Things to do in Calgary
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Calgary
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best season overall. Long evenings, patios, river floats, golf to 9pm and Moraine Lake open.
Locals favourite and best value. Larch season, festivals and hotels dropping after Labour Day.
Winter ski season with ZOOLIGHTS, Chinook Blast and tubing, but extreme cold snaps.
Spring gamble. Lilac season, peak waterfalls and pre Stampede prices, but no river floating.
Worst for a first trip. November is grey and pre ski, late March and April are slush season.
What's on
- Calgary Stampede Ten days ending on the second Sunday of July; 2-11 July in 2027
The world's largest rodeo, with chuckwagons, grandstand show, midway and free pancake breakfasts citywide.
- Calgary Folk Music Festival Usually late July, Thursday to Sunday
Over 60 artists on Princes Island Park.
- Taste of Calgary Usually late July into early August
City food festival in high summer.
- Calgary BluesFest Usually late July into early August
Blues festival overlapping Taste of Calgary.
- Calgary Fringe Festival Usually late July to early August, about nine days
Fringe theatre festival in late July and early August.
- GlobalFest August
Fireworks festival at Elliston Park.
- Calgary Pride late August/early September
Pride celebrations in late summer.
- Beakerhead September
Art, science and engineering festival.
- Calgary International Film Festival late September
Film festival in the locals favourite month.
- Spruce Meadows June and September
Show jumping in June and September.
Best things to do in Calgary
Calgary Stampede
The world's largest rodeo and Calgary's defining ten day festival, with chuckwagons, midway and free pancake breakfasts.
Heritage Park Historical Village
Canada's largest living history museum, with a steam train, paddlewheeler and 180 plus exhibits across 127 acres.
Studio Bell, home of the National Music Centre
Five floors of Canadian music history in a striking building, with hands on instruments and four halls of fame.
Calgary Zoo
One of Canada's best zoos, strong on Canadian wildlife, penguins and lemurs, and the default pick for young kids.
Prince's Island Park
Free island park on the Bow River at the heart of the city's best walk, linking Stephen Avenue and the Peace Bridge.
Calgary Tower
A 191 metre tower with a glass floor and Rockies views, worth it only on a crystal clear day or with a Sky 360 meal.
Glenbow at The Edison
The Glenbow Museum's downtown satellite exhibitions while its main building is renovated into an art centre.
Contemporary Calgary
Calgary's main contemporary art venue, housed in the former Centennial Planetarium.
Where to stay in Calgary
Downtown Core / Stephen Avenue / Eau Claire
first trip, all round base
Walkable to the Tower, Studio Bell, Stephen Avenue dining, the free fare CTrain zone and Princes Island.
Beltline / 17th Avenue SW
nightlife, dining and Stampede
Calgary's densest walkable neighbourhood, with 17th Avenue patios and a ten minute walk to Stampede Park.
East Village
modern cultural base, with a caveat
Riverside revival beside Studio Bell and the Central Library, but close to the Drop-In Centre shelter corridor.
Kensington / Bridgeland
quiet, local, calmer stays
Village high streets, brunch and independent shops, noticeably calmer than downtown and East Village.
Inglewood / Ramsay
breweries and character
The oldest neighbourhood with the best brewery crawl and Esker Foundation, mostly Airbnbs and small inns.
Think twice about
- Far East Village around the Drop-In Centre
The highest concentration of homelessness, encampments and open drug use in the city. Identical priced hotels sit ten minutes west.
- 17th Avenue SE / International Avenue (Forest Lawn)
Great food in daylight, but a car dependent motel base locals flag for sex work, drug activity and safety concerns after dark.
- Motel Village and far suburban airport or highway motels
Not unsafe, just a false economy. Sprawl costs the savings in rides and parking and loses the walkable city.
- East Beltline / Victoria Park around Stampede Park outside Stampede week
A construction and parking lot no mans land much of the year, quiet to the point of feeling deserted at night.
Best restaurants in Calgary
River Café
Calgary's defining special occasion restaurant for 30 years, wood fired and hyper regional on an island in the Bow.
Eight
An eight seat chef's counter by Darren MacLean, Canada's 100 Best number 6 in 2025 and Calgary's hardest reservation.
Nupo
Darren MacLean's plant forward tasting room with omakase influence, more bookable than Eight.
Shokunin
Darren MacLean's izakaya, arguably more fun than his tasting rooms and easier to book.
Major Tom
A glamorous 40th floor steakhouse with Alberta beef, big cocktails and a panorama that beats the Tower restaurant.
Ten Foot Henry
Vegetable anchored family style cooking that is the single best answer for one mid range dinner in Calgary.
Bridgette Bar
A chef driven cocktail bar restaurant with wood grilled dishes and a banana pie that has its own following.
CHARCUT Roast House
An Italian and Portuguese roast house in Le Germain, known for charcuterie and wood roasted Alberta beef.
Best bars in Calgary
Paper Lantern
A basement Vietnamese speakeasy in Chinatown, ranked on Canada's Best Bars for drinks like the Pandan Painkiller.
Proof
Calgary's serious cocktail pick, ranked number 10 on Canada's Best Bars 2024.
Missy's
A Calgary bar ranked number 13 on Canada's Best Bars 2024, part of the city's small strong bar scene.
Rain Dog Bar
A Calgary bar ranked number 30 on Canada's Best Bars 2024, worth pairing with an Inglewood evening.
Outdoor things to do in Calgary
Bow River
A lazy summer float down the snowmelt cold Bow River is the quintessential Calgary summer afternoon.
Fish Creek Provincial Park
One of Canada's largest urban provincial parks, 13 kilometres of creekside trails locals use weekly.
Nose Hill Park
Eleven square kilometres of native prairie on a plateau, with mountain views and easy in city hiking.
Inglewood Bird Sanctuary
A free riverside sanctuary with around 270 bird species, the in city pick for birders.
Bowness Park
A riverside park with a boating lagoon in summer and ice skating and ice bikes in winter.
Shaganappi Point Golf Course
A central city municipal course, honest and affordable with no dress code theatre.
Maple Ridge Golf Course
One of the cheapest city municipal 18 hole rounds in Calgary, at around 34 dollars in local listings.
McCall Lake Golf Course
A bookable city municipal course near the airport side of town, simple and good value.
Best hotels in Calgary
Fairmont Palliser
A 1914 grand railway hotel with afternoon tea, valued for history and service over cutting edge rooms.
Hotel Le Germain Calgary
The highest satisfaction boutique hotel downtown, with CHARCUT downstairs.
Hyatt Regency Calgary
A reliable mid range hotel on Stephen Avenue with an indoor pool.
Calgary Marriott Downtown Hotel
A reliable downtown Marriott, good for a straightforward first time base.
The Westley Calgary Downtown, Tapestry Collection by Hilton
A boutique mid range hotel offering the best design for the price downtown.
Hilton Garden Inn Calgary Downtown
A practical downtown hotel paired with Homewood Suites, well placed for East Village sights.
Homewood Suites by Hilton Calgary Downtown
An all suite option with kitchenettes that suits families and longer downtown stays.
HI Calgary City Centre Hostel
The consensus budget pick, with dorms, private rooms and a communal kitchen on the East Village edge.
Is Calgary expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | CA$135 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | CA$260 a person |
| Splurge | CA$550 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Calgary Stampede: months ahead
- Heritage Park Historical Village: a few days ahead
- Calgary Zoo: a few days ahead
- WinSport: a few days ahead
- Shaganappi Point Golf Course: a few days ahead
- Maple Ridge Golf Course: a few days ahead
- McCall Lake Golf Course: a few days ahead
- Confederation Park Golf Course: a few days ahead
- Stampede hotels, rodeo tickets and top restaurants book months ahead, ideally by February or March.
- Banff and Moraine Lake shuttles open in spring and summer dates go fast. Book mountain logistics before restaurants.
- Eight, River Cafe weekends, Ten Foot Henry and Bridgette Bar need two to four weeks for prime weekend slots.
Is Calgary safe?
- Do not leave anything visible in a parked car downtown or at trailheads. Smash and grabs are the most common visitor crime.
- Visible homelessness and open drug use concentrate around the Drop-In Centre, east Stephen Avenue and some CTrain platforms late at night.
- Carry bear spray in Kananaskis and Banff, make noise and check trail closures. Grizzlies are present May to October.
- Weather is a safety issue: minus 30 windchill, summer hail, wildfire smoke and chinooks swinging temperatures 20 degrees in a day.
Calgary travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Calgary Tower as a standalone ticket on a cloudy day. Free lookouts at Crescent Heights and Scotsman's Hill beat a grey panorama.
- Generic chain patios on Stephen Avenue priced for expense accounts. Walk a block to independent rooms.
- Mega bus day tours promising Banff, both lakes, Johnston Canyon and the Icefields in one day mean queues and 20 minutes per stop.
- Old guidebooks sending you to the closed Glenbow main building. Use the Edison satellite or Contemporary Calgary.
Getting around Calgary: public transport and more
- Downtown, Beltline, Kensington, the Zoo and Stampede work on foot and CTrain. Rent a car for Banff, Drumheller and Kananaskis.
- CTrain is free on 7th Avenue between City Hall and Downtown West Kerby stations. Outside that, a day pass is about 11 dollars.
- The plus 15 Skywalk links downtown towers indoors in winter, but many sections close evenings and weekends.
- YYC airport is about 25 minutes by road, with Bus 300 downtown and rideshares around 35 to 45 dollars.
Who Calgary suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | Great |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Good |
Make Calgary your trip
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