Alberta

Alberta is a nature-lover's paradise, enriched by wide-open spaces and stunning sunsets. In terms of nature, the province is renowned for the glorious peaks of the Rocky Mountains and the beauty of its parks, epitomised by Canada's first national park, Banff.

Alberta also has vast plains, but it is the mountainous Rockies where you'll find your jaw continually dropping. Whether driving along the Icefields Parkway or hiking through a forested park, you'll be amazed by this alpine wilderness of woodland, mountains and lakes. If anything exemplifies 'picture-postcard', it is this.

Even in Alberta's cities there is plenty of green space, including Canada's largest living history museum, Fort Edmonton Park. Albertans love to hark back to the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897, but it was the discovery of oil south of Edmonton in 1947 that assured the city of its future, making it one of Canada's fastest-growing metropolitan areas.

Edmonton's love affair with the past reaches its apogee in the annual Capital EX fair each July, when amid other attractions (fairground rides, rock concerts and so on) Edmontonians relive the Gold Rush days with events like gold-panning contests. Most people consider Alberta's true 'gold' to be its stunning scenery, however. And that makes Alberta one very rich province indeed.