Calgary (population 1.4 million city, 1.6 million metropolitan area) is the largest city in Alberta and the economic capital of the Canadian oil industry — the third-largest financial centre in Canada after Toronto and Vancouver. Sitting at 1,045m elevation at the junction of the Bow and Elbow rivers, with the Canadian Rockies dramatically visible on the western horizon, Calgary is the gateway to Banff National Park (90km west) and Kananaskis Country. The city is world-famous for the Calgary Stampede — the ten-day rodeo, exhibition and festival held every July that claims the title "Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth," drawing 1.2 million visitors annually. Calgary hosted the 1988 Winter Olympics and is the sunniest major city in Canada, averaging 333 sunny days per year.
Calgary Tower (190.8m — the defining landmark of downtown Calgary, built 1968): the 360° glass-floor observation deck at 158m offers the most comprehensive view of Calgary — the Rocky Mountains to the west (Banff and the front ranges clearly visible on clear days), the Bow River valley, the downtown glass towers and the flat Alberta prairies extending east to the horizon. The glass floor (added 2005) offers the most vertiginous experience in Calgary. During the Calgary Stampede (July) the Olympic torch at the top of the Tower is lit.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideStephen Avenue Walk (8th Avenue SW — the most important pedestrian street in Calgary): the six-block sandstone heritage commercial precinct named after George Stephen, the first president of the Canadian Pacific Railway (the CPR — the railway that created Calgary in 1883 when the CPR established a divisional point at the confluence of the Bow and Elbow rivers). The "Sandstone City" buildings: after the fire of November 7 1886 destroyed most of Calgary's original wooden commercial district, the city council required all new downtown buildings to be constructed in locally quarried Paskapoo sandstone (the golden-beige sandstone quarried from the river escarpments around Calgary). The Palace Theatre (1921 — the most important surviving early cinema in Calgary), the Hudson's Bay Company building (1913 — the most important department store in the history of the Canadian west) and the Grain Exchange Building (1909 — the most important commodity exchange in the history of the Alberta wheat trade).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideAlberta beef lunch (Calgary is the beef capital of Canada — Alberta produces approximately 70% of all Canadian beef): the Alberta Certified Angus Beef (the AAA grade: the highest marbling score in the Canadian grading system — the most tender and most flavourful Alberta beef). The Caesar cocktail (the most popular cocktail in Canada — invented in Calgary in 1969 by Walter Chell, the bartender at the Calgary Inn (now the Westin Hotel): the Caesar combines Clamato juice (the tomato and clam broth blend), vodka, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, celery salt and the celery stalk garnish — the most important contribution of Calgary to international cocktail culture: approximately 400 million Caesars are consumed in Canada every year).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideGlenbow Museum (the most important museum in Alberta — the largest museum in western Canada after the Royal BC Museum in Victoria): founded in 1966 by Eric Lafferty Harvie (the most important private museum founder in Alberta history: Harvie discovered oil on his landholdings in the Leduc oil field (the most important oil discovery in Alberta history: the Leduc No. 1 well, February 13 1947 — the discovery that transformed Alberta from a wheat-growing province into the most oil-rich province in Canada)). The Indigenous Peoples of the Plains galleries: the most comprehensive First Nations collection in Alberta — the Blackfoot (Niitsitapi — the most important Plains Indigenous nation of southern Alberta), the Cree (the most widespread Indigenous nation in Canada), the Stoney Nakoda and the Métis (the people of mixed Indigenous and European ancestry who were the most important intermediaries in the fur trade). The world minerals collection (one of the largest in North America).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideDrive to Banff National Park (90km west of Calgary on the Trans-Canada Highway (Highway 1) — the most spectacular 90-minute drive in Canada): leaving Calgary's flat downtown and rising through the Alberta foothills (the rolling hill country between the flat prairie and the steep Rocky Mountain Front Ranges), the first dramatic view of the Rockies appears near Cochrane (50km west of Calgary) as the jagged limestone peaks of the Fairholme Range and the Bow Valley mountains rise suddenly from the plain. The Canmore corridor (the narrow Bow River valley between the outer Rocky Mountain ranges): the most dramatic mountain gateway in Canada. Banff townsite (elevation 1,383m — inside the Banff National Park boundary (the national park entry gate is 10km before the townsite)): the most famous mountain resort town in Canada.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideLake Louise (the most iconic lake in Canada — 56km west of Banff townsite): the turquoise glacial lake (elevation 1,731m) whose extraordinary colour comes from rock flour (the finely ground limestone and dolomite powder created by the grinding action of glaciers on the bedrock — suspended in the glacial meltwater, the rock flour particles scatter short-wavelength blue and green light while absorbing longer red wavelengths, creating the most distinctive turquoise-green colour of any mountain lake in North America). The Victoria Glacier (retreating at 5m per year — the most visible example of glacial recession in the Canadian Rockies). The Chateau Lake Louise (built 1890 by the Canadian Pacific Railway — the most famous mountain hotel in Canada: the "Diamond in the Wilderness"). The Plain of Six Glaciers trail (2.4km from the lakeshore to the historic tea house at the base of the Victoria Glacier).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideBanff townsite (the most visited mountain town in Canada — 4.2 million visitors per year to Banff National Park): lunch at the Banff Ave Brewing Co. (the most important local craft brewery in Banff: the mountain spring water of the Rockies is the most important ingredient in Banff craft beer — the "Banff Ave Brown Ale" and the "Rocky Mountain IPA" are the most popular craft beers in the town). Banff Avenue: the most visited single street in any Canadian national park — the mix of high-end outdoor gear shops, Canadian souvenir stores and Rocky Mountain restaurants. The Banff Park Museum (1903 — the oldest natural history museum in western Canada: the Victorian-era "cabinet of curiosities" museum with the most important collection of Rocky Mountain wildlife specimens in Canada: the taxidermied grizzly bear, the bighorn sheep and the mountain goat are the most popular exhibits). The Bow River Falls walk (15 minutes from downtown Banff).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideSulphur Mountain gondola (the most spectacular gondola in Canada): the 8-minute ride from the base station (1,583m) to the Sanson Peak observation deck (2,281m — named after Norman Sanson, the meteorologist who climbed Sulphur Mountain every week for 30 years to take weather readings): the most panoramic view in the Canadian Rockies — the entire Bow Valley spread below (Banff townsite, the Spray River valley, Lake Minnewanka and the Cascade Mountain), the Fairholme Range to the east and the continental divide peaks to the west and south. The Banff Upper Hot Springs (driving or walking down from the gondola base): the most important natural sulphur spring in Canada — the mineral water (calcium-bicarbonate-sulphate water at 38°C year-round) has been used for therapeutic bathing since 1886 (the hot springs are the reason Banff National Park was created in 1885 — the first national park in Canada).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideHeritage Park Historical Village (the most important open-air living history museum in Canada — 127 acres on the Glenmore Reservoir south of downtown Calgary): the park recreates the three most important periods of western Canadian history: the pre-railway fur trade era (the 1860s Hudson's Bay Company trading post — the most important commercial relationship in the history of western Canada: the HBC fur trade (the "Company of Adventurers" — incorporated by royal charter in 1670 as the most important trading company in North American history) dominated the economy of the western interior for 200 years), the CPR railway era (1885–1914 — the most transformative period in Alberta history: the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885 created Calgary, Edmonton, Lethbridge and every other major Alberta city), and the early settlement era (1914–1939 — the most dramatic demographic transformation of the Alberta prairies: the "Last Best West" immigration campaign brought over 1 million European settlers to Alberta between 1896 and 1914). 180 historic buildings relocated from across Alberta.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideCalgary Stampede Park (the 70-hectare home of the Calgary Stampede — "Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth"): the Stampede (held annually for 10 days in July, beginning the Friday before the second Monday in July) draws 1.2 million visitors and is the most attended annual outdoor event in Canada. The Calgary Stampede (founded 1912 by Guy Weadick — the American trick-roper and showman who convinced four Calgary cattle barons (the "Big Four": George Lane, Patrick Burns, Archie McLean and A.E. Cross) to invest $100,000 in the first Stampede: the most important single investment in the history of Calgary entertainment). The Scotiabank Saddledome (built 1983 for the 1988 Winter Olympics — the most distinctive arena building in Canada: the saddle-shaped hyperbolic paraboloid concrete roof (the largest hyperbolic paraboloid roof structure in North America at the time of construction) makes the Saddledome the most immediately recognizable sports arena in Canada).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuide17th Avenue SW (the "Red Mile" — the most vibrant neighbourhood and the most important restaurant-bar strip in Calgary): the 17th Avenue corridor from 4th Street SW to 10th Street SW (the 6-block "Red Mile" named for the tradition of Calgary Flames fans flooding the street in red jerseys during NHL playoff runs — the most important street celebration tradition in Calgary). The most important independent restaurants in Calgary are concentrated on 17th Avenue: the Thai Sa-On (the most acclaimed Thai restaurant in Calgary), the Mercato (the most important Italian restaurant on 17th Ave), and the most important craft cocktail bars in the city. The boutique shops, the coffee roasters and the most important independent bookshop in Calgary (the "Pages on Kensington" — the most beloved independent bookshop in Calgary, one block north on Kensington Road).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideFarewell Calgary dinner at the River Café (the most atmospheric restaurant in Calgary — the log-and-stone cottage on Prince's Island Park, the 20-hectare natural island in the Bow River in the heart of downtown Calgary): the River Café serves the most important regional Canadian cuisine menu in Calgary — the Alberta bison short rib (bison (Bison bison — the American buffalo): the most important Indigenous food animal of the Great Plains, nearly extinct by 1890 but now raised commercially across Alberta: the most sustainable red meat in North America), the Alberta lamb (from the High River area south of Calgary — the most tender lamb in Canada), and the Saskatoon berry dessert (the Saskatoon berry (Amelanchier alnifolia) — the most important wild berry of the Canadian prairies: the sweet, slightly almond-flavoured dark purple berry that is the most culturally important food plant of the Plains Indigenous peoples). The local craft beer: Wild Rose Brewery (the most important Calgary craft brewery, founded 1996 — the "WRaspberry" ale is the most popular seasonal beer in Calgary).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuide