Where to Stay in Calgary, Alberta

What is Calgary known for?

Calgary is known first for the Stampede, the show that gives it the nickname The Stampede City. It is Alberta's largest city and the third-largest in Canada, set on the western prairies near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The Stampede defines it.

Beyond the Stampede grounds, the city serves as the usual base for Banff and Jasper, and its skyline is marked by the Calgary Tower above the downtown core.

What are the main landmarks in Calgary?

Calgary's landmarks gather in and around the downtown core. The Calgary Tower rises over the centre, near the Glenbow Museum and the galleries of Contemporary Calgary, while the Stampede Grandstand marks the grounds that carry the city's name each year. History stands nearby.

Lougheed House and St. Mary's Cathedral date from the city's early decades, and The Confluence marks the river junction where the settlement first took hold. Museums and old houses fill the rest.

What is the history of Calgary?

Calgary began in 1875 at the meeting of two rivers, the site marked by The Confluence. A fort came first. The settlement that grew around it took the name Town of Calgary, a small prairie post on the western plains of what would become Alberta.

From that fort the town spread outward. Over the following decades it grew from a prairie settlement into the largest city in Alberta and the third-largest in Canada. The Stampede shaped its identity along the way.

The annual event tied the city to cattle and rodeo and earned it the name The Stampede City, a reputation that has outlasted its frontier beginnings. Growth pushed the city across the plains toward the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, where it stands as the main centre between the prairies and the mountains. The old confluence still marks where it started.

Where is Calgary?

Calgary sits on the western prairies of Alberta, at the point where the flat plains rise into the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The setting defines it. The city spreads across open ground east of the mountains, close enough to serve as the base for Banff and Jasper yet still on the prairie itself.

Plains on one side, peaks on the other. It anchors the wide stretch of country between Toronto and Vancouver.

What is the climate of Calgary?

Calgary has a dry, temperate climate shaped by its place on the western prairies near the Rocky Mountains. Winters run cold and long. The city, close to the foothills, sees warm, bright summers and hard winters, with sharp swings in temperature from one day to the next as mountain air moves across the plains.

The air stays dry through the year. Snow can fall well outside the winter months.

How do you get to Calgary?

Most visitors fly into Calgary, whose airport code, YYC, doubles as a nickname for the city. The airport handles the region. From the city, roads run west into the Rocky Mountains toward Banff and Jasper and east across the prairies, making Calgary the main arrival point for the mountain parks.

Rail and highway fan out from here. It links the wide country between Toronto and Vancouver.