Drumheller, CA

A Drumheller institution famous for the Mammoth Burger — the kind of burger photographed for the website and large enough to share. Casual dining-room counter with kitschy 50s decor.

A 1913 hotel saloon in the ghost town of Wayne, twelve kilometres south through the eleven historic bridges. Bullet holes in the wall, old west character, and burgers that come with the story.

A downtown taphouse with the longest craft-beer list in the valley and a casual menu that goes harder than its setting. The default modern dinner option in town.

A long-running Chinese kitchen on Centre Street with a Canadian-Chinese menu and a weekday lunch buffet. Ginger beef, sweet-and-sour, and generously portioned classics that feed the badlands crowd.

A downtown micro-roaster on 3rd Avenue West roasting its own small-batch beans in house and pulling the valley's most serious espresso. The morning anchor for a coffee town short on third-wave options.

A morning-and-brunch spot on North Dinosaur Trail known for hearty flapjack stacks and a long list of eggs benedict, with model trains circling the ceiling. The breakfast room of choice.

An Irish-leaning pub on the main strip with shareable platters, a long whiskey list, and weekend live music. The default Friday-night dinner-into-drinks pivot.

A family-run restaurant on Highway 9 South serving a Chinese-and-western buffet alongside a menu of diner standards. Big portions, warm service, and an easy, kid-friendly stop on the way in or out of town.

A short paved-and-boardwalk loop at the Hoodoos Provincial Site with interpretive panels explaining the geology and erosion. The accessible introduction to badlands formations.

A network of unmarked trails descending from the rim viewpoint into the eroded coulees of Horseshoe Canyon. 1-6 km depending on how deep you go.

A 1.4 km loop directly behind the Royal Tyrrell Museum through the badlands with interpretive panels about palaeontology and erosion. The easy 'real badlands' walk attached to the museum.

A small provincial park 5 km west of town with trails through old coal-mining workings and into the badlands coulees. Short loops with mining-history interpretive panels.

A flat 18 km paved multi-use path along the Red Deer River through downtown Drumheller, connecting parks, the visitor centre, and the Star Mine Suspension Bridge. The easy, no-elevation option.

Canada's flagship dinosaur museum, holding one of the world's most complete dinosaur fossil collections in a purpose-built building on the badlands' edge. Genuinely world-class.

Canada's last surviving wooden coal-tipple processing plant, run as a National Historic Site with underground mine tours and surface walks through the original works. The badlands' best industrial-heritage stop.

A private antique museum with 4000+ prairie-life artifacts crammed into a heritage building. Idiosyncratic, badly organized in the best way, and full of finds you won't see at the polished museums.

A privately-run museum on North Dinosaur Trail with animatronic dinosaurs, over a thousand fossils, and a hands-on fossil-dig. The cheaper, kitschier counterpart to the Royal Tyrrell.

A 26-metre fibreglass T. rex on Drumheller's main street with a viewing platform inside its mouth. Goofy, beloved, and the postcard photo of the badlands.

A protected hoodoo field off Highway 10 with the classic mushroom-capped pillars carved by erosion over millennia. The clearest, most-accessible hoodoos in the Drumheller Valley.

A dramatic badlands canyon 17 km west of Drumheller with viewpoints over a horseshoe bend in the eroded coulees. The 'before' photo before you reach Drumheller's main attractions.

A panoramic badlands viewpoint 15 km northwest of Drumheller along the Dinosaur Trail loop. Sweeping benches and bands of coal-streaked sediment that show why the area is a fossil paradise.

A cable ferry across the Red Deer River that's been running since 1913, included in the Dinosaur Trail driving loop. Free, three-minute crossing, and the river-level view of the badlands.

A 117-metre swaying pedestrian suspension bridge over the Red Deer River, built in 1931 to carry miners to the Star coal mine. Now a kid-pleasing walk and a great river view.