Family Fun at Grande Rockies Resort, Canmore

Staying in the mountains means more playing in the mountains, which is why we love spending weekends in Canmore! After a day of adventure, there’s nothing better than soaking in the hot tub and grilling a steak on the BBQ (sure beats driving home and grabbing fast food). Of course, if you ask my kids, the best thing ever is splashing in the pool and going down the waterslide a hundred times! You can do all these things and more at the Grande Rockies Resort.With beautifully appointed suites, an amazing fitness centre, pool – with indoor/outdoor hot tub and kids’ pool, spa, and award-winning restaurant, you may never want to leave the resort, but then you’d miss out on all the fun Canmore has to offer. Here’s what we loved about staying at Grande Rockies Resort – starting with our sweet suite!

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Home Away From Home

Our 1-bedroom suite at the Grande Rockies Resort was the perfect home away from home with a full kitchen, spa shower, in-suite laundry, BBQ, flat screen TVs, wifi, and gas fireplace. The 570 square foot room was beautiful and spacious and had everything we needed.

The luxurious suite sleeps 4 people: 2 on a double pullout sofa bed in the living room and 2 on the king sized bed in the bedroom. The king sized bed is bigger and comfier, so put the kids on the sofa bed and take wine to your room. 😉 Both rooms have large flat screen TVs.

Bedroom

Living Room

After a day of playing in the snow, the girls clothes were wet and in need of a wash. In-suite laundry for the win!

It’s great to have in-suite laundry when you travel with kids!

Lazy breakfasts in our PJs were made possible by a full kitchen. I was especially pleased about the dishwasher; it’s not a holiday if you’re handwashing dishes! The full-sized coffee maker rocked my world too because… coffee!!! The more the better for me!

Grande Rockies Resort Suite Kitchen
Image Credit: Grande Rockies Resort

Breakfast is served!

While the fully stocked kitchen was wonderful, my favorite feature of the suite was its spa steam shower. This is something I do not have at home and it surpassed anything I’ve seen even at fancy spas! Besides a rainrop shower head and side jets, this baby had foot massagers and steam, and played music! Between the awesome steam shower and indoor/outdoor hot tub, we didn’t miss having a bathtub in our room at all.

NOTE: Do not allow young children to shower unattended as they could get pretty hot if they turn the steam on. (The control panel is up high to prevent kids from messing with the controls, but little climbers could get into trouble.)

Spa steam shower

If you have work to do or want to catch a show on Netflix, you will be pleased to hear that the free wifi works great! Be sure to use the log-in credentials available in your room for the fastest speed (as the lobby wifi doesn’t work well when you’re on the other side of the resort). There is also a business centre at the resort if you need to print or fax anything.

Finally, each suite has a barbecue on the balcony and large storage closet that would be perfect for skis.

Standard double rooms (sleep 4), two-bedroom suites (sleep 6) and penthouses (sleep 8) are also available. More information is available here: www.granderockies.com/accommodations.

Book Grande Rockies Resort on Expedia!

Double Room or Suite? I highly recommend a suite for the best family getaway. For little more than a standard double room, you get twice the space, a full kitchen and barbecue, and in-suite laundry. By cooking your own meals, you can recoup what you spent (plus some), stay up after the kids have gone to bed, and relax in the morning in your PJs. It’s worth it!

To see highlights of our stay at Grande Rockies Resort, please see this video!

Family Fun at Grande Rockies Resort

Hotel Amenities

Grande Rockies Resort has the following fine amenities onsite:

Pools: Children’s wading area, Pool with 3-storey waterslide, indoor/outdoor hot tub
Heated underground parking. Outdoor parking available for overheight vehicles.
Award-winning Habitat Restaurant & Bar
Lounge: Enjoy a cocktail, appy or steak sandwich in the comfortable lounge! Open 4 pm – 10 pm.
Verde Day Spa
Fitness Centre
Business Centre
Banquet and conference facilities including ballroom

Grande Rockies Resort Lounge

POOL

We loved the pool and went there every day – including the morning we checked out! The wading pool is perfect for toddlers and preschoolers, while the pool is suitable for kids 5 & up as the shallow end is around 3.5′ deep (vs many public pools that start at 4′). It is really well set up for families!

Note: The pool key code and pool towels are in your room – bring them with you when you head down to the pool. There is a shower in the pool area for your convenience.

Grande Rockies Resort Hot Tub

HABITAT RESTAURANT & BAR

We lucked out Friday night and got a table at Habitat without a reservation (yay for shoulder season!) and ran into friends from Calgary! While the girls demolished chicken and waffles from the kids’ menu, my husband had seafood fettuccine aglio e olio, and I had the venison tenderloin with red juniper glaze. We don’t usually order waffles since mine are the best, but Habitat’s were awesome! My husband and I enjoyed our meals as well and found the portions to be just enough with half a kid’s meal each. If I didn’t have kids’ plates to pick off of, I would’ve ordered a dessert – next time!

The ambience was pleasant with quiet music and friendly servers. A great place for a delicious meal, or cocktails and appies!

Open for breakfast and lunch daily; dinner: Wednesday-Sunday. For hours or reservations, visit www.granderockies.com/hours/.

Cheers!

Delectable venison tenderloin

Things to Do in Canmore

Canmore is a year round adventure playground with great hiking, biking, climbing, caving, skiing, dogsledding, and more. See 14 Things to Do in Canmore This Winter for ideas! I recommend cross country skiing at Canmore Nordic Centre, the Grotto Canyon Ice Walk, and Grassi Lakes hike.

Grassi Lakes

Cross country skiing at Canmore Nordic Centre

Grotto Canyon Ice Walk

Banff National Park is a short drive away. Ski at Mount Norquay, take the Banff Gondola, cross country ski at Cascade Valley, or try one of these shoulder season hikes including Johnston Canyon!