Looking like a cross between Harry Potter's Hogwarts and a Loire Valley castle, the Fairmont Banff Springs (fairmont.com/banff-springs) competes with the surrounding Rocky Mountains for size and grandeur. Constructed as one of the nation's "grand railway hotels" in 1928, it replaced an earlier wooden structure that was built to serve the park's first tourists in the 1880s but was destroyed by a fire in 1926. The remodel was designed in the prevailing Canadian Chãteauesque style that sought to imitate the Renaissance castles of the Loire in France. It quickly became a leading contender for Canada's most iconic building.
Highlights include an Arthurian great hall; an elegant, wood-paneled bar; and the gorgeous hot-springs spa. Even if you're not staying here, you're welcome to wander around, and it's worth splashing out on a coffee, a meal or a cocktail in one of the hotel's dozen or so restaurants, lounges and bars.
The best views of the "castle in the Rockies" can be found at Surprise Corner Viewpoint across the river. The parking lot is small, so aim to arrive in the early morning or evening for the best photographs. The hotel is best seen in winter, when the lights of its 700-odd rooms twinkle out from under a thick crust of snow.