Where to from Edmonton???
 

Our famly is planning a trip to Alberta next summer. We plan to fly into Edmonton to visit a friend for a day or two and then want to branch out to other destinations. We enjoy hiking, wildlife viewing, sight seeing etc. Several years ago we visited Banff and Jasper. Had an amazing visit. Would like to see different places with same breathtaking scenery. Plan to be there for 7-10 days and fly back out of Edmonton. Any suggestions???

Two of my favourite places to visit are the Royal Tyrell (sp??) Museum of Paleontology in Drumheller and Head Smash In Buffalo Jump near Medicine Hat. The scenery is prairie not mountain but beautiful in a different way.

The 'same breathtaking scenery' is hard to find without heading back to the mountains.
East of Edmonton a day trip to the Ukrainian Cltural Village is a worthwhile day but the scenery is mostly prairie.
To the north Slave Lake and the Peace country have some beautiful scenery but you will be driving long distances to get there.
To the south Calgary, Drumheller - mentioned by Heather
To the west is the Rocky Mountains - maybe worth a second visit.

Edmonton has lots of festivals throughout the Summer and I always find lots to do in the city when I visit.

as mentioned, there are some great festivals in edmonton during the summer.
for a road trip, i'd recommend going to drumheller for 2 days. then carry on down south to waterton national park http://www.watertoninfo.ab.ca/. on the way back, check out kananaskis provincial park.

We were not planning on staying in Edmonton the entire time. We'd like to travel to 1 or 2 other destinations and stay for several days each before returning to Edmonton for our return flight. On our last trip, we stayed 4 nights in Banff and 3 nights in Jasper before returning to Calgary for our return flight. "Back to the mountains" sounds good but we'd like to see places we haven't been before Any suggestions?? Our last trip itinerary was planned on this forum and it was perfect!!

Waterton Lakes National Park and Kananaskis Country, which ltt mentioned, are both in the mountains and are both very beautiful. I like her suggestion.

You've been to Alberta before. You aren't a newbie. Surely you got the lie of the land the last time you were here. You must realize you already have picked the "low hanging fruit," that portion of the mountains that is closest to Edmonton. If you want to see something different next time, you're going to have to work for it.

Besides that, if you spent 4 nights in Banff and 3 nights in Jasper, you could only have scratched the surface. You could return to the Banff / Lake Louise / Yoho National Park corridor and do different things. How about catching the bus to Sunshine Meadows and doing that glorious hike? How about catching the bus to Lake O'Hara and doing one of the stunning hikes there? How about booking a hike with an approved guide to the Burgess Shale, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site? Hikes depart from Takakkaw Falls in Yoho National Park, and you have to book 4 or 5 months in advance.

Another alternative is to head to Jasper and then keep going west into British Columbia. There you can explore a couple of awesome provincial parks, namely, Mount Robson and Wells Gray. In addition to some fabulous hikes, that part of BC has some delightful waterfalls, the best of which is Helmcken Falls in Wells Gray Provincial Park.

I love the Tyrrell Museum. The dinosaur skeletons are amazing. As Heather49 said, it's in Drumheller. If you chose to visit Waterton Lakes National Park, you could visit the Tyrrell en route from Edmonton to WLNP.

Still another option, which actually could be worked into the Waterton / Kananaskis option is that portion of the mountains that is just to the east of Banff National Park along Hwy #11 (east of Saskatchewan River Crossing, where Hwy #11 makes a T-junction with the Icefields Parkway or Hwy #93, north of Lake Louise). Do a word search here at Fodors for Aurum Lodge, which is located in that neck of the woods.

Drumheller area, for the badlands land forms and the dinosaur museum. then continue down south the the US border - Alberta Border - Saskatchewan border area in the Cyress Hills and Fort Walsh area. When I was there last I kept waiting for cowboys and cattle to come over the hill, straight out of 1880. Then head back west through Medicine hat and Lethbridge to the edge of the Rockies, and follow the foothills north to Calgary. From here, the question will be time; stright up the highway to Edmonton, or over to Banff, up through the mountains to Jasper, and back easst to Edmonton.

Keep your eyes peeled for small town rodeos.

"Breathtaking" is perhaps a Rocky mounts word, but the badleands near Drumheller and the Cypress Hills, and the cowboy country in the foothiolls are all going to be memorable, if not breathtaking.

BAK

BAK

Hi,

Just want to recommend an impressive spot for wildlife viewing.

I believe it must be "Elk Island National Park" to the east of Edmonton. Someone recommended it to me and we drove through and saw dozens of Bison incredibly up-close in a few different spots.

It is merely a day trip (or half-day) trip from Edmonton, but I enjoyed it.

Yes, Elk Island National Park is worth a visit. It's approximately a 45 minute to one hour drive east of the city on the Yellowhead highway (#16) - easy to get there. The park is made up of lakes and woods - typical for this area - aspen parkland - the transition zone between the prairies and the boreal forest. Both wood bison and plains bison can be seen there, plus Elk Island Nat'l Park has just been named as a "Dark Sky Preserve" - so if you happen to be there at night look up and be amazed at the sight of the Milky Way (our galaxy) - although in the summertime (mid-May to late July) we have perpetual twilight and not true darkness at this northerly latitude.
Another idea - you could drive the Cowboy Trail - highway 22 - all the way from Drayton Valley (just south of highway 16, west of Edmonton) straight south to Waterton National Park - very pretty country - and part of it within sight of the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains:

http://www.thecowboytrail.com/index.html

I agree with BAK, except I would definately include a visit to Waterton in that trip. Another possibility is do the Tyrell, go to Waterton for a few days, and then head over to Radium Hotsprings (with a stop at Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump). From there it is a day's drive back to Edmonton. That said, I would opt for the Cyprus Hills portion instead of the Radium Hotsprings portion.