Prairies

The Prairies is a region in the middle of Canada, made up of three provinces: Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Despite the name, they also contain mountains, hills, lakes, shoreline, and metropolitan cities.

See Great Plains for the corresponding region of the United States.

This is a sparsely populated region; each of the provinces has a land area larger than France, and than any US state except Texas or Alaska, but the combined population for all three is under seven million. Part of the reason for that is that prairie winters are extremely harsh (see winter in North America); this region gets colder than the US states to the south or any of the big cities of Eastern Canada.

The Prairies are known as the Last Best West, and were among the last inhabitable lands of North America to be charted by white explorers. Settlers were few before the Canadian Pacific Railway was completed in 1885 (see Old West#Canada). Today, the Prairies are Canada's breadbasket, producing most of the country's wheat.

Provinces

Alberta The Rocky Mountains and foothills, two metropolitan cities, cowboy culture, vast forests, and green farmland.

Saskatchewan Rolling hills, beautiful water systems, gleaming parks, shiny cities

Manitoba History and heritage, farming, large lakes, beautiful wilderness areas, "watchable" wildlife and rolling hills, woodlands and many lakes in its western highlands.

Cities

• 🌍 Edmonton - The largest mall east of Asia and Canada's largest historic park are two of the big attractions. It also has a lush river valley which is the largest urban park area in North America and is dubbed Canada's festival city. It is the capital of Alberta and home to the largest university in the Prairies.
• 🌍 Calgary - Known for the annual Calgary Stampede (a combination rodeo and fair) and one of the biggest international airports in Canada. The largest city in the Prairies, but more influenced by the Rockies. It has a river and is close to the mountains, and is thus full of people who do outdoor activities.
• 🌍 Saskatoon - largest city and economic hub of Saskatchewan.
• 🌍 Regina - compact capital of Saskatchewan.
• 🌍 Winnipeg - The historic and cultural capital of the prairies. Those interested in architecture, art, museums, and culture would do well in Winnipeg. Also home to the largest French-speaking community outside of Quebec.

Other destinations

• the Alberta badlands, including 🌍 Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park - a hilly island surrounded by a sea of grasslands, straddling the Alberta-Saskatchewan border, as well as the famous dinosaur museum at Drumheller, and the World Heritage dig site at Dinosaur Provincial Park near Brooks.
• the Alberta Rockies, including 🌍 Banff National Park the oldest and most popular national park in Canada, famed for stunning mountain scenery such as world-renowned Lake Louise, and 🌍 Jasper National Park a less crowded alternative to Banff for mountains and wildlife.
• 🌍 Riding Mountain National Park is renowned for its "watchable" wildlife and forms the core of the Riding Mountain Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• 🌍 Wood Buffalo National Park - home to the rare wood bison or "buffalo", the largest national park in Canada and UNESCO World Heritage Site, mostly inaccessible by road, but great for trekking or canoe camping.
• Manitoba's Interlake region, home of the massive Lake Winnipeg and Lake Manitoba, two of the world's largest freshwater lakes.

Understand

The Prairies are a spread over three Canadian provinces: Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Alberta. The southern parts of all of them are mostly farmland—lots of wheat and beef, some of various other things—while northern parts are largely forested.

There are rolling hills in many areas but the only serious mountains are the Rockies along the Alberta-BC border which is also the western edge of this region. That area is popular for tourism, quite scenic and with fine skiing and other mountain sports.

Much of the northern prairies is part of the Canadian Shield, a region scoured nearly flat by glaciers during the last Ice Age and left with rolling hills and many lakes. Much of the tourism there involves hunting or fishing though people also go just to observe or photograph wildlife, such as the polar bears around Churchill, or to see the Northern Lights.

The prairies do not extend far enough north for the midnight sun; for that, you have to go to Northern Canada, a region Canadians often refer to as "north of sixty" because the 60th parallel is the northern border of all three prairie provinces and of BC.

Get in

International flights go to Edmonton, Calgary, and Winnipeg, and to a lesser extent Regina, Saskatoon, and Fort McMurray.

You can enter from the United States at numerous land crossings. Roads through the Rockies include the Trans-Canada Highway, Yellowhead Highway, and Crowsnest Pass Highway. From Ontario, the Trans-Canada or a detour through the United States are the only land options.

The Via Rail services from Vancouver and Toronto to Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Edmonton run three times a week on The Canadian service. Because the service is limited, the train provides more of a sightseeing service, and is not practical for day-to-day travelling.

Get around

• The best way to travel in the Prairies is by car. The Prairies are served by Highway No 1 and 16 from west to east.
• There are also Via Rail services in Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Edmonton. The Canadian connects these cities three times a week.
• Rider Express, toll-free: [phone]. Bus service along the Trans-Canada Highway from Winnipeg to Vancouver, twice daily, and between Edmonton and Saskatoon. (updated Oct 2018)
• Other bus companies provide limited service on some other routes.
• Transit in the largest cities is good and it is not necessary to have a car, but in other places it is recommended.

See

The main museums include the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton, Canadian Museum of Human Rights in Winnipeg, and the Royal Tyrell Museum of Paleontology in Drumheller. But also be on the lookout for numerous pioneer villages and indigenous sites off the beaten path.

The region is particularly fond of festivals of various descriptions (from small-town fairs to large programmed and curated shows), notably the Calgary Stampede (a rodeo and midway) and the Edmonton Fringe Festival (avante-garde theatre). Prairie Canadians are quite fond of ethnic food and dance festivals representing the diverse origins of their ancestors, so you can also see events dedicated to one culture, like Canada's National Ukrainian Festival in Dauphin or the "Islendingadagurinn" (Icelandic Festival of Manitoba) in Gimli, or you can even try to absorb a world's worth of culture at multi-ethnic festivals like Winnipeg's Folklorama or Edmonton's Heritage Festival, among numerous others.

Attending sporting events is also possible here, especially ice hockey, which is the local favourite in the winter as well as rodeo in the summer.

Itineraries

The Trans-Canada Highway runs through the southern third of the region, linking Winnipeg, Regina and Calgary, through mostly flat and treeless countryside. It's more northerly cousin the Yellowhead Highway, runs through more green and rolling countryside from Brandon, through Saskatoon, and on to Edmonton. In the Rockies, the Icefields Parkway is consider at "must-do" drive between Jasper and Lake Louise. To see the foothills of the Rockies where cattle ranches predominate, drive the Cowboy Trail (Alberta Highway 22) near Calgary. For the true open prairies near the US border there is the Red Coat Trail, approximating the historic route the "Mounties" (mounted police) took in 1870s, on the way to Fort Macleod. There is also a variety of ways to connect to the Alaska Highway from the lower 48 states through here, notably via the so called "scenic route to Alaksa" (as claimed by a famous highway sign) via Alberta Highway 40.

Do

• Go trail riding in Mountain View County, Alberta.
• Go canoeing at Lac La Biche, Alberta
• Hike the Trans Canada Trail, at multiple points throughout the region or try snowmobiling or cross country skiing on parts of the same trail
• Shop at West Edmonton Mall, North America's largest which includes an indoor roller coaster and waterside park, cinema, bowling alley, ice rink, shooting rang, go kart track, and more than 500 shops
• Try whitewater rafting in Kananaskis Country, Alberta

Eat

Many Canadians consider Alberta beef the best available, though Texans and Argentinians would dispute that claim. Certainly you can get fine steaks and other beef anywhere in the region.

The Winnipeg Goldeye is a freshwater fish found in much of Canada and the northern US; the first report of it in English is in the records of the Lewis and Clark expedition to Oregon. It is popular with fly fishermen across the prairies and also fished commercially. Smoked Goldeye is widely sold and considered a delicacy, though the unsmoked fish is not particularly good eating.

If you like Eastern European food, you are in luck here as the region is awash in borsht and perogies. Sadly most of it is not found in restaurants, however; for the good stuff, you need to find a church basement fundraiser or one of the aforementioned festivals. This is a cultural experience to itself, much like a Hawaiian luau or an East Coast lobster dinner.

Drink

Rye whisky and lager beer are the local specialties. The most famous local cocktail is the bloody Ceasar, close to a bloody Mary but with clam broth added. Yes, clams, despite this being a region hundreds of miles from the sea.

Stay safe

Crime is rarely a problem here, extreme weather or wildlife encounters are more likely to be an issue. Nevertheless one should exercise caution near the nightlife districts in the larger cities near the government-mandated "closing times" when all the bars let out at once (different in each province) and drunks may become confrontational. Otherwise extremely safe.

Go next

For more moutains, try British Columbia, for more plains see the Great Plains states, for more wilderness see Northern Canada, and for more lakes and holiday resort towns see Northern Ontario.