Calgary is a city that’s bustling with arts and festivals, is known for its pioneering history, rodeo and ski-filled winters as the gateway to the Canadian Rockies.
Calgary was once a farming town, but went through tremendous growth thanks to discovery of that black gold under its crust oil. Today, Calgary is the third largest city in CanadiaOpens in a new window and although it’s a city with a modern urban culture, that pioneer past is not lost, in its penchant for country music and the love of the white Stetson.
It is not difficult to get around Calgary’s sights. The orderly laid streets form a grid pattern, and there is an excellent public transport network to boot.
The most famous event in the city is the annual Calgary Stampede, when more than a million people descend on the city for a ten-day festival packed with rodeos, music and agricultural exhibits. Sing along during a wagon race and watch with bated breath as the daring ride bulls.
It’s not only during the Stampede you can see animals. At the Calgary ZooOpens in a new window you'll be taken into habitats from across Canada and beyond. Not only from the present either, but from the past too the zoo has a Prehistoric Park where life-size replicas of dinosaurs roam through ancient landscapes. In the Drumheller ValleyOpens in a new window, about 135 kilometres outside of Calgary, is the Royal Tyrrell MuseumOpens in a new window, where you’ll find the fossils on which these replicas are based.
If you come here in the winter months then you’ll find plenty of opportunity for skiing, snowboarding, tobogganing and ice skating. But if you’d stay inside away from the cold then you can always go to the art galleries of Stephen Avenue, just south of downtown Calgary, or visit the Glenbow MuseumOpens in a new window in the centre of the city.
One evening, visit the Jubilee Auditorium to watch a Broadway musical, an opera or ballet performance, or dine at one of the multicultural restaurants at “International Avenue”. Here you can enjoy diverse cuisines, such as Ethiopian, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Indian, Philippine and Cantonese. If you like good food, this is the place to be!
