rizwan_fareed

for a holiday to get a good feel for the city and have a good look around based on your opinions.

Planning on going in the summer, I know ages yet but just doing my research.

Thanks

triumphguy

Don't get sucked in by the Stampede. Yes, it's the greatest (outdoor) show on earth. Yes there's a ton of cute cowboys/cowgirls strolling around - whatever tickles your fancy. Yes, the bars are open til morning, there's free pancake breakfasts on every corner, everyone "dresses western," and a thousand head of beef cattle are consumed in peoples' bbqs. The Rodeo is the biggest on earth etc etc., But that's just for 10 days.

I would almost avoid Stampede in order to get a look at the city.

Ask yourself why you want to come to Calgary. Do some research. And come and spend some down-time here not tourist time. check out some of the residential areas. Look out over the city from Nose Hill and Canada Olympic Park. Checkout the pathways along the Bow River.

Just don't get sold by Banff, Stampede, and tourism. Living here is different from that.

And yes, I enjoy Stampede every year - it's party time! Yehaw!

Parris

Have to say the above is great advise we did pretty much that when we went out this time last year. Looked at the areas we would like to live, schools, local sports centres etc looked around houses to see what we could get with our money. Got a feel for just how cold it is! Really didn't do any of the tourist things at all. Will do all that when we land, my OH lands Feb 9th and I'm stuck here selling the house! Hoping I will be out there in time for the Greatest outdoor show in the world though, then I'm gonna do all the tourist stuff!

Solarfish

If you are interested in schools in any area then I would suggest you avoid school holidays for your trip! Also avoid start and end of term times as teachers are likely to be very busy and the classrooms more chaotic. A visit planned for mid term is likely to be more representative and probably more convenient for principle/teachers.

rizwan_fareed

Thanks everyone for the great advice.

Did you organise the school trips by just getting on contact with the respective schools and asking them the question?

Were the schools private or state schools?

Thanks once again

Solarfish

We contacted the schools (most have email addresses on their websites) before we came out and booked some visits. Here in the Bow Valley (Canmore, Banff, Exshaw) there are no private schools so we only visited public (state) schools.