We are still focusing our search for the "perfect" location in Canada. We like the idea of Calgary, but we are struggling to find any information on smaller communities. We dont want city life...but need to be close to shops and schools with the rolling hills and countryside. Can anyone advise us on surrounding towns near Calgary and a brief description on them and also where to maybe avoid eg..high housing prices/crime
Thanks in advance

Have you been to Canada and have you been to Calgary?

Perhaps you should come out and take a look for yourself. Some have said living in Calgary is nothing like city living in the UK.

Do you guys want to be within a daily commute of Calgary ? or are you still looking a little further afield - sure you are the guys that Moondevil suggested Lovely windy Lethbridge ?

Calgary has a tonne of what Canadians call "communites" here is the wiki page for Calgary just tells you some info about the places. Airdrie is going to be quite an up and coming area as there is supposed to be a super mall being built there in 2010.

I think that it all depends on what you want as a family as only you are the ones who know - my personal impression of Calgary is that it is just like any other big city the only thing which is good about Calgary is that it is close to the mountains.

Gaynor

As others have said, AndyNic08, you absolutely need to do a recce trip. You cannot judge Calgary from your mental picture of UK cities.

With that having been said, if you visit the area on a recce trip, you should check out the satellite towns of Cochrane (to the northwest of Calgary) and Okotoks (to the southwest of Calgary).

Speaking only for myself, Airdrie (a satellite town to the north of Calgary), doesn't do anything for me. But some people like it, and it deserves a drive-through during a recce trip, in case you turn out to like it after all.

If you're looking at Calgary itself, the better areas are the northwest, southwest and far southeast quadrants. The less desirable areas are the northeast and close-in southeast quadrants.

The choice between Calgary and a satellite town depends to some extent on whether or not you have kids and, if you do, what ages they are. Keep in mind that the satellite towns do not have any public transportation to speak of. Kids can drive at the age of 16 here. If you have older teens and if you live in one of those satellite towns, they'll pretty much need access to a vehicle. And the insurance premiums for young drivers in Alberta are horrendous.

We lived in Calgary for many years, left on two back-to-back expat assignments to the States and Australia, and then returned to Calgary around the time that our kids were going into university. We seriously looked into Redwood Meadows, in the Bragg Creek area, about 40 km to the southwest of Calgary. We were very, very tempted.

But, in the end, we decided that we ourselves didn't want such a long commute and, perhaps more importantly, we wanted our kids to have access to transit while they were at university. So we moved back to Calgary itself, and we were really glad we did.

For the earlier phases of their university studies, our kids lived at home and used transit to get to and from university. Later on during their degrees, they moved into apartments of their own and acquired cars. But it was a gradual transition, and there wasn't as much pressure to make the transition as I believe would have been the case if we'd lived in a satellite town.

But it's horses for courses. I know at least one member of this forum who lives in Bragg Creek and many who live in Cochrane and Okotoks. And of course there are many who live in Calgary too.

People often think they made the best choice and try to sell you on their decision. You really have to think about your own priorities. A recce trip gives you a way better idea of that than descriptions on a forum can provide. We could describe these places till we're blue in the face, and we still wouldn't be as effective as a recce trip.

But, even on a recce trip, you don't REALLY know what it'll be like to live in a given place. Only living there can tell you what it's like to live there. For that reason, I think there is merit in renting for a year or so before you buy. After you've lived in a place for a while, you'll be able to make a much more informed decision. You'll have tested what you thought were your priorities. You may find that some of your priorities have changed. And you'll have a better idea of which communities can meet your priorities.

I myself moved on from Calgary to Vancouver Island in September this year. But that was after having spent the better part of the previous 31 years in Calgary.
x

Echoing Judy, Airdrie does nothing for me... soul-less satellite suburb more than separate town. However Bragg Creek, Okotoks, Black Diamond... even bits of Cochrane (though it seems to be getting very overdeveloped) might suit.

We like to escape to the mountains every weekend, so chose the farthest NW we could (close to the No. 1).. so you might want to take a look at Tuscany or Royal Oak if that grabs you.

Can someone pls tell me a bit about Kinkora( NW) am heading there in a few weeks.

We moved to Calgary in June, we have two kids; 6 and 8. I know you said you don't want city life but, it's my view that living in a suburban community of Calgary is not city life. Many communities have their own schools, shopping areas, parks and community associations. We, for example, walk to school and can walk to the local shops, there are plenty trees around and a ravine with nice little walks (and deer!). There are jack rabbits and squirrels in the gardens and kids playing in the streets. We have what I think feels like a nice 'small town' life. I never really need to go downtown and rarely do, however, my husband works downtown and can be there in 20 mins (on the bus). We also have easy access to Calgary's amenities but can still be in Banff in just over an hour (with plenty of other hiking options much closer).

I used this wiki when deciding on areas : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ods_in_Calgary - when you select a neighbourhood you can usually link into it's community association and schools etc.

Good Luck

MrsDV

Nope they are not the ones, im helping another guy over
(runs and hides)

If you look at there posts they maybe better suited to calgary due to OH job, although the father would get work anywhere

Have you looked at okotoks for a smaller place to live
Depends on where you can get the work and the commute to work etc
Hope that helps

I thought you had already bought a house there! (You might perhaps learn to spell it correctly, ie Kincora)

What else did you want to know about the place?

can I please ask which area of Calgary you live in? We had looked at Mackenzie towm but it seems too far out for Hubbys work.

Is your husband's work taking him to downtown Calgary?
What times is he likely to have to be at work and likely to leave work (ie: rush hour or outside these peak times)?
Is he likely to drive or catch the overland trains or buses?

You'd imagine many folk would travel from the likes of McKenzie Towne to downtown as it is key commuter territory but whether you're husband will be happy with it depends on some of the factors above and your husband's personal preferences/tolerances.

Eamonn & Janet

Hi AndyNic08,

We'd agree with much of what has been said in response to your post thus far. Judy In Calgary emphasises the value of a recce and we're totally behind that. Mrs DV makes the good point that the suburban communities can feel like their own little towns or villages perhaps although generally with less of the character that you might associate with the word "village" in the UK. For us at least, they do provide a very good alternative to living in the satellite towns despite the fact that we ourselves chose Okotoks. If our jobs required us to be in downtown Calgary in the rush hour, (they don't), then like as not, we would move to the southern reaches of Calgary (our preference) as Okotoks adds at least 17 mins (driving legally) to commute times from the southern edge of Calgary. If very regular access to the mountains was our thing, we'd move to the NW edges of Calgary as Banff and surrounding areas would be that much closer - not that they are in any way unreachable from anywhere in and around Calgary. Our blogs below might give you some small sense of Calgary and surrounding areas generally. Best wishes with your decision making.

Kind regards,

Eamonn & Janet.

I agree with the relplies above. We visited Calgary in June thinking about living in Cochrane or Okotoks. while we liked both places the commute for me in to down town Calgary would be as bad as my current UK commute. On the bright side we liked Calgary as a city. It didn't feel like a million pepole lived there. We have family who live in Shawnessy (SW Calgary) and like that general area, so that's where we are looking now. If at all possible visit Calgary.

best of luck

SM

Hi,

We live in Strathcona which is in the SW (although more west really), for us it's the perfect location. My point is though, that I believe many of Calgary's communities offer a style of 'small town' living and that you don't necessarily have to look out to the satellite towns for this.

I looked for communities that had an active community association, with their own community building, a local school and shops. I also used Calgary Transit website to check out public transport options.

Hope this helps. Good Luck with the search.

MrsDV

That is pretty much how I feel - we have been in Calgary 2 1/2 years and it doesn't have the feel of a huge city.

We started off in Varsity (renting), but then bought a house in Country Hills... both are pretty convenient for transport downtown - My DH works in the downtown core and uses public transport (a monthly transit pass is cheaper than paying the extortionate parking costs!).

While Calgary transit is not fantastic in the areas it serves, if you choose your area carefully it is possible to use it for the daily commute. If you live close enough to one of the LRT stations you can use that, otherwise there are bus routes that are not too bad (he gets the 301 rapid bus that goes down Center street - gets him downtown in less than half an hour and they are fairly frequent)