Moraine Lake, located in the Valley of Ten Peaks, is a beautiful glacier-fed lake in Banff National Park. People often ask which is better: Moraine Lake or Lake Louise? While both lakes offer turquoise-blue waters among a scenic mountain background, they’re different.

You do have to plan ahead because you can’t drive a personal vehicle to Moraine Lake. Fortunately, we visited the lake twice: once on the Parks Canada Shuttle and the next day through Rockies Journey’s Half Day Tour of Lake Louise and Moraine Lake.

Getting to Moraine Lake

Parks Canada prohibits personal vehicles at Moraine Lake. Park rangers strictly enforce this, as you can’t even drive on the 8.5-mile road to the lake. You can hike, but you’ll share the narrow road with buses, and it’s uphill. Renting an e-bike is a popular option for some enthusiasts. However, to visit Moraine Lake by vehicle, you must book a Parks Canada Shuttle, Roam public transit, or a licensed bus tour.

As I mentioned in my post about visiting Lake Louise, Parks Canada offers affordable trips to both Lake Louise and Lake Moraine for only $12. The portal opens around April 15 and sells out quickly. Another 60% of shuttle tickets are released at 8 am, 48 hours before the day you want to visit. Create a Parks Canada account in advance so you can buy tickets quickly.

While on our vacation, I checked the Parks Canada website and saw shuttle tickets available for Thursday between 4 and 5 pm. Even though we were visiting Moraine on Friday through a tour company, I booked the Parks Canada shuttle for Thursday to give us more time at the lake.

Late Afternoon Visit to Moraine Lake

To catch the Parks Canada shuttle, we parked at Lake Louise Ski Resort and showed our shuttle tickets for free parking. At the ticket booth, the attendant confirmed we were within our one-hour departure window (you can’t go earlier than your timed ticket) and directed us to the correct shuttle. The ride takes about 30 to 40 minutes. Once we arrived at Moraine, we could stay as long as we wanted, as long as we caught the last shuttle departing at 7:30 pm.

Lakeshore Trail

With over two hours to explore, we walked the shoreline trail near the boathouse. Less than 2 miles (round-trip), the trail follows the western side of the lake to the south end. Even though the trail is easy with no elevation gain, only a handful of people were on it. By the time we reached the boardwalk at the end, overlooking a creek fed by the Wenkchemna Glacier, we had to wait for someone else to arrive to take our picture. Granted, it was nearing 6 pm, and things were winding down for the day.

It had started drizzling, but by the time we turned around, the skies cleared up. Even with the clouds, the lake showed off the most brilliant blue-green colors. While we didn’t hike it, the moderately rated 5.3-mile Larch Valley Trail takes visitors up multiple switchbacks to an alpine meadow filled with larch trees. It is popular in September when the larches turn golden-yellow.

After strolling along the shoreline trail, we found the cafe at Moraine Lake Lodge had closed for the day. Thankfully, the gift shop was open, so we could buy water and snacks for the trip back to the hotel. We’d had an incredibly busy day, driving the Icefield Parkway from Jasper and hiking at Johnston Canyon. We were getting tired and hungry!

Morning Visit to Moraine Lake

The next morning, we arrived at Moraine Lake around 11:15 via Rockies Journey Tours. The narrated tour took us first to Lake Louise for 75 minutes and then to Moraine Lake for 75 minutes. I found it relaxing to have someone else do the driving while they told us about the area. Plus, they provided water bottles, snacks, and even umbrellas.

Rockpile Trail

A popular trail at Moraine Lake is the Rockpile Trail. True to its name, visitors climb up a series of stairs built into large boulders. A sign explains that the large rocks may have rolled to this spot due to an avalanche or rockslide. Explorer Charles Wilcox named the area for this rockpile, which he mistakenly thought was a moraine, in 1899.

I wouldn’t call this a hike since it’s less than 0.5 miles round-trip. Still, there are lots of stairs to climb to gain 100 feet of elevation for the famous “Twenty Dollar View.” In both 1969 and 1979, Canada printed this exact view of Moraine Lake and the Valley of Ten Peaks on the back of the $20 bill.

Back at the cafe, a line formed since it was close to lunchtime. We stood in line for hot chocolate and coffee to warm up. All the seating was outside, and everyone stood under the eaves to stay dry in the rain. A lucky few gathered under the table umbrellas.

With only 75 minutes, we didn’t have time to do the 3.6-mile Constellation Lakes Trail. Had we not come to Moraine Lake the afternoon before, we couldn’t have done the Lakeshore Trail either.

Crowds at Moraine Lake

Like most places in the Canadian Rockies, we saw plenty of tourists. We visited in early June, before Banff’s peak busy season of July through August. Moraine Lake is only open from June 1 to mid-October, so you can’t visit in the winter months. Crowds, however, are somewhat contained by the number of people taking shuttles, staying at Moraine Lake Lodge, or hiring private tours.

Moraine Lake was definitely more crowded in the morning. Some people even go before dawn to watch the sunrise at the lake, as Parks Canada begins shuttles at 4 am. The Rockpile Trail is the most crowded because it’s an easy 30-minute walk to see the iconic Twenty Dollar View.

On our morning visit, there were people on the trail, but it didn’t seem overly crowded. I was losing patience because it was raining heavily and chilly. I just wanted people to hurry up taking pictures so we could get ours and get out of the rain. Most people are good about getting two to three pictures in a timely fashion. However, a few take closer to five minutes (with people waiting) to get every possible combination of their group. I actually preferred this shot above with people in it because I was just enjoying the surrounding beauty. I didn’t feel time pressure to get the perfect picture and get out of the way.

In Conclusion

It was worth seeing Moraine Lake on two different days. Although it rained both times, the sun also came out. I enjoyed the late-afternoon visit when there were fewer people, but the drawback was that the cafe was closed. Yet, the morning visit was fun too, with all the sightseers.

You can learn about Moraine Lake here. For information about Rockies Journey tours, click here. Another option is to stay at Moraine Lake Lodge, where you are allowed to bring your car. .