Alberta is a province in the western part of Canada. Alberta
borders British Columbia to the west, the Northwest Territories
to the north, Saskatchewan to the east and the US state of
Montana to the south.
The Rocky Mountains rise in the
west of the province, the eastern part is prairie land.
Settlement is concentrated almost exclusively in the southern
third of the province around the metropolises of Edmonton and
Calgary, while the northern half is almost uninhabited. Oil and
natural gas production have made Alberta the richest and, in
parts, rapidly growing province. They have replaced agriculture
and, in particular, cattle breeding as the most important
industries; the latter, however, still play a role.
1 Edmonton (City of Edmonton). E-mail: 311@edmonton.ca . - capital
and second largest city in the province.
2 Calgary
(City of Calgary) . largest city in the province, host of the 1988
Winter Olympics.
3 Jasper located in Jasper National Park.
4 Banff
on the eastern slope of the Canadian Rocky Mountains.
5 Lloydminster
. located on the border of the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
6 Red Deer . third largest city, located on the river of the same name
in the parklands.
7 Fort Saskatchewan . once a fur trading center.
8 Drumheller . located in the Badlands on the Red Deer River, fossil
site.
9 Athabasca
The main travel destination in Alberta is Alberta's Rockies in the
Canadian Rocky Mountains, best accessed via the
Icefields Parkway
. a 233km long panoramic road between Banff and Jasper.
The
Icefields Parkway takes you to both Banff National Park and Jasper
National Park, both of which belong to Alberta. The most important
tourist destination besides Banff and Jasper is Lake Louise . with the
most photographed glacier lake of the same name.
Waterton Lakes National
Park is located in
Alberta province in Canada. This natural reserve covers an
area of 505 km².
Banff National Park is situated 110 kilometers (70 mi) West of Calgary in the Alberta province of Canada. It protects 2,580 sq. mi (6,680 sq. km) of picturesque mountains and lakes in Alberta province.
Jasper National Park is located in Alberta territory of Canada. This national reserve covers an area of 10,878 sq km (4,200 sq mi).
The official language of the province is English, as in most of Canada. The road signs are always bilingual, including French.
By plane
Most visitors will arrive in Alberta via the
international airports Edmonton International Airport (IATA: YEG) and
Calgary Airport (IATA: YYC). Calgary is also served by flights from
Europe.
By train
Edmonton is on the Canada National Railway,
which crosses the entire country. This means that Edmonton can be
reached from Vancouver as well as from Montreal or Toronto via The
Canadian. Trains run three times a week.
Calgary is served by a
tourist train from Vancouver, the Rocky Mountaineer. However, this is
more of a sightseeing trip than a practical way to get there.
By
bus
By road
The Trans-Canada Highway (H1) crosses Alberta from
west to east coming from Vancouver and touches towns such as Banff or
Canmore on the way to Calgary and further east Bassano.
The
Yellowhead Highway begins 100 km west of Winnipeg and is a panoramic
route from Jasper through the Canadian Rocky Mountains on the mainland
to Prince Rupert.
If you want to travel around the country, you will not be able to
avoid using a car. There is only one train line, and traveling by
intercity bus is inconvenient and time-consuming.
By bike
Alberta only requires children up to 18 years of age to wear a helmet,
but most cyclists wear one. When cycling in the Rocky Mountains, you can
quickly cross the border into British Columbia, where helmets are
generally required, so you should definitely have one with you.
Canadian Badlands
Badlands are generally understood to be
landscapes that are characterized by erosion and the resulting surface
forms such as canyons, gorges and ridges. The first settlers referred to
such landscapes as badlands and simply meant "it is a bad place to lose
a cow". Times and opinions have changed. Of course, such badlands are
hardly usable for agriculture, but they often arouse the interest of
tourists. The Canadian Badlands are located in the southeast of Alberta
along the Red Deer River. Here you can find spectacular landscapes and,
in particular, numerous fossils. There are also such badlands in the
Canadian provinces of Ontario and Saskatchewan. In the Canadian Badlands
in Alberta are:
2 Dinosaur Provincial Park . The park was
established in 1955 and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979
3 Jasper National Park . With the Columbia Icefield.
4 Banff
National Park . The park includes Lake Louise with the town of the same
name and a 5-star hotel.
Other parks
5 Head-Smashed-In Buffalo
Jump . Historic Indian hunting ground that was added to the UNESCO World
Heritage List in 1981.
6 Wood Buffalo National Park . The largest
Canadian national park is located on the border between the provinces of
Alberta and the Northwest Territories. It has been on the UNESCO World
Heritage List since 1983 and is now also part of the Dark Sky Preserves.
7 Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park (Áísínai'pi National Historic
Site of Canada). The park contains over 50 petroglyph sites and was
declared a National Historic Site of Canada in 2004. It has also been a
UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2019.
Other
Icefields
Parkway. The Icefields Parkway (= Highway 93/ 93 A) connects Jasper and
Banff over a distance of 230 km and runs through both of the national
parks mentioned above.
Elk Island
Ukraine Heritage Village
(Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village; 25 minutes east of Edmonton, and 3
km east of the National Park entrance) .
Waterton Lakes National Park
Kananaskis Country
Drumheller - Royal Tyrrell Museum
West Edmonton
Mall