Itineraries

Timings include getting between places, which is where most published plans quietly cheat.

Two days, no car

Day one

Morning downtown: Stephen Avenue, then the central library and the East Village riverside path. Lunch in East Village. Afternoon across the Peace Bridge into Kensington — shops, coffee, and the walk back along the north bank. Evening on 17th Avenue in the Beltline.

Day two

Morning at the zoo or Heritage Park, not both. Zoo if you have children, Heritage Park if you want the prairie history and a long slow morning. Afternoon in Inglewood along 9th Avenue, finishing at the bird sanctuary if the weather holds. Dinner in Inglewood or Bridgeland.

Three days, with a car

Days one and two as above, then day three west. Leave by eight, drive to Canmore in an hour, walk the main street, continue to Banff for the afternoon, and be back for a late dinner. It's a long day and you'll see less than you hope, but it beats seeing nothing of the mountains.

Kananaskis is the alternative and, for a single day, the better one — less driving, fewer people, and the scenery does not suffer by comparison.

A rainy day that isn't a museum crawl

The +15 walkway network downtown links dozens of buildings above street level; you can spend two hours crossing the core without going outside. Add the central library, which is a genuinely good building rather than a wet-day fallback, and lunch somewhere in the system. If the rain settles in for the afternoon, the Chinatown lunch places and a slow dim sum are the right answer.

With small children

The zoo, the science centre, and the river paths where a scooter works. Heritage Park is a hit with about six and up and a struggle below that. Anything involving a long drive on the same day as a late night is a plan that punishes everyone.