What To See. Where To Stay.
Despite most people in the UK not knowing much about Calgary, beyond its location near Banff and other skiing resorts, it's definitely worth visiting.
Calgary is a large city, about 2/3 of the size of Greater London, with a downtown core, a decent transit system with light rail and busses, suburbs, malls, museums, art galleries, theatres and everything else you'd expect. When we first came here the skyscrapers downtown reminded me of the Isle of Dogs and The City of London; one of the tallest and most expensive, The Bow, was designed and built by Norman Foster, like The Gherkin so that could be a factor.
This is the easy part - there are a LOT of hotels in Calgary. The best places to stay if you're visiting for a holiday are downtown, ideally along the C-Train route. If you're hiring a car, obviously the C-Train isn't so important, so further away is sensible. Driving downtown isn't too bad - it's much easier than driving in most cities in the UK.
Calgary Transit is the organization that is responsible for the C-Train and bus services within the sity.
The C-Train is a light rail system that was built for the 1988 Winter Olympics, and which has been extended a few times since. It will take you most of the way across the city, and is a good way to get around. There's a section of the system downtown that's free to ride at any time.
It can get very crowded when there's a hockey game on, or the Calgary Stampede, but generally it's not too bad.
There's a lot of useful information on the Calgary Transit web page.
Like any other big city, Calgary has lots of things to see and do. Here are some that should keep you busy during your visit:
A very good zoo, with a dinosaur park as well.
A "living museum" of the early west - you can walk around the historic village, ride on the railway and paddle steamer, see the cars at the Gasoline Alley museum, walk around the railway museum and eat at some very nice locations.
There's more than enough here to keep you busy for the whole day. Arrive early and keep going until you've seen everything, the park closes, or you just have to stop because you're exhausted...
Home to hockey and music concerts. It's the most recognizable building in Calgary, so naturally there are plans to demolish it. See it while you can!
A huge area in the south-east of the city where ten days in July sees most of the City dress up like it's the old west. It's where the main Stampede events take place - rodeos, barrel racing, chuck wagon races and so on. It's probably one of the main reasons you're visiting.
If you're visiting and it's not the Stampede, there are lots of other events on there all year round.
Calgary's biggest shopping mall. It gets crowded though, so a weekday is a better time to visit.
Alberta's largest single-level shopping mall. Just outside the city boundary, immediately east of the hamlet of Balzac. You'll need to use a car, taxi or bus to get here.
Almost all of these can be reached easily using Calgary Transit.