Radium Hot Springs

What to expect

Radium Hot Springs is a Parks Canada pool complex at the southwest entrance to Kootenay National Park, where Highway 93 squeezes through the red rock walls of Sinclair Canyon. It is a staffed public facility with lifeguards, not a natural pool. The building is the Aquacourt, a long, low 1951 structure that is now a Classified Federal Heritage Building.

There are two pools. The hot pool is a shallow soaking pool kept between 98 and 104°F37 and 40°C. It is meant for quiet soaking, so no diving, inflatables or speakers. The cool pool next to it is a deeper swimming pool with a diving area for laps and cooling off. Parks Canada describes the mineral water as odourless, which surprises people who expect the sulphur smell of Banff. Sulphate and calcium are the main dissolved minerals.

The canyon walls rise right behind the pools, and on winter evenings the steam hangs under the cliffs.

Not the Colorado Radium

This listing is the Canadian pool. There is also a Radium Hot Springs in Colorado, a single warm pool on the Colorado River near Kremmling with no staff and no admission. If your search turned up river canyon photos and a BLM trailhead, that is the other one.

Current status

The pools are open daily. Winter hours started on October 13, 2026 and run until May 2027.

Parks Canada spent June to October 2026 on the Sinclair Canyon Bridge Rehabilitation, including repairs to the Sinclair Creek rock tunnel near the pools and retaining walls at the southwest end of the canyon. It warned of single-lane alternating traffic with delays of up to 45 minutes at peak times, and closed the canyon sidewalks, the sidewalk from the Lower Juniper Trail parking area and several pullouts. Parks Canada said the village and the pools would stay open throughout. Check DriveBC for whether lane control is still in place when you travel.

Getting there

The pools sit just inside the park boundary on Highway 93, about 3 km (1.9 miles) from the village of Radium Hot Springs. Parks Canada lists the address as 5420 BC-93.

• From the Columbia Valley (Invermere, Fairmont, Cranbrook): drive north on Highway 93/95 to the village of Radium Hot Springs, turn east onto Highway 93 at the junction, and follow it through the park gate and Sinclair Canyon to the pools.
• From Banff or Calgary: take the Trans-Canada Highway west to Castle Junction, then Highway 93 South over Vermilion Pass and down through Kootenay National Park. Parks Canada says the 94 km (58 miles) of Highway 93 inside the park takes a little under 2 hours. There is no fuel or food along it.
• From Golden: drive south on Highway 95 through the Columbia Valley to the village.

The pools have their own parking, including accessible spots and a drop-off area. There is no public transit. Highway 93 is maintained all year but can close in bad weather, so check DriveBC and 511 Alberta before crossing in winter.

Prices and booking

Single-entry pool admission, from the Parks Canada fees page in October 2026 (each includes a locker token):

• Adult: C$19.75
• Senior (65+): C$17.25
• Youth (3-17): C$17.25
• Family (four people, no more than two aged 18+): C$64.25
• Extra youth on a family ticket: C$9.75
• Children under 3: free

Day passes cost C$28.75 for adults, C$25 for seniors and youth, and C$92.50 for a family. Annual pool passes start at C$216.50. Rentals: swimsuit C$9, towel C$5, swim diaper C$1.25, extra locker token C$2.

You also need a park pass. Pool admission does not cover national park entry. In 2026 the Kootenay daily fee was C$12.25 per adult, C$10.75 per senior and C$24.50 for a family or group of up to seven in one vehicle; youth 17 and under enter the park free. A Parks Canada Discovery Pass (C$83.50 adult, C$167.50 family) covers a year and also works at Banff Upper Hot Springs and Miette Hot Springs, though each pool charges its own admission.

There are no reservations or online tickets. Pay at reception. If thunder, lightning or a water quality problem closes the pool within 30 minutes of your entry, staff give a rain check valid for one year at Radium only.

When to go

In summer both pools open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Summer weekends, long weekends and school breaks bring the longest waits, and large groups may be let in in stages.

From September to May the hot pool opens late morning every day, but the cool pool opens only Friday from 6 to 9 p.m. and on weekends. If swimming laps matters to you, plan a weekend visit.

Winter is the best season for the setting. Snow on the canyon walls and a hot pool at 104°F40°C is the classic Radium soak, and weekday afternoons are usually calm.

Rules and etiquette

• Swimwear: proper swimwear is required, and it must be different from the clothes you arrived in. Long-sleeved shirts, shorts and other modest or religious swimwear are fine. Underwear on its own is not.
• Children: youth 8 to 17 may come alone. Children 7 and under need an older companion in the water with them (the safety page says 14 or older). Non-swimmers and children 5 and under stay within arm’s reach. Unaccompanied youth must pass a swim test for the cool pool’s deep end. Life jackets are free.
• No alcohol, smoking or vaping in the building. Smoking is allowed only in the parking lots. Intoxicated visitors are turned away.
• No food or glass on the deck. Reusable water bottles are welcome, and there is a summer picnic area above the cool pool.
• Lockers: street clothes, shoes and bags go in a locker. Street shoes stop at the dry hall.
• No diving in the hot pool. Diving is allowed only in the cool pool.

Accessibility

Parks Canada says the parking, drop-off area, change rooms and washrooms are wheelchair accessible. Personal wheelchairs cannot go in the water, but aquatic wheelchairs can be borrowed when available. A caregiver helping a paying guest enters free.

Where to stay nearby

There is no lodging at the pools. The village of Radium Hot Springs, a few minutes downhill, has motels, lodges and restaurants. Parks Canada’s Redstreak Campground is the park’s campground at the Radium end, and McLeod Meadows and Marble Canyon campgrounds are further north on Highway 93. Invermere is the larger town to the south, and Fairmont Hot Springs Resort is further down the same valley if you want a second soak.

Safety notes

• Heat: Parks Canada suggests cooling off every 10 minutes and drinking water. Pregnant visitors and people with heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes or seizures should check with a doctor first.
• Illness: stay out of the pools if you have had diarrhea in the past two weeks or have an open wound.
• No signal in the park: there is no cell service along Highway 93 inside the park. Parks Canada has emergency phones at four points along the road.
• Wildlife on the road: Highway 93 runs through a national park. Drive slowly through Sinclair Canyon and the park, especially at dusk.

History

Indigenous peoples used the springs long before settlers arrived. Englishman Roland Stuart bought the land in 1890 and called them Sinclair Hot Springs, after James Sinclair, who led a party of Red River families through the area in 1841. After McGill researchers found traces of radon in the water in 1915, Stuart renamed them Radium Hot Springs. The property was expropriated for the new Kootenay National Park in 1922. The Aquacourt opened on May 19, 1951, the hot pool was rebuilt in 1968, and Parks Canada spent more than C$9.5 million restoring the building between 2016 and 2019.