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Planning Your Visit

Experiences to Discover in Western Canada

Interested in:

The quest for uniqueness?
Fascinating people?
Simply breathtaking scenery?
The ideal getaway?
Living what is real?

Quest for uniqueness

Seek the extraordinary in the national parks and national historic sites of Alberta and British Columbia. Challenge yourself with wilderness treks. Stimulate your senses with never-seen-before creatures and life forms cemented in time. Immerse yourself in a lifestyle and culture unlike your own. Take the plunge and try something new.

Home is Where the Warmth Is

Orchids. Tropical fish. Slithering garter snakes. Endangered snails. In Banff? The Cave and Basin National Historic Site is host to a variety of plants and critters that thrive in the special environment created by thermal spring waters. Take time to look at this fragile, diverse ecosystem and meet these interesting locals at the birthplace of Canada's National Park system.
Other activities at Cave and Basin National Historic Site

Wranglin', Ropin' & Reminiscin'!

Sample some tasty bannock and cowboy coffee at Roundup Camp at Bar U Ranch National Historic Site. Sit yourself down around a blazing campfire and take in some historic tales of high adventure on the range. You'll be carried back to a simpler time when entertainment was based on storytelling, cowboy poetry and music.
Other activities at Bar U Ranch National Historic Site

Visit a Fossil Bed!

Take a guided hike to the world-famous Burgess Shale fossil beds in Yoho National Park. Touch the most important fossils on the planet. Enjoy awe-inspiring views and see the origins of complex life on earth. Learn of the chance discovery of these fossils at the new display in the Field Visitor Centre.
Other activities at Yoho National Park

The Ties that Bind

Although trains haven't run in eight decades, Rogers Pass remains a lively place. Pick one of three campgrounds at Rogers Pass National Historic Site. Explore the stone ruins of Glacier House, one of the original great mountain hotels. Enjoy an interpretive program at the lllecillewaet campground. Hike on a dozen historic trails or ski the deepest powder in any national historic site.
Other activities at Rogers Pass National Historic Site

Oh! What a Feeling!

Breathtaking natural beauty and heart-wrenching human history! It's the Chilkoot Trail, the same 53 km (33mi) trek that tested First Nation traders and gold-hungry dreamers. Hike the trail and share the experiences of those who made it to the Klondike. Not up to the challenge? Then enjoy the Chilkoot Trail with day trips and overnight camping among alpine lakes and tundra meadows at historic Bennett
Lake and Lindeman City.
Other activities at Chilkoot Trail National Historic Site

Fascinating People

Discover fascinating cultures in the West. Meet compelling people that will bring history alive. Listen to some intriguing stories, participate in an activity that you've never tried before or taste something out of this world. Let the national parks and national historic sites give you an experience that you will never forget.

Aboriginal culture - past and present

Life at the Fort St. James National Historic Site trading post on the shores of beautiful Stuart Lake moved to the rhythm of the seasons in 1896. Feel this rhythm as you try traditional hide tanning and traditional food preparation with Aboriginal people and interpreters in period costume. Learn about the Carrier culture then and now through demonstrations, stories, artefacts and exhibits.
Other activities at St. James National Historic Site

Stories of Ice Age (Image - Gwaii Haanas)

Hear stories from over 13,000 years of the Haida connection to the land and sea. Talk to the Haida Gwaii Watchmen at ancient Haida village sites and learn about their past and present lives. Explore SGang Gwaay UNESCO World Heritage Site where carved land and sea creatures on majestic century-old poles preside over the village. Discover what has intrigued artists, explorers and travellers for hundreds of years.
Other activities at Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, National Marine Conservation Area Reserve, and Haida Heritage Site

Sail Away To ...

Drop anchor at Russell Island and hear the story told by descendents of Hawaiians who settled in the Gulf Islands over a century ago. Stroll the gardens and orchard around the original homestead. Tour the artefact-filled parlour. Learn of Hawaiian luaus held here where the smell of freshly caught seafood filled the air and children practiced traditional dancing. Discover a little-known part of west coast history.
Other activities at Gulf Islands National Park Reserve

Meet Compelling Characters

Let costumed interpreters introduce you to the lives and loves of the people who lived at Fort Langley. Meet First Nations women and Hudson's Bay Company workers from places like Quebec, Scotland and Hawaii. See their homes and how they worked. Enjoy guided walks or step into their world through interactive games and activities.
Other activities at Fort Langley National Historic Site

Simply breathtaking

Explore corners of paradise in British Columbia's and Alberta's national parks. The extraordinary beauty of these places will leave you breathless. Climb the tallest mountain, picnic in a floral meadow or ski through a dense forest. Whatever your experience may be, feel inspired by these exceptional landscapes and natural treasures. You'll be making memories for a lifetime.

Peak Experiences

Ride the gondola for the best view in Banff from the top of Sulphur Mountain. Or, hike the Sky Walk Trail to Sanson's Peak, named after the first curator of the Banff Park Museum. Discover the weather station where Norman Sanson coined the local phrase "If you don't like the weather here, wait five minutes ..." While you wait, spend time soaking in the warm waters of the Upper Hot Springs.
Other activities at Banff National Park

Seasonal Sightings

Sample the four seasons in Elk Island. Spring offers new adventures for orange coloured bison calves. The constant roaring of bull bison in mating rituals marks late summer. In autumn, spot deer as leaves turn colour and fall from trees. In winter's darkness, wary elk and rnoose spend more daylight hours foraging for food.
Other activities at Elk Island National Park

Freefalling Heights

Gaze up, way up to the top of Takakkaw Falls in Yoho National Park, one of the highest waterfall in Canada. Freefalling 254 metres, you can almost feel the rocks vibrate as the water crashes down creating a rainbow of fine mist. Nearby, witness the Kicking Horse River and the power of water carving a natural bridge through solid rock.
Other activities at Yoho National Park

Up Close and Personal

Find your own special place in Canada's second oldest national park. Picnic in an avalanche path in summer or gaze at the 360° vista of peaks from Glacier Circle. Hike to the toe of the lllecillewaet Glacier or ski some of the continent's deepest powder. Stand where a Prime Minister added the last shovel of asphalt to the Trans-Canada Highway.
Other activities at Glacier National Park

Land of the Giants

Gather your family and circle a trunk of the ancient trees in the world's only inland cedar rainforest. Alongside the valley trails, skunk cabbage plants tower over children. Drive the Meadows in the Sky Parkway and stand on a mountain summit. The subalpine meadows explode into colour every August as the wildflower season reaches its apex in Mount Revelstoke.
Mount Revelstoke National Park

The ideal getaway

Are you ready to relax and savour the simple pleasures of the outdoors with family and friends? Then you're set for a visit to Alberta's and British Columbia's national parks, national park reserves and national historic sites. Enjoy worry-free and secure experiences that will help you kick back, unwind and get away from it all.

Take the Waters

Luxuriate in the comfort of warm, soothing water at Parks Canada's Hot Springs. Take in the breathtaking Canadian Rockies viewed from mineral-rich waters that bubble up from deep beneath. Heal your soul. Relax and allow the tension to melt away at one of three locations. Enhance your visit with a spa treatment or soak in some history by renting a 1920s bathing costume!
Parks Canada's Hot Springs, AB and BC

Delectable Tastes of Salt

Relax and watch the sun rise over the plains in Wood Buffalo National Park. Look for a wood bison or a whooping crane as you glimpse the contrast of the colour of the red samphire against the whiteness of the salt in the Salt Plains. Feel the sensation of powdery crystals under bare feet and sample the brine from an underground river.
Other activities at Wood Buffalo National Park

The Mountains Meet the Prairies

Experience the unique landscape of Waterton Lakes National Park. View wildlife on the open slopes of fescue prairie that sweeps up into the alpine reaches of the Blakiston Valley. Watch animals such as mule and white-tailed deer, elk and black bears from the safety of your vehicle at the pull-offs along the parkway.
Other activities at Waterton Lakes National Park

Refreshing Dips

Stroll the 1.6 km loop trail along the edge of the beautiful Marble Canyon in Kootenay National Park. Listen to the icy torrent of the turquoise waters of Tokumm Creek. Feel the cool spray of a waterfall. Smell fragrant wildflowers, grasses and other plants. Marvel at the water dipper, a bird that "flies underwater" and absorb the beauty that surrounds you.
Other activities at Kootenay National Park

Sounds of Silence

Looking to escape? Then the temperate rainforest of Green Point Campground in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve is ideal. Camp above the golden sands of Long Beach. Relax by your campfire surrounded by dense undergrowth of sword ferns, ancient trees, hanging lichens and thick moss. Listen to the occasional call of a raven or a bald eagle and the distant surf.
Other activities at Pacific Rim National Park Reserve

Live what is real

Get on the path to personal discovery by becoming directly involved with nature, history and culture in British Columbia's and Alberta's national parks and national historic sites. Opportunities abound to converse with locals, try something' different or go off the beaten track and make new discoveries. You'll find each experience rewarding.

Creature Feature

Visit the Banff Park Museum, the final resting place for the infamous Black Grizzly of Whiskey Creek. Learn how attitudes towards wildlife have evolved over the years. Creatures such as Sanson's skunk and Peyto's lynx have compelling stories waiting to be discovered.
Other activities at Banff Park Museum

Hit the Trails!

With a well-connected system of nearly 1000km of hiking trails, Jasper is the perfect place to avoid crowds and reconnect with the natural world. An easy trail system surrounds the town of Jasper - perfect for a stroll or bike ride after dinner. If you're looking for a different sort of adventure, many of our trails offer biking, Nordic skiing, hiking and horseback riding.
Other activities at Jasper National Park

The Gentle Giants of Ranching ... The Percheron Horse

Did you know that Bar U Ranch National Historic Site was known as the largest Percheron breeding operation in the world in the early 1900's? Get a personal introduction to these magnificent creatures. Take a horse drawn wagon ride through the historic site and hear the stories of George Lane and his amazing herd of Percheron draft horses.
Other activities at Bar U Ranch National Historic Site

Step Ahead Into History

Smell the gunpowder and cordite as smoke from firing drifts towards you at Fort Rodd Hill and Fisgard
Lighthouse National Historic Sites. Hear the report of guns echoing around Esquimalt Harbour and from
Fisgard Lighthouse National Historic Site. Each year, witness two historic military encampments and other special events where re-enactors provide blank firing demonstrations-of everything from muzzle loading muskets to machine-guns.
Other activities at Fort Rodd Hill and Fisgard Lighthouse National Historic Site

From Net to Can

Hear the whirring and clattering that signals the salmon canning line coming to life at Gulf of Georgia
Cannery National Historic Site! Watch as your interpreter fires up the canning line and demonstrates firsthand how the process is done. This is not just a static display. Many of these Cannery machines are still operational.
Other activities at Gulf of Georgia Cannery National Historic Site