City Guide: Calgary

Almost every year since graduation, my college/uni friends and I have done a summer trip together. Always somewhere new and always a mix of outdoorsy and city things. We've been all over the west coast of the US from LA to Vancouver, Puerto Rico, North Carolina and now Calgary, Canada. Outdoor activities include hiking, kayaking, or jet skiing (one time it was cliff jumping) while our city activities keep us cultured so we go to museums or well-known restaurants.

We stayed at a place half-way between Calgary and Banff National Park so we could easily go from our active selves to our city selves and in between, we cooked a lot of meat and ate a lot of eggs. Shopping for 8 people is tough and there was a point where we had 8 dozen eggs, 8 loaves of bread and an $8,000 cucumber (okay, they refunded us $7,998 for that one). Somehow, I escaped dinner duties but managed to make a whole lotta pancakes, french toast (see 8 loaves of bread comment) and cinnamon rolls throughout the week.

Here are some of the activity highlights I would recommend if you're planning a tip to Calgary anytime soon:

1. Lake Louise- When deciding where to go, we get very scientific and make a survey of places to go. The survey results usually end up being ignored but someone suggested Lake Louise and we said 'sounds great!'. This is what brought us to Canada. We did the Plain of Six Glaciers trail which goes around the aqua lake and up into the mountains. This was an all day hike but not extremely steep so doable for beginners but bring lots of water! At the end of June, there was a bit of snow across the path so prepare yourselves for that as well. But! You are rewarded by an amazing little tea house (appropriately called The Plain of Six Glaciers Tea House) at the top of the mountain. They don't have running water, bottled water is heli-dropped to them, but their cakes are delicious.

 

2. Sulphur Mountain- This was a more difficult climb which was mostly comprised of switchbacks. It's advised to allow 2-3 hours for this hike so not as long as Lake Louise but there's also a gondola you can take up (and/or down) the mountain instead. This is attaction is part of a larger attraction with a hot springs spa (highly recommended) and cave tour. The view of the Canadian Rockies can't be beat and we even had a couple mountain goats cross our paths. If that's not a reason to bust into Julie Andrews songs, I don't know what is.

 

3. Banff Canoe Club- Initially we were looking at kayaking/canoeing on Lake Louise but having done the hike already, we opted for something new and found this kayaking club right in Banff which was pretty cost effective and allowed us to paddle around a creek and then a calm lake surrounded by mountains (okay, and one highway). The staff were super friendly, even if they did accidentally ring us up for 450 boats (there's a theme here with the over-charging). Definitely bring bug spray, the swarms are legit.

 

4. Skyline Luge- Moving away from the hiking genre of activities, this luge is basically real-life Mario Kart in Calgary's Olympic park. You take a chair lift to the top, get a safety demonstration and away you go! While I don't think they'd let you tie balloons to the cars, Mario noises are not discouraged...

 

5. Ice Cream- No hike is complete without a post-hike milkshake. Or at least that's our motto. We went to Old School Ice Cream after our first day of hiking and proceeded to go there after every one of our hikes. Luckily, the staff changed every day so they don't seem to have noticed how much ice cream we ate here. They are cash only though but accept USD at a 1:1 conversion rate.

 

6. Heritage Park- I was sceptical about this one but it turned out to be really fun! It's basically a recreation of Canada through the ages so important historical figures' homes are rebuilt, there's an old main street with a working post office and general store as well as small roller coasters. A steam boat cruise is included in admission and takes you around the reservoir with a great view of downtown Calgary.


7. Maple Lattes- We happened to be in Calgary for Canada Day, their 150th in fact! As if everything wasn't maple leaf forever already, we found Rosso's to have a maple latte on special. Who knows if this is a full-time deal or not but over ice and it was a perfect hint of Canadian pride without being overly sweet. They're also known for their coffee quality so worth a trip for straight up coffee as well.

 

8. More Ice Cream- Made by Marcus in Calgary was our final ice cream stop of the trip. They had only a few flavors but also unique sundaes (think hand toasted marshmallows and macaron topping) that were  made with soft serve. Milkshakes and boozy flavours were also in order.

 

9. Calgary Farmer's Market- Literally our last stop before the airport, we initially went to this market looking for Jelly doughnuts shop but it was full of so many other places to eat and stock up on maple things (and crafts), we almost lost track of our mission. But in the end, Jelly doughnuts was amazing (maple bacon doughnut, highly recommended) and should also be visited.

 

And because 10 is better than 9:

10. Nature- In general, just embrace the amazing scenery of mountains, sky and trees. You're bound to see a rainbow (or two!) after one of the many flash mountain storms and we even caught a meteor shower one night.