From the snow-capped Rocky Mountains to the rolling prairies, Alberta is a land packed with opportunities for adventure and exploration in the great outdoors. The winter ski market is strong, and, in summer, exploring by car or bicycle, on horseback, or by foot, is also popular.
The Rockies are the main draw for most visitors. Travel2 North America assistant product manager Paul Celaschi says: “I think the Rocky Mountains are the essence of the Canadian wilderness. Brits continue to flock in the summer months from May to October – when the weather is pleasant.”
However, the fun doesn’t stop there. As well as the fantastic scenery and rich heritage that has made Canada popular with its bread-and-butter 50-plus market, there’s plenty to attract families too, with cowboys, mounties and even a dinosaur park. For overworked parents, or just those tired out from adventuring, there are extensive shopping, spa and golfing options too.
The Rockies
This vast mountain range creeps over the border from British Columbia and snakes up Alberta’s western edge, giving the province its own slice of untrammelled wilderness.
Tourists head for Banff, Jasper and Lake Louise throughout the year. In winter, the conditions are perfect for skiing, with huge areas of trails – both downhill, and perhaps surprisingly in the mountains, cross country – perfect powder and runs suited to different abilities.
In summer, visitors can hike, ride and cycle around the national parks’ emerald lakes and forest tracks. Mountaineers can scale the heady heights, or others can learn to spelunk the region’s caves.
There’s golf too, and spas, making use of the natural hot pools in Banff and Jasper. Suggest a ride on Canada’s highest (2,277 metres) and longest cable car, the Jasper Tramway. It takes seven minutes to whisk visitors to the summit of Whistler mountain.
Alternatively, they can ride in specially designed vehicles across the icy surface of the Athabasca Glacier. This is accessible from the Icefields Parkway, one of the world’s most scenic roads, which passes a chain of glaciers and waterfalls.
Calgary and cowboy country
The west was really wild in Alberta, and those cowboy skills are still put to use. John Wayne wannabes should visit during the 10-day Calgary Stampede, billed boastfully as The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth. As well as the rodeo main event, there are wagon races, stage shows and hoedowns, all after a slap-up pancake breakfast.
Book guests into a ranch at any time of year to allow them to hone their riding skills, herd cattle and learn songs around the campfire. The Heritage Park Historical Village takes visitors back to the wild west of the 19th century, with costumed interpreters and historic buildings.
Tourists can try on a red Mountie coat, get locked in a jail cell and learn about the history of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police at Fort Calgary. For more active pursuits, suggest a visit to the Canada Olympic Park, built for the 1988 Winter Olympics, and open to the public for snow sports in winter, and mountain biking, climbing and ziplining in the summer.
Calgary has plenty to offer families. Calaway Park, Canada’s largest outdoor amusement park, has its own RV campground, and there is a programme of family events at Calgary Zoo, including sleepovers.
Good times in the Badlands
Ignore the somewhat threatening title and advise clients to head for the south-east of Alberta. Over the millennia, glaciers and erosion have carved the landscapes into strangely shaped rock formations, interspersed with rolling prairies and river valleys. This process has also exposed rich beds of fossils, and scientists have found the remains of 20 species of dinosaurs.
Send visitors to Dinosaur Provincial Park to see where entire skeletons have been unearthed, and the Royal Tyrrell Museum at Drumheller is a must for any dino-fans. Some of the bones here were cast to make bones used in Night at the Museum. As well as a huge collection of bones, the museum recreates how the Badlands would have looked throughout history, starting 3.9 billion years ago.
First Nation fun
Alberta has 100 Aboriginal tourism attractions, including the fabulously-named Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. The site is a precipice where Natives hunted bison by chasing them over the edge, and is older than Stonehenge or the Pyramids at Giza. Tourists can see the 11m-deep pit of skeletal remains at the base of the cliff before meeting tribal elders and staying the night in a teepee.
The newly opened Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park is the largest First Nations-owned and operated museum in Canada. The $25 million (£13 million) development has a teepee village, exhibitions, a theatre for traditional dance shows, and a retail business of arts, crafts, sculpture and jewellery. It was here that the Canadian government and the First Nation representatives signed Treaty 7 in 1877, a document that set down relations between them.
Capital culture
Edmonton is known as Canada’s festival city, and with more than 30 annual music, arts and cultural events, there’s a good chance your clients’ visits may catch one. There’s folk music, fringe theatre, and street performance festivals, and most take place in the Downtown Arts District.
If shopping is more their thing, West Edmonton Mall should keep them busy, with 800 stores, 110 eateries, 26 cinemas, wave pools and water parks. This mammoth spreads across three postcodes, but if boutique is more the order of the day, send them to Whyte Avenue in Old Strathcona, where they’ll pick up plenty of original pieces.
South Edmonton Common is an enormous bargain bin, so send deal hunters here. There is no provincial sales tax in Alberta, so shoppers pay only the 5% federal goods and services tax – good news for purses.
Northern Lights
The province stretches far into the north, so it’s common to see the Northern Lights from October to March. Send tourists to Fort McMurray or Wood Buffalo National Park for guided tours to help them make the most of the Aurora Borealis.
Fast facts
- At three times the size of the UK, Alberta is the fourth largest Canadian province.
- It’s home to five national parks and five UNESCO World Heritage sites.
- With more than 2,000 hours of sunshine a year, it’s Canada’s sunniest state.
- There are two international airports, in Calgary and the provincial capital, Edmonton.
- The highest point is Mount Columbia, at 3,747 metres, the second highest peak in the Rockies.
A walk on the weird side
Clients searching for unique experiences can:
- Head to St Paul to see the world’s only purpose-built UFO landing pad – though no spacecraft have touched down since its construction in 1967.
- Scuba dive to an entire submerged village in Lake Minnewanka in Banff National Park.
- Tumble down a track strapped inside a huge translucent inflatable plastic ball at the Canada Olympic Park.
- Try vertical jigging – aka fishing through a hole bored in the ice – if they visit between December and April.
- Fight vertigo at the world’s first indoor bungee jumping facility at West Edmonton Mall, which is also the world’s largest shopping and entertainment complex.
Sample product
Travel2 offers a nine-night Essential Rocky Mountains self-drive from £947 per person, including accommodation in Calgary, Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper and 10 days’ intermediate car hire, excluding international flights. travel2.com, 0800 022 4182
Thomas Cook Tours has an 11-day Riches of the Rockies escorted tour visiting Edmonton, Jasper, Lake Louise, Banff and Calgary starting from £1,895, departing on October 4, including flights from Heathrow. thomascookworld.com, 0844 871 0667
