Places to Explore

• Fairmont Hot Springs

  Fairmont Hot Springs is named for the hot springs and the resort that has sprouted around it. The "town" is little more than a service strip along the highway, but turn in at the resort and things become... (more)

• Fernie

  Fernie is primarily a winter destination, serving skiers at the Fernie Alpine Resort ski area, though mountain biking is a popular summer attraction. As one of the largest towns between Cranbrook and Calgary... (more)

• Fort Steele

  Many German and Swiss immigrants who arrived in the late 19th century settled in Fort Steele and nearby Kimberley to work as miners and loggers. Southeastern British Columbia was not unlike the Tyrol region... (more)

• Golden

  Little more than a truck stop in the early 1990s, Golden, a town of 4,000 residents that serves a regional population of about 7,000 people, today has hotels, restaurants, and tour operators. While the... (more)

• Invermere

  Invermere, one of the many highway service towns in the British Columbia Rockies, is the central access point for Windermere Lake, the Purcell Wilderness Area, a remote backcountry region encompassing... (more)

• Kimberley

  A cross between quaint and kitschy, Kimberley is rich with Tyrolean character. The Platzl ("small plaza," in German) is a pedestrian mall of shops and restaurants modeled after a Bavarian village. Chalet-style... (more)

• Kootenay National Park

  34 km (21 mi) west of Banff town site, 162 km (100 mi) west of Calgary.... When the tourist population of Banff swells in the busy summer months, Kootenay National Park remains surprisingly quiet, although... (more)

• Radium Hot Springs

  Radium Hot Springs is little more than a service town for the busy highway traffic passing through, but the town makes a convenient access point for Kootenay National Park and has lower prices than the... (more)

• Revelstoke

  The pretty little town of Revelstoke has both summer and winter activities. The downtown district's spruced-up buildings from the late-19th-century house modern shops, restaurants, and businesses.... (more)

• Yoho National Park

  ... (more)