The Friendliest City in the World? Calgary Just May Surprise

Vaycay Brew Co,, Rouge Restaurant, Calgary, Calgary Stampede, Stampede, Major Tom, Sam Centre, Banff

Hold on tight! Women continue to have a huge impact at the Calgary Stampede. (Diana Ballon photo for Vacay.ca)

The last time I was in Calgary was 47 years ago and I was 12. It was 1976, and I remember the city being extremely hot, very flat, and had people wandering around in cowboy hats and cowboy boots — in the middle of a metropolis. It was a place known for oil and gas, which made me think of the TV show “Dallas“.

But then this summer I arrived back in Calgary. Things have definitely changed in the last half century. The fourth-largest city in Canada, Calgary is on many “best of” lists these days — not just for restaurants and neighbourhoods, but for being extremely friendly. Last year, one publication rated it the most-friendly city in the world. The annual 10-day Calgary Stampede attracted 1.5 million people through the gates for its 2024 edition in July, and relies on its community pride. More than 3,000 volunteers help the “Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth” deliver its world-class experience each year, an indication of just how much Calgarians love their city.

Calgary also has other quirky accolades. As “111 Places in Calgary That You Must Not Miss” author and Vacay.ca contributor Jennifer Bain writes, Calgary is “the birthplace of stampede wrestling, the Caesar [cocktail] and ginger beef.” The Calgary region is also the fifth-largest producer of honey in the world — and the third-largest in North America. And Calgary has a serious music scene (that includes 16 live music venues such as the National Music Centre), a vibrant arts culture, and tons of outdoor activities, with the Rocky Mountains beckoning nearby.

With just three days to rediscover the city, I took a quick but deep dive, for a very different experience of Calgary this time ’round.

Major Tom is one of Calgary’s most impressive restaurants for its food and its views from the 40th floor. (Diana Ballon photo for Vacay.ca)

A Vintage Motorcycle Sidecar for a Stylish Calgary Tour

To start, I got a tour of the city in a retro-style post-Second World War sidecar motorcycle, thanks to Rocky Mountain Sidecar Adventures. As an educator and high school science teacher, co-owner Nicole Egli was able to offer just the right amount of information and humour to keep me entertained on her narrated tour.

“One of the things I like about Calgary is that there are no architectural mandates, and building materials tell their age, like concrete from the 1980s, and glass from the ’90s,” says Egli. “It’s a city that’s not just oil and gas. It’s a place that considers people and the environment.”

We drove through the labyrinth of connected buildings downtown, along 4th Avenue and under the pedestrian skywalk, which extends about 16 kilometres (10 miles), making it the largest skywalk in the world. Things are so much bigger than I remember as a kid.

The tradition of presenting honoured guests with a “white hat” was started by former Calgary mayor Don MacKay in 1950 and is still a time-honoured hallmark of the city’s hospitality. (Photo supplied by Diana Ballon for Vacay.ca)

We saw the city’s popular neighbourhoods, including Kensington and Inglewood, and Scotsman’s Hill, located between the Elbow River escarpment and a valley. There I posed for photos in the motorcycle driver’s seat— with a view of the huge iconic arena, the Scotiabank Saddledome, and then the Rockies, beyond.

The next day we visited the Calgary Stampede, an impressive event that outlived all my childhood rodeo fantasies. Last time, I remember coveting everyone’s cowboy wear. So imagine how I felt a half century later getting fitted for my first cowboy hat, originally crafted by Smithbilt Hats in 1948, and a swanky pair of boots from Alberta Boot Outfitters for a taste of “the modern West lifestyle.”

Calgary’s New Sam Centre Wows

While the Stampede is over, until next July, that doesn’t mean you can’t still relish all things Stampede. As of May, you can now visit the newly opened 30,000-square-foot Sam Centre — ode to all things Stampede — all year-round . Set in a new building designed to be like a ranch house in the centre of the city, it is part museum and part science centre, and designed to be the Stampede’s cultural heartbeat. Though not huge, you can easily wile away a couple of hours with its interactive exhibits and artifacts, with a break midway for a snack at its bake house and café.

Much more than a 10-day celebration with midway rides and bucking broncos, the Calgary Stampede is a gathering place that hosts, educates, and entertains visitors from around the world. (Diana Ballon photo for Vacay.ca)

While I was there, I took a quiz to discover my “Stampede swagger.” Turns out I am an animal lover, though I feel like I have elements of the four other types: foodie, competitor, arts and culture person, and all-around cowpoke. I listened to several first-person video vignettes, including one of tie-down roping champion Cory Solomon. I learned that Stampede Park has, over the years, hosted everything from wrestling to hockey, curling, horse racing, and even balloon races. I read about how chuckwagon horses competing at the Stampede are microchipped to track their health and monitor their “work hours,” to make sure they get plenty of rest. And I got a photo of my head in a vintage postcard image from 1919 to send to my kids. Yes, I now have kids, I no longer am one.

Calgary’s Rouge Showcases Farm-to-Table Cuisine

I got my first “taste” of Calgary at Rouge Restaurant, which was rated No. 60 within 10 years of opening on the World’s 100 Best Restaurants list. The high-end restaurant is located in a restored farmhouse where J.B. Cross, one of the west’s most prominent cattlemen, once lived. The garden connected to it is filled with beds of herbs, edible flowers, and other produce that often show up in Rouge’s cuisine.

“I always wanted a garden to be part of my restaurant,” says co-owner Olivier Reynaud. Fresh local ingredients on that evening’s menu were beautifully presented — and delicious. I sampled everything from braised bison cappelletti to beef tataki and confit red spring salmon, as well as pork belly and seared scallop as a main.

The author has quite an appetite! Free pancake breakfasts are a tradition of the annual Calgary Stampede. (Photo supplied by Diana Ballon for Vacay.ca)

Another award-winning restaurant to put on your itinerary is Major Tom. It serves some mean steaks, broiled at 1,800 degrees with a delicious caramelized crust, and eaten 40 floors above ground level, with a killer view of the city.

A Rising Drinks Scene in Alberta

Calgary has a cocktail and craft-beer scene to match its culinary stars. Burwood Distillery is in a heritage building in Garrison Woods, a neighbourhood in the southwest of the city. The building, once used as stables for military barracks, now houses a veranda — a taproom, restaurant, and spirit hall — and an outdoor patio that is shared with a brewery.

Of course, I wasn’t visiting any distilleries back in 1978. But as I was to discover at Burwood, they do have plenty of non-alcoholic options to choose from. Because my tasting began at 10 a.m., I decided to try some of them and was pleasantly surprised. Sampling the alcohol-free gin neat, and with Fevertree Sicilian lemonade, I felt the drinks had a definite complexity, with floral and piney flavours from the juniper berries, combined with herbs like coriander seed, lavender, and sage. The alcohol-free gin created from the same still-making process as Burwood’s boozy drinks uses water instead of alcohol.

Getting Outside with the Rockies in View

You can’t talk about Calgary without also talking about the outdoors. At almost every vantage point in the city, you can see the Rocky Mountains.

And within the city is the most extensive urban pathway and biking network in North America, extending for about 1,000 kilometres (620 miles). Some of these trails also offer an artistic outlook, such as the Indigenous Mural Art Walk, with two-hour guided tours, run by Zuc’Min Guiding, showing the creativity of Calgary’s urban Indigenous peoples.

Mountain Explorations Near Calgary

After an action-packed few days in Calgary, I did what I had longed to do as a child, visit Banff National Park, its peaks beckoning you in the distance. To get there, I took the Brewster Express, a deluxe motor coach for a relaxing drive to the town of Banff.

From there it was just a half-hour shuttle, followed by a 20-minute gondola ride up to Sunshine Mountain Lodge, a ski-in, ski-out hotel in winter, and hiking destination in summer.

Every year, thousands of tourists venture to Alberta for beautiful scenery and natural wonders. (Diana Ballon photo for Vacay.ca)

Once there, I decided to renege on my original plans to visit Banff by day. Why bother, when you can stay 2,200 metres (7,218 feet) up in the mountains? Their chairlift takes visitors to a viewing platform, where several well-marked trails begin. And they offer a free guided hike you can take the first day to get oriented.

Then back at the hotel, there are several decent dining options to choose from and a hot tub big enough to swim in.

After five days in Calgary and Banff, walking on pavement and then dirt trails, in cowboy boots and in hiking shoes, my feet were aching and the hot tub felt good. But most importantly, my heart was swelling. I am 59, and had just experienced more of those special “firsts.”