Southern Alberta

Southern Alberta is a region in Alberta, Canada. The region features flat wheat fields and ranchlands but also has the Rocky Mountains in the furthest western portion and badland and hoodoo formations and a paleontology hotbed. It is also an area rich with aboriginal history.

Cities

50°24′0″N 112°18′0″W

Map of Southern Alberta

Southeastern Alberta

50.564167-111.8988891 Brooks - Jumping off point for Dinosaur Provincial Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
51.463611-112.7194442 Drumheller - The focal point of the Alberta badlands, best known for its museum of paleontology.
51.3363-112.4893 East Coulee - Small community near Drumheller in the badlands, known for its abandoned coal mine.
51.638333-111.9419444 Hanna - Small town northeast of Calgary.
50.033333-110.6666675 Medicine Hat - Second largest city in Southern Alberta. It has a pretty river valley and is the jumping off point for Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park.
49.148889-112.0872226 Milk River - Small town along the river of the same name, one of the few locations in Canada within the Mississippi River watershed.
51.3522-110.4747 Oyen - Small town near the Saskatchewan border.
49.784722-112.1508338 Taber - Known as the "Corn Capital of Canada".

Southwestern Alberta

49.2025-113.3019449 Cardston - Small town in the foothills best known for its carriage museum and Mormon temple.
50.019722-113.58277810 Claresholm - Small town between Calgary and Lethbridge.
49.625-114.46805611 Crowsnest Pass - Southern Alberta's gateway to the Rockies.
49.725583-113.39752812 Fort Macleod - Jumping off point for Head Smashed-in Buffalo Jump, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
49.694167-112.83277813 Lethbridge - Fourth largest city in Alberta and centre of Southern Alberta. It has a pretty river valley and variety of attractions.
50.349444-113.77166714 Nanton - Small town south of Calgary known for its charming downtown and antique stores.
49.485639-113.94822215 Pincher Creek - Small town in the foothills north of Waterton Lakes National Park.
50.4-113.2516 Vulcan - Small town southeast of Calgary and the "Official Star Trek Capital of Canada."

Other destinations

50.8041-112.9061 Blackfoot Crossing, Siksika reservation (east of Calgary, off the trans-Canada highway). This is the location of a prehistoric site ("earth-lodge village"), a modern historic site (Treaty 7 signing site and grave of Poundmaker), and a museum and interpretive centre. (updated Jan 2020)
49.05-113.9333332 Waterton Lakes National Park - A true natural gem in the Rockies in Alberta's extreme southwest. It is connected to Glacier National Park in Montana to form Glacier-Waterton International Peace Park.
49.575192-110.0064033 Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park — Canada's highest point between the Rockies and the Labrador peninsula
49.7494-113.6254 Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump — in use for 5,500 years as a place where the Indigenous people of the plains killed buffalo by stampeding them over a cliff, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
50.7617-111.4855 Dinosaur Provincial Park — rich collection of dinosaur fossils and its interesting badlands landscapes, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
49.0819-111.6176 Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park — has the greatest concentration of rock art on the North American Great Plains

Understand

Southern Alberta is lined to the west by the Canadian Rockies and their foothills, while the rest of the region is dominated by the semi-arid prairies where farms and ranches have been built, often with the help of irrigation.

The Alberta Badlands, a kind of weird and wonderful eroded landscape, are in the northeast of the region, prominently along the Red Deer River. Badlands are also found to the south in North Dakota and South Dakota in the United States. The best single destination for viewing the Alberta badlands is the world heritage listed Dinosaur Provincial Park near Brooks. There are a number of good fossil beds and exhibits in this region. Top among them are the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, and Dinosaur Provincial Park near Brooks. They are 177 km (110 mi) apart, and each demands a day or two of attention, so allow at least three days to see them all. Both feature interpretive tours, that are also easy to moderate hikes, during the summer months.

See also: Paleontology

Cypress Hills, in the east, at the border with Saskatchewan, are the highest point between the Rocky Mountains and Labrador.

Get in

By plane

International flights are available to the Calgary and Edmonton airports. There are regional connections to Lethbridge and Medicine Hat.

By car

From the United States

There are four main land border crossing points, between the Southern Alberta and the Northwestern Montana and Central Montana regions of Montana, USA. They are referred to by different terms in Canada and the US.

Major crossings

Canadian name	US name	Location	Hours	Comments
Coutts	Sweetgrass	Coutts, AB (Hwy 4) – Sweet Grass, MT (I-15)	24 hours, daily NEXUS • Canada-bound: M-F 3PM–5PM, closed holidays • US-bound: 24 hours, NEXUS is accepted in all lanes	Primary border crossing point for passenger vehicles and the only 24 hour crossing into Alberta.
Carway	Piegan	Cardston, AB (Hwy 2) – Babb, MT (US-89)	7AM-11PM, daily

Other crossings

There are three other crossings between Montana and Alberta, check ahead as hours will vary by season.

Canadian/US name	Location	Hours	Comments
Chief Mountain	Waterton Park, AB (Hwy 6) – Babb, MT (MT-17)	May 15-May 31: daily 8AM–11PM June 1-Labour Day: daily 7AM–10PM Tuesday following Labour Day to Sept 30: daily 9AM–6PM Oct 1-May 14: CLOSED	Connects Waterton Lakes National Park and Glacier National Park; closed during the winter.
Del Bonita	Del Bonita, AB (Hwy 61) – Cut Bank, MT (MT-213)	Jun 1-Sept 16: Passengers daily 8AM–11PM Sep 16-May 31: Passengers daily 9AM–6PM	Isolated border crossing located 51 km (32 mi) south of Magrath, AB and 40 mi (64 km) northwest of Cut Bank, MT.
Wild Horse	Wild Horse, AB (Hwy 41) – Havre, MT (MT-232)	May 15-Sept 30: Passengers daily 8AM–11PM Oct 1-May 14: Passengers daily 8AM–5PM	Isolated border crossing located 145 km (90 mi) south of Medicine Hat, AB and 43 mi (69 km) northwest of Havre, MT.

From other places in Canada

Highway 1 (Trans-Canada Highway) − connects to Vancouver, Kamloops, Calgary, and Regina; passes through Medicine Hat
Highway 2 − connects to Calgary and Edmonton; continues into Montana as US Highway 89
Highway 3 (Crowsnest Highway) − connects to Cranbrook, BC; passes through Lethbridge and Medicine Hat
Highway 9 − connects to Calgary and Saskatoon (becomes Saskatchewan Highway 7); passes through Drumheller
Highway 22 (Cowboy Trail) − alternate route from Calgary which passes through the foothills

By bus

Mountain Man Mike's Bus Service, ☏ +1-778-382-7729, info@mountainmanmikes.ca. Weekly service between Calgary and Kaslo with stops in Okotoks, High River, Claresholm, Lethbridge, Fort Macleod, Pincher Creek, Sparwood, Fernie, Cranbrook, Creston, Salmo, Nelson, and Balfour. This service provider also offers a twice per week service between Kaslo and Vancouver via Nelson. (updated Mar 2022)
Red Arrow, toll-free: +1-800-232-1958, customerservice@redarrow.ca. Operates premium service in Alberta featuring spacious seating (only three seats to a row) and workstation seats with electrical connections for business travelers and their computers. Operates a route between Lethbridge and Calgary International Airport including stops in Fort Macleod, Claresholm, and downtown Calgary. (updated May 2022)

Get around

See

If you're interested in dinosaurs, the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, and Dinosaur Provincial Park near Brooks must be on your list. At the other end of the spectrum, science fiction fans are drawn to Vulcan for its Star Trek kitsch.

Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park and Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump have been declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites for their importance in understanding the Indigenous peoples of the region.

The Fort McLeod Museum of the North West Mounted Police and the Fort Walsh National Historic Site in Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park explore the history of Canadian policing in the West in the late 19th century.

Medicine Hat is home to the World's Largest Teepee, and is an international centre for ceramic arts, focused on its Medicine Hat Clay Industries National Historic District.

The Hoodoos Trail near Drumheller takes you out to see a collection of fantastical stone columns with caprocks.

Do

Go hiking or take a lake cruise in the spectacular Waterton Lakes National Park on the border with the United States, or go hiking in the Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, which spills across the border into Saskatchewan.

There are many national and provincial parks that allow a wide range of recreational pursuits in beautiful settings, from hiking and camping to fishing and golfing to swimming, canoeing, kayaking, or tubing in the Milk River.

Vul-Con, in Vulcan at the end of July, is the local Star Trek convention.

Stay safe

Go next

This region travel guide to Southern Alberta is a usable article. It gives a good overview of the region, its sights, and how to get in, as well as links to the main destinations, whose articles are similarly well developed. An adventurous person could use this article, but please feel free to improve it by editing the page.