Banff National Park free with Canada Strong Pass this summer
Posted June 19, 2026 3:53 pm.
Last Updated June 20, 2026 10:50 am.
The Canada Strong Pass is back Friday, meaning Canadians can now access national parks for free, but Banff’s mayor is asking guests to consider transit while visiting.
The pass, which offers discounts on Via Rail travel and admission to museums and national parks, will be available from June 19 to Sept. 7.
It offers free entry to all Parks Canada sites and a 25 per-cent rebate on camping fees.
National museums are also offering free entry for children under 18 and 50 per cent off for people aged 18 to 24.
However, this comes as the picturesque tourist town of Banff saw a record number of visitors for the 2025-26 fiscal year, with more than 4.5 million people passing through the gates.
Town of Banff Mayor Corrie DiManno urges visitors to park before they arrive or opt for public transit.
“We don’t have stats that provide a correlation between visitation and the pass from last year, but what we can say is that the Town of Banff experienced the highest number of vehicles counted at our entrances ever,” she said.
Banff’s Roam Public Transit saw over three million riders in 2025, and DiManno hopes it’s the choice for visitors to get around town.
The gold standard would be carfreebanff.ca, the mayor says, which has itineraries for visitors to travel to Banff without a vehicle.
Vasil Vladinski, operations manager at Anderson Vacation, says a visit to Banff can be a costly affair and, with the crowds, can pose some logistical challenges.
“We always talk about how we can maybe avoid some of those costs by going either in October or November or perhaps going early in the morning, later in the evening,” he said.
Meanwhile, you can take advantage of the Canada Strong Pass until Sept. 7, which gets free access to national parks and historic sites and other perks.
With files from The Canadian Press
