Sunshine Mountain Lodge

Sunshine Meadows is a really magical place, in the summer. If you love hiking, add this spot to your list. The hotel was quite nice, too. Top to bottom, the experience felt luxurious, pampering, and (most importantly) quiet. Our room was gorgeous, with a waterfall outside the window and spectacular views of the mountainside.
The only thing we would like to see is…more availability! During our stay, the hours for the gondola to the base station AND the chairlift to the meadow were shut down from 5pm to 9am, making it hard to get out during prime wildlife viewing hours. Amenities like the hot tub, shops, and restaurants also had quite restricted hours. The two restaurants open for the summer were good, but not the quality you can expect in downtown Banff.
We enjoyed our stay, but given the restrictions, we were ultimately glad we were only there for two nights.

Would I recommend staying here? Probably not — the 5-star reviews have to be paid for or heavily discounted.
The biggest thing to know upfront: you’re essentially trapped on the mountain. The gondola closes at 5:30pm, so visiting Banff and skiing on the same day isn’t possible. After hours, it’s $125 for a van ride back up.
The food makes it worse. Everything is fried or served with fries — I’ve had better breakfast buffets in developing countries. After burning thousands of calories on the slopes, there’s simply nowhere to properly refuel. Someone needs to rethink the dining program here, because right now it feels designed to exploit guests who have no other options. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
On a positive note, the staff are exceptionally helpful and the service is great. If your ideal experience is just to ski until 4:30pm (that’s when all the lifts close) and then just chill and do nothing for the rest of the day, then this place is perfect for you.

We had a suite at the sunshine mountain lodge and it was really nice. The staff were attentive and quickly dealt with the few request that we had. The front desk staff were professional and told us about all the evening activities. And sunshine is just such a great hill to ski!

Great experience, first time here. Take note the gondola to go up the mountain is approximately 20 minutes long, Plus, if you are bringing luggage and it is going to go separately up the mountain, take note that it could approximately take two hours for you to receive your luggage. The view is amazing and the staff are friendly.

I just wanted to send a note after our recent stay to say thank you for such a great experience.
We had an amazing time on the hill, and the entire trip was made even better by how friendly and welcoming the staff were. When we arrived and checked in, Tahani and Xander were incredibly kind and took the time to chat with our kids, which really set the tone for the whole stay.
After a great day of skiing, we came back to our room to find that the staff had delivered a birthday cake, which was such a thoughtful surprise. It made the whole family very happy and was a really special moment for us.
The level of service your team provides is outstanding. It’s clear you have a great group of people who genuinely care about creating a memorable experience for guests.
Thank you again, we had a fantastic trip and will definitely be booking another stay next season.

Staying on the mountain top after the lifts close is an ideal way to experience Sunshine Mountain! Sooo convneient for skiing, located at the top of the Gondola you literally ski to the door and it's steps from whatever lift or gondola you want to take. The rooms are in great condition, we enjoyed views of the mountian from our bed and living room, and the restaurants have surprisingly well done food, we'd dine there even if it wasn't one of our only choices! Not much oging on at night but that's what makes it so wonderful and serene.

Great stay at an awesome location! You cannot ask for anything else, ski out at one of Canada’s best skiing destinations. However, there was a noticed decline in the Chimney Corner restaurant this year. Not a deal breaker as there are a couple of options but it has been amazing in the past so would like to see the game upped again.

Outstanding location for ski in/ski out. While you cannot ski directly to your door, it was nice to be on mountain versus a shuttle to the lifts. Beautiful sunrises, wonderful staff, great ski rental equipment (which can be iffy at times), low noise with the exception of groomers in the am but you are getting up to ski. Restaurant (corner chimmey) was excellent with staff and food. We had a Corner King and had plenty of room but would have liked more storage for our clothes. Great ski lockers. Only negative was the pub which had an ungodly smell so we ate every night in the lodge. Hot Tub Bingo was a hit and night time snow shoeing. GOAT'S EYE was the best run (s). We will return for the convenience of mountain top stay and ski.

Conveniently located for skiers and snowboarders, this hotel offers great, clean and functional rooms! Lots to do and a good selection of restaurants and lounges to choose from. The evening “Smores” roast was fun too! The staff is exceptional from the bottom of the gondola check in to the actual lodge, everyone was friendly and very helpful. The rooms are a bit tight and the bathrooms are snug but to be expected due to the location. Had a great stay, definitely recommend!

This is ski-in/ski-out lodging at its very best. My son and I stayed here for a week and loved every minute of it. I’ve skied for 60 years at resorts all over North America and this was my first trip to Banff. The lift is 50 feet from the door, just down the hall from the ski lockers. All the staff that we encountered; front desk, bell, wait, retail, spa and cleaning were very polite and professional. The food is very good and I particularly enjoyed the double smash burger and tomato bisque. Skiing starts at the top of the 3 mile gondola, where the lodge sits. This is the only lodging on the mountain with the alternative being a room in Banff, drive to the parking lot and ride up the gondola. That saves you at least an hour travel time on each end of the day. We will definitely return.

Perfect location for ski in and out experience in Sunshine Village. We stayed almost a week here and left for Banff one day and saw one terrible traffic jam on the direction from Banff to Sunshine Village. It takes about 30 minutes (when there’s no traffic) from Banff town center to Sunshine Village parking lots, and another 15 minutes gondola to the top where you can start to ski. Great value for the location that saves at least 45 minutes (excluding walking from parking lots to the gondola in snow with snow gears). Rooms are reasonably priced within consideration of the unique location. We stayed in one of the suites and the view was awesome. They have 3 suites on the 5th floor, 4 one the 4th, and 1 on the third floor. Each room has a ski locker in the west wing building which is connected to the main building. They have 2 nice restaurants in the main building on the 2nd floor with buffet options at least every night we stayed. Restaurant prices were also reasonable especially compared to restaurant prices in the US nowadays.
One reminder on the luggage, it took us 3 hours to get all of our bags when we checked out. We have 5 bags and they arrived in 2 rounds. Take that into consideration when you have a tight schedule. All staff were very nice and helpful.

The experience is great overall, maybe the bed sheets could have a bit better quality. I'd like to point out 1 of the girl in front desk has horrible attitude. On dec 9, I lost my gloves at front desk staircase. And the girl at front desk (who is standing close to storage room), is very not helpful (and rude in Canadians standards). Not everyone grabs aussie accent and she should have some basic patience. On the other hand, boys at luggage service are awesome!

CONVENIENT CHECK-IN.
Our positive experience at Sunshine Mountain Lodge began right at the base of the mountain. Getting our tickets was great, thanks to Anna and Ellis at the counter who provided excellent service at our check in as well as Xander at our departure. We really appreciated the convenient 15-minute parking area just outside the front lodge lobby, which made unloading our things so much easier after the gondola ride up!
Checking in at the lodge went smoothly. The team was immediately welcoming, and they immediately offered assistance with our items. It was a huge help having our luggage carried up ahead of us, to lighten up our load.
GONDOLA EXPERIENCE.
The journey to the lodge is absolutely stunning! The views on the gondola are spectacular, and it really made the arrival feel special. We were particularly impressed with the lift operators: Max was great, friendly, and made sure our belongings as well as we were well looked after. Emma was equally kind and friendly, ensuring we had enjoyed our visit at the end of our stay.
THE LOFT SUITE.
The loft suite is an excellent choice for a larger group. The split-level layout is very functional, offering a bathroom on each floor, which is essential for a larger group. Sleeping arrangements include a queen bed and a Murphy bed on the lower level, with an additional queen bed upstairs.

We were here for just two days and one night, obviously we wanted to try and get as much skiing in as possible but they messed up our tickets and charged double the amount for the first day (that we had already paid). The problem was solved but it took way too long and it caused us to start skiing our second day much later in the day.
The rooms are nice but most rooms on one side of the building have the view of the back of another building. The room was also freezing and the heating system sucked.

Please clean your dining room rug or actually replace! It stinks as does ALL of you very old carpeting! Also, get some food that is healthy please. Good service but all fatty goods in both restaurants — come on, we are up there with 2 choices and nothing healthy. The views and hiking were astounding though! Nice staff.

My wife and I, and two of our best friends enjoyed our stay at the Sunshine Mountain Lodge this past weekend. The weather was perfect, but even more important, the staff made our visit truly memorable from the first encounter at the check in desk at the bottom of the gondola, the quick and efficient luggage transfer to/from the hotel, and everyone at the hotel and other shops, etc. The staff were so helpful with ensuring that our dietary needs were met (Chi and Mary) in all the restaurants. We were grateful that gluten free food was available. The area is incredibly beautiful — awe inspiring — and the hiking trails are well maintained and clearly marked. In particular, the hike starting at the top of the Mt. Standish chair lift that goes round three alpine lakes was stunning. We also enjoyed a short early morning hike with James Ordway that provided a great introduction to the area, its history, the ecology and plants and animals special to the area, all delivered in a very interesting and engaging way by James, who cheerfully answered every question we could think of! :) A great trip all around.

Amazing location, plenty of services included in the room price (gondolas, hot pool, sauna, guided hiking). We particularly appreciated the kindness and attentiveness of the staff. The morning hike with James was fantastic. Only point that needs severe improvement is the food: the quality bar is very low and not up to the standards of a 4 star hotel in 2025 (for example they serve deep fried Mars as dessert…).