Staying at the Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta is about as close to staying in a castle as you can get in North America. Sure, there is the Banff Springs Hotel to the north and the Chateau Frontenac in Quebec, but as far as a medieval/Nordic castle goes, the Prince of Wales Hotel is the best option. Built in 1927 this wooden, icing covered castle is wonderfully unique and met all of our expectations for staying in this antique gem. We’ve got the full scoop on what to expect from your visit and great ideas for exploring Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta.
Have you gotten to stay at the Prince of Wales Hotel before, or maybe just seen it from below? With one of the best views in the Canadian Rockies, this hotel needs to be on any traveler’s bucket list of Canada. If you have any questions we don’t answer or want to share your own tips did visiting Waterton, please leave a comment or send us a note.
All About the Prince of Wales Hotel
I love the story of the Prince of Wales Hotel because it’s both hilarious and wonderful, just like staying there. The Great Northern Railway built in on top of a hill at the windiest part of Upper Waterton Lake just across the USA/Canada border, the hotel was founded for railway guests in the 1920s who both wanted to visit the Canadian Rockies AND who wanted to visit a land without prohibition. That’s right, guests would visit Glacier National Park in the USA and then be shuttled up to the Prince of Wales Hotel for an additional experience where they could also drink and buy alcohol, sometimes smuggling it back down to Montana.
After prohibition the hotel wasn’t busy anymore, but in time it regained its game and popularity to what it is today. Now, getting a reservation is difficult and you have to secure it a year in advance, and you’ll pay a premium price. While similar railway hotel properties have been renovated or updated, such as the Glacier Park Lodge in East Glacier or Many Glacier Hotel (area of the same name), Montana, the Prince of Wales Hotel maintains its nearly all original decor and materials.
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Hotel Rooms at the Prince of Wales
There are some unique bed arrangements / room types here at the Prince of Wales Hotel. We had a Double-Twin room, meaning a double bed and a twin bed up on the fourth floor, but there are other room setups too. Here are the room options:
- One Queen
- One King
- One Double w/ twin
- One Double
- King Suite
The variations beyond the bed layouts come from the view, meaning either a mountain view or lake view. The higher floors offer “cozier” rooms too, so if you’re fine with close quarters for your vintage hotel stay, consider those options too.
Like with any vintage hotel (I’m looking at you Belton Chalet, West Glacier) at the Prince of Wales Hotel you should expect quirks and yesteryear standards in the rooms. You’re not going to find large, luxurious en suite bathrooms but instead in-room sinks with water closets (toilet/shower room). The rooms aren’t like a European efficiency hotel, but they’re not grand like the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. Even with the vintage charm, we were very comfortable and had enough space for three people to function.
Check in / Check Out at the Prince of Wales Hotel
I love checking into a vintage hotel because so often it means you get an old key and lots of instructions about the quirks of the hotel, and that’s true here at the Prince of Wales Hotel. When you’re a century old you’re bound to have some delicate elements, like the elevator that can only be operated by hotel staff or the complete lack of technology on property in the spirit of connecting with other travelers like at the time of the hotel’s inception.
You’ll want to accept bell service assistance when you check in because the hotel is tall and you don’t want to carry luggage up six floors. The elevator goes as high as the fourth floor and then as you get up into the higher rafter rooms you need to use the supplementary staircases up to floors five and six. It’s all fun, but if stairs are going to be an issue for you you’ll need to note this at the time of your reservation AND upon check in.
Prince of Wales Hotel Amenities
The greatest amenity at the Prince of Wales Hotel is the amazing lobby. It’s majestic with enormous windows that look down Your Waterton Lake into the mountains. The lobby is full of couches and comfortable chairs, as well as games and there is bar service. This beautiful public space is the hub of the hotel and it’s meant to be a community gathering space.
Tip: there are ample boardgames and decks of cards (and cribbage boards) for guests to enjoy. I am NOT into meeting new people when I travel, but the community vibe and welcoming atmosphere is great to making new/temporary friends for a game.
I’m addition to enjoying the view and relaxing with other travelers, there’s also a nightly historical presentation all about the hotel and how it came to be what it is today. It’s informative and not too long, so don’t miss it. It’s with fifteen minutes of your evening.
The other wonderful feature of the Prince of Wales Hotel that you MUST take advantage of when you visit is the loop trail. This hotel is all about enjoying the outdoors and then relaxing at the end of the day, so before you turn in for the day do the trail that starts in front of the lobby windows and heads down the hill to the lakefront park. Walk along the lakeshore around the bend to the north and enjoy views of lakes, mountains and the hotel. Look for birds and other critters while hiking (we saw a fox!).
Dining at the Prince of Wales Hotel
There’s a beautiful formal restaurant on property, the Royal Stewart Dining Room, as well as the Windsor Lounge and a small coffee bar. Unless you’re here for just a day, you’ll likely want to pop down into town for a meal or two as the menus aren’t expansive and are a bit pricey.
The Royal Stewart Dining Room has the same view as the lobby so don’t worry, you won’t have to miss out on it. I enjoyed my Canadian trout dinner very much, and it was beautifully presented, but the service wasn’t the greatest. We visited at the start of the season so I’ll chalk it up to fresh employees who weren’t fully in the swing of things yet, but service was slow and inaccurate for us. Still delicious, but yeah.
Note: we didn’t get to do the afternoon tea service at the Royal Stewart Dining Room but I saw others enjoying it and it looked beautiful, like at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver or Fairmont Palliser Hotel in Calgary.
The Windsor Lounge has a less formal menu than the Royal Stewart and is great if you’re visiting with kids. Again, it has a beautiful view and lots of informal seating, including at the bar. My favorite cocktail was the smoked old fashioned and it was, hands down, the best craft cocktail I’ve had in a hotel dining establishment.
If you’re looking for coffee and pastries, the coffee bar is actually a bit hidden at the very back of the gift shop. They serve up surprisingly good coffee and from there you can head outside to take in the views.
Stores on Site
There is the Princess Gift Shop just off the lobby at the Prince of Wales Hotel. They have a great selection of Canadian maple products, Pendleton blankets, souvenir clothing and even Stewart plaid items. Also, the vintage style Waterton and Prince of Wales travel posters, stationary and even puzzles are cool. I think this gift shop is the most unique and wonderfully specific I’ve been to in a hotel ever.
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Where is the Prince of Wales Hotel?
Although the Prince of Wales Hotel is located within the Waterton – Glacier International Peace Park, visiting from the USA side does require an official border crossing. You will need a valid passport and if your traveling with children WITHOUT all legal guardians, you’ll need a notarized travel authorization letter. We may have learned this the hard way and had a nerve-wracking phone call to acquire verbal authorization while at the border crossing…
If you’re already in Canada and visiting, it’s a beautiful drive to Waterton National Park from Calgary. This is also where you’d fly into for a visit. At nearly three hours from Calgary it’s far enough that you’ll want to stay for at least one night to make the drive worthwhile. If you’re doing a Canadian Rockies road trip, you should either start or end with Waterton Lakes National Park, as it’s four hours from Banff.
For those who are doing the border crossing WITH PASSPORTS and property documentation, the closest landmark is the Many Glacier area of Glacier National Park. We visited Waterton and the Prince of Wales Hotel as part of our Glacier NP trip. It’s an hour from Many Glacier, so an hour and a half from St Mary and two plus hours from East Glacier. The drive is easy and the border crossing is quick.
Transportation To and From National Park Sites
Waterton Lakes National Park is fairly small in comparison to its neighbor Glacier NP in Montana. While Glacier has no fewer than seven entrances to different areas of the park, Waterton only has two: the main highway into the park and via the lake if you’ve come from the Goat Haunt ranger station in Montana. So, once you’re in the townsite of Waterton National Park it’s fairly easy to get where you need to go. The options are biking, hiking or driving.
If you’re biking, the road out to Cameron Lake is quite the steep climb from town and then lots of ups and downs. Biking out to Red Rock Canyon isn’t as intense, but still will be an extremely tough ride. Driving is the most efficient way to get around and will save you lots of time for hiking. It’s a 25 minute drive from the Prince of Wales Hotel (or downtown Waterton) to either Cameron Lake or Red Rock Canyon.
Tip: if you’ve hiked in from Montana or been ditched by your buddies and still want to explore Waterton Lakes National Park, you can book a shuttle through Tamarack Outdoors all the way to Cameron Lake (or any open trailhead)
Can I Walk from the Prince of Wales into town?
Yes! The walk from the Prince of Wales Hotel into the townsite of Waterton is so easy and quick. In ten minutes or so you can get from the hotel lobby to the marina. You can walk either via the loop trail or just down to the road. The speed limit is very slow, so walking along the roadway feels safe (in my opinion).
I will say, on three occasions between the Prince of Wales Hotel and downtown we encountered wildlife: two times there were bighorn sheep on the road and one time we came across a fox! I share this simply as a reminder that Waterton is very much in the Rockies and nature is all around you, even when you’re just walking to town.
Parking Details at the Prince of Wales Hotel
The is self-parking at the Prince of Wales Hotel. The lot is just off the lobby, and there is a pull-through for easy luggage unloading. Parking is $12 CAD per night and you’ll be given a pass to display in your vehicle. The setup is In/Out as much or as little as you like.
Ten Fun Things to do at/near the Prince of Wales Hotel
So, what are you going to do when you stay at the Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton Lakes National Park? I have so many suggestions because there is ample hiking and the town is beautiful to explore on foot. If you have any questions about any of these activities (or any that we didn’t list) please let us know!
- Walk / hike the loop from the Prince of Wales to the lake and back
- Walk the marina and lakeshore path to the International Peace plaza and beyond, around to Cameron Falls in downtown (raging in spring!)
- Drive out to Red Rock Canyon and do that and the Blackiston Falls hike (1.5 hours total)
- On a clear night, head out after midnight to Red Rock Canyon road to watch for the Northern Lights
- Visit Cameron Lake, watching for wildlife and making stops along the way
- Rent a kayak or canoe on either Upper Waterton Lake or Cameron Lake
- Do the Upper Waterton Lake scenic cruise across the USA / Canada border
- Visit the bison paddock and drive to see beautiful American Bison (buffalo)
- Enjoy dining and drinks downtown Waterton, including the Canadian standard the Beavertail
- Simply relax in the lobby of the Prince of Wales Hotel, taking in the view, enjoying conversation and board games, and maybe having a drink with new friends.
I was so glad to get to stay at the Prince of Wales Hotel. While it wasn’t the fanciest place we’ve ever stayed, it certain met and surpassed our expectations for the fun, the feel and service. The views were amazing and it was genuinely relaxing. We planned this trip to Waterton Lakes National Park with the primary purpose of staying here and it was the crowning experience in the park.
If you have any questions about staying at the Prince of Wales Hotel, about Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park or anything else about touring the Canadian Rockies, please leave a comment or send us a note. We’re always happy to share more fun travel stories and tips!
