Banff is only a tiny place, you can walk from one end to the other in 30 minutes. We stayed at the Mount Royal Hotel. 3 floors, very nice. We only ate breakfast there but the food was fine. Rooms were clean with plenty of space. About a 10 minute walk to the centre of the town and another 10 to the river.

It is on the main road (well the road in and out, hardly busy. Buses pass the door). Plenty of places to eat in the town including The Magpie and Stump pub on Caribou street which does decent grub and good beer.

Hi

thats great thank you I will have a look at that
How many nights would you recommend to stay in Banff - we are hoping to go for 12 nights but was wondering whether to split the time between Banff and somewhere else

Deb

When are you planning on visiting Banff? As Hi de Hi says it's only a small town and unless you are avid Mountain/Rock Climbers or Skiers (depending on when you are going) I would think 12 days is far too long.. Will you be hiring a car? If so then the drive to Jasper over the Ice Fields Parkway is not to be missed. I stayed a couple of nights in Jasper before heading further north. I'm assuming you will be flying into Calgary, you could spend a few nights there.
With a car you could even take a couple of days and drive to Vancouver.
It depends a lot on what your interests are.

As has been said unless you are skiing or a mountain climber there is little in Banff that will occupy you for more than 3 or 4 days. In the Summer the town is just a stop on the tour. We did 3 nights. we enjoy walking but given that we had rain every day (in August) even that lost its appeal and we were glad to get on the coach to move on.

We did Banff(3 days), Jasper(3 days) and Calgary(2 nights) and I think it was enough for each place although I really liked Banff and Jasper. The trip between Banff and Jasper along the Icefields Parkway is fantastic, lots to see and do along the way.