- City Tour of Calgary with visit to Heritage Park Historical Village
- Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology
- Guided Hike at Dinosaur Provincial Park
- Medalta Potteries and Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre in Medicine Hat
- Archaeological Preserve Tour at Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park
- UNESCO World Heritage Site Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump
- Waterton Lake Boat Cruise
- Bar U Ranch National Historic Site Experience
- Eau Claire Distillery Tour and Tasting
- Painted Warriors Ranch Indigenous Experience
- Metis Crossing and Elk Island National Park
- Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village
- 11 nights of accommodation (3.5 - 4 star, or best available)
- Professional Tour Leader
- Transportation on comfortable motorcoach
- 21 meals: 11 breakfasts, 10 dinners
- 5% provincial tax on top of tour base rate
- Gratuities to driver (Recommend $3-$4 per person per day)
- Gratuities to guide (Recommend $5-$7 per person per day)
- Meals not listed
- Attractions not listed
- Credit card payment fees, where applicable
- Airfare — domestic and international (Unless Specified)
- Travel insurance (Strongly recommended, ask us for a quote!)
- Items of a personal nature
AVAILABILITY
START DATE
END DATE
PRICE
SINGLE SUPPLEMENT
DEPOSIT
AVAILABLE
Wed, 17 Jul 2024
Sat, 27 Jul 2024
$1,140 USD
$500 USD
Welcome to Calgary, a cosmopolitan city rooted in cowboy history and more recently the heart of Canada’s oil industry. With two rivers, the Bow and the Elbow running through the centre of the city, Calgary is an active community where the great outdoors and urban living collide.
Overnight: Calgary
Meals: Dinner
Today we embark on a tour of Calgary and discover the history, arts and culture that define the city. Explore unique communities including Eau Claire, Kensington and Inglewood, named the best neighbourhood in Canada in 2014. We spend time at Studio Bell, home of the National Music Centre of Canada, which honours and preserves Canadian Music’s diverse history through interactive exhibits and displays showcasing all musical genres. This afternoon we step back in time at Heritage Park Historical Village, Canada’s largest living history museum. Explore nearly a century of Alberta’s history from the fur traders and first nation way of life in 1860 to a more modern time of the 1950’s. From the antique midway, the steam train and Gasoline Alley, showcasing one of the largest collections of antique cars in Canada, there is something for everyone at Heritage Park.
Overnight: Calgary
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Travelling northeast of Calgary, we soon arrive in Drumheller, Alberta. Located in the Badlands of the Red Deer Valley, Drumheller was once a booming Coal town with over 100 active coal mines in the region. Now, it is best known as the home of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology. Before arriving at Drumheller, we will make a stop at the Horseshoe Canyon viewpoint. Stand on the edge of this huge u-shaped canyon and survey the beauty and mystery of the badlands. The two arms of the canyon extend approximately 5 km each and the platforms at the top provide amazing vistas for picture-perfect photos. After taking in the view, we will make our way to the Royal Tyrrell Museum. Royal Tyrrell Museum was named after, Joseph Burr Tyrrell, a geologist who accidentally unearthed the first dinosaur fossil in the Red Deer Valley in 1884 while searching for coal seams. Royal Tyrrell opened in 1985 and is a world-renowned museum boasting over 130 000 fossils and one of the most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex (T-Rex) skeletons in the world.
Overnight: Drumheller
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
This morning we depart from Drumheller and drive though the iconic Hoodoos and shape the landscape of the Badlands. Our exploration of the Badlands will continue as we make our way to the Atlas Coal Mine on an underground experience. Here we join an Atlas interpreter on a journey exploring the Atlas’ underground and upper site spaces. This tour will take us on a 75-minute hike up the valley wall and through some of the site’s most unique (and darkest) spaces, as well as some of the best viewpoints in the Drumheller Valley. The tour involves enclosed spaces, heights and many rough steps cut into the valley wall. Guests are provided with hard hats and lamps to wear.This afternoon we will spend some time in Dinosaur Provincial Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site situated in the Red Deer River valley, and has become famous for its striking badlands topography, and abundance of dinosaur fossils.
Overnight: Medicine Hat
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Often described as an oasis in the midst of the prairies, the historic city of Medicine Hat has a vibrant art and cultural scene and a down-home atmosphere. Tour the Historic Clay District – the Medalta pottery made here was shipped around the world and partake in a Progressive Cafe tour, highlighting places favoured by the locals. Visit the Esplanade Arts & Heritage Centre. A marvel of contemporary Canadian architecture on traditional Blackfoot territory, just steps from the South Saskatchewan River, the Esplanade occupies an eminent position on downtown’s elegant First Street South. From its rooftop terrace, you can see Saamis, the shoreline escarpment which is the setting for the story of how Medicine Hat got its name. The petroglyphs (rock carvings) and pictographs (rock paintings) at Writing-on-Stone / Áísínai'pi Provincial Park are depictions of life for the Indigenous people who have seen this as a spiritual place for more than 10,000 years. Combined with the nearby hoodoo hikes, it makes for an otherworldly, spiritual experience. Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park is on our way through to Milk River. This afternoon we arrive in Lethbridge where we will see the iconic High-Level Bridge. Then we will hear the story about the region and the people from the mid-1860s to the early 1890s at the Fort Whoop-Up a replica of an original fur trading fort built in the late 1800s. We tell the story of the buffalo robe and illegal whisky trade, the years leading up to and the years that followed. It is a complex story that includes the Niitsitapi (Blackfoot), other First Nations, Métis, Canadians, Americans, and British.
Overnight: Lethbridge
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Today we will drive to Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump Interpretive Centre, a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site that preserves and interprets over 6,00 years of Plains Buffalo Indigenous culture. Through vast landscapes, exhibits, and diverse programming, you will learn from a Blackfoot Nations guide about the cultural significance of this cliff to the Plains people. From the interpretive Centre, venture out along a paved trail that leads you to a spectacular view of Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump Cliff, Calderwood Buffalo Jump & Vision Quest Hill to the north, the great prairies to the east, and the Rocky Mountains to the south.On our way to Waterton National Park, is the famous Remington Carriage Museum. The largest museum of its kind in the world, the Remington Carriage Museum tells the story of horse-drawn transportation in North America and features interactive displays, horses, a working restoration shop, carriages, wagons, sleighs, and fun activities. We will also have a tour of the horse facilities and a demonstration of horse care.
Overnight: Waterton
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Today we enjoy the beauty of the Canadian Rockies in Waterton Lakes National Park. You will have the morning at your leisure to explore this quaint town nestled among incredible mountainous landscapes. There's something for everyone at Waterton Lakes: great hikes, horseback riding, canoeing, Red Rock Canyon, and even scooter rentals. Later this afternoon you will enjoy a scenic boat cruise and take in the beautiful views of the mountains.
Overnight: Waterton
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
After breakfast, we will make our way to the famous Bar U Ranch National Historic Site where you can discover the life of a ranching cowboy from the late 1800s. The Bar U Ranch has the largest collection of historical ranch buildings in Canada. From here we will visit the Eau Claire Distillery, Alberta's original craft distillery. Enjoy a tour of the facility with a stop in the tasting rooms. Time permitting, we will stop at Okotoks Erratic, visible from a considerable distance across the relatively flat terrain of the prairie landscape, ‘Big Rock’ is an enormous glacial erratic. The 16,500-tonne (18,200-ton) boulder was transported far from its mountainous place of origin by a rockslide, then by a glacial sheet of ice between 10,000 to 30,000 years ago, to its present-day location just west of the Town of Okotoks.
Overnight: Airdrie
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Today we will experience Painted Warriors Ranch, an indigenous ranch on 82-acre pristine forest land in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies. Here we will experience the traditional and modern-day lifestyle of the Cree and Saulteaux people, known for skills such as animal tracking, snowshoeing, horse riding, archery and many others.
Overnight: Edmonton
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Today we will visit some of the sites that have shaped the culture of Alberta. Our First stop of the day will be to Métis Crossing, a cultural interpretation, education, and gatherings center encompassing over 500 acres of land. This site is the first major Métis cultural interpretive center in Alberta and has original Métis land from settlers dating back to the 1800s. Next, we will visit Elk Island National Park, a UNESCO-designated Biosphere Reserve and home to Canada’s bison conservation legacy. Just 35 minutes east of Edmonton, Elk Island National Park is the place to see the iconic bison and learn how this magnificent animal was brought back from near extinction. The Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village is an open-air museum that recreates pioneer settlements. Get ready to step back in time and experience what life was like in Alberta in the early 20th century.
Overnight: Edmonton
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
We say goodbye to our Alberta tour and fond memories from such a fantastic cultural journey of Dinosaurs, Hoodoos and Cowboys. After breakfast, depart Edmonton with a stop at the airport before heading to Calgary International airport.
Meals: Breakfast