Where to Stay this Winter in Jasper National Park, Alberta, CA

If you’ve read my Top 5 Places to Visit in Jasper This Winter blog post you’ll know that I love to visit Jasper in the winter. Where I stay in Jasper definitely depends on the season so I’ve decided to create a list of favourites for this winter. There are a ton of hotels, hostels and AirBnbs to stay at in Jasper and depending on where you’re from and what you’re used to, you’re going to prefer some accommodations over the others. Each location that I’ve chosen is special for its own reasons to our family. Aspen and Denver are our travel companions so we’re mostly looking for accommodations that offer some dog friendly rooms and having a restaurant on site is a bonus so that we don’t have to leave them alone in the room for longer than we’d like.

That brings me to where we’ve most often stayed while visiting Jasper, Pyramid Lake Resort. Pyramid Lake is perfect for us, the rooms are updated in comparison to other resorts and hotels in town, they are all little duplex and fourplex cabin style rooms with direct access to outside. The restaurant on the resort has great food and vegetarian choices and it’s located close enough to town that it’s very convenient to grab takeout to bring back to the room as well. The above mentioned are just the basics of why you might like to stay at the resort. They’re located directly on the beautiful lake and in turn have a natural skating rink cleared in the winter. They do sleigh rides around the lake, there are hiking trails that are used year round and in the summer it’s a paddlers paradise.

My next reccomendation is a favourite for many reasons, and another that we’ve also stayed at over and over, the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge. Another resort and this one offers basically.. everything. The Fairmont offers the choice of a hotel room, a split cabin or even a private cabin right on Beavert lake or Mildred lake. The food at their restaurant is very good and you can take your pup to the bar to enjoy the evening entertainment with you. They offer snowshoe and equipment rental for checking out the nearby lakes (the Lake Annette loop is one we love) or skating. They offer child and dog care as well which isn’t offered anywhere else in the park. It is close to the town of Jasper and some our favourite places like Old Fort Point and Medicine lake. The only reason this isn’t the place we’ve stayed the most is because it took us a minute to discover how great it is to stay there and of course it is the pricier option on my recommendation list.

The Jasper East Cabins is owned by the Overlander Mountain Lodge Resort so they’re a cute and quiet alternative to being right on the resort (this is ideal for us with the dogs). The Cabins are in great shape and there are several options for different sized families. We love to stay here if we plan on hiking pretty heavily because they’ve got little kitchenettes where you can prep your breakfast nice and early in the morning and make your lunch for on the trail. The Folding Mountain Brewery is a really notable restaurant that happens to be right on site and allows you to have your dog on the patio with you if it’s warm enough. There are a few hikes nearby that we’ve done but the only drawback of this location is it’s on the park’s edge and still a 45 minute drive to the town of Jasper. It’s great for quiet, availability in high season and comfort with a pet though.

My final recommendation is a more budget friendly option that is still very nice. The Crimson Jasper, right in the middle of the town of Jasper. This is somewhere we will stay if we’re not bringing our dogs and looking for a quick and cheaper trip to Jasper. It’s lovely inside and especially clean and updated in comparison to some of its competitors in town. You’re walking distance to a ton of restaurants and amenities at this hotel and your vehicle isn’t far away from your room for remote starting and hauling gear back and forth. We’ve stayed at the Crimson a handful of times and find it to be one of the best hotels in the Town of Jasper.

You’re going to love your trip to Jasper no matter what, but I’ve definitely found over the last decade of staying there that choosing the right place to stay makes your trip more convenient and leaves the most time for exploring and enjoying the area to the fullest.