My daughter Jenn asked me to compile a list of recommended tourist destinations for an Australian family who moved here on a professional work exchange program. The family will be living in Alberta for a limited number of months, so given the tight time constraints, here’s my ‘Must See’ list of tourist recommendations to squeeze in while they’re here:
National and Provincial Parks – visit as many as you can get to, especially:
- Banff National Park (with trips to Bow Falls, Johnson Canyon, Banff Springs Hotel built by the CPR in 1888 to attract tourists to Canada)
- Jasper National Park
- Waterton National Park (and adjoining Glacier National Park in Montana); nearby buffalo paddock
- Elk Island National Park (near Edmonton) to see the buffalo
- Dinosaur Provincial Park, Drumheller, a World Heritage Site
- and, Lake Louise
Museums and Historic Parks
- The Glenbow Museum in Calgary to see the history of Alberta
- Fort Edmonton Park here or Heritage Park (Calgary) to see life in the pioneer days of Alberta
- Royal Tyrell Museum, Drumheller, to see everything about dinosaurs
- Reynolds-Alberta Museum, Wetaskiwin (specializes in ground and air transportation; agriculture and industry)
Calgary and Edmonton
- Tour of the Alberta Legislature Building, Edmonton
- Edmonton’s Fringe and Busker Festivals
- West Edmonton Mall and Galaxyland for the kids
- The Calgary Zoo
- Calgary Stampede for the world’s greatest rodeo
- Tour Canada Olympic Park (site of the Calgary 1988 Winter Olympics)
Other Alberta attractions
- Head-Smashed-in Buffalo Jump interpretive centre (a World Heritage Site), near Fort Macleod
- Ponoka Stampede (to see ‘authentic’, small town rodeo)
Drives
- Drive the Icefields Parkway, Highway 93, one of the most scenic drives in Canada
- Take a bus tour on the Columbia Icefield and visit the Icefields interpretive centre there
- Drive from Calgary to Longview on Highway 22, The Cowboy Trail, to see the foothills, classic southern Alberta ranchlands and drive into Kananaskis Country (Peter Lougheed Provincial Park)
- Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park, Montana (adjoining Waterton National Park in Alberta); always rated as one of the Top Ten Scenic Drives in America
- Road trip to Vancouver