--- title: "Base camp: five beds in Canmore and Revelstoke, the night before the mountains" description: "Every trip into the Rockies or the Columbias starts with a night in town. I photographed, filmed and built the 360 tours for five Basecamp Resorts properties, four in Canmore and one above the Columbia River in Revelstoke. This is which one to pick for which trip, and what the nights there are like." author: "Ben Taft" published: "2026-09-15" updated: "2026-09-15" canonical: "https://wildernessledger.com/guides/base-camp-canmore-revelstoke" about: - "Basecamp Resorts Canmore: https://wildernessledger.com/experience/basecamp-resorts-canmore" - "Basecamp Lodge Canmore: https://wildernessledger.com/experience/basecamp-lodge-canmore" - "Basecamp Suites Canmore: https://wildernessledger.com/experience/basecamp-suites-canmore" - "Lamphouse Hotel Canmore: https://wildernessledger.com/experience/lamphouse-hotel-canmore" - "Basecamp Resorts Revelstoke: https://wildernessledger.com/experience/basecamp-resorts-revelstoke" --- # Base camp: five beds in Canmore and Revelstoke, the night before the mountains > Every trip into the Rockies or the Columbias starts with a night in town. I photographed, filmed and built the 360 tours for five Basecamp Resorts properties, four in Canmore and one above the Columbia River in Revelstoke. This is which one to pick for which trip, and what the nights there are like. Words, photography and film by Ben Taft. Published 15 September 2026, updated 15 September 2026. Canonical page: https://wildernessledger.com/guides/base-camp-canmore-revelstoke Photograph: A guest sitting in the signature round window of a Basecamp Resorts Canmore suite, autumn larches and Ha Ling Peak outside Nobody plans the night before. The trip is the helicopter, the ski week, the canoe on the Bow; the night before is whatever was left on the booking site. I have spent a fair amount of time in the towns those trips start from with a camera, and in 2024 Basecamp Resorts asked me to photograph, film and build the 360 tours for their properties in Canmore and Revelstoke. Five of them are on this record now, as [gateway stays](https://wildernessledger.com/gateway-stays): not experiences, the beds on the way to them. Photograph: Canmore main street from above, the Rundle range and Ha Ling Peak behind the rooftops Canmore is an hour and a quarter from Calgary airport and outside the park gate, which is why it has kitchens and breweries where Banff has hotels. Four of the five are here. ## The rooftop with the Three Sisters in it [Basecamp Resorts Canmore](https://wildernessledger.com/experience/basecamp-resorts-canmore) is a courtyard of gabled townhouse suites on Bow Valley Trail, and the thing everyone remembers is the round window. The bedrooms in the mountain-facing units have a porthole the size of a dining table with Ha Ling Peak in it, and the marketing film I shot ends on a guest sitting in one with her coffee because there was no better last frame available. Photograph: A guest sitting in the round window of a Basecamp Resorts Canmore bedroom, the larches gold outside Photograph: Coffee in the round window, the peaks framed behind ## The window It is a bedroom window, which matters: you wake up in it. Ask for a mountain-facing unit when you book; the courtyard-facing bedrooms look at the walkway, which is pleasant and not the same thing. The suites run from a micro studio to a six-bedroom for sixteen, every one with a full kitchen and outdoor seating except the micros. Two families in the six-bedroom is one rate, not six rooms. Photograph: The white-clad suites with their rooftop deck, seen from the street against the mountainside On the roof ### Nine to ten, every day The rooftop hot tub is open from nine in the morning to ten at night with change rooms and a towel bin, closed Sunday mornings for cleaning and when the thermometer drops below minus twenty. The view from it is the first photograph on the listing page. Shared barbecues run year-round with the grill tools in the unit, and a shuttle to Everwild, the group’s Nordic spa across town, is complimentary on request. The spa itself is booked separately. [Check availability on Expedia](https://wildernessledger.com/go/travel/basecamp-resorts-canmore/expedia) Photograph: The courtyard walkway between the gabled townhouse suites, patio furniture on the upper decks Photograph: A three-bedroom suite’s kitchen and dining area, a long timber table under pendant lights and mountain artwork ## Inside the townhouses The one- and two-bedroom patios open onto the main walkway; the larger units have semi-private upstairs decks with summer planting. The three-bedroom has a dining table under copper pendants that seats the whole unit. Main Street is fifteen minutes on foot along Bow Valley Trail. Basecamp Lodge is next door, so a party split between suites and hotel rooms can be on the same block. ## The lodge with the fireplace [Basecamp Lodge Canmore](https://wildernessledger.com/experience/basecamp-lodge-canmore) is the hotel of the group: king and double queen rooms with timber walls, several with gas fireplaces, one micro suite with a kitchen, and a great room under a CANADA sign that is open around the clock with coffee on. It is next door to the Resorts, and it is the one I would pick for a single night between drives. Photograph: The great room fireplace with its CANADA sign, a guest reading on the sofa Photograph: The great room under tall windows, armchairs and a dining table with the mountains outside ## The great room Red armchairs, a stone fireplace, tall windows on the peaks, tables to work at. It is open 24 hours, which is the difference between a lodge and a motel: at six in the morning before a drive to the Icefields there is somewhere to sit with a coffee that is not the car. The lodge lists work retreats among its uses and I can see why; the wifi and the room are the office. Photograph: A guest in the cedar dry sauna, eyes closed After the day ### The sauna, and the bikes A cedar dry sauna is open from eight in the morning to ten at night with towels and change rooms across the hall. It is electric rather than wood-fired, and it is the right size for two people to not have to talk. In spring and summer the front desk signs out cruiser bikes for nothing, which is how to get to Main Street without the car, and there are pet-friendly rooms by notice at booking. [Check availability on Expedia](https://wildernessledger.com/go/travel/basecamp-lodge-canmore/expedia) Photograph: A deluxe king room with a timber feature wall, white linen and the bathroom through the door Caption: A deluxe king. The fireplaces are in the king suite and the deluxe rooms. ## The apartments a block from Main Street [Basecamp Suites Canmore](https://wildernessledger.com/experience/basecamp-suites-canmore) is a dark-clad apartment building at 721 10th Street, a block off Main Street, and it is the one to book for a week: full kitchens, in-unit laundry, long dining tables, a rooftop hot tub, covered parking under the suites, and a lawn with a fire table out the back. The three-bedroom with bunk sleeps ten. Photograph: The Basecamp Suites sign on the dark cladding at 721 10th Street, the sun flaring behind Photograph: Guests on the lawn behind the suites, balconies above and the fire table by the fence ## The week base A washing machine is not glamorous, but on day four of a ski week it is the amenity. Every apartment has one, with a full-sized kitchen and two bathrooms in the two- and three-bedroom units. Everything downtown is within ten minutes on foot, so the car is for the trailheads rather than for dinner. Photograph: A bedroom with a tufted leather headboard, dark feature wall and brass reading lamps Photograph: Vegetable and chicken skewers on the shared barbecue ## Cook, then sleep The barbecues are shared and first come first served; the rooftop tub is nine to ten with change rooms. The bedrooms have the leather headboards and the brass lamps the whole group uses, and blackout that works. Lamphouse and the Suites share a phone number and a front desk team; if one is full the other is a three-minute walk. ## The motel by the creek [Lamphouse Hotel Canmore](https://wildernessledger.com/experience/lamphouse-hotel-canmore) is Basecamp’s modern motel in the middle of downtown, at 610 8 Street beside Policeman’s Creek. The 360 tour opens on the view from across the pond, because in October the aspens around it go gold and the Rundle range sits behind the roof, and I could not find a better first frame. Two minutes on foot to Main Street; a footbridge to the pond. Photograph: A guest crossing the footbridge over Policeman’s Creek towards Lamphouse, the hotel among yellow aspens Photograph: The LAMPHOUSE sign on the stone wall below the timber stairs ## Downtown, on purpose This is the one for people who want to walk to dinner. King and double queen rooms, some with the mountains in the window, a queen suite, a king set aside for dogs, and the Lamphouse Apartment for ten with two and a half bathrooms. An outdoor hot tub sits by the creek behind a cedar screen, nine to ten daily; the towels are in the room and there are no change rooms, so go dressed for it. Photograph: Two guests walking down Canmore’s main street past the shops and flower baskets The town ### What downtown gives you Coffee, three breweries, the Bow River trail and the trailheads for Ha Ling and Grassi Lakes, all without moving the car. Canmore is a working town rather than a resort, and it shows in the prices of a beer. The rooms are motel rooms, without kitchens except in the apartment; that is the trade for the address. [Check availability on Expedia](https://wildernessledger.com/go/travel/lamphouse-hotel-canmore/expedia) Photograph: Lamphouse Hotel from across the pond on Policeman’s Creek, autumn aspens and the Rundle range behind Caption: The view the tour opens on. Photograph: The full Revelstoke property from above, the suites and their parking court beside the turquoise Columbia River and the forested valley Then the Columbia ## The suites above the river [Basecamp Resorts Revelstoke](https://wildernessledger.com/experience/basecamp-resorts-revelstoke) is four and a half hours west of Canmore over Rogers Pass, and it is a different proposition: a row of modern suites on a forested bluff above the Columbia, five minutes from a town that exists for the longest lift-served vertical on the continent and the heli-skiing in the Columbias. I flew the drone over it at dusk with every window lit and that frame is on the listing. Photograph: The Revelstoke suites from the air among the forest above the river Photograph: The suites lit at dusk on the bluff, the mountains behind ## On the bluff Micro studio to six-bedroom, two to fourteen, every unit with a full kitchen and the bigger ones with two or three bathrooms. The one-bedrooms and the three-bedroom bunk suites have private patios facing the river. It is on Highway 23 North, which is the road to the resort; in winter the front desk hands out complimentary shuttle vouchers and the shuttle picks up in the parking lot. Photograph: Three guests in the rooftop hot tub, steam rising, the glass rail and the mountains behind On the roof ### Two tubs, river view Two hot tubs on the roof deck, nine to ten, closed Tuesday mornings for cleaning and in extreme cold. After a day on the hill this is where everyone is, and the steam in the film is not added. Shared barbecues run year-round from eight to ten with the grill tools at the front desk. [Check availability on Expedia](https://wildernessledger.com/go/travel/basecamp-resorts-revelstoke/expedia) Photograph: The Columbia valley from the air, river and forest to the mountains Photograph: Sunset over a mountain lake outside Revelstoke, pink cloud above the peaks ## The Columbias, from the door Revelstoke is the base for Rogers Pass ski touring, the resort, the cat and heli operations and, in summer, the bike park and the river. None of those are on this record yet; the bed is, because I have photographed every room of it and can show you which one to ask for. Six hours from Vancouver, two and a half from Kelowna, four and a half from Calgary. The Trans-Canada through Rogers Pass closes for avalanche control some winter days; build a buffer. ## Which one, then For a single night before a drive, the Lodge. For a week with a kitchen and a washing machine, the Suites. For the window and the rooftop, the Resorts. For walking to dinner, Lamphouse. For the Columbias, Revelstoke, and it is the only one of the five that is not in Canmore. None of them publish a rate; the price is set by the date in the booking engine on each property page, with a flexible rate you can cancel free until 72 hours before arrival and a lower non-refundable one. Check-in is four, check-out eleven, a $250 security deposit per unit goes on the card at arrival and comes back after, one parking space per booking is the aim, and dogs are two at most, by notice, in the units that take them. The Ledger on each page has the rest. ## Questions **Which Basecamp property is best for a family?** A suite with a kitchen. Basecamp Resorts Canmore has units up to six bedrooms for sixteen with a rooftop hot tub; Basecamp Suites Canmore has apartments with in-unit laundry up to a bunk apartment for ten, a five-minute walk from Main Street; Basecamp Resorts Revelstoke has suites up to six bedrooms for fourteen above the Columbia River. All are priced per unit, not per person. **Which one is closest to downtown Canmore?** Lamphouse Hotel, at 610 8 Street beside Policeman's Creek, is two minutes on foot from Main Street. Basecamp Suites at 721 10th Street is five. Basecamp Resorts and Basecamp Lodge are next door to each other on Bow Valley Trail, about fifteen minutes on foot. **Do the Basecamp properties publish rates?** No. The price of each room or suite is set by the date in the booking engine on the property page, with a flexible rate you can cancel free until 72 hours before arrival and a lower non-refundable prepaid rate. A $250 security deposit per unit is taken on arrival and refunded after the stay. **Can I bring a dog?** At the properties with pet-friendly units, up to two, by notice at booking. Lamphouse has a dog-friendly king room. A pet in a non-pet unit is charged $100 a night. ## The experiences in this story - Basecamp Resorts Canmore: https://wildernessledger.com/experience/basecamp-resorts-canmore (plain text: https://wildernessledger.com/experience/basecamp-resorts-canmore.md) Basecamp Resorts Canmore: townhouse suites from a micro studio for 2 to a six-bedroom for 16, priced by the night in the booking engine (no fixed tariff), a 15-minute walk from Main Street Canmore, with a rooftop hot tub facing the Three Sisters and a complimentary shuttle to the Everwild Nordic spa. Read from Basecamp Resorts Canmore, property page (rooms, amenities, contact) on 15 September 2026. - Basecamp Lodge Canmore: https://wildernessledger.com/experience/basecamp-lodge-canmore (plain text: https://wildernessledger.com/experience/basecamp-lodge-canmore.md) Basecamp Lodge Canmore: hotel rooms rather than suites, king and double queen rooms for 2 to 4 with timber walls and gas fireplaces, priced by the night in the booking engine (no fixed tariff), on Bow Valley Trail with a 24-hour great room, coffee, a cedar dry sauna and cruiser bikes in summer. Read from Basecamp Lodge Canmore, property page (rooms, amenities, contact) on 15 September 2026. - Basecamp Suites Canmore: https://wildernessledger.com/experience/basecamp-suites-canmore (plain text: https://wildernessledger.com/experience/basecamp-suites-canmore.md) Basecamp Suites Canmore: apartment suites with full kitchens and in-unit laundry, a micro suite for 2 to a three-bedroom bunk apartment for 10, priced by the night in the booking engine (no fixed tariff), a 5-minute walk from Main Street, with a rooftop hot tub and covered parking. Read from Basecamp Suites Canmore, property page (rooms, amenities, contact) on 15 September 2026. - Lamphouse Hotel Canmore: https://wildernessledger.com/experience/lamphouse-hotel-canmore (plain text: https://wildernessledger.com/experience/lamphouse-hotel-canmore.md) Lamphouse Hotel Canmore: a modern motel in downtown Canmore beside Policeman's Creek, king and double queen rooms for 2 to 4 (one king set aside for dogs), a queen suite and an apartment for 10, priced by the night in the booking engine (no fixed tariff), with a creekside hot tub and Main Street a two-minute walk. Read from Lamphouse Hotel Canmore, property page (rooms, amenities, contact) on 15 September 2026. - Basecamp Resorts Revelstoke: https://wildernessledger.com/experience/basecamp-resorts-revelstoke (plain text: https://wildernessledger.com/experience/basecamp-resorts-revelstoke.md) Basecamp Resorts Revelstoke: self-catering suites from a micro studio for 2 to a six-bedroom for 14, priced by the night in the booking engine (no fixed tariff), on the Columbia River 5 minutes from downtown, with two rooftop hot tubs and complimentary winter shuttle vouchers to town and the mountain. Read from Basecamp Resorts Revelstoke, property page (rooms, amenities, contact) on 15 September 2026. Written by Ben Taft, Photographer and filmmaker, The Wilderness Ledger (https://wildernessledger.com/about). Ben Taft stayed at the places this story describes and wrote it afterwards. Every photograph and film is his. Publisher: The Wilderness Ledger. Corrections: hello@wildernessledger.com.