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The
City
of Calgary is located in southern Alberta in the
transitional area between the prairies and the foothills. The
beautiful Rocky Mountains are only 80km west of the city. With a
2021
population of over 1.2 million people, Calgary is the third most
populous city in Canada. The Calgary Metropolitan Region is home
to Canada's second highest number of corporate head offices.
Calgary is a dynamic and interesting city. The
Calgary
International Airport (YYC) makes it easy to get here from
anywhere in the world. Check out
travel Alberta, too!
Calgary experiences definite seasons
with warm summers and freezing winters. Winter weather can dip
to well below -20°C
(-4°F),
while summer temperatures can exceed 30°C
(86°F). Average daytime temperatures in summer range from
10°
to 25°C
(50-77°F).
Summer evenings tend to cool off, often down to 10°C
(50°F).
Even in August, be sure to have an extra layer or two along for evening
warmth. No wonder Calgarians are known for their daily
weather checks!
The city's site at the confluence of
the Bow and Elbow Rivers has been inhabited by people for at
least the past 11,000 years. Calgary was founded in 1875, and
generations later became the first Canadian city to host the
Winter Olympic Games in 1988.
The
Calgary Stampede has been a popular attraction in July every
year since 1912 (except 2020) . Calgary is home to a wide range
of museums, arts companies and venues, festivals and other
attractions.
Short (1.5-2 hour) drives from
Calgary take you to beautiful and interesting areas, including
Kananaskis Country, the
Town of Canmore
(with the
Olympic Nordic Centre), the
Town of Banff in
Banff National Park, and the
Town of
Drumheller with its
Royal Tyrrell
Museum of Paleontology.
Dinosaur Provincial Park (to the east of Calgary, near
Drumheller) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, known for its
hoodoos, badlands, and dinosaur fossils. West of Calgary,
Banff National Park (established in 1885), is another of
Alberta's UNESCO World Heritage Sites,
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Famous Banff Avenue, looking north
to Cascade Mountain* |
Lookout over Banff
from the top of Tunnel Mountain |
Castle Mountain near
Banff |
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* Images via Wikimedia Commons (commons.wikimedia.org
/
https://creativecommons.org/licenses)
as follows:
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~ Calgary's Central Library:
Mack Male from Edmonton, AB, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0
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~
Peace Bridge in Calgary: davesbloggs007, CC BY 2.0
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~
View of the Rockies from Nose Hill Park in Calgary: Thank
you for visiting my page from Canada, CC BY 2.0
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~ Banff Avenue - Cascade Mountain.jpg,
Diderot, CC BY-SA 3.0
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~ Elk in Banff: Mateus S. Figueiredo, CC
BY-SA 4.0
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~ Chipmunk:
Tony Webster, CC BY 3.0
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~ Bighorn
sheep: Mateus S. Figueiredo, CC BY-SA 4.0
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~ Hoodoos in
Drumheller: Amos Kwok, CC BY-SA 3.0
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~ Gorgosaurus:
Sebastian Bergmann from Siegburg, Germany, CC BY-SA 2.0
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All other photos by Bercha.
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Click
image for enlargement
