Alberta’s Rockies and Rodeo Adventure by Motorhome

Depart the UK on your scheduled flight to Calgary. Upon arrival, independently make your way to your hotel, where you spend the first two nights of your adventure.

Accommodation

Included

Le Germain Hotel, Calgary

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Le Germain Hotel, Calgary

This boutique hotel of just 143 elegantly designed guestrooms and suites offers an intimate sanctuary in the heart of Calgary. Modern guestrooms are awash with natural light from the large windows and each private sanctuary features goose-down duvets, Frette cotton linens, a 42″ flat screen television, iPod docking station and Nespresso coffee-maker. Bathrooms are just as fabulous, with rainfall showers, Frette towels, cotton bathrobes and Molton Brown products.

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Today is free for you to explore the vibrant, cowboy city of Calgary. Enjoy the mixture of historic and modern attractions with visits to Olympic Park, home to the 1988 Winter Olympic Games, and Heritage Park Historical Village.

Accommodation

Included

Le Germain Hotel, Calgary

Close

Le Germain Hotel, Calgary

This boutique hotel of just 143 elegantly designed guestrooms and suites offers an intimate sanctuary in the heart of Calgary. Modern guestrooms are awash with natural light from the large windows and each private sanctuary features goose-down duvets, Frette cotton linens, a 42″ flat screen television, iPod docking station and Nespresso coffee-maker. Bathrooms are just as fabulous, with rainfall showers, Frette towels, cotton bathrobes and Molton Brown products.

View Hotel

This morning you will check out of your Calgary hotel and collect your Cruise Canada RV, before heading southwest along Highway 22 (otherwise known as ‘The Cowboy Trail’) into true cowboy country. And what better place to start than the Bar U Ranch National Historic site and learn how the cowboys live and work at this still working ranch.

Top tip: Wander the trails and dirt roads to discover the history of ranching in Canada.

Depending on how much time you had the day before, spend a few more hours exploring Bar U Ranch and its numerous activities before heading east through the Alberta prairies to Dinosaur Provincial Park. This stunning landscape has some of the largest deposits of fossils found anywhere on earth. Overnight in the park’s own RV campground.

Top tip: Stop at the visitor’s centre to see fossils and learn about the geology and natural history of this UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In keeping with the dinosaur theme at the start of your trip, now make the 2hr drive north to Drumheller and the claimed ‘Dinosaur Capital of the World’. Before arriving in Drumheller, do make a short detour to Horseshoe Canyon a few kilometres from town for some striking views of the Canadian Badlands and where dinosaurs would have roamed some 70 million years ago.

Top tip: See some of the most stunning prehistoric specimens ever found at the Royal Tyrell Museum.

After a long drive taking in the vast expense of the Alberta prairies spend a few days exploring its capital and 2nd largest city, Edmonton. With its chic upscale eateries and excellent museums, there is plenty to do here to fill a couple of days. No visit to Edmonton is complete with stopping at the West Edmonton Mall, the largest shopping mall in North America with over 800 stores and its huge array of family activities including World Waterpark with the world’s largest indoor wave pool.

Top tip: Spend time in the Royal Alberta Museum, the largest in western Canada with its enormous collection of artifacts and interactive exhibits

It’s time to get back on the road and head directly west along the Yellowhead Highway. Keep your eyes open and cameras ready as large wildlife such as moose and bears are regularly spotted just off the main road. Your suggested stop for the night is the town of Hinton with all its amenities and so is a great place to stock up on supplies before you head into the Rockies the following day.

Top tip: Spend time at Lois Hole Provisional Park with its significant bird populations of waterfowl and shorebirds near Edmonton.

Not long after leaving the town and almost out of nowhere, the mighty Canadian Rockies come into view. Once in Jasper, take in the raw beauty of the vast wilderness and the largest national park in the Rockies. As you enter the park’s boundary and before arriving in Jasper town itself, take a detour to Miette Hot Springs. Surrounded by mountain peaks, these are the hottest in the Rockies at a toasty 37⁰C and the area is very popular with bears so you will often see them hanging around the parking lot. You will spend the next two nights at the iconic and recently renovated Whistlers Campground.

Top tip: Take a cruise on Maligne lake and see Spirit Island, one of the most famous sights in Canada.

Today you get the chance to enjoy one of the most stunning mountain drives anywhere in the world as you head down the Icefields Parkway. This stretch of road from Jasper to Banff via Lake Louise winds its way through the heart of the Canadian Rockies and is a never-ending succession of glaciers, vertigo-inducing mountain peaks and forests. It is about a 4hr drive but we suggest taking all day to cover the route before arriving in the Banff and the Lake Louise area for your final three nights of exploring

Top tip: Visit the Athabasca Glacier: the most visited and one of the most accessible in North America.

It’s a 100-mile drive back to Calgary and Cruise Canada this morning, so depending on your flight time, you may have an extra few hours to do some last-minute exploring. You will then make your way back to Calgary International Airport and check in for your flight to the UK.