Alberta from the Rockies to the Badlands: the Highlights of a Province

Picture a herd of bison ambling across the road less than an hour from a capital city. By the end of the week you are standing on a glacier, then paddling a lake so turquoise it looks lit from below. A few days later the mountains are behind you and you are walking through canyons where dinosaurs once roamed. That is Alberta, and it is far more than the postcard view of Banff.

Most visitors fly into Calgary, head straight for the mountains and fly home again. They miss half the story. Alberta stretches from the prairie cities of Edmonton and Calgary to the peaks of the Canadian Rockies, and on to the badlands in the east and the quiet lakes of Waterton in the far south. It is a province built for a road trip, with wide open highways, big skies and a new landscape around almost every bend.

Here is our route through the highlights, from north to south, and how to see them on one holiday.

Edmonton and Elk Island National Park

Alberta's capital is the province's best kept secret. Edmonton sits on the North Saskatchewan River, and the green river valley that winds through the city is one of the largest stretches of urban parkland in North America. Walk or cycle its trails in the morning, then spend the afternoon in Old Strathcona, where Whyte Avenue is lined with independent shops, cafés and bars. Saturday brings the farmers' market, and the city's food scene has grown up fast, with Indigenous kitchens such as Paperbirch and Bernadette's showing off prairie ingredients in new ways.

The Royal Alberta Museum is the best introduction to the province's natural and human history. Travelling with children? West Edmonton Mall is bigger than you think, with an indoor waterpark, a theme park and an ice rink all under one roof.

Then drive 45 minutes east to Elk Island National Park. Created in 1906 to protect one of the last elk herds in the region, it is now home to free-roaming herds of plains and wood bison, and you will often see them grazing beside the road. Come back after dark too. The park sits within the Beaver Hills Dark Sky Preserve, and on a clear night the stars reach right down to the horizon.

Jasper National Park

Head west from Edmonton on the Yellowhead Highway and keep your camera close. Moose, elk and bears are often spotted from the road, and then the Rockies rise up ahead almost out of nowhere. Jasper is the largest national park in the Canadian Rockies, and it feels wilder and quieter than its famous neighbour to the south.

Take a cruise on Maligne Lake to Spirit Island, a tiny tree-covered islet framed by mountains and one of Canada's most photographed views. Walk the bridges over Maligne Canyon, where the river has carved a gorge more than 50 metres deep. Pyramid Lake, just outside town, is perfect for a paddle at sunset.

Evenings are a highlight in Jasper. Dusk is when elk, bighorn sheep and moose are on the move, so a guided wildlife tour is well worth booking. Once the sky goes dark, look up. Jasper is one of the largest dark sky preserves in the world, and the Milky Way here is something you will remember long after you get home.

The Icefields Parkway and Columbia Icefield

The road from Jasper to Lake Louise is one of the great drives of the world. The Icefields Parkway runs for around 230 kilometres along the spine of the Rockies, past more than a hundred glaciers, roaring waterfalls and lakes in impossible shades of blue. You could drive it in four hours. Give it a full day, or better still, stay a night along the way.

Stop at Athabasca Falls and Sunwapta Falls on the way south. Halfway along, you reach the Columbia Icefield, one of the largest ice fields in the Rockies. Here a giant Ice Explorer vehicle takes you out onto the Athabasca Glacier itself, so you can stand on ice that has been building for centuries. Nearby, the glass-floored Columbia Icefield Skywalk hangs 280 metres above the Sunwapta Valley.

Further south, save time for Peyto Lake. A short walk from the car park brings you to a viewpoint over a lake shaped like a wolf's head, its colour a vivid turquoise from glacial flour. Bow Lake, just beyond, is ideal for a picnic with the Crowfoot Glacier above you.

Lake Louise

Nothing quite prepares you for your first sight of Lake Louise. The water is a brilliant turquoise, the Victoria Glacier fills the end of the valley and the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise stands on the shore like something from a fairy tale. Come early, hire a canoe and have the lake almost to yourself while the morning light is still soft.

Then lace up your boots. The trail to the Lake Agnes Tea House climbs through the forest to a little log cabin at 2,135 metres, where tea and homemade cake taste all the better for the effort. Keen walkers can carry on to the Plain of Six Glaciers for a closer look at the ice.

Don't miss Moraine Lake, a short drive away beneath the jagged Valley of the Ten Peaks. Private cars are no longer allowed on the road, so book a Parks Canada or Roam Transit shuttle and aim for an early departure. In winter, Lake Louise becomes a different place altogether, with skating on the frozen lake, sleigh rides and skiing on the slopes across the valley.

Banff National Park and Canmore

Founded in 1885, Banff is Canada's oldest national park, and together with Jasper and its neighbours it forms part of the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks UNESCO World Heritage Site. Take the scenic Bow Valley Parkway from Lake Louise rather than the main highway. It is slower, quieter and one of the best places in the park to spot elk and bighorn sheep. Stop for the catwalks of Johnston Canyon, which lead you along the cliff face to a pair of waterfalls.

Banff town itself is small, lively and surrounded by peaks. Ride the Banff Gondola up Sulphur Mountain for views across six mountain ranges, then soak in the Upper Hot Springs as the sun goes down. Bow Falls and a cruise on Lake Minnewanka are both an easy hop from town, and you can end the day over a wood-fired dinner and a local gin.

Just outside the park gates, Canmore has a more relaxed, local feel. The Three Sisters peaks tower over town, the walk to the Grassi Lakes is perfect for a morning stretch and the craft breweries give you a reason to stay for the evening. It is also home to Everwild Canmore, a Nordic spa with hot pools, cold plunges and saunas beneath the mountains, which makes a perfect first stop after a long-haul flight.

Dinosaur Provincial Park

Turn your back on the mountains and drive east, and Alberta changes completely. The prairie rolls on to the horizon until the ground suddenly drops away into the Badlands, a maze of striped canyons, coulees and hoodoos carved by the Red Deer River. Some 75 million years ago this was a lush coastal plain, and it is now one of the richest fossil beds on Earth.

Dinosaur Provincial Park has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979, and dozens of dinosaur species have been found here. Start at the visitor centre to see real fossils, then follow the interpretive trails past bones still lying in the rock. To get closer to the science, join a guided fossil safari or a bus tour into the protected heart of the park, where most visitors are not allowed to walk alone.

Make time for Drumheller on your way back west. The Royal Tyrrell Museum is one of the finest palaeontology museums in the world, with halls of towering T. rex and Triceratops skeletons. Then climb the 106 steps inside the World's Largest Dinosaur and peer out of its jaws, and walk among the hoodoos just outside town.

Calgary

Calgary is where cowboy spirit meets big city cool, and most trips to Alberta start or end here. Ride to the top of the Calgary Tower and step onto the glass floor 160 metres up, with the Rockies lined up on the western horizon. Studio Bell, home of the National Music Centre, is a striking building packed with instruments you can play. Then wander across the red Peace Bridge to the riverside paths of Prince's Island Park.

The city's neighbourhoods are where it really comes alive. Inglewood is full of vintage shops, coffee roasters and craft breweries, Kensington has its bakeries and bookshops, and 17th Avenue is the place for your first Alberta steak. The Calgary Farmers' Market is a feast of local cheese, Alberta beef and saskatoon berries. At Heritage Park Historical Village, open seasonally, you can step back into pioneer days and ride a steam train or a paddlewheeler.

For ten days every July, the Calgary Stampede takes over the city. Known as the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth, it brings rodeo, chuckwagon races, live music, fairground rides and free pancake breakfasts all over town. Our Calgary Stampede Extravaganza 2027 gives you 3 nights in the thick of it, from £2,399 per person.

Waterton Lakes National Park

Save the quietest corner for last. Around three hours south of Calgary, in the far south-west corner of the province, Waterton Lakes is where the prairie runs straight into the mountains with no foothills in between. It is the smallest of the Canadian Rockies parks and one of the most peaceful, and few overseas visitors make it this far.

In 1932 Waterton joined Glacier National Park across the border in Montana to form the world's first International Peace Park, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Take a boat across Upper Waterton Lake towards the US border, and look up at the historic Prince of Wales Hotel standing alone on its bluff above the water. The short climb up Bear's Hump gives you the classic view over the lake and village.

Drive out to Red Rock Canyon, where the rock glows deep red against the green of the valley, or to the calm waters of Cameron Lake. Deer wander freely through Waterton village, and the wildflower meadows in early summer are some of the finest in Canada. It is the perfect place to slow down before the drive back to Calgary and the flight home.

Plan your Alberta holiday

Alberta is made for a fly-drive. Flights from the UK land in Calgary and Edmonton, so you can arrive in one city and fly home from the other, with the Rockies in between. Summer brings long days, open trails and the Stampede, autumn turns the larches gold, and winter offers snowy peaks, frozen lakes and some of the best skiing in Canada.

Here are three ways to see the highlights with us.

A Taste of Alberta, 11 nights from £3,199 per person. Raise a glass with Calgary's craft brewers, enjoy a cowboy cookout beside the Bow River in Banff and spend two nights at the Post Hotel in Lake Louise. Then drive the Icefields Parkway to Jasper for a foodie tour and finish among the markets and Indigenous kitchens of Edmonton.

Wellness in the Wilds of Alberta, 13 nights from £2,999 per person. Soak in Nordic thermal pools in Canmore, wake to glacier views at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise and walk on the Athabasca Glacier. Enjoy a free Jasper Wildlife Discovery experience, then discover living Indigenous culture at Métis Crossing.

Dinos & Rockies Family Motorhome Adventure, 13 nights from £1,345 per person, based on 2 adults and 2 children. Hunt for fossils in Dinosaur Provincial Park, enjoy a free visit to the Royal Tyrrell Museum and meet the bison of Elk Island. Then ride an Ice Explorer onto a glacier with your Ultimate Rockies Explorer Pass.

Want to add Waterton Lakes, an extra night in Banff or a few days on the Stampede grounds? Every holiday is tailor-made, so our Canada specialists can build the route around you. Explore all our Alberta holidays or call us on 0333 121 7001 to start planning.