Music, food, and ghost towns, Alberta has something for everyone to do this summer

Summer doesn’t technically start until June 21, but aside from the recent rain, it’s felt like summer throughout Alberta.

As school starts to wind down and people start to look forward to vacations, there’s a lot to do in the province.

In 2025, Alberta’s tourism economy outperformed the national average, reaching $15.2 billion visitor spend. That’s a six per cent increase from 2024, while the national average was a four per cent increase.

Alberta was also the only province to see an increase in U.S. spending, a 2.4 per cent growth, while the national average declined 4.4 per cent.

Canada, on average, also saw a decrease of 5 per cent in international travellers in 2025, while arrivals to Alberta increased four per cent.

Part of the province’s recent success is attributed to the “fantastic” snow conditions Alberta saw last winter compared to other places in the works, according to Travel Alberta.

With fuel prices staying high, the organization has seen people doing staycations or not travelling too far, but that could change if fuel prices do.

Still, indicators for summer travellers coming to Alberta are looking positive, according to Tannis Gaffney, chief marketing officer for Travel Alberta.

“We’re watching what’s happening with flights and with air travel. That’s going to be the indicator,” she said. “Then we’ll (see a) a domino effect into what happens with visitation.

“From a Canadian perspective, we’re hoping to see increased Canadian visitation, people coming to visit their friends and family as we did last summer.

“People aren’t necessarily going south, but they’re staying within Canada, so I think that’s going to continue.”

Tourism businesses tend to get the majority of their yearly profit in the warmer months, so Travel Alberta puts a focus on attracting visitors over the winter months.

“Summer kind of sells itself, and people are here in the summer, but … we’re really trying to look at shoulder season to try to get people moving around in different seasons and seeing the beauty of the province,” Gaffney said.

Summer isn’t the only time to get out and about in the province, as winter has plenty to offer from the stark beauty of the mountains to the quiet peace of the plains and forests.

• Winter activities, vacation ideas and places to visit in Alberta this year

That said, summer has a whole new range of activities and events. Travel Alberta has hundreds of ideas and has begun using an AI travel assistant to help people plan their trips.

We can’t list everything available in the province, but here’s a taste of what people can experience in Alberta this summer.

Driving on (frozen) water

It might be summer, but that doesn’t mean the ice and snow is completely gone from the province, as proven by the glacier walks.

In Jasper National Park, there’s the Columbia Icefield where visitors can drive over the Athabasca Glacier in an ice explorer.

If you aren’t scared of heights, there’s also the glacier skywalk where visitors can step out onto the glass walkway and look out toward the mountains or down to the glacial valley and rushing waterfalls 280 metres below.

“If you’re really brave, you can lay on the glass, which I did not,” Gaffney said. “It’s a pretty special place (and) right down the road from the ice walk, you can do both in the same day.”

Indigenous experiences

Alberta has around 200 Indigenous businesses ranging from restaurants to medicine walks and fireside chats with elders.

One in every three international visitors to the province is interested in an authentic Indigenous experience.

Indigenous Tourism Alberta works closely with other tourism branches in Alberta to grow the market and diversify the available experiences.

• How Alberta’s Indigenous tourism industry is thriving and growing
• International Indigenous Tourism Conference kicks off in Edmonton

Métis Crossing is an ever-popular destination with a number of events for each season, from plant-harvesting workshops and Indigenous perspectives on the biosphere to staying at the boutique lodge or in the sky watching domes.

“It’s the jewel of the province for an indigenous experience, because you can not only stay there, but then you can experience the culture and some of the activities,” Gaffney said.

In Southern Alberta, the Blackfoot Crossing Historical Centre is another recommended stop that offers a number of historical tours and cultural experience. Visitors can learn how to set up a Blackfoot Lodge and learn about historical cooking traditions.

In Jasper, Warrior Women brings a unique experience to visitors through education, arts and crafts and other experiences.

Indigenous Tourism Alberta has information on these places and many more.

The wild(life) side of Alberta

The wildlife in Alberta can be beautiful to behold and is quite varied, from the tiny prairie dogs to the massive megafauna elk and the majestic birds of prey.

Alberta is known for farming and ranching and the Alice Sanctuary exists to take care of rescues, surrendered and abandoned farm animals. Visitors can meet the more than 200 animals that live at the sanctuary.

Dogs are known as man’s best friend and have been companion animals for thousands of years. Descended from wolves, some are more wolf than dog and some of those animals end up at the Yamnuska Wolfdog Sanctuary.

Located northwest of Calgary, the sanctuary gives visitors the opportunity to safely get up close with the pack.

Swooping in from the sky, visitors to the Alberta Birds of Prey Nature Centre will be able to see owls, hawks, ducks and turkey vultures. The birds at the centre are either in rehabilitation and will be released back into the wild or are non-releasable due to severe injuries.

“Since some injured birds do not recover enough to survive in the wild, we give them a forever home,” according to the centre.

“Here they can thrive while helping us with environmental learning, or they can become foster parents to wild orphans.”

Things are bigger in Alberta

If you’ve ever driven through Drumheller, it’s hard to miss Tyra, given she’s the world’s largest dinosaur. The 25-metre tall Tyrannosaurus rex is one of the Giants of the Prairies, a group of roadside attractions known as the world’s largest of various objects.

Beaverlodge has, appropriately, a giant sculpture of the Canadian icon, the beaver.

Barrhead has its town mascot immortalized in the form of the giant blue heron.

Driving through Mundare might make you hungry as you see the world’s largest kielbasa sausage.

There are dozens of these objects across the Prairies, in Saskatchewan and Manitoba too.

There’s out-of-this-world attractions in two Alberta towns, the UFO Landing Pad in St. Paul and the town of Vulcan, which has cultivated a Star Trek identity over the years as it shares a name with a prominent alien race in the series.

Travel Alberta says the landing pad is “often-visited but has never been used—at least to our knowledge.”

Ghost towns

Some might consider these next places to be out of this world in a different way to the sci-fi mood of St. Paul and Vulcan.

Ghost towns are abandoned or largely depopulated human settlements that usually still contain substantial, visible remaining buildings and infrastructure.

Alberta is home to a number of locations like Rowley, which tourists ensure is still lively despite the title of ghost town, and the resort town of Minnewanka Landing, which sits preserved under the glacier waters of Lake Minnewanka.

A feast for the stomach

Food is necessary for survival, but indulging in delicious, local cuisine is something much more than that.

As an agricultural hub, Alberta has a wide variety of local foods from grains to meats, and plenty of restaurants, bakeries, distilleries and breweries that can offer up a taste.

Alberta Food Tours shows off tantalizing dishes all over the province, including Banff, Canmore, Calgary and Edmonton. Jasper also has its own food tour business.

Food is also a draw at the dozens of farmers markets across the province from up in High Level to down in Cardston and many more in between.

Maps showing markets are available online and on the government of Alberta website.

B.C. might be where people first think of for Canadian wines, but Alberta is no slouch, with a number of wineries in the province.

Not to be outdone, breweries and distilleries are also plentiful in Alberta.

Jasper, reborn from the ashes

In 2024, Jasper was hit by a devastating wildfire and around a third of the structures in the town were lost.

• New numbers confirm one-third of Jasper townsite destroyed in this week’s wildfire

Since then, the town has been recovering and welcoming tourists back, since tourism is an integral part of the local economy.

“Jasper is open for business, Jasper is having a kind of reawakening,” Gaffney said. “Lots of good stuff is happening in Jasper, lots of rebuilding, lots of hotels are reopening two years later, and we can’t tell people enough about it.”

• Guide to Jasper outdoors this spring and summer

Campgrounds aplenty

Alberta has no shortage of campgrounds, with more than 250 frontcountry ones with a range of facilities and amenities.

There’s also the choice of backcountry camping, with a list of campgrounds and safety information for both options available online.

Rocking out all summer long

Concerts happen all year long but summer is prime time for music festivals in Alberta.

KDays, the Edmonton and Calgary Folk Fests and the Calgary Stampede are big events that always attract big names and crowds.

Three Days Grace and Creed will be in Edmonton for the Rockin’ Thunder Music Festival.

Simple Plan, Jimmy Eat World and Alexisonfire will be at the Hello Summer Festival in Fort McMurray.

There’s also the Badlands Music Festival down in Calgary, Decimate Metalfest in Millet and the Pigeon Lake Music Festival in Mulhurst Bay.

Big Valley Jamboree also can’t be forgotten with Keith Urban in the lineup.

New and upcoming experiences

Half of Travel Alberta’s mandate is marketing and driving demand for places in the province. The other half is development and working with communities and economic development officers to develop new experiences across the province.

“The success that we’ve seen in the growth of the tourism sector and around the province is presenting incredible opportunities for entrepreneurs and business owners to expand and grow in the province,” said Jon Mamela, the chief commercial officer for Travel Alberta.

“Projects ranging from new accommodations, experience operations out on the land for Indigenous tourism operators to wellness and spa products and new ranch products.”

Some of the new and upcoming businesses Travel Alberta worked with include Jasper Gateway Glamping, Obsidian Ridge, the Glamp Good floating spa and the upcoming Scandinave Spa in Edmonton.

There’s also the three first all-season resort areas in Alberta, Castle, Fortress and Nakiska.

• Alberta designates three resorts for all-season tourism

Those three are further south in the rockies, but Mamela said the “untapped opportunity” for all-season resorts in northern Alberta is “enormous.”

“Making it viable in terms of what the product and the offering is … also international visitors coming is definitely something the province, I anticipate, would be looking at,” he adds.

Travel Alberta does “extensive research” into what local and international travellers are interested in seeing in the province, as well as what is proving popular around the world.

“Northern lights and dark sky viewing is identified as the top winter outdoor experience globally and one in which we’ve got a fantastic product, in terms of what’s in the sky,” Mamela said.

Tourism is also one of the fastest-growing global sectors, and a resilient one in tough economic times, according to Mamela.

“Our work in really working closely with operators and investors with projects has resulted in most of them still remaining in business,” he said. “Less than a handful (of businesses) over the number of years that we’ve been involved with had some challenging times in their operations.”

Once a business is launched, Travel Alberta continues to work with them to help ensure ongoing success.

“It really is collaboration and working with them to address challenges if they come up, the opportunity for promotion and directing audiences and businesses, working through the international travel sales channels,” Mamela said.

“(Travel Alberta) is a full-scale shop with which we serve and support, as their success is our success.”

There are too many experiences, places and activities in Alberta to cover, so you’ll have to go out and experience them for yourselves. Enjoy!