I was thoroughly stressed out trying to find somewhere to stay in Banff for our summer vacation, and found this place recommended in the Moon guide to the Canadian Rockies. They have several rooms, we stayed in two of them (one prebooked at the start of our holiday, one we booked at the end of our holiday as it was such a comfortable location). In addition to the rooms we visited there were at least two more - the luxury room which has its own deck and another bedroom with a private (but not en-suite) bathroom.

The property is a short walk to downtown Banff, on a block of residential properties. Every day your room is stocked with things to make your breakfast the next day - fresh milk, orange juice, coffee, tea, a muffin each, cereal, yoghurt, bread to toast, jam and butter. This was a great start to the day, especially as this meant we weren't tied to fixed breakfast times while we were fighting the jet lag. Towels were changed every 2 days and the rooms were clean and like a home. The hosts were not the type that are in your face all the time, they were very pleasant and willing to chat or help you find information if you saw them or knocked on their door.

You'll read a lot of reviews mentioning train noise in Banff - yep, the freight trains go through there 24 x 7 and they all seem to sound their horn. I only heard it a couple of times across the 6 nights I stayed in Banff, but if you are a light sleeper you may want to look for somewhere on the opposite side of Banff Avenue to the rail lines.

*The Suite*

This room is in the basement of the barn style house. It's not as dark as we'd feared when we booked as it has 3foot x 6foot windows in the rooms . It had a living/kitchen area with fridge, combi oven, coffee maker & kettle (and enough tea/coffee to make more than 1 cup - bliss! Why are hotels so stingy about this?) small 2 seat sofa and television. There were a load of books and information leaflets in this room to help you plan your trip. The en-suite bathroom had bath/shower, toilet. The bedroom was small - a queen sized bed was squeezed in there, personally I found the bed a little soft, but my husband loved it. The summer rate for the room was CAN$150, but you didn't pay any GST/Tourist tax on top as it is a small property.

*The Bear's Den/The Cabin*

This is a small wood cabin built into the back garden of the property. It has bear themed decor which may not appeal to everyone but I found it very cosy. It had a single room with wood framed queen bed, 2 seater sofa, tv/video combi and a full kitchen. The bathroom had a jacuzzi tub and lots of very hot water. There were lots of windows in the cabin so it was bright, there were fly screens on them so you could leave them open without being bothered by bugs. There was a small deck outside with a gas BBQ to use if you wanted. It was very cosy in there - in high summer it may get very warm as there is no air conditioning (I think I saw a fan on one of the shelves) , but in cooler days there is heating. My only criticisms with this room was that the fridge was a bit noisy and the concertina bathroom door was a challenge in the middle of the night.