Discover Alberta

Introduction

Alberta is the westernmost of Canada's three prairie provinces and the fourth-largest and fourth-most populous, with 4.26 million people on 661,848 square miles between the Rocky Mountains and the western plains. It is landlocked, bordered by British Columbia, Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories and, to the south, Montana. Its capital is Edmonton, on the North Saskatchewan River in the centre; its largest city and financial capital is Calgary, where the plains meet the mountain foothills; and more than half the province lives in the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor between them. Named for Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, a daughter of Queen Victoria, it became a province with Saskatchewan on 1 September 1905, and its economy has run on oil since the Leduc strike of 1947: the Athabasca oil sands are among the largest unconventional reserves on earth, and Alberta produces the seventh-largest output in Canada with the lowest taxes.

For the visitor Alberta is the Canadian Rockies. Banff, the country's first national park in 1885, and Jasper, the largest in the Alberta Rockies, hold Lake Louise, Moraine Lake, the Columbia Icefield and the Icefields Parkway between them, and with the mountain parks of British Columbia they form a single UNESCO World Heritage Site. Alberta has six World Heritage Sites in all: the Rocky Mountain parks, Dinosaur Provincial Park and the Royal Tyrrell Museum's badlands at Drumheller, Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump and Writing-on-Stone in Blackfoot country, Waterton-Glacier on the Montana line, and Wood Buffalo, the largest national park in Canada. The plains carry the Blackfoot Confederacy and Cree of Treaties 6, 7 and 8, the Ukrainian and Hutterite settlements, and the ranching country that made the Calgary Stampede.

The climate is continental and dry, swinging fast, with the warm Chinook winds that can lift a January day from minus twenty to plus twenty in an hour, and hot prairie summers. The mountains are busiest from June to September; a national park costs C$12.25 a day for an adult and is free for children, the Kananaskis parking pass is C$15, city transit is C$3 to C$4 a ride, a foreign driver may need an international permit, and 911 answers everything, with Health Link 811 for advice. This page covers Alberta; its nine city pages, from Banff to Fort McMurray, hold the detail.

Geography

661,848 square miles between the Rocky Mountains and the plains, landlocked against British Columbia, Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories and Montana: Mount Columbia at 3,747 metres the top, the Athabasca the longest river, boreal forest and oil sands in the north, prairie and badlands in the south, and 4.26 million people, most of them in the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor.

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History

First Nations from 10,000 BC and the Blackfoot buffalo jumps; Anthony Henday in 1754 and the Hudson's Bay Company fur trade; the whisky forts, the Mounties' March West of 1874 and Treaty 7 in 1877; the CPR, the great immigration and provincehood in 1905; the Leduc oil strike of 1947; the 1988 Winter Olympics; and the Fort McMurray and Jasper wildfires.

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Culture

Blackfoot, Cree and Métis under Treaties 6, 7 and 8; the largest Ukrainian community in Canada and the Hutterite colonies; ranch and rodeo culture crowned by the Calgary Stampede; oil wealth and Western alienation; Alberta beef, the Caesar cocktail and ginger beef; hockey, the Rockies and country music.

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Climate Patterns

Continental and dry, swinging fast: hot prairie summers over 30 °C, cold winters below −20 °C, only 300–450 mm of precipitation a year (600 in the foothills). The warm Chinook winds can lift a southern winter day from −19 to 22 °C in an hour; the Calgary–Edmonton corridor is the hail capital of Canada; and records reach past 40 °C in the south-east and below −50 °C in the north.

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Food & Traditional Cuisine

Alberta beef above all, off the ranching plains; the Caesar cocktail, invented in Calgary in 1969; Calgary ginger beef; saskatoon berries and pie; Ukrainian perogies and Hutterite farm food; and Stampede pancake breakfasts and midway food in July.

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Do I need a visa?

Visa-exempt visitors flying in need an eTA (apply at canada.ca, not a look-alike site); others need a visitor visa; US citizens need neither. An eTA is not required to arrive by road. Carry a passport valid for your stay.

Do I need a car?

Yes for the province and the mountains, on Highways 1, 2 and the Icefields Parkway; foreign licences are accepted, an international permit is wise, and hire firms may require one. In Banff, Roam Transit and the park shuttles cover the busy sites, and Moraine Lake Road is closed to private cars.

How do I see Lake Louise and Moraine Lake?

By the Parks Canada shuttle (book ahead), Roam Transit, or arriving before sunrise; Moraine Lake Road is closed to private vehicles all year and the Lake Louise lots fill at dawn.

What does a national park cost?

C$12.25 a day for an adult, free for youth 17 and under, or C$83.50 for an annual Discovery Pass. Provincial land in Kananaskis needs a separate C$15 Conservation Pass.

When is the best time?

June and September for the mountains without the peak crowds; July and August for warmth, the lakes and the Stampede; the deep winter for skiing and the frozen lakes.

Are there bears?

Yes -- grizzly and black. Carry bear spray, store food, keep your distance, and never stop to feed or crowd wildlife.

What is the emergency number?

911; Health Link 811 for health advice.

See Alberta through traveler photos →

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