Emerald Lake Lodge

What can I say, I am in love! To say that you must absolutely book your trip to Emerald Lake is an understatement. If you are looking for that true Canadian winter experience this pace should be at the top of your list. I am even more in awe because I can’t believe that we haven’t been here before. It’s not even off the beaten path, it literally is a short drive off highway 1 across from the exit to Field!

Our trip started off with a complete surprise, the drive out from Calgary is about 2.5 hours, 3 in bad weather conditions, which we certainly had. If you are from this neck of the woods you already know how much snow we’ve been dealing with these past few weeks. It does make for the most wonderful setting and even in the dark, when we arrived at the lodge at around 9pm we could already tell this was going to be the snow globe we have been looking for all winter.

Getting to Emerld Lake Lodge is quite the process. First you arrive at a lot where you park your car and board a shuttle to continue on your adventure. Your luggage, and anything else you may want from your car must come with you because there won’t really be another reason to come down here later. Travel tip: consolidate all your things into packable and easy to manage luggage. We didn’t know what to expect and showed up with loose jackets, bags and random things just floating around our trunk for use in photos or to change into later. In my true form, I brought all the options and packed for a month away, not knowing we will be dealing with shuttles and later golf carts to get around the property. It was a high maintenance blogger moment and I was truly embarrassed. After oohing and awing our entire trip through the wooden cabins and snow covered banks we unloaded our bags and got settled in for a night of bliss… there is no wifi or service here folks! Get ready to disconnect!

The morning brought us even more joy then the previous night when we got to see how beautiful this place was in the daytime. No exaggerating here, and you can judge by yourselves but even on the overcast day that we had this was truly something out of a fairytale. Even if you weren’t before, a place like this makes you want to be a morning person just so you don’t miss a single second of being surrounded by it’s beauty. For those who are scared by the potential cost, fear not because winter just happens to be your time to take advantage of this gem. Summer is their high season and in the winter the prices ballpark around the $160-$200/night range. If you ask me that’s totally doable, 100% worth it AND it might actually be more beautiful here in the winter anyway. Because there is no wind in this valley the snow remains untouched for the majority of the winter, making this a truly isolated experience (as in you will not find one like it anywhere else).

If you don’t want to stay overnight you are still welcome to visit Emerald Lake, come up to the main lodge for the most delicious breakfast, lunch or dinner (or all three) and then walk down to the cabin by the lake and go snowshoeing or cross country skiing. In the summer canoes are also available and insanely photogenic.

This is one of the first places we have been to in Canada that we deem comparable to the global luxury destinations of our US neighbours. We often get this feeling that they just seem to have more understanding and more resources to create unforgettable experiences and Emerald Lake Lodge totally has it all. It is remote and private, the perfect place to escape and it has all the amenities you will need during your stay: a world class restaurant (of the Canadian Rocky Mountain Resorts fame of course), hot tub overlooking the Rockies, sauna, activities, beautiful common spaces, that old world feel and incredible friendly and helpful team that is available to assist with anything else you may need.

On the day of our checkout we just couldn’t get enough and when we got back into our car we just drive right back to spend the rest of the day taking in the serenity of the frozen lake, the quiet of the valley and the beauty of everything around us.

You can book your stay at Emerald Lake Lodge here and fall in love, or fall in love all over again, because it’s not a place you just want to visit once! xoxo

wearing: zara men faux fur coat, club monaco sweater, gap jeans, roots boots, snowflake hat