The first city of the state of Alberta sits on the banks of the Bow river, with the magnificent Rocky Mountains watching over. Many visitors use the city as a base for going off into the great outdoors, but since Calgary hosted the Winter Olympics in 1988 it’s developed into an exciting, modern city with enough shops to satisfy even the most extreme retail addicts, and over 2000 eateries catering to all tastes and budgets.
Things to see and do:
- Calgary Stampede – a 10 day summer festival of all things cowboy: rodeos, chuckwagon races, and an amusement park all feature.
- Glenbow Museum – Canada’s biggest museum has a huge collection of artefacts attesting to the human settlements in North America throughout history.
- Rockies – Calgary is a great base for exploring the Canadian Rockies: skiing and hiking in this breathtaking landscape both have massive tourist industries devoted to them.
- Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump – this UNESCO world heritage site gives an account of Native American prairie life, and is the biggest buffalo kill site in the continent.
Getting there:
Calgary International Airport is twelve miles northeast of the city, and you can travel between the two by taxi, car hire or pre-booked shuttle bus.
Location and weather:
Calgary is in western Canada, around 400 miles east of Vancouver, 200 miles south of Edmonton and 100 miles north of the US border. The temperature rarely gets above zero from November through to March, and drops into the -20s in January and February. Summers are pleasantly warm (20-25 degrees) but wetter.
Top tip:
Visit one of the restaurants at the top of Calgary Tower to enjoy wonderful views of the city and the surrounding mountains. |
