Alberta is a province in Western Canada. Its landscape encompasses mountains, prairies, desert badlands and vast coniferous forests. It has more than 600 lakes, and rich mineral deposits. In the west, the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks have glaciers in the Columbia Icefields. The Waterton Glacier International Peace Park is a biosphere reserve that straddles the southern border with the USA.
Banff National Park is home to two of the most beautiful lakes in the world. First, Moraine Lake is a glacier-fed lake located in the Valley of the Ten Peaks. The more famous of the two lakes is probably picturesque Lake Louise; the turquoise-blue lake sits in front of a range of mountains and the Victoria Glacier, making it serious picture postcard material.
Thousands of years ago, a glacier slowly tore through the rocks and formed the canyon that now houses the Athabasca Falls. That same glacier now provides the water which falls 23 metres down this Jasper National Park waterfall.
Maligne Canyon is the deepest canyon in Jasper National Park, with a depth of more than 50 metres at certain points. Hikers of all abilities can explore this incredible natural landmark by crossing six bridges built across various points of the canyon. Exploring the Canyon in winter time is perhaps even more spectacular than in summer. With frozen falls and icy caverns all around, it’s an experience like no other.
The Columbia Icefields Parkway is one of the worlds most scenic mountain drives that stretches 232kms (144miles) between Lake Louise and Jasper. It is considered a sight that is not to be missed in the Canadian Rockies. At the heart of the incredible Icefields Parkway is one of the largest non-polar ice fields in the world. Here, you’ll travel on a massive Ice Explorer to a place where you can walk on, feel and drink from the Athabasca Glacier. Then, take a jaw-dropping walk along the glass-floored Skywalk at the cliff’s edge.
Around 75 million years ago, the town of Drumheller, Alberta, about an hour and a half north east of Calgary, was a hotbed of dinosaur activity. This eventually turned Drumheller into a treasure trove of dinosaur fossils and led to the creation of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology. The museum is located in the Canadian Badlands, where it collects, preserves and presents the paleontological (AKA dinosaur) history of the region.