Deep time
Walking 75 million years
The Tyrrell isn't just dioramas — its preparators work behind glass on real fossils. Time your visit for the daily badlands hike to see the strata where Albertosaurus emerges from the rock.
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Canadian Badlands · Alberta
Drumheller
Hoodoos, dinosaurs, and the strangest landscape on the prairie.
- Best time
- May – October; the badlands bake in July and August.
- Getting there
- 90 min drive northeast of Calgary on Highway 9.
- Suggested stay
- 1 – 2 nights
- Known for
- Royal Tyrrell Museum · Hoodoos · World's Largest Dinosaur
A portrait of Drumheller
An essential stop.
Ninety minutes northeast of Calgary, the prairie suddenly drops away into the Red Deer River valley — a labyrinth of hoodoos, coulees, and ochre badlands holding one of the richest dinosaur fossil beds on earth.
Field notes
Three ways to feel the place.
On the map
The six places
to anchor your trip.
A tour through the icons and the under-the-radar corners — laid out the way a local would walk you through.
- 1
Royal Tyrrell Museum
Canada's premier palaeontology museum with 130,000 fossil specimens.
- 2
Hoodoo Trail
Sandstone mushrooms south of town along the Red Deer River.
- 3
Horseshoe Canyon
A sudden chasm of striped rock visible from the rim parking lot.
- 4
World's Largest Dinosaur
Climb 26 metres up a T-Rex to a viewing platform in its jaws.
Royal Tyrrell Museum
Hoodoo Trail
Horseshoe Canyon
World's Largest Dinosaur
N
Year-round
Drumheller through the seasons.
Spring
Wildflowers in the coulees and rivers running fast.
Summer
Long days, hot rock — and the Canadian Badlands Passion Play under the open sky.
Autumn
Cottonwoods turn gold along the Red Deer and crowds thin.
Winter
Snow on the hoodoos and the Tyrrell quietly all yours.
Insider tips
From people who live there.
- 01
Drive the Dinosaur Trail loop from town for the best canyon views — and the Bleriot Ferry crossing.
- 02
Pack water and a hat; there is no shade among the hoodoos.
- 03
Bernie & the Boys serves the legendary Mammoth burger if dinosaurs make you hungry.
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