Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton Lakes National Park

Mar 17, 2017

Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton Lakes National Park

Completed in 1927, the Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta is one of the great Canadian railway hotels. Interestingly, it was actually built by an American railway company, the Great Northern Railway. This landmark property became the sole Canadian link in the Great Northern's chain of resort hotels. Fittingly, the Prince of Wales was used as an attraction for affluent tourists visiting from Glacier National Park in Montana.

Today, the Prince of Wales Hotel is still a big draw, not only for the structure itself, but because of the unbelievable views the location offers. Unlike many other historic properties in the Rocky Mountains, the exterior of the Prince of Wales appears almost unchanged from how it looked when it was first completed. The architecture echoes that of a European alpine chalet, and the original timber-framed interior still remains. Appropriately, the Prince of Wales Hotel was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1995.