Calgary

A 191m tower built in 1968, where a glass panel in the deck floor puts the traffic right under your shoes. When the sky is clear, Rocky Mountain peaks line up along the western horizon.

The grounds where rodeo and chuckwagon racing take up ten days each July, starting early in the month. The wagons race in the evening on the track before the grandstand, and during the festival mornings bring free pancakes handed out all over downtown.

A red helix designed by Santiago Calatrava, laid across the Bow River in 2012. No cars cross it, only people on foot and bicycles, and because it is roofed people come to photograph it even on rainy days.

An island park sitting in the Bow River, reached from the downtown towers by crossing a single footbridge. The folk music festival takes over the island in late July, and that weekend people claim lawn space by spreading tarps.

The National Music Centre building, opened in 2016 and wrapped in terracotta tiles that make its curves. The mobile recording truck the Rolling Stones used sits inside, and several instruments are there for visitors to play themselves.

Relocated prairie town buildings make up this open air museum by the Glenmore Reservoir, where a steam train and a paddlewheeler still run. The whole village only opens in summer; in winter just the buildings near the entrance can be seen.

A park that follows a creek through the city's southern half, ranking among Canada's largest urban parks. On early morning walks along the creekside path, deer often step across ahead of you.

A dinosaur museum in the Drumheller badlands, ninety minutes northeast by car. Dozens of skeletons assembled from bones found in the surrounding canyons stand inside, and in peak summer tickets sell out, so an entry slot is booked ahead.

The hill that held the ski jumps and bobsleigh track for the 1988 Winter Olympics. In winter it serves as a beginners' ski hill, and the jump towers are the first thing you see from the highway heading west out of the city.

Several blocks of downtown 8th Avenue turned into a pedestrian street, still lined with early twentieth century sandstone buildings. Cars are barred by day, so at lunch office workers fill patios set out on the roadway itself.

A zoo on St. George's Island, mid-river in the Bow. The Canadian Wilds section holds grizzly bears and moose, and during the winter light festival the gates stay open into the evening.

Opened in 2018 and designed by the Norwegian firm Snohetta. The light-rail line curves underneath the building, and from a seat under the timber lattice ceiling on the top floor the downtown towers fill the windows.

A hands-on science centre with a domed planetarium, across the river north of the zoo. Separate adults-only evening events draw plenty of visitors who come without children.

A wide grassland park spread across a hilltop in north Calgary. With almost no trees, the downtown skyline and the Rockies to the west come into view together; the wind blows hard, so a jacket comes along even on clear days.

A reserve on a bend of the Bow River where more than 270 bird species have been recorded. Bikes and dogs are banned from the paths, which keeps it quiet, and white-tailed deer often step out at the forest edge early in the morning.

A mountain recreation area roughly 1 hour's drive to the west, full of lakes and trails yet quieter than Banff. Parking requires the provincial Kananaskis Conservation Pass, bought in advance.