In good news for locals and travellers, the township of Jasper in Jasper National Park reopened on Friday, 6 September 2024 after experiencing its largest wildfires in 100 years, lifting the restrictions on visitors to the popular Canadian destination.
For safety reasons, the current State of Emergency remains in place and certain areas have restricted access.
Any visitors to the national park and the township should note that services remain limited although more businesses and services are coming back on line each day.
Tourism Jasper requests that all travel advisors ensure guests are aware to be sensitive and respectful to residents by not taking photos of destroyed homes with many locals still grieving personal losses.
Accommodation update
Tour operators and wholesalers are recommended to contact their regular suppliers or operators for room bookings.
Suppliers are currently focused on relocating existing bookings to hotels open for business, mainly Pursuit properties, over the remaining summer period.
The iconic Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge remains closed until 30 September 2024. All national park campgrounds are closed.
All new bookings are focused on 2025, commencing from the winter 2024-25 season from November 2024 to April 2025.
The winter 2024-25 season will play an important role in the community’s economic and social recovery and Tourism Jasper requests all trade partners to focus on this period.
Services & accessibility update
Via Rail aims to resume its Jasper schedule with a 15 September departure from Toronto, arriving on 18 September 2024, and a 16 September departure from Vancouver, arriving on 17 September, pending Parks Canada approval.
Outside the township, Parks Canada announced that several trails and day-use areas will reopen in the national park from 6 September. These include:
- Miette Road – all pullouts and viewpoints, Miette Hot Springs, Miette Mine and Sulfur Skyline Trails
- Highway 16 – Talbot Lake and Jasper Lake pullouts, Morro Slabs climbing area, all pullouts and viewpoints east and west of town, Dorothy Lake and Christine Lake Trails
- Highway 93 (Icefields Parkway) – Some pullouts with more to come (closed pullouts are marked)
- Pyramid Lake & Pyramid Beach – roads are open
Dining update
For dining, restaurants open now in town include Cubz Play Cafe, De’d Dog Bar & Grill, Legion, Papa George’s, Kimchi House, Lou Lou’s Breakfast & Pizzeria, Crazy Elk Cafe and the KFC outlet.
Evil Dave’s restaurant is anticipated to open the second week of September and can assist with group dining reservations.
The full list of dining options is available here.
Advisors can check for the latest township opening updates via jasper-alberta.ca and current park closures at parks.canada.ca/jasper
