Alberta/Saskatchewan

Alberta is well known to travelers – world-famous Banff and Jasper national parks are located here in the middle of the Rocky Mountains. But what on earth do you want as a tourist in Saskatchewan? Prepare to be surprised, the province is definitely worth a trip.

After a first night in Calgary we begin our tour in Banff. We take the cable car up Sulphur Mountain and climb Tunnel Mountain in the afternoon. Coffee is served at the Fairmont Banff Springs – one of the luxury hotels still missing so far in our collection. On the beautiful Bow Valley Parkway, we reach Lake Louise, the tourist heart of the Canadian Rockies.

The hike from Lake Louise up to the Lake Agnes Tea House is a must, as well as a visit to the noble Fairmont Château Lake Louise. The following drive along Icefields Parkway (about 230 km) is certainly one of the highlights of this tour; this time we experience the deep blue lakes, the incredible mountains and the glaciers in bright sunshine. At the end of the scenic road is Jasper, the northern gateway to the parks.

We turn east and drive on the Yellowhead Highway through a lonely landscape to Edmonton; two days are quite reasonable for Alberta’s capital. After a trip to Elk Island National Park (with a large herd of bison), we continue to Vegreville, a most interesting small town of Ukrainian origin. In Lloydminster we reach the province of Saskatchewan, which is still unknown to us; the city lies exactly on the provincial border.