Quick Answer
Two operators run horse-drawn sleigh rides in the Banff area. Banff Trail Riders operates out of Warner Stables near the townsite, running through mountain meadows with views of Mount Rundle and Cascade Mountain. Brewster Adventures runs sleigh rides at Lake Louise along the frozen lakeshore beneath Victoria Glacier. Both offer public and private options. Rides last about 40 to 60 minutes. Season runs roughly mid-December through early April, snow permitting. Christmas and Valentine’s Day periods book out fast – reserve well ahead.
Prices verified March 2026 against Banff Trail Riders and Brewster Adventures official sources.
Yes. Two established operators run horse-drawn sleigh rides in the Banff area. Banff Trail Riders operates from Warner Stables near the townsite, offering rides through open mountain meadows. Brewster Adventures runs sleigh rides at Lake Louise along a lakeside trail beneath Victoria Glacier. Both are genuine, well-run winter experiences. Neither requires hiking or significant physical effort, which makes them one of the best winter activities in the park for families, couples, and non-skiers alike.
Banff in winter is best known for its ski resorts, and rightly so. But the sleigh ride occupies a different space. It’s quieter. The pace is the horses’ pace. You sit under a blanket with the mountains in every direction, and the only sound is hooves on snow and the occasional jingle of harness hardware. There’s a reason people who have done both the gondola and the sleigh ride still talk about the sleigh ride differently. It’s intimate in a way that a gondola cabin with thirty strangers isn’t.
The one honest caveat is that these rides are weather and snow dependent. Banff townsite sits lower than Lake Louise, and in mild winters, snowpack at the stables can be marginal. If there isn’t enough snow on the ground, Banff Trail Riders will substitute a wagon ride on the same route. The route and the guide stay the same; the runners become wheels. It’s worth knowing about before you go, not to discourage you, but so you’re not caught off guard.
Lake Louise, being higher in elevation, tends to maintain better snow conditions through the season. If having a true sleigh on runners is important to you, the Lake Louise ride is the safer bet.
Wondering how to pull it all together? Our guide on how to plan a Banff National Park trip walks you through everything from Calgary to the trails without any guesswork.
The Banff Trail Riders sleigh ride travels through open mountain meadows near Warner Stables, with views of Mount Rundle, Cascade Mountain, and Sulphur Mountain. Rides last about 40 minutes. After the ride, you can warm up by the campfire with a hot drink. The Lake Louise experience follows the frozen lakeshore beneath Victoria Glacier – more enclosed and dramatic, with ice falls visible at the far end of the lake. That ride runs 45 to 60 minutes.
The Banff townsite ride is an open-meadow experience. The sleigh moves through the fields around Warner Stables at the base of Sundance Canyon, with the mountains forming the backdrop in every direction. Mount Rundle rises to the southeast. Cascade Mountain fills the north. In clear weather, the scale is quietly staggering. The guide, typically in cowboy attire and genuinely knowledgeable about the park, keeps up a running commentary on the terrain, the horses, and the wildlife you might spot. Elk in the meadows are a real possibility. Coyotes aren’t rare either.
On a public sleigh, you share the experience with other guests on wooden bench seats with wool blankets for warmth. Blankets are for use during the ride on public sleighs and are not included to take home. Hot drinks are self-serve at the campfire after the ride. S’mores kits need to be purchased separately on the public option.
The private sleigh for two is a different vehicle entirely: a two-seat cutter, one horse, moving quietly through the same landscape but with just the two of you and the driver. Buffalo hides are included on private rides. So are a s’mores kit and hot drinks by the fire after. The intimacy changes the experience considerably. Several of our guided guests have used the private sleigh for proposals, and the stables staff are good at keeping secrets when asked in advance.
The Lake Louise experience with Brewster Adventures is scenically a step above the townsite ride. The sleigh follows the frozen surface of Lake Louise along the lakeshore trail, with Victoria Glacier straight ahead and the ice falls visible at the far end of the lake. Day rides let you see the glacier in full light. Evening rides are something else: the Fairmont Château Lake Louise glowing across the ice, stars beginning to show, the mountains present as dark shapes in the blue dusk. The 15-passenger capacity sleighs at Brewster are larger and more padded than the Banff cutter sleighs. Both options have their advocates, and the debate is genuinely close.
We’ve created a detailed Lake Louise guide because this iconic spot requires serious planning – from shuttle reservations to avoiding peak crowds to finding the best viewpoints.
One thing that surprises first-timers on both rides: how cold it gets. You are sitting still. There is no exertion to generate warmth. At -10°C or colder, which is normal Banff winter weather, that stillness becomes significant inside about 15 minutes. The guides and stables staff know this and will say it every time. Dress as if you’re standing outside in that temperature for an hour, not as if you’re walking briskly. The difference matters.
photo from tour Banff Gondola Ride Ticket – Scenic Summit
Book directly with Banff Trail Riders at horseback.com or through a third-party like Banff Adventures or Discover Banff Tours. For Lake Louise, book through Brewster Adventures at brewsteradventures.com. Both operators require advance reservations during Christmas-New Year’s and Valentine’s Day periods. Banff Trail Riders offers 10% off for bookings made 7+ days ahead with code ONLINE2SAVE.
Booking logistics worth knowing: Banff Trail Riders requires guests to meet at Warner Stables, 100 Sundance Road, which is about a 5-minute drive or a 20-minute walk from downtown Banff. Free parking is on-site. Arrive 15 to 20 minutes before your departure time to check in at the office in the west barn. Waivers are signed on site. Photo ID may be required.
For the Lake Louise Brewster rides: all guests must check in at the Brewster sleigh desk inside the Fairmont Château Lake Louise lobby at least 30 minutes before the ride. That is not flexible. Missing the boarding time means missing the ride, no exceptions. If you’re driving from Banff, allow at least 1.5 hours of travel time and factor in potential winter road conditions and parking.
Both operators have a 24-hour cancellation policy. Cancellations made less than 24 hours before the ride are non-refundable. Group bookings require 7 days notice. If the operator cancels due to weather, a refund or rebooking will be offered.
If you’d prefer someone else to handle the booking and logistics as part of a broader winter day in Banff, our team at Banff National Park Tours can pair the sleigh ride with a Johnston Canyon icewalk, the gondola, or a wildlife tour so the day is properly planned rather than stitched together on the fly.
Not sure which operator to book? I’ve compared the best Banff National Park tours so you can see which ones actually deliver on their promises versus which just shuttle you between viewpoints.
photo from Johnston Canyon Icewalk Tour – Morning or Afternoon Guided Adventure
The best windows are mid-January through February for the most reliable snow conditions at both locations. Christmas-New Year’s is magical but the most crowded and expensive. Valentine’s Day weekend (February 14-15) is peak demand for the private-for-two option and sells out weeks in advance. If you want a quieter, less pressured experience, a Tuesday or Wednesday in late January is the sweet spot: good snow, manageable temperatures, and no holiday pricing.
Snow is the controlling variable for sleigh rides in Banff. The townsite sits at 1,400 metres and experiences occasional mid-winter warm spells where snowpack at lower elevations gets soft or patchy. When that happens, Banff Trail Riders substitutes a wagon – same horses, same guide, same route, but wheels instead of runners. Not a cancellation, but not quite the same thing. Lake Louise sits higher and holds snow more reliably, which is why many repeat visitors choose the Brewster experience when they want certainty.
January is the reliable month. Temperatures are consistently cold enough for firm snow, the Christmas crush has cleared out, and accommodation prices drop significantly compared to December. Weekdays in January are about as uncrowded as winter Banff gets.
The Banff Trail Riders season for the townsite operation runs in two defined windows: December 19, 2025 to January 4, 2026, and February 7 to March 6, 2026. Outside those dates, sleigh rides from Warner Stables do not operate. Brewster at Lake Louise runs a longer season, mid-December to early April, provided snow conditions allow.
Evening rides at Lake Louise are worth knowing about. Brewster runs evening departures at 7 pm daily except Sundays (outside holiday periods). The lake in the dark, with the château lit behind you and the stars hard and clear above, is a genuinely different experience from the daytime version. If the night is clear and the temperature is manageable, it’s one of the more atmospheric things you can do in winter Banff. You’re not hiking to it. You’re just sitting in a sleigh in one of the most beautiful places on earth, watching the sky.
Wondering when to go? Check out the best time to visit Banff National Park tours – certain months give you perfect weather while others mean dealing with massive summer crowds.
Dress for standing still in -10°C to -20°C for an hour. That means a proper winter coat, thermal base layers, ski pants or heavy insulated trousers, thick wool or synthetic mittens (not gloves), a toque and neck gaiter or balaclava, and warm waterproof boots. Chemical hand warmers and toe warmers are highly recommended. The sleigh is open-top with no windbreak. Being underdressed is the most common complaint in reviews, and it’s entirely avoidable.
The stables staff say this before every ride, and the TripAdvisor reviews say it after: the single biggest factor in whether you enjoy a sleigh ride is whether you dressed for it. This is not the same as dressing for a ski day. On the slopes, you are moving. Your body generates heat. On a sleigh, you are sitting still for 40 to 60 minutes while cold air moves past you. The effective temperature is colder than the thermometer reading. In January in Banff, that could mean a genuine -20°C wind chill while you’re sitting still in an open vehicle.
The gear that makes the difference:
Mittens, not gloves. Fingers together retain heat. Fingers separated lose it. On a 40-minute ride, the difference is significant.
Toe warmers inside your boots. These cost a few dollars at any outdoor shop in the townsite. Reviewers who skipped them regretted it. Reviewers who used them said their feet were fine the whole ride.
A neck gaiter or balaclava. The face and neck are the biggest heat-loss areas when the rest of you is bundled up. A gaiter that can be pulled up over your chin changes everything.
Thermal base layers. Not just a regular shirt under your coat. Actual thermal underlayer on top and bottom. This is Canadian Rockies winter, not a European ski town.
On private rides, buffalo hides are provided and they genuinely work – thick, heavy, and warm enough to make the difference between comfortable and cold when the wind picks up around a turn. On public rides, blankets are available but not personal-grade insulation. Come prepared regardless of what the operator includes.
One more practical note: the stables have free parking. If you’re walking the 20 minutes from downtown in winter, dress for the walk. You’ll want to remove a layer at the stables before you board, not add one.
The sleigh ride pairs naturally with Johnston Canyon Icewalk (5 km round trip on a frozen canyon catwalk, Upper Falls forms a cathedral of ice), the Banff Gondola (open year-round, spectacular in snow), snowshoeing at Cascade Amphitheatre or Lake Louise, and the Banff SnowDays Festival (January 16 to February 8, 2026). The entire winter season has more going on than most first-time visitors realise.
The Johnston Canyon Icewalk is the natural companion to a sleigh ride day. You can do both comfortably without overdoing it. The canyon catwalk, which in summer is a busy paved walk over rushing water, transforms in winter into a proper icewalk: the waterfalls freeze solid, ice formations build on the walls, and the Upper Falls becomes what locals call the Cathedral of Ice, a column of frozen water that fills the end of the canyon. Microspikes are required and available to rent at the trailhead. The icewalk is 5 km round trip to the Upper Falls and back, and it’s one of the most distinctive things you can do in the Canadian Rockies in winter.
The Banff Gondola runs year-round and is arguably more atmospheric in winter than in summer. Snow-covered peaks in every direction. Frost on the boardwalk railings. The view from Sulphur Mountain summit at 2,281 metres on a clear February morning is extraordinary. Book ahead, same as summer.
SnowDays Festival runs January 16 to February 8, 2026, in the Banff townsite. Ice carving, live music, outdoor skating, and various winter events concentrated in the townsite. The ice sculptures at the Banff Springs are worth a walk even if you don’t book any festival events directly.
Skiing is obviously the headline winter activity. SkiBig3 covers three resorts: Lake Louise (around 4,400 acres including the new Richardson’s Ridge), Sunshine Village (averages over 9 metres of snow per season, open until late May), and Mt. Norquay (190 acres, 7 minutes from the townsite, celebrating its 100th anniversary this season). SkiBig3 is an Ikon Pass partner.
For those who want a full winter day that isn’t ski-focused, a good combination is: morning sleigh ride at Warner Stables, afternoon Johnston Canyon Icewalk, gondola at dusk, dinner in the townsite. That itinerary covers the best non-skiing winter experiences in Banff without requiring skis, snowboards, or serious physical fitness.
Want it all organised in one place? Banff National Park Tours builds custom winter day itineraries for guests who want the icewalk, sleigh ride, and gondola timed and sequenced properly, without anyone standing in a cold parking lot figuring out what to do next.
Need winter activity ideas? Our guide to Banff National Park tours winter activities covers everything from downhill skiing to ice walks to snowshoeing under the peaks.
Based on feedback from winter guests in our 8,600+ guided traveler network:
Prices vary by option. The private sleigh for two with Banff Trail Riders starts at around CAD $254 per sleigh (Verified March 2026). Public shared sleigh rides are less expensive per person. The private family sleigh for up to four people is priced per sleigh. Brewster Adventures at Lake Louise sets its own rates; check brewsteradventures.com for current pricing. Peak pricing applies during Christmas-New Year’s and Valentine’s Day periods. Banff Trail Riders offers 10% off with code ONLINE2SAVE for bookings made 7+ days ahead.
Banff Trail Riders operates within two defined windows: December 19, 2025 to January 4, 2026, and February 7 to March 6, 2026. Outside those dates, the Warner Stables sleigh rides do not run. Brewster Adventures at Lake Louise operates mid-December through early April. Both operators are weather and snow dependent – rides may be cancelled or converted to wagon rides in warm or low-snow conditions. Check each operator’s social media or contact them directly on the day if conditions look marginal.
Both are excellent; the right choice depends on what you want. The Lake Louise experience with Brewster Adventures is widely considered more scenic – the sleigh follows the frozen lakeshore beneath Victoria Glacier, with ice falls visible at the far end. Lake Louise also tends to have more reliable snow conditions given its higher elevation. The Banff townsite ride with Banff Trail Riders is more convenient if you’re staying in Banff, and the open-meadow setting with mountain views is genuinely beautiful. For a romantic evening experience, Brewster’s 7 pm Lake Louise ride under the stars with the Château lit behind you is hard to beat.
Banff Trail Riders may substitute a wagon ride if snowpack at Warner Stables is insufficient. The route, guide, and horses remain the same; runners become wheels. This is most likely to occur in December or early March during milder spells. If the operator cancels entirely due to weather conditions, a refund or rebooking will be offered. Lake Louise, being at higher elevation, generally maintains better snow through the season.
Yes, children are welcome on public and private family sleigh rides with Banff Trail Riders, provided they are accompanied by a parent or legal guardian. Children under 3 ride free but do not have a guaranteed seat and may need to sit on a lap. The private sleigh for two is for adults only (18+). Parents or guardians must sign a waiver on behalf of all riders under 18.
Banff Trail Riders sleigh rides depart from Warner Stables at 100 Sundance Road, Banff. Look for the big red stables at the end of Sundance Road. Check in at the office in the west barn. The stables are a 5-minute drive or 20-minute walk from downtown Banff with free parking on-site. Arrive 15 to 20 minutes before your departure. For Brewster Adventures at Lake Louise, check in at the sleigh desk in the lobby of the Fairmont Château Lake Louise – a minimum of 30 minutes before departure.
Sleigh ride in the morning, Johnston Canyon Icewalk in the afternoon, gondola at dusk. We know how to time it and which operators to trust. Let Banff National Park Tours put the day together for you.
Written by Avery Claire Thompson Canadian tour guide since 2014 · Founder, Banff National Park Tours Avery has guided over 8,600 travelers through Banff National Park and the Canadian Rockies since founding the agency.
