Alberta is a nature-lover's paradise: enriched by wide open spaces and sweeping, red sunsets. In terms of nature, what the Province is most renowned for are the sensational peaks of the Rocky Mountains.

Alberta also has huge level plains; parkland that almost begs to be explored. Although very pretty, any traveller to the more mountainous regions, such as the Rockies, will find their jaw continually dropping as awesome alpine views sweep into focus. Whether you are driving along the Icefields Parkway or hiking in a National Park, you will constantly be gawping at a wilderness of woodland, mountains and lakes. If anything exemplifies 'picture-postcard', it is this.

Even in Alberta's cities, there is a large amount of green space, including Canada's largest historical park, Fort Edmonton Park. Also in Edmonton (and other towns) is the lingering of traditional prairie attitudes. This may be because the people of Alberta love to hark back to the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897. The discovery of oil in the Edmonton area in 1947 assured the city of its future, making it one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in Canada. This love affair with the past reaches its apogee in the annual ‘Klondike Days’ extravaganza, held each July, when Edmontonians relive the days of the Gold Rush.

What most people consider to be Alberta's true 'gold', however, is the scenery. And that makes Alberta one very rich Province indeed.

Geography
Alberta is the most westerly of the ‘prairie and plains’ provinces, bordered to the west by British Columbia and the Rockies, to the southeast by the badlands and prairie, while in the north, along the border with the Northwest Territories, there is a wilderness of forests, lakes and rivers. Mount Columbia on the western Rocky Mountain border is the highest point rising to 3747m (12,293ft). Alberta also has permanent icefields covering 340 sq km (122 sq miles) and releases meltwaters which supply the Mackenzie River flowing into the Arctic Ocean, and the Saskatchewan River flowing into Hudson Bay.