Few hotel bars carry the weight of history that Rundle does. The space was once the grand lobby of the Fairmont Banff Springs, built by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1888 and now a designated National Historic Site, and that sense of arrival still defines the room. The refurbishment by Calgary-based FRANK Architecture worked with what was already there – original stone arches, locally quarried Rundle stone, a fossil-threaded Tyndall limestone staircase – framing a two-storey bar in burnished wood and bronze with a rolling library ladder at its centre. A floor-to-ceiling bookcase along one wall opens into Rundle Bar Sidecar, a speakeasy-style private dining room that nods to the prohibition era. Above, a mezzanine lounge looks out over Cascade Mountain, and in summer a terrace opens across the Bow Valley with the dramatic peaks of the Canadian Rockies as a backdrop.

The cocktail programme is built around local soul, international ingredients and modern technique, dividing between the Castle Classics and the rotating Explorer’s Collection. The Wildflower – house gin infused with wild raspberries and elderberries from Alberta’s foothills – is the signature. The Ember, a collaborative bourbon with The Macallan 12, lapsang souchong maple and aromatic bitters, is the best-seller. Behind it sits one of the largest Scotch whisky collections in Canada, with rare allocations including Bowmore ARC 52 and The Macallan 78 Year Old. All syrups are made in-house, spent coffee grounds are converted into syrup before going to the hotel’s greenhouse programme, and a dedicated prep bar with a Spinzall 2.0 handles the more technical work.

Rundle was also the first Canadian hotel to launch a dedicated non-alcoholic cocktail menu, developed in partnership with Seedlip and presented through its own illustrated list that sits comfortably alongside the main offering.

What comes through most clearly at Rundle is how genuinely the team cares about the people in the room. Guest preferences are logged through the Opera System so colleagues can prepare ahead of each visit, complimentary bar snacks are waiting on arrival, and the “Make Special Happen” programme gives staff the freedom to create unscripted moments of care without waiting for sign-off. The team – the majority of whom are women, and three of the six senior positions held by females – benefit from a training culture that is thorough and well-supported. Beverage education is woven into pre-shift briefings throughout the year, with formal qualifications subsidised for all colleagues and a structured six-week leadership programme available for those moving into management. Staff benefits include a substantial mental health allocation, on-site counselling and subsidised housing, and the same attention given to guests is extended to the people who serve them.