As a thriving mountain resort town, Canmore has an excellent restaurant scene. We live here, but we still love going out for breakfast; it’s our favourite meal of the day to go out and treat ourselves. Our only problem is picking from the long list of really good Canmore breakfast restaurants.
If you are just visiting, we won’t overwhelm you with a lengthy list of Canmore breakfast restaurants. Instead, we are here to share with you our favourite places to eat breakfast in Canmore. These are places that we return to time and again, with friends, family or for some fuel before heading out for a day of fun in the Rocky Mountains.
We do not accept free meals in exchange for a review. We support local businesses and pay in full for our meals. That means you can fully trust this list of our favourite restaurants for breakfast Canmore.
The 5 Best Canmore Breakfast Restaurants
1. The Summit Cafe
Our realtor recommended the Summit Cafe to us when we first moved to Canmore over a decade ago. We loved the food at the Summit Cafe then and we still love it today. In fact, it’s our favourite Canmore breakfast restaurant.
The Summit Cafe has a wide selection of breakfast offerings, ranging from traditional favourites (omelettes, breakfast sandwiches, etc.) to several wonderful Mexican breakfast options (Huevos Rancheros, spicy Mexi eggs, etc.). Their breakfast portion sizes are generous and are always very tasty.
It’s worth noting that the Summit Cafe is also open for lunch, but not dinner. We always find that when a restaurant is not open for dinner, they must do an excellent job on breakfast and lunch. This is certainly true of the Summit Cafe!
If you are traveling to Canmore with kids, there’s also a kids menu offering a variety of favourites, from waffles to eggs to oatmeal.
The Summit Cafe is tucked away in the residential neighborhood of Benchlands. It’s a short drive from downtown, but if it’s a nice day why not enjoy the 30 minute walk from downtown Canmore, which is one of our favourite Canmore walking trails.
Local Tip: Try not to go at the peak meal times. The Summit Cafe is reasonably small, with roughly 10 tables (plus more outside if the weather permits). If you arrive and it’s full, don’t worry as the Summit Cafe is also one of the best takeout restaurants in Canmore!
2. Rocky Mountain Bagel Co.
If you are looking for the best affordable breakfast restaurant in Canmore, look no further than the Rocky Mountain Bagel Co. Celine and I have been enjoying bagels here for years; we like them so much we have included them on our list of our favourite Canmore lunch restaurants too!
The breakfast menu at Rocky Mountain Bagel Co. has a wide variety of breakfast bagels. Celine and I usually get the Amigo breakfast bagel (with an egg, cheddar, tomato, green pepper, red onion, cream cheese and salsa) along with an americano.
The bagels here are hearty and huge, so they’ll keep you full all morning. It’s a great option if you’re heading out early for a hike in Banff, you’ve got hangry kids, or you just don’t feel like wasting time with a full sit-down breakfast. Grab your bagel and a coffee, and you’re back on your way.
For example, on our most recent visit, we went cross-country skiing at the Canmore Nordic Centre immediately after our breakfast bagels. We were on the trails for 2 hours and had enough energy for more. When we got home, neither of us was hungry for lunch.
Rocky Mountain Bagel Co. has two Canmore locations – the original is on 8th Street in downtown Canmore, while the other is close to many Canmore hotels on Bow Valley Trail. We’re partial to the downtown location – it’s got a great cozy, mountain vibe complete with a fireplace.
3. The Bro’Kin Yolk
The Bro’Kin Yolk is one of the newer breakfast spots in Canmore. It’s part of a well-established Alberta breakfast-and-brunch chain They chose their Canmore location well, with an outstanding 2nd floor spot in the Shops of Canmore. Both locals and visitors alike will love the high windows offering a 270° view of the surrounding mountains, starting with Mount Lady MacDonald, wrapping around the Three Sisters and ending with Mt. Rundle.
The Bro’Kin Yolk is a rare Canmore restaurant which specializes in breakfast and brunch – they open early and close in the early afternoon. I love that! Their arrival here fills a much needed hole in the Canmore breakfast restaurant scene – it seemed like we were missing a restaurant which had a wide variety of fun, yet classic sweet and savory breakfast items.
Celine and I recently tried Bro’Kin Yolk for the very first time, and we knew it was going to become one of our favourite Canmore breakfast restaurants. They have an extensive breakfast menu, with many creative takes on classic dishes.
There is a distinct international flair to some of their offerings. For example, I ordered the Nutella Churro Waffles (churros are one of my favourite snacks when we travel to Mexico), while Celine had the Cali Poutine.
The name Bro’Kin Yolk is full of significance to what this Canmore breakfast restaurant is all about. “Bro” refers to the fact the restaurant is owned by two brothers. “Kin” refers to their goal of making you feel at home, while “Yolk” refers to their high quality free-range, organic eggs which are so important to the many breakfast items on the menu.
Directions to the Bro’Kin Yolk
4. The Grande Kitchen + Bar
Just minutes from downtown Canmore, the Grande Kitchen + Bar is located in the Grande Rockies Resort (one of Canmore’s best hotels with a pool). Celine and I have been enjoying breakfasts at the Grand Kitchen for as long as we’ve lived here, and we keep coming back for more.
We recently enjoyed breakfast at the Grande Kitchen + Bar with our kids, and it was the perfect start to our day of fun in the mountains. My ham and cheese omelette was exactly what I wanted; a hearty hot meal, complete with fried potatoes and toast, while Celine enjoyed her bacon and avocado benny.
The Grand Kitchen has a kids menu, but our kids are at a tricky age. Too big for the kids menu and not always ready for the full menu. The Grand Kitchen was eager to please, preparing larger portions of items on the kids menu. Our kids loved the fun presentation too, with the pancakes and French toast stacked up high on their plates!
Directions to the Grand Kitchen + Bar
5. Chez Francois
A local institution, Chez Francois has been one of the best breakfast restaurants in Canmore for over three decades. We’ve been enjoying breakfasts at Chez Francois for as long as we’ve lived in Canmore and the quality is consistently high.
Chez Francois is famous for its eggs benedict, made with homemade hollandaise sauce. But, one of the best features of Chez Francois is its wide and varied menu options. You name it and Chez Francois has it on their breakfast menu: eggs, pancakes, waffles, crepes, French toast, smoothies, croissants, bagels, sandwiches and more.
Celine likes the eggs bennie offerings at Chez Francois, while I tend to float around the menu. I typically opt for a sweet breakfast, but most recently I really enjoyed my Mexican Burrito. My favourite thing about breakfast at Chez Francois is their homestyle potatoes, which thankfully accompany most breakfast dishes on the menu.
If you have never been to Chez Francois, or haven’t been in a while, you’ll love their new location in the Chateau Canmore hotel on Bow Valley Trail (one of the best affordable hotels in Canmore). Their new space features large windows with 180 degrees of views including my favourite local mountains, Mt. Rundle, Mt. Lady MacDonald and Ha Ling Peak.
And that’s it! We hope you found some great options for breakfast restaurants in Canmore.
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Dan Brewer, a life-long Alberta resident, calls Canmore home along with his wife and two kids. He is the co-owner of Travel Banff Canada, where he gets to share his passion for the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Dan, along with his family, love being outdoors doing one of the many activities they enjoy in the mountains: hiking, mountain biking, paddleboarding, skiing, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing.
When he's not in Canmore enjoying one of his favourite local hikes, you can find him hopping on a plane to explore a new country with his family or working on one of their other two travel sites: Family Can Travel and Baby Can Travel.