The two Lake Louise tea houses

Yes: the Lake Agnes Tea House and the Plain of Six Glaciers Teahouse, both above the lake, both reached by trail from the lakeshore in front of the Chateau, and neither reachable by road. They are run by different people, keep different hours and sit at the top of two different walks. The only way to get a cup of tea at either is to climb.

There is a third thing called tea at Lake Louise, the hotel afternoon tea at the Chateau, and it is not a tea house. It gets its own section below because half the people searching for the tea house end up on the hotel's page.

The Lake Agnes Tea House sits at 2,135 metres on the shore of Lake Agnes, 3.9 kilometres and 495 metres above the lakeshore, and opens 8 am to 4 pm, seven days a week from 4 June to the first week of October. It is the busier of the two because it is the shorter climb, and because the building on the water is the photograph everyone has seen. The full trail description is on the Lake Agnes hike page.

The operator quotes its own trail figures, 3.5 kilometres and 400 metres, 1 to 2 hours one way. Parks Canada measures the same trail at 3.9 kilometres and 495 metres. The difference is where each one starts counting; this site uses the Parks Canada figures throughout.

Everything is made by hand because there is no electricity. The tea biscuits and the oatmeal brown bread are baked on site from 5:30 each morning, the pot of tea is served at the table from 8 am to 3 pm, and the tea menu runs to 30 loose leaf teas. Bottled water is $6 because it arrived the same way everything else did: staff carry fresh supplies up on their backs two to four times a week, and one helicopter run a year, 20 to 30 lifts of about 10,000 pounds, brings dry goods and propane. There is no drinking water for visitors, and the operator asks for at least one litre per person in your pack.

The Plain of Six Glaciers Teahouse is 5.8 kilometres and 595 metres from the lakeshore, about 4 hours there and back, and opens 9 am to 5 pm, seven days a week. It stands in a meadow at the top of the moraine with the Victoria Glacier ahead of it, and the walk to it begins with the flat lakeshore trail before the ground rises at the far end of the lake. The full route is on the Plain of Six Glaciers hike page.

Its website is three pages long and publishes less than Lake Agnes does, so the table below says so where it says nothing. What it does publish: light lunches, desserts and beverages, all made on site; nearly twenty teas, and it recommends the chocolate cake, which the operator calls the locals' favourite. Supplies come up the same way as at Lake Agnes: ingredients are flown up by helicopter twice a year or carried up daily in staff backpacks.

The operator describes the trail as 2 kilometres around the lake and then 3.6 kilometres uphill gaining about 360 metres, and warns that the trail is exposed in places. Bring water or a way to treat it; the site does not say whether drinking water is sold.

Lake Agnes if you have under three hours, the Plain of Six Glaciers if you have four and want the glacier rather than the crowd. Lake Agnes is steeper for its length and the busier of the two by a wide margin; the Plain of Six Glaciers is longer, gentler at the start and quieter at the top, with the better mountain scenery and a shorter queue.

If the tea house itself is the point, Lake Agnes has the building on the water, the published menu and the longer list of teas. If the walk is the point, the Plain of Six Glaciers has the moraine, the glacier and the Abbot Pass viewpoint beyond it. If the view is the point, add the Big Beehive to Lake Agnes: 1.5 kilometres further and about an hour there and back for the view straight down the length of Lake Louise.

Families with small children usually stop at Lake Agnes. Anyone who found the first kilometre and a half of that climb hard should not plan on the Plain of Six Glaciers the same day.

Parks Canada gives 2.5 to 3 hours for Lake Agnes and about 4 hours for the Plain of Six Glaciers, both return and neither counting the time you spend at the top. Add half an hour to an hour for the queue and the tea in July and August, and an hour if you carry on to the Big Beehive.

The start time matters more than the walking time. Lake Agnes opens at 8 am, and a party that leaves the lakeshore at 6:30 climbs in the quiet and sits down as the doors open. A party that leaves at 10 in July queues on the trail and again at the counter. The lakeshore car park fills by sunrise in summer, which settles the question for anyone who drives.

Carry Canadian cash for either, even though one of them now takes cards. The Plain of Six Glaciers Teahouse says card processing is available but that its solar power is not always up, asks for Canadian dollars as a backup, and takes US dollars only at par, which is a poor rate. The Lake Agnes Tea House publishes no payment policy anywhere on its site, and it runs without electricity, so plan on cash there until the site says otherwise.

Neither mountain has a cash machine or a mobile signal, and the nearest ATM is in the village, listed in the directory. Beyond money, the operators ask for the same things: at least a litre of water per person, because Lake Agnes sells bottled water at $6 and has none on tap, and a spare layer, because both sit high enough to be cold on a warm day at the lake. Lake Agnes says trainers are fine and boots are not required; sandals and heels are not recommended. Take your rubbish down with you: at Lake Agnes, all rubbish and recycling is carried down the trail by staff every day.

No. The Lake Agnes Tea House says it works on a first come, first served basis and is unable to take reservations. The Plain of Six Glaciers Teahouse publishes no reservations policy and has no booking page; its staff seat you when you walk up from the meadow. The only table-service rule either publishes is at Lake Agnes, where the pot of tea is served at the table from 8 am to 3 pm and as a takeaway cup after that.

In practice the queue is the reservation. Arrive at opening, or after 3 pm when the day walkers have started down, and you will sit straight down at either.

The Highline trail links Lake Agnes across to the Plain of Six Glaciers, so both tea houses fit into one loop of about 14.3 kilometres and roughly five hours. Walked anticlockwise, you climb the steep Lake Agnes side first, cross the Highline to the Plain of Six Glaciers for the second tea, and come down the long flat lakeshore at the end, which is easier on the knees.

It is a full day with two stops, and the two sets of hours shape it: Lake Agnes opens at 8 am and closes at 4 pm, the Plain of Six Glaciers opens at 9 and closes at 5, so the anticlockwise direction puts you at each one while it is serving. Every trail on the loop is on the hikes page.

The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise serves a hotel afternoon tea in the Fairview Restaurant at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, daily, 11:30 am to 2:30 pm, reservations required, and it is a different thing from the two tea houses on this page. It is indoors, at lake level, with a dress code that bars no shorts, ripped denim, athletic or hiking wear, which rules out the clothes you would climb to a tea house in.

The Fairmont page read on 15 September 2026 shows no per-person price, so this page does not give one; the hotel quotes it when you book. If you want tea with a view and no climb, that is the option, and it is listed with the other hotel dining rooms under where to eat. If you want the tea house, you walk.

The Lake Agnes Tea House was built in 1901 as a refuge for hikers and started serving tea in 1905. The original log building was replaced in 1981, and the operator says the windows, tables and chairs from the old building are still in use. It is family owned and run today by the Magee family: Cynthia Magee, her daughter Joanna and son-in-law Pierre Luc.

The Plain of Six Glaciers Teahouse publishes no history on its site: no build date and no founders, so this page gives none. What both share is the reason they exist: somewhere to sit down at the top of a walk that starts at the hotel. The rest of the story, from the railway to the Chateau, is on the history page.