The hot springs at Radium are a twenty-minute drive north of Invermere through the Sinclair Canyon, and they are open year round. There are two pools — a hot mineral pool and a cooler swimming pool — and the water is odourless, which surprises people expecting sulphur.
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Radium Hot Springs
Radium Hot Springs is the outing almost every guest ends up doing, and the one most people underestimate. It is twenty-five minutes north of Invermere through the Sinclair Canyon, the water is open year round, and unlike most hot springs there is no sulphur smell at all — the mineral content here is simply different.
The pools sit inside Kootenay National Park, which is the detail that catches people out. You need a park pass to be there at all, and pool admission is charged separately on top.
Best Times to Go
A Winter Evening
This is the version worth planning your week around. Steam coming off the water, snow on the canyon walls, and a fraction of the crowd you get on a summer afternoon. The hot pool runs later in the day through winter, so an after-dinner soak is realistic.
Early on a Weekday
Admission is first come, first served and sold in person — there is no advance booking, online or otherwise. On a wet August afternoon or a cold weekend that means queuing. Mid-week mornings are consistently the quietest.
On the Way Back From Kootenay
If you have spent the day at Marble Canyon or the Paint Pots, the pools are on your route home rather than a separate trip. It is the most efficient way to fit both into one day.
When the Weather Turns
Rain matters far less when you are already in the water. A wet forecast is a reason to go to Radium, not a reason to stay in.
What to Know Before You Drive Up
Detail | What to expect |
Two pools | A hot mineral pool around 39°C, and a separate cooler swimming pool |
The smell | None — there is no sulphur in this water |
Park pass | Required to be in Kootenay National Park at all, separate from pool entry |
Booking | Not possible. First come, first served, in person |
Hours | Shorter in winter, and they shift. Worth calling Parks Canada before you set off |
From Invermere | About twenty-five minutes each way |
What to Bring
The pools rent what you have forgotten, but at a price and in whatever is left.
Bring:
Swimwear, worn under your clothes to skip the changing rooms
Your own towel — the ones at the property are for the bathroom
Flip flops for the walk between the change room and the water
A hair tie, and something for wet hair on the drive back in winter
A park pass if you already have one, or card for buying it at the gate
Worth leaving behind:
Anything glass
Jewellery you would be upset to lose
A tight schedule — the queue is unpredictable
Back at the property, a soak followed by the hot tub is overkill in the best way. Most guests do it anyway.
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