Exploring Alberta: Edmonton, Calgary, and Banff!

Hey guys! I recently went on a short trip to explore Alberta, and absolutely loved it! Although I’m from Manitoba, i’d never visited western Canada before and instantly fell in love with the gorgeous mountains, because admittedly, the prairies can become pretty boring. There was something about Alberta that made me love my country more. I mean look at these mountains!

We flew into Edmonton in the morning so we could spend the afternoon shopping at the massive West Edmonton mall (which you shouldn’t miss if you like shopping!) Of course we also had to make time to explore downtown Edmonton, so we drove around the lit up streets in the snow before checking out Whyte Avenue to shop the local, less mainstream storefronts, (can you tell we like to shop?) Whyte Avenue has lots of restaurants but we headed to a little hidden gem called Sofra for a Turkish dinner downtown. The food is phenomenal and you have to try some of the homemade pita and dips. Also try some Turkish teas and kebobs (I'm pretty sure everything on the menu is amazing.) Here is a picture of the baklava we had for dessert.

On the way to Calgary we stopped in Drumheller to see the Tyrell museum, which I don’t think was worth the extra time In the car, (it would have been more interesting in the summer when you can see the fossil excavation sites.) Later we had another great supper in Calgary at Native Tongues Taqueria. You know the food’s gonna be good when the walls are this cool:

The next morning we started the drive to Banff, which I was the most excited for. We did a gondola ride (it’s a good thing no one was afraid of heights), swam in the natural hot springs, walked around the adorable town, and drove up to Lake Louise all in one day. This is where I understood what people pictured when they thought of Canada. Banff is full of picturesque scenes everywhere you turn, and as someone who likes photography, I was in heaven!!!

On our last day we did some more shopping in Calgary and went to the Peace Bridge because i’d seen pictures of it and wanted to check it out before leaving. The architecture was definitely the best part!

If you guys find yourselves planning a trip to Canada anytime soon, try to visit this gorgeous province   

and see Banff which was my absolute favourite part of my trip. Let me know if you’ve already traveled to this area and have suggestions for my next trip back to Alberta. I hope this helped!

-Maya August