Fairmont Hot Springs Resort

Which Fairmont is this?

Two hot spring resorts share this name, and they are a few hundred miles and an international border apart. This page is about Fairmont Hot Springs Resort in British Columbia, in the Columbia Valley between Canal Flats and Invermere. The other is Fairmont Hot Springs Resort in Montana, off I-90 between Butte and Anaconda. They have different owners and different rules. The biggest practical difference: the BC resort sells day passes to anyone, while the Montana resort limits its pools to hotel guests and members. Neither has anything to do with the Fairmont hotel brand.

What to expect

Fairmont Hot Springs is an unincorporated resort community, and the resort is its biggest employer. The pools sit below the main lodge on a bench above the Columbia Valley, facing the Purcell Mountains to the west, with the Rockies rising behind. The operator markets it as Canada’s largest natural hot springs and says the springs put out more than 1.2 million gallons of mineral water a day.

The water is the selling point for people used to sulphur springs. It has no smell. The resort lists calcium bicarbonate, calcium and magnesium sulphate, sodium chloride, silica and a trace of dissolved radium among its minerals.

The public pool area has a hot soaking pool at 102°F39°C and larger swimming pools at roughly 86-89°F30-32°C, so families can swim in the cooler water while adults sit in the hot pool. A separate guest-exclusive hot springs pool next to the lodge, capped at 50 people, is open only to overnight lodge guests. The original springs building still stands nearby, with mineral water seeping out of the hillside around it.

The rest of the resort is large: about 151 rooms in the main and Juniper lodges plus cabins and cottages, three golf courses (two 18-hole and one nine-hole), a small ski hill with 14 runs, a spa, several restaurants, an RV resort and the riverside Spruce Grove Campground. Vancouver-based Aldesta Hotel Group bought the property in June 2023.

Getting there

The resort is right off Highway 93/95, the main road through the Columbia Valley. Turn onto Fairmont Resort Road and follow the signs uphill to the lodge and pools. For hotel guests, parking is part of the resort fee.

• From the south (Cranbrook, Kimberley): drive north on Highway 93/95 past Canal Flats and along the east side of Columbia Lake. The resort is about 108 km (67 miles) north of Cranbrook.
• From the north (Invermere, Radium, Golden): drive south on Highway 93/95 past Windermere.
• From Calgary: most people take the Trans-Canada to Castle Junction, then Highway 93 south through Kootenay National Park to Radium, and south from there. You need a Parks Canada pass if you stop anywhere inside Kootenay National Park on the way.

Check DriveBC before winter trips. Highway 93 through Kootenay National Park crosses a high pass and can close for avalanche control or crashes.

When to go

The pools are open all year. Summer is the busy season, when the RV park and campground fill up and the pools get crowded in the afternoons. Weekday mornings are calmer.

Winter is a good time for a soak, especially combined with a morning on the resort’s ski hill. Shoulder seasons are the quietest, but check the dates first: the pools close for about a week of maintenance each spring and fall.

Prices and booking

Public pool prices in 2026, all plus tax:

Pass	Adult (18-64)	Youth (5-17) / Senior (65+)
Day membership	C$25	C$22
Late-night swim, 7:30-9 p.m.	C$8	C$8
5-day stamp card	C$105	C$95

A family day membership (two adults and two youths) is C$77, with each extra youth C$15. Children 5 and under get in free. Annual passes cost C$300 for adults, C$200 for children 6-17 and C$900 for a family of four; you pick them up at the front desk and email a headshot first. Blackout dates may apply.

Hours: the public pools are open 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. The guest-only pool opens 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., with 9 to 10 p.m. for adults only. Hours can change without notice.

Staying at the resort: hotel guests pay a Resort Experience Fee of C$27 per room per day plus tax, which covers unlimited hot springs access, the gym, Wi-Fi, parking and mini golf. Check-in is at 4 p.m. Cancellations are free up to 72 hours before arrival. Campers at Spruce Grove pay pool admission separately.

Rules and etiquette

• No lifeguards. The resort says plainly that you swim at your own risk. Watch children closely.
• Swimsuits are the norm in this family pool complex.
• Dogs are allowed only in designated Juniper Lodge rooms (C$35 per night, two dogs up to 34 kg or 75 lb each) and never in the main lodge or restaurants.
• The resort is non-smoking outside designated areas.

Where to stay nearby

• Fairmont Hot Springs Resort itself has lodge rooms, Juniper Lodge rooms (some pet-friendly), cabins, cottages and the Mountainside Villas by the golf course.
• Fairmont Hot Springs RV Resort is the resort’s own RV park near the pools.
• Spruce Grove Campground, run by the resort, has 137 sites on the Columbia River, some with full hookups and a free heated swimming pool. It is about a five-minute drive from the hot pools.
• Invermere, a short drive north, has more hotels, restaurants and groceries.

Safety notes

• Heat: the 102°F39°C pool is hot enough to make people lightheaded on long soaks. Take breaks and drink water.
• Children: with no lifeguards and deep swimming pools, an adult needs to be watching at all times.
• Wildlife: this is a rural mountain valley, and animals cross the highway and wander the resort grounds. Do not feed them, and drive carefully at dawn and dusk.
• Winter roads: Highway 93/95 is usually well maintained, but the passes in and out of the valley are not. Use winter tires from October to April.

Nearby stops worth adding

Columbia Lake Provincial Park is about 5 km south, and Fairmont provides the only road access to it. Columbia Lake is the source of the Columbia River. Radium Hot Springs, run by Parks Canada at the entrance to Kootenay National Park, is a short drive north past Invermere and makes a good second soak on the same trip; it needs both pool admission and a national park pass.