This week we are time-traveling through taste. Our spotlight is on the legendary Banff Springs Hotel, a Chateau-style hotel perched in the Rockies that has been delighting visitors for more than a century. Built during the golden age of Canadian railway travel, this iconic resort was more than just a place to stay, it was a destination designed to entice travelers to ride the rails across Canada.
Recognized as a National Historic Site in 1988, the luxurious Banff Springs Hotel is known for its breathtaking views and castle-like charm. The menu selections from the 1920s to the 1950s shown below offer a glimpse into the flavors, styles, and eras of Canadian hospitality in a luxury hotel of this caliber. Thanks to the Chung Collection in UBC Library’s Rare Books and Special Collections, we can open the pages of these culinary time capsules.
Explore these menus, offering breakfast, lunch, dinner, and more. For extra fun, try using the Bank of Canada’s inflation calculator to see how these prices compare to what you would pay today.
A 1927 Banff Springs Hotel dinner menu offered an abundant selection, including a cold buffet with fruits, sweets, and more. Its cover depicts two figures on horseback gazing over the majestic mountain landscape, with the iconic hotel nestled in the valley below.
A 1929 Banff Springs Hotel breakfast menu offered a full meal for $1.25, which would be about $22.39 in today’s CAD dollars.
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The cover of this 1929 lunch menu features a vintage Canadian Pacific advertisement describing the railway as “the Expression of a Nation’s Character,” alongside the iconic mountain views surrounding the Banff Springs Hotel. Inside, as always, is a rich and varied lunch menu selection.
Banff Springs Hotel Golf Club House, 1950-
The hotel briefly shut down in 1942 due to labor shortages caused by World War II, but reopened after 1945, and the menu did as well. This Banff Springs Hotel Golf Club House menu features light snacks and quick bites for golfers.
Here is another dinner menu from 1956. The Chef’s Special, which included a starter, soup, salad, vegetable, dessert, and beverage, cost $5.50 at the time, the equivalent of about $62.51 today according to the inflation calculator. Quite the feast, don’t you think?
Explore the Chung Collection, one of the largest research collections on the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, featuring documents, maps, publications, photographs, and artifacts that illustrate CPR’s construction, steamship services, travel, and more.
Reference:
Banff Springs Hotel National Historic Site of Canada. (n.d.). Retrieved September 16, 2025, from https://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/dfhd/page_nhs_eng.aspx?id=2
Fairmont Banff Spring. (n.d.). Historic Hotels Worldwide. Retrieved September 16, 2025, from https://www.historichotels.org/hotels-resorts/fairmont-banff-springs/history.php
