Alberta

In Alberta, your choices for fun and adventure are as wide as the prairie sky. Cross-country ski on feather-soft snow in the magnificent Rocky Mountains. Sip a chilled martini on the shores of Lake Louise, watching ice sculptors and a performance of The Snow Queen during the annual Ice Magic festival. Wrap your fingers around a toasty mug of hot chocolate. Share a cowboy tale with friendly locals. Discover the wonders of the Badlands at Dinosaur Provincial Park, a World Heritage Site, where traces of dinosaurs are found in a rust, gold and bronze lunarscape of pinnacles and hoodoos. Or drive the spectacular Icefields Parkway, which runs 142 mi from Banff to Jasper, catching sight en route of curious black bears and endangered woodland caribou. Back in Calgary, kick off the Calgary Stampede—“the greatest outdoor show on earth”—with a free flapjack breakfast and a front-row seat at the parade. Rodeos and country fairs are still as popular throughout Alberta as cattle drives and campfire cookouts, but the booming, culture-rich centers of Calgary and Edmonton have become wine-and-dine central. Shopping is an all-season sport in downtown Calgary thanks to the covered Plus 15 skyway, and it’s always playtime at the West Edmonton Mall. Here you’ll find a mix of cosmopolitan and cowboy: tilt your hat to the New West.