin for a special occasion. Request a lake-view room, as views vary across the property.
The atmosphere is relaxed and friendly, with a sense of community among guests in the lounge and dining room in the evenings, and a pleasant feeling of seclusion once the day visitors have left the lakeshore.
Facilities at Emerald Lake Lodge
The Mount Burgess Dining Room serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, with Rocky Mountain cuisine featuring elk, bison and other regional ingredients, and the Kicking Horse Lounge pours drinks across a historic oak bar salvaged from an 1890s Yukon saloon. In summer, Cilantro on the Lake offers relaxed, bistro-style dining on a terrace by the water.
There is an outdoor hot tub, a sauna and a games room with an antique snooker table. Canoes can be rented at the lakeshore, and the easy 5.5-kilometre trail around the lake starts at the lodge. In winter, the area offers cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, and the lake freezes into a snowy plain beneath the peaks.
Yoho also makes an excellent day trip from the lodge in every direction: the Natural Bridge on the Kicking Horse River, Takakkaw Falls and the Yoho Valley, and, with advance booking through Parks Canada, the high alpine wonderland of Lake O'Hara, one of the most beautiful and carefully protected areas in the Rockies.
The mountain moment
The defining moment is an early-morning paddle on Emerald Lake, before the day visitors arrive, with mist lifting off the jade water and the peaks of the President Range reflected in its surface. Return for breakfast by the fire, with the whole day ahead.
For the more ambitious, the hike to Emerald Basin, or the Iceline Trail above Takakkaw Falls, offers some of the finest glacier views in the Canadian Rockies.
Why Emerald Lake Lodge is one of the best mountain hotels
Emerald Lake Lodge earns its place because it combines one of the most beautiful lakes in the Rockies with a warm, intimate lodge that feels a world away from the crowds of Banff. Rooms are rustic rather than luxurious, and the lake is busy with visitors during summer days. But in the early mornings and evenings, it is pure magic, and its fireplaces and lack of TVs make it a perfect romantic escape.
The lodge's history adds to its charm. The Canadian Pacific Railway first built a chalet on the lake in the early 1900s, as part of its chain of mountain retreats along the railway, and the lodge has welcomed hikers, climbers and honeymooners ever since.
When to go to Emerald Lake Lodge
The lodge is open year-round. Summer, from late June to September, is the best time for canoeing, hiking and seeing the lake at its most vividly green, after the ice melts in early June. Autumn brings golden larches and quieter trails. Winter turns the lodge into a snowy hideaway, with cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and cosy evenings by the fire. Book ahead for summer.
Questions, answered
- Does Emerald Lake Lodge have TVs in the rooms?
- No. Rooms have wood-burning fireplaces and balconies but no televisions.
- How far is Emerald Lake Lodge from Lake Louise?
- About 40 minutes by car. Field is about 15 minutes away.
- Can you canoe on Emerald Lake?
- Yes. Canoes can be rented at the lakeshore in summer, and the trail around the lake starts at the lodge.
