Cave and Basin National Historical Site

Do not do the cave by lantern tour! You barely get to see the cave, the water is not even warm, and the «tour» is conducted by people horribly acting as characters from the past. Oh, and only a very few people actually get the lanterns. A waste of time.

The birthplace of Canada’s National Park system and I visited it! It was our last day in Canada and we were driving through Banff to get to Calgary. We decided to stop in town, visit a site, have lunch and leave. My mom was badgering us to visit this site, so we caved (and I’m so glad we did).
You need to pay $ 1.50 (Canadian Dollars) to get your hand stamped before you enter the building. Mind your head when you walk through the cave. The walkway becomes very short, even I had to lower my head and I’m only 5′ 5″. Inside of the Cave pretty much smells awful! If you stay eye level with the water it doesn’t smell so bad. But the second you step up onto the platform to look down into the cave’s thermal waters you are hit with the scent of rotten eggs not to mention the moisture in the air from the thermal waters. I feel like that scent will stay in my nasal passage forever. And DO NOT TOUCH THE WATER! You will go to jail and pay a hefty fine. There are snails that are found in this water that cannot be found anywhere else in the world and if you touch the water it’ll disrupt their ecosystem (They have a lot of pride in these snails). The Basin, which is outside, is just as smelly but you can see the snails a lot better. The park rangers are there to answer any questions you have and to give you a little bit of a history lesson.
Walk around this historical site and learn about this important part of Canada’s history. You will learn a lot of interesting tidbits, facts and history!

It is ok to check this place out if there’s nothing else to do. But if you have a long list of to-​dos and little time to do so, I wouldn’t use up my time here. There are a lot more cooler spots in Banff.
Admission is negligible at around few bucks per person. There’s a little explanation of what this place is, which is cool to learn about. In terms of the actual cave and basin, it is super tiny and looks like something from Disneyland. I don’t know if it looks fake because it’s just super well maintained or what, but it feels like I’m in little mermaids home or something. It’s a small pool with the hot spring water (so yes it smells like sulfur in a confined space because it’s in the cave). Just not all that wowing of a place. Probably spend 30 minutes here if you wanna read through all the history.

Of course, anywhere you go in Alberta can be magical. We thoroughly enjoyed all of the time we spent outdoors.

This site is pretty interesting. It not only had the cave with the Sulphur water pools, but it also had a small museum, a small theatre showcasing the discovery and transfer of ownership of the site, and some great look-​out points atop it all for some great shots.
There is also a restaurant and gift shop located at the site. For a cheap price, it would be worth looking into this site for some context to this quaint little town, surrounded by majestic mountains.
I recommend this site for all ages!

Do you hate those morons who post first on a YouTube page but only say «First Post!» Don’t you just want to squeeze them really, really hard? But what you wouldn’t do is celebrate them. That’s what the Cave and Basin National Historic Site is basically about – celebrating «firsties». Let’s cut to the stink, this place was incredibly boring. I’ve been in cave tours; I’ve been on amazing cave tours. The pinnacle was in Guilin, China. It was an hour, only accessible by boat, and took place entirely within a network of caverns. Those were amazing. This was not like that. I wouldn’t even call it a tour. Most of this trivial facility is accessible without paying the fee, and if the whole thing was free, I wouldn’t complain as much. But it’s the fact they DO charge is what annoys me.
Yes, it’s only $ 4 a person, but that’s money lost. And for what? Thirty feet of cave and one pool? I’m not even complaining about the smell. I knew what to expect – sulphur smells like rotten eggs. But after the aforementioned small pool at the end of the aforementioned small save, there was very little else for us to do. You can stop and read a few exhibits that honestly have very little to do with the actual Cave and Basin Park.
The whole thing commemorates the fact this location was the first Canadian National Park. That’s it – that’s why it’s so important. Like being first in this field is significant somehow. So wait, we’ll erect a park about the first park being built? That means at one point this was a park commemorating the fact that it was a park. Yeah, that’s cool – I’ll pay four bucks for that. About the only aspect interesting around the location are the walking paths… that you don’t need to pay for. You can tour the boardwalks that navigate the waters, but after that, you check your watch… and realize that you still haven’t closed in on an hour.
I wasn’t expecting Hang Son Doong here (Wiki it), but something substantial other than what was presented… or at least not charge us the price of a six inch meatball marinara at Subway. Don’t get me wrong, I love Banff. It has some great things to see… most of which are free. The Cave and Basin Park can be avoided.

This is a pretty cool place to check out. They’ve got a really interesting bit about the pool that used to be there, and a boardwalk running through some woods & hot spring pools, plus you can check out this really cool cave with a hot spring in it. I had a really good time here– it was a nice relaxing walk, not anything too hard, and hanging out in that cave was pretty amazing. The admission is really reasonable ($ 4 when I went) and there’s also a really great little café inside. It’s definitely worth stopping in :)

Cave and Basin is easily accessible from the Banff townsite, and a good way to spend an hour or two sightseeing. The center itself has a low admission price, and has a cave you can go into with natural hot sulfuric water bubbling up from the mountain. The rest of the interior is an interpretive center that goes through the history of National Parks in Canada. I found this very interesting, but if you don’t want to read a lot, it might be a little boring. The cave and interpretive center are indoors, and you can walk around a boardwalk pathway outside. The boardwalk is free (you don’t need admission to do the walk) and really interesting — so cool to see the water boiling outside in spots. There are some really nice vantage points higher up as well. The boardwalk takes about 15 – 20 minutes to walk around, and the inside center can be easily done in half an hour. Fun and unique stop if you are in the area!

Overall, I was amazed at the quality of exhibits and the low admission price. It was definitely a great experience, much better than many other historic sites around the world. Definitely something to be proud of, and can’t wait to see the quality they start putting into other historic sites if this is any indication!
This is my first visit to the Cave and Basin since the renovations and I was in shock at the quality of the exhibits for the low admission price of $ 4. While there are the usual non-​interactive exhibits (pictures, diagrams, etc) the hall overlooking to old pool area has an amazing array of interactive exhibits (from digital postcards to shows on giant projection screens). While not the largest facility by any stretch, it is a good way to spend 1 – 2 hours by going through all the information. There are also tours provided by the site throughout the day, so perhaps inquire about those ahead of time.
The trails around the site are free of charge and parking is plentiful. So, even when closed, there is still something to do.
The pool has been paved over, which is a bit of a disappointment, but I can understand why it was not cost effective to restore.

Honestly, the review by Eric B. seems to have a bunch of details and the history of it so it’s probably a bit more helpful than mine.
It’s a gorgeous place and I’m glad I forced my dad and brother to come here. It’s a great view there.

My boyfriend and our friends went to the Cave and Basin a couple of months ago. We wanted to see how the renovations went and… they did a really good job. The whole experience was very interactive and they provide a lot of information about the history.
If you have small kids or want something to do on a lazy afternoon– GO!

The Cave and Basin National Historic Site of Canada (located at the far west end of Cave Avenue) commemorates the birthplace of Canada’s National Park system, which began here in 1885. I love this kind of historical stuff, and hence manage to come here (and to the nearby Whyte Museum) most every time I come to Banff. You might want to take a look at his small piece of Canadian culture yourself.
The first recorded reference to hot springs here was by James Hector of the Palliser Expedition in 1859, followed by Joe Healey in 1874 who found the Cave and Basin site in 1875. But it was Canadian Pacific Railway workers William McCardell and Frank McCabe who brought national attention to this Site. In 1883 they descended through the skylight entrance into the cave using a felled tree, and the following year constructed a small cabin nearby with the intention of commercializing the Cave and Basin site. Conflicting claims by other parties prompted intervention by the Canadian government and in 1885, 26 km² were set aside around the Cave and Basin and the nearby Upper Banff Hot Springs area. This was the genesis of Canada’s National Parks system.
In 1886 an artificial tunnel was driven into the Cave and Basin to aid visitation. In 1912 bottled water from the Cave and Basin site was sold for its alleged curative powers. In 1914 a naturally heated swimming pool was opened to the public and continued to operate until 1994. Luckily I first visited here before it closed and enjoyed a nice swim.
The built facilities include an artificial tunnel to the natural grotto, a replica of the original 1887 bathhouse, the restored 1916 swimming pool and structure, and hiking and snowshoe trails to the nearby woods and marshes. Many of the early structures were built by detainees held at a World War I internment camp located nearby. The camp held citizens of countries with which Canada was at war at the time, and had a significant Ukrainian contingent.
The growth and development of Canada’s national parks are celebrated in interactive displays and exhibits. Naturally-​occurring, warm mineral springs can be found inside the cave, and outside in an emerald coloured basin.