Home to the closest international airport to Banff National Park, Calgary has long been a gateway city for active and adventurous travelers who come to explore the Canadian Rockies.
While some visitors immediately make the 90-minute drive to the snow-dusted peaks in Banff, there are wonderful adventures to experience in and around Calgary that warrant staying in the city longer. Here are eight activities and experiences to recommend to clients visiting Calgary.
Indigenous cultures shape some elements of the annual Calgary Stampede.
Credit: 2024 Ergin/stock.adobe.com
Visit the Calgary Stampede
For more than 110 years, the Calgary Stampede has been the city’s most important celebration. It’s more than just a festival — there’s a rodeo, a powwow, a carnival-style midway, concerts and all kinds of live entertainment, as well as an agricultural exposition.
Activities related to the stampede stretch far beyond the gates of Stampede Park and include a parade, free pancake breakfasts and more events around town. Stampede spirit is a tangible thing, and locals and visitors alike get their western on by donning cowboy hats, boots and jeans at local celebrations.
Food Bike Tour owner Vanessa De Oliveira and her dog Roland led our tour.
Credit: 2024 Debbie OlsenEnjoy a Cycling Foodie Tour
Clients can combine a love of the outdoors with a love for food on a Calgary Food Bike Tour. The three-hour adventure combines cycling along picturesque trails with four gourmet food stops to help participants experience the city’s vibrant culinary scene. Tours run every Saturday during spring and summer months and the company also offers food bike tours in nearby Canmore. Private group tours can be arranged on other days of the week.
A motorcycle sidecar tour is a great way to see Calgary.
Credit: 2024 Debbie OlsenSee the City From a Sidecar
A city tour is a great way to see the sights and learn about the history and culture of a place, and Rocky Mountain Sidecar Adventures offers one of the most unique city tours in Calgary. Guests ride in the sidecar of a vintage-style motorcycle while listening to live commentary from a tour leader/driver piped into the helmets. It’s a fun adventure with several stops for photos along the way.
Explore North America’s Most Extensive Urban Trail System
Calgary is a walkable and cyclable city, and it has the most extensive urban pathway system in North America. Bowcycle rents bikes and e-bikes for exploring Calgary’s trail system, which encompasses 60 miles of trails and about 621 miles of regional pathways. Clients can look up a map of the pathways online to plan their route.
Make Friends With a Wolfdog
Located 30 minutes outside of the city, Yamnuska Wolfdog Sanctuary is a nonprofit dedicated to driving awareness and education surrounding wolfdog ownership. About 40 wolfdogs (a mix of wolf and dog) live at the 160-acre sanctuary year-round. Visitors can take a tour to see these creatures up close and perhaps even feed one.
Try Summer or Winter Dogsledding
Just outside Calgary at Boundary Ranch, Snowy Owl Sled Dog Tours offers dogsled experiences in both winter and summer. Winter tours use traditional dogsleds, while summer tours utilize a wheeled cart to transport guests along the trails. Both experiences let clients get up close to the dogs as guests meet them before the excursion and help feed and water them afterward. Visitors can also see the ranch’s bison as part of the tour.
Clients can learn basic archery skills from an Indigenous guide at Painted Warriors Ranch.
Credit: 2024 Debbie OlsenHave an Indigenous Archery Experience
Painted Warriors Ranch is an Indigenous tourism experience 62 miles northwest of Calgary in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The experience is guided by the Ojibway, Cree and Mohawk traditions of the Indigenous guides who teach there. Guests learn how to properly shoot a bow and arrow and then practice a simulated hunt using realistic foam targets shaped like animals. Skilled instructors who competed for Team Canada guide guests and help them to improve their skills.
Go Downhill Karting
Downhill karting is a gravity-driven ride that allows guests to descend a 5,905-foot track that’s said to the longest in the world. Guests control the speed of the descent as they navigate 50 twists and turns in specially designed carts that are fun for older children and adults alike.
