This is more of a museum, basically the birth place of Banff itself! Located on sulphur mountain, and used to be an old bath house in the 1800’s and than a hot spring for tourists until it was decommissioned for use and made into a museum in 1994.
There are walkways and trails throughout the area, offering delicious smelling sulphur (sarcastic smells like rotten eggs, but natural!), the area does a loop around the old hotel, with a look out point, and offers a snowshoe trail in the winter.
The staff are generally dressed up and re-enacting past events for the kids, there’s a film running in one of the rooms inside of the museum, and a dark underground cave holding natural spring water that once used to be where the men would bath (the underground cave in the museum is the highlight for me).
This is a free tour, included with your park pass, its a cool way to explore Banff and learn some interesting facts. Also very good for the kids, and I’m pretty sure dogs are welcome just not into the buildings.
Leah Tyler-Szucki 