BANFF NATIONAL PARK, CANADA THE USUAL: THE ALTERNATIVES: ALSO TRY:

Calls for a cap on visitors to Canada’s busiest national park grow louder each year. In the peak summer months, hotspots such as Johnston Canyon, Lake Louise and Moraine Lake seethe with tourists.

To dodge crowds on popular hikes, visit in shoulder season and start early in the morning. Alternatively, tackle less-trodden routes – for example, the Plain of Six Glaciers trail south-west of Lake Louise is far less busy than the track up to the Lake Agnes Tea House, but still offers fine views over the turquoise waters. Or come in winter (Dec–apr), when snowshoeing routes around the big lakes reveal their beauty in a completely different light.

To skip the scrum in Banff altogether and discover other rugged patches of the Rockies, head over the border from Alberta into British Columbia to explore Yoho and Kootenay national parks. Neither receives even a fraction of the four million visitors that descend on Banff each year, yet their glassy waters and remote rocky trails are more than a match for Alberta’s scenery.

The blue-green waters of Yoho’s Emerald and O’hara lakes rival those of Louise; a quota system limits numbers at O’hara. Elsewhere in Yoho, Iceline Trail provides spectacular views of Takakkaw Falls. Kootenay, meanwhile, boasts an alluring soak at Radium Hot Springs, and a trek with dramatic vistas along Marble Canyon.

Board a chopper to whisk you away from the crowds. Heli-hiking tours are typically offered between June and September from Banff and Canmore. Within Banff National Park, day trips reveal aerial views of the Three Sisters Peaks, the Bow River valley or Mount Assiniboine. But a multi-day escape is the ultimate indulgence: with a helicopter at your command, you can soar beyond the park’s borders to remote mountain lodges up in the Bugaboos and Cariboos, to find solitude among towering ridges, alpine meadows and untrammelled wilderness.