Canmore

Canmore is a Rocky Mountain town far from any coast, so swimming means mountain lakes. Quarry Lake, on the edge of town, has a small grassy shore, a dog-friendly section and clear water that stays bracing even in July, and a few other lakes in the area get swimmers on hot afternoons. Expect a quick, cold plunge rather than a beach day. The season is short, and in a single summer week the water can feel very different depending on snowmelt and weather.

Eating in Canmore is good for a mountain town and modest by any other measure. Main Street and the streets around it have bakeries and coffee shops where people fuel up before a hike, casual brewpubs, and a handful of more ambitious restaurants working with Alberta beef, game, bison and Pacific Northwest fish. Breakfast and après-hike meals are the strong suit.

There is no local cuisine to speak of and not much range: few ethnic kitchens, no market culture beyond a summer farmers' market, and quiet evenings outside the busy seasons. Banff, twenty minutes away, adds more choice, and Calgary is the place for a serious meal.

Canmore began as a coal-mining town, and the small Canmore Museum and a few surviving miners' cottages and the old North West Mounted Police barracks tell that story. The Canmore Nordic Centre was built for the 1988 Winter Olympics. That is about it for sights in town. People come here for the mountains, and the region's heritage, such as Banff's museums and the Cave and Basin hot spring site, is a short drive away.

Going out in Canmore means a pint in a brewpub or a pub after a day in the hills, perhaps with a band playing in the corner. The crowd is a mix of locals, climbers and weekenders from Calgary, the atmosphere is friendly and most places quieten well before midnight. There are no clubs to speak of. For a later night, visitors drive or take the bus to Banff, which has a livelier strip of bars.

This is the reason to come. Canmore lies in the Bow Valley with the Three Sisters, Ha Ling Peak and Mount Rundle rising straight above the streets, and serious hiking, scrambling and rock climbing start from the edge of town. The Grassi Lakes trail, the Nordic Centre's mountain bike and cross-country ski network and the riverside paths along the Bow are all minutes away. Elk and bighorn sheep wander through town, and bears are a real presence on the trails.

Banff National Park begins just up the valley, with Lake Louise, Moraine Lake and the Icefields Parkway within reach, while Kananaskis Country to the south offers quieter peaks and lakes. Summer brings long days on the trails and paddling, autumn turns the larches gold, and winter is for ski touring, ice climbing, Nordic skiing and the resorts around Banff.

Banff is the obvious outing, twenty minutes up the valley: a resort town with the Banff Springs hotel, the Whyte Museum, the Cave and Basin site where the national park began, and the historic Upper Hot Springs. Calgary is a little over an hour east, worth the trip for its museums, Heritage Park and, in July, the Stampede. Lake Louise village and the railway town of Field across the border in British Columbia make smaller stops. Beyond these, what lies within two hours is mountains, lakes and forest rather than places to visit.

Canmore is an easy, relaxed place to be with children if the family likes the outdoors. The town is small and safe, the paths along the Bow River suit pushchairs and bikes, and there are short walks with a lake or waterfall at the end, such as Grassi Lakes. Spotting elk and sheep is a daily thing. The town's recreation centre has a pool and an indoor climbing wall for wet days, and winter brings sledding, skating and gentle Nordic trails.

What it lacks is anything built purely for children: no zoo, aquarium or theme park nearby, with Calgary the nearest city for those. Bears call for care on the trails, and a car makes life with small children much simpler.

The downtown core is small and pleasant to walk, and the paved trails along the Bow River make bikes a natural choice in summer. Local buses cover the town and a regional bus runs up the valley to Banff, where connections continue to Lake Louise, and Parks Canada runs seasonal shuttles to the busiest lakes.

For most visitors that is not enough. Many trailheads, the whole of Kananaskis Country and the Icefields Parkway are only practical by car, and Calgary airport is over an hour away by road. Winter driving on mountain roads requires proper tyres and some care.

Shopping centres on Main Street, with outdoor gear and clothing shops, a few art galleries selling mountain landscapes and Indigenous work, and gift shops. It is useful if you need new boots or a waterproof, and pleasant to browse for an hour, but there is nothing here to travel for. Calgary's malls and stores are the place for real shopping.

Canmore is an expensive place to stay. Rooms are priced like those of a resort beside a famous national park, and in July, August and the ski season they fill quickly and cost a lot. Eating out costs what it does elsewhere in Canada, with tax and tips on top, and most visitors also pay for a hire car and national park passes. Hiking itself is free, and self-catering condos, picnics from the supermarket and visits in the shoulder seasons of spring and late autumn make a real difference.

Canmore's highlight is the Canmore Folk Music Festival, one of the oldest in Canada, held every summer over the August long weekend in a riverside park. The town's small arts centre hosts concerts and theatre, and pubs and brewpubs often have local bands. The Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, twenty minutes up the valley, adds classical concerts, theatre and the Banff Mountain Film Festival. On most evenings, though, there is little on.

Canmore has a slow, outdoorsy calm: quiet streets, mountain views from every window and an evening rhythm set by tired hikers. For bathing, the historic Banff Upper Hot Springs, a mineral pool high on Sulphur Mountain, is about half an hour away, and Kananaskis Village has a large Nordic-style spa with outdoor hot and cold pools under the peaks. In town there are hotel spas, massage therapists and yoga studios. It works well for rest after the trails, but there is no bathing culture of its own.