With a 2009 metropolitan population of 1.25 million, Calgary is the largest city in Alberta, located some 80 km (50m) east of the Rockies where prairie and foothills meet. Calgary is a young city, founded in 1875 as a North West Mounted Police outpost at the confluence of the Bow and Elbow Rivers. Oil and gas powers our growth, aided by agriculture, tourism, high-tech and – our Stampede. Nearby mountain resorts make this a destination for winter sports and ecotourism.

In the fall of 1883, three CP Railway workers stumbled across bubbling hot springs in a cave on the eastern slopes of Alberta’s Rockies. Banff National Park was born from their discovery. It was Canada’s first National Park and only the third in the world. Spanning 6,641 square km (2,564 sq m) of mountains, valleys, glaciers, forests, meadows and rivers, Banff is a premier world destination for travellers. The hot pools are still a favourite place to relax after skiing.

The Stampede is our annual rodeo, exhibition and festival held every July in Calgary. The ten-day event, which bills itself as The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth, attracts over one million visitors and features the world’s largest rodeo, a parade, midway, stage shows, concerts, agricultural competitions, chuckwagon racing and First Nations exhibitions. The chuckwagon races recall times past when camp cooks would dash to get the best spots at the next stop on a cattle drive.

Music lover and philanthropist, Esther Honens, endowed the international piano competition named for her. “My vision,” she wrote, “is to identify the finest of today’s young pianists, to bring them to Calgary in a competition that is held in the highest international esteem, and to create a legacy of musical excellence that can be enjoyed by Canadians for countless generations.” She added much to the cultural life of Calgary. Her $5 million endowment is maintained and administered by The Calgary Foundation.

Created by the Southern family, Spruce Meadows equestrian centre opened in 1975 just south of Calgary. Now it has a stable capacity for 1,000 horses and hosts 500,000 visitors annually; in 2001/2002 and 2003/2004 it was named number one show jumping facility in the world. Six major outdoor and eight indoor tournaments are held there annually. Major events include the National, in which the world's top riders compete for $1m, and the Masters, where the stakes double to $2m.

Our Kananaskis Country covers some 4,000 square km (2,500 sq m), and is just one of the mountain playgrounds along the eastern slopes of the Rockies. It is popular with Calgarians for its wildlife, camping, fishing, hiking and skiing. The Canmore Nordic Centre, built for cross country ski events at the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, and Nakiska Ski Resort used for the downhill events are both in the Kananaskis. The challenging golf course can be seen in the foreground.

Canada Olympic Park in Calgary was the venue for ski jumping, bobsleigh and luge at the 1988 Winter Olympics. WinSport Canada now maintains the facilities to train athletes and for national and international events. COP is popular with Calgarians for downhill skiing, snowboarding, and cross-country. In summer the 25k (16m) of trails are used by mountain bikers. COP has numerous summer festivals. It is home to the Olympic Hall of Fame and Museum, a summer challenge course and a zipline.

The Royal Tyrrell Museum is in the Badlands east of Calgary and is an important centre for palaeontological research, and is noted for its collection of more than 130,000 fossils. At the museum you journey through time and come face-to-face with some of Canada’s mightiest dinosaurs. The museum is situated in the middle of the fossil-bearing strata of the Late Cretaceous Horseshoe Canyon Formation and holds numerous specimens from the nearby Dinosaur Provincial Park and the Devil's Coulee Dinosaur Egg Site.

Another legacy from the 1988 Olympics, this was the first covered, climate-controlled speed skating oval in North America. Ice quality makes it a preferred training and competition facility for long and short track speed skaters from across the globe. It earned its reputation as "the fastest ice on Earth" in 1988 with world records in 7 events and Olympic records in the other 3. It also has excellent facilities for ice hockey and athletics. The oval is open to the public.

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in SW Alberta. Starting 6,000 years ago and continuing until the mid-1800’s, Native People used Head-Smashed-In as a trap to harvest buffalo. They diverted the herds until they could stampede them across the Porcupine Hills and over a 10 m-high cliff. Other hunters, waiting below, salvaged the meat, hide and bone. Bone and stone tool deposits extend to a depth of over 11 m at the base of the cliff.