The courtyard at The Dorothy, filled with late-winter snow.
Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies is a year-round destination. Sure, it’s most popular during the summer months when the weather is mild and the sun shines on the turquoise lakes. And my favorite season is the fall, when the mountain air turns crisp and the trees shimmer with golden leaves.
But recently I had a chance to visit Banff in late winter. I didn’t ski, although I could have — the SkiBig3 resorts of Banff Sunshine, Lake Louise, and Mount Norquay have one of North America’s longest seasons — but I did plenty of hiking, tried out fat tire biking (verdict: lots of fun!), and rode the Banff Gondola to check out a new immersive sound and light show called Nightrise.
There’s good eating in Banff year-round, too, from tasty cafés like Wild Flour Bakery and The Uprising, to the local craft beer maker, 3 Bears Brewery, to fun spots like Shoku Izakaya, Park Distillery, or Farm + Fire (thumbs up for their brunch).
For my winter adventure, I stayed at a recently revamped motel in the town of Banff — The Dorothy. This “boutique motel” would be a good-value lodging for Banff National Park visits in any season.
Here’s the scoop:
The Dorothy, a revamped motel in the town of Banff
Put The Dorothy in the category of older motel turned hip. A two-story property on a side street off busy Banff Avenue, The Dorothy, which is built around a central courtyard, had a recent makeover, adding lively details like bright outdoor-themed art and flooring inspired by the forest floor.
Colorful outdoor-themed art decorates the guest rooms at The Dorothy.
While the 250-square-foot rooms aren’t large, furnished with one king or two queen beds, they make good use of the space with hooks along the wall to hang up your gear and solid dressers with big drawers to hold your clothes. There are reading lights and easy-to-access outlets by the beds. The bathrooms are modern with walk-in showers and adequate space for toiletries and towels.
The Dorothy opts for function over frills.
Guest rooms have small tables where you could set up your laptop, basic flat-screen TVs, safes, and mini fridges. Wi-fi was adequate, although not super speedy.
I would have liked a microwave, but I appreciated the coffee station with both a drip coffeemaker and a tea kettle.
And The Dorothy provides branded mugs that you can take with you when you leave — a nice touch, especially because cafés in town will refill your environmentally-friendly reusable mug rather than giving you paper cups for your lattes.
Yes, your own reusable mug!
The Dorothy is run by Banff Lodging Company, which owns a number of other hotels around town. You’re encouraged to download The Dorothy app, which lets you check in virtually and gives you a mobile key.
The Dorothy has no office or onsite staff, so if you need to speak with a human, you have to phone or stop into Banff Caribou Lodge, a sister property a few minutes’ walk down Banff Avenue.
A minor inconvenience: When I checked out, I needed to store my luggage for a few hours, and since I was traveling without a car, I had to trek down the street with my bags to store them at the Caribou Lodge.
The town of Banff, with sun on the mountains
Like a number of Banff hotels, The Dorothy provides guests with a free pass for the local Roam Transit system, which runs buses throughout town. You need to stop at the Caribou Lodge to pick up your transit pass, but it’s a worthwhile perk.
The Dorothy is about a 20-minute walk from the center of town. If you can time your travel with the bus schedule, it’s only a few minutes’ ride.
Do travel car free or at least get out of your car whenever you can while you’re out and about in Banff. Not only do the town streets frequently get jammed with cars, and parking — which is free at The Dorothy — can be nearly impossible to find, but Banff is one of the prettiest places in Canada to wander around on foot.
And that’s true in any season.
Rates
Nightly double room rates at The Dorothy can dip as low as CAD$129 during the winter months and typically range from CAD$249-399 in the summer high season. You can also check rates and make reservations at Booking.com or Expedia.
Hotel feature by Vancouver-based travel, food, and feature writer Carolyn B. Heller. Photos © Carolyn B. Heller. Travel Alberta and Banff & Lake Louise Tourism provided support for my Canadian Rockies research trip.
