Alberta is more than Banff and the Calgary Stampede. Dinosaur country, ancient rock carvings, a buffalo jump used for thousands of years, frozen bubbles in a mountain lake and a giant Easter egg. These are the stops worth slowing down for, from the b...
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Badlands so rich in fossils it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Walk the hoodoo trails, or book a guided hike into the closed fossil beds.
Dinosaur Provincial Park
One of the best dinosaur museums in the world. Give it half a day, then drive the valley to see the hoodoos.
Royal Tyrrell Museum
Hoodoos along the Milk River and hundreds of Blackfoot rock carvings and paintings. A sacred place, and a UNESCO site.
Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park
Where Plains people drove bison over a cliff for thousands of years. The interpretive centre is built right into the hill.
Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump
Where the prairie runs straight into the mountains. Stop for the view from the Prince of Wales Hotel, then look for bears and bighorn sheep.
Waterton Lakes National Park
Called one of the most beautiful drives in the world. Glaciers, waterfalls and turquoise lakes the whole way. Fill up before you start.
Icefields Parkway
A long blue lake west of Nordegg. In winter, frozen bubbles stack up under clear ice, and people come from all over to photograph them.
Abraham Lake
Plains and wood bison half an hour from the city. It's in a dark sky preserve, so stay for the stars.
Elk Island National Park
A living history village of the Ukrainian settlers who homesteaded east-central Alberta. Costumed interpreters, summer season.
Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village
In 1903 the side of Turtle Mountain came down on the town of Frank. You drive right through the boulder field, and the interpretive centre tells the story.
Frank Slide Interpretive Centre
The giant Ukrainian Easter egg, built in 1975. It even turns in the wind. Worth the photo stop on Highway 16.
Vegreville Pysanka
A prairie town that leaned all the way into its Star Trek name. Starship replica, themed visitor centre and good fun.
Vulcan Tourism & Trek Centre
Giant round red boulders scattered across the prairie like someone dropped them there. Quiet, strange and well off the beaten path.
Red Rock Coulee Natural Area
One of the great ranches of the old West, from 1882. Working horses, original buildings and good coffee and cowboy stories.
Bar U Ranch National Historic Site
A tiny hamlet in a coulee near Drumheller with a professional theatre. Dinner and a show in the middle of nowhere.
Rosebud Theatre
Long sandy beaches in the boreal forest, the Boreal Centre for Bird Conservation and the view from Marten Mountain.
