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Interested in seeing Western Canada? A great place to start is Calgary, Alberta. Not only is the city filled with friendly faces eager to offer a warm “hello”, but also the city boasts a variety of unique attractions from the Calgary Stampede to Drumheller, just a short drive away from Calgary.
Calgary Zoo
Western Canada’s largest zoo has been open for over 75 years. It houses over 1,000 animals and has 6 acres of botanical gardens as well as a prehistoric park. The Zoo offers daily visitor programs such as live animal presentations. For example, Elephants Crossing presents how and why zookeepers work with elephants. Creature Feature allows visitors to meet live animals up close!
In addition to these many features, the Calgary Zoo offers programs for different groups including Kids’ programs and Family programs such as sleepovers and Leisure programs. The Leisure programs include learning about dinosaurs and taking a tour of the prehistoric park as well as seeing and touching fossils. There are also large playgrounds located throughout the zoo for the kids. The Calgary Zoo has something for everyone!!
Calgary Stampede
The Calgary Stampede occurs every July for 10 days. Locals and visitors alike can enjoy chuck wagon races, barrel racing, rodeos and a Grandstand Show Extravaganza.
Aside from the races and shows, the Calgary Stampede opens with a parade. There are also pancake breakfasts, an exciting midway, hands-on agriculture exhibits, an authentic Indian village and fireworks.
Other Calgary Attractions
At 525 feet high, the Calgary Tower has an observation deck with a 360-degree panoramic view of Calgary and outlying prairie and Rocky Mountain areas. The deck is made of glass, which allows people to also see the streets below.
Canada Olympic Park (COP) is the premier site of the 1988 Winter Olympics. It is one of the world’s finest recreation and high performance winter sport training facilities. As one of the most popular tourist destinations in Calgary, it hosts world-class events such as winter sport World Cups. The facility also provides bobsleigh rides to the public.
Calaway Park is Western Canada’s largest outdoor amusement park. It has 34 rides, 25 games, 4 attractions and many stage shows. One daily admission price allows visitors access to unlimited rides, shows and attractions. It is open from the long weekend in May until mid October.
Outside of Calgary
Just a short 90-minute drive outside of Calgary, visitors will be amazed by Drumheller, the Dinosaur Capital of the World! In the heart of Canada’s Badlands, it has the richest deposits of fossils and dinosaur bones in North America. It is also home to the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology, which displays over 125,000 fossil vertebrates. The Museum is an active scientific research facility as such, its collections grow by over 2,000 specimens annually. In total, visitors will need 2 to 3 hours to get through all of the exhibits and admission is reasonably priced.
Visiting Calgary
Calgary offers many unique attractions including the Calgary Stampede and Calgary Olympic Park among others. Everyone will be sure to find something to suit their tastes, but most importantly, Calgary is full of friendly people who will make the city feel like home!
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