I just returned this week from a nice summer stay at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise.

This trip was just over 3 weeks in length, for a bit of relaxing and a ton of hiking. Our visit this summer consisted of my wife and I, along with 3 other family members visiting from overseas.

With 5 people total, we once again booked the Two Bedroom Gold Lakeview Suite, which is Suite #759. We've stayed in this room several times before, and it offers a lot of comfort, particularly for a longer stay. It's got two bedrooms, with a King bed in the primary bedroom, and a pair of Queen beds in the other bedroom. The main salon includes a dining table, fireplace, bookshelves, and a sectional sofa that has a pullout bed. The suite can accommodate up to 8 people. There is a full ensuite bathroom attached to each bedroom, as well as a 2-piece powder room off of the main salon.

I've collected floor plans over the years, and have highlighted Suite 759 below.



The location of Suite 759 cannot be beat, as it is directly in the centre of the property, offering great views of Lake Louise, and it is directly opposite the Fairmont Gold lounge.

Below are some photos of the main salon of the suite.





Below are pictures of the two bedrooms.




The views are excellent from this suite.

Pro tip for future visitors. Remove the window screens for better views. There are bug screens over the entire windows, because the windows do open. However, with some fiddling, the screens can be lifted off and stored in a closet for the duration of your stay!




The service levels and attention to detail was great. They knew we were a party of 5, so they found a matching dining chair and added it to the suite before we checked in. The table normally has 4 chairs, but the 5th was appreciated. After the first night, when housekeeping saw the amount of bathroom products my wife had on the counter, they added a nice organizer tray to the bathroom to store her product. Standing requests, like a humidifier in each room were taken note of, as they were set up and running in each bedroom when we arrived.

Upon arrival, we had the following Welcome Amenity on the dining table. It was a nice bottle of champagne, some snacks, some sweets, and some glassware to take home, where the bottom of the glasses is shaped like the mountains around Lake Louise. That was appreciated.



As the stay went on, more amenities appeared, such as that shown below.



Additionally, fresh flowers were replaced often (I don't recall if it was daily or every other day). Daily housekeeping and evening turndown service replaced the bottles of sparking and still water.

There are a number of activities and facilities at the hotel. Below is from the activity guide provided.



Below are photos of the pool and gym, which we used regularly.




The hotel has a shuttle to Moraine Lake, which we did not use. Another Pro Tip for guests here: Don't bother with the hotel Moraine Lake Shuttle, but book the Parks Canada shuttle instead. Do that for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the Parks Canada shuttle is only $8 a seat, which is much cheaper than the hotel shuttle. But, the main reason is flexibility. The hotel shuttle has a few fixed outbound and return options, but with the Parks Canada shuttle, you can just line up for the Lake Connector shuttle whenever you wish to go to Moraine Lake or return to Lake Louise.

Some of you might know how difficult the Parks Canada shuttle can be to book good times, but staying here, that's not a problem. With the Parks Canada shuttle, you normally have to book an outbound bus window, and drive to the Ski Resort to get the initial bus. After that, the Lake Connector and return bus is first-come-first-served. For guests of the Chateau Lake Louise (as well as Paradise Lodge a mile down the road), because you have parking at the hotel, they don't require shuttle passengers to first start at the Ski Resort. All you need is a shuttle reservation for anytime that day, which means you can just book an unpopular 5PM or 6PM time, which are easy to get (unlike the morning times that sell out in a couple of seconds each morning), and with proof of your current stay at the Chateau, you can board any Lake Connector shuttle that day.

The hotel also has a village shuttle, taking guests to the Samson Mall in the Lake Louise village throughout the day. We never needed it, but for guests without a rental car, this could be useful.

On September 15, Basin, the new Thermal Wellness Centre, which the hotel has been building for over 2 years, will finally open. Obviously, I missed it for this visit, but I got a few photos of its progress, as we had a good view out one of our windows, looking to the side. I also took a few photos with a zoom lens from the Fairview Lookout trail. The landscaping is coming along. The were even testing the jets in the some of the new outdoor pools while we were there.







That brings me to the hotel grounds. Here are some photos from around the grounds and nearby at the lake.





You can see the new Wellness centre below.



The hotel had firepits running many times per day, as well as marshmallows and smores.



They had live music outdoors in the evenings.



While we never found time for it (hard to believe on a 3-week visit), canoeing is also very popular.



Below is the new terrace on the top of Basin, the Thermal Wellness Centre, off the Victoria Ballroom.



A popular photo spot is the bridge over Louise Creek as it leaves Lake Louise.



And here are a few more photos from around the grounds by the lake, as well as looking back at the hotel from Fairview Lookout.






I mentioned that my main purpose for a summer visit is hiking, and there are some fantastic trails, right by the hotel. This year, we managed to win 5 days in the Parks Canada lottery for Lake O'Hara bus tickets. Locals will know what a big deal that is! We got heavily rained out one day, but managed to have 4 beautiful days of hiking at Lake O'Hara. The region is located immediately on the other side of Mount Victoria, which is the prominent mountain you see at the back of Lake Louise. Here is a Google Earth image showing the area, and our GPS tracks of our chosen hikes.




If you get the opportunity to visit this way, and can get access to Lake O'Hara, I highly recommend you do it. It's a large area, with several valleys, hanging valleys, lakes, peaks, rivers, waterfalls, and some of the best hiking trails anywhere in the country. It's a sensitive alpine environment, so Parks Canada only has 42 seats available per day (half at 8:30 AM and half at 10:30 AM) for the day bus. There is also a quota of seats for campers, and people with bookings at Lake O'Hara Lodge and the ACC hut. Anyone can hike the road in, but doing 400 metres of elevation gain and 22 km of hiking along a boring fire access road, before you even get to start your hike, is a lot. Including those who choose to hike the road, Parks Canada estimates there are only 200 people per day in the entire area. Tens of thousands try every year for seats.

These are from along the trail to Lake McArthur.





These are from the trail to Lake Oesa.





This is Lake O'Hara itself.



These are from along the Opabin Plateau trails.







And just above the lake at Seven Veils Falls.



Back at the hotel, we enjoyed the proximity of the Fairmont Gold lounge to our suite. Here is an information sheet on the lounge. I particularly like that breakfast is again back to 6:30 AM, making it much easier to make our Lake O'Hara access times.




Here is the lounge itself.




Here is the beverage area.




At the start of our visit, the appetizers were typical of what we saw on past trips. However, a few days into the trip, I noticed a meeting in the lounge, involving the Executive Chef, where they were discussing changes to the lounge offerings going forward. They really took things up a notch, and the food offerings for the balance of the stay were more substantial. Here are some images of the food on a couple of evenings.












We had dinner in a number of the restaurants, including Afternoon at Fairview, dinner on the Lakeview Lounge terrace, dinner in Louiza, and dinner in Walliser Stube (on a few nights). Below are some restaurant images.

This is the Fairview Bar. I somehow forgot to take a photo of Fairview Dining Room, where the Afternoon Tea is actually served.




This is Alpine Social, which is their casual pub-style restaurant.



The Guides Pantry offers take-out food and beverages.




Louiza is an excellent restaurant, which serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. They also have a new patio.





When we had dinner at the Lakeview Lounge, they had a lovely centre table set up for us. The Director of F&B came by during our meal, and said that he heard we really enjoyed hiking, and presented us with a nice book about hiking trails in the area. That was very thoughtful of them. The images below show the view from our table on the terrace, then the Lakeview Lounge bar, and then the Lakeview Lounge indoor seating area.





It was an excellent stay. We had decent weather. It was a bit cooler and more rainy than past visits, but on the plus side, everything was green and there was no forest fire smoke. I'll take a few days of rain over smoky skies on any visit! And, when you're hiking, cooler is always preferred.

As usual, the stay just flew by, but we're booked to return this winter, when we'll finally get to try out Basin. And, I've booked Suite 759 again for next July.