sms1984

Hi

Me, my partner and son will be visiting Red Deer in May and would be grateful if anyone could give any tips on where to go, what to see etc.

We will be staying with family that emigrated 2 years ago but would like some ideas from as many people as possible.

Many thanks

canmoreskier

Depends how far you want to drive. Sylvan Lake is really close by and a good place to relax away from the city (nice ice cream store, too).

jericho

Erm, there's a Tim Hortons... and then Calgary and Edmonton are just over an hour away.

Piff Poff

How long are you staying for? How old is your son? What interests you? Will you have access to a car? Have family not given you any ideas?

mandymoochops

ummmmmm - well Drumheller is a couple of hours south.

Couldn't tell you whether the hockey season will be over or not but if its still going then you could check out a rebels game.

Errrrrrm, Stettler is about an hour away and there is the Prairie railway thats pretty cool you could go on that.

errrrrrrm - ok PP help I only ever come into Red Deer to visit friends and go shopping!!!!!

zmartin

From everyone we know it's called Dead Rear! Have no idea why???

Piff Poff

I've been thinking (no smart arse comments thank you).

When in May are you coming? A lot of things won't be open before the May long weekend (bank holiday) and that's Province if not Canada wide.

http://www.tourismreddeer.net/

It's going to be too warm for snow sports and too cold for lake sports, not even sure if all the ice would have melted off Sylvan Lake by then

Oh and Red Deer is just like any other smaller City (town in the UK), it has all the amenities a person would need but there is nothing amazing here really, I've never understood the Dead Rear comments really.

Trophy

Just ignore all of the comments from those that have probably never even been to Red Deer, or worse still live in Edmonton.

Yes, Red Deer is a smallish city although it is the 3rd largest city in Alberta.
As others have said, it depends upon your son's age and obviously the interests of all 3 of you.

Sylvan Lake is only a 20 minute drive from RD, if you have access to a car then there's plenty in the surrounding area to see.

It's a good day out to drive to Banff via Calgary, through Banff and back via Rocky Mountain House to Red Deer.

To drive through Rocky to Jasper and back via Edmonton is quite a long day, we spent 11 1/2 hours that way, stopping for Lunch in Jasper.

Depending upon the opening times of the venues as mentioned already, there's Fort Normandeau, Alberta Sports Hall and Museum, Heritage Ranch all within a 5 minute drive of each other.

Check out the Red Deer Tourism link and have a look, there's plenty to do in central Alberta without needing to go to the boring big cities.

Have fun and enjoy your trip.

Kev

Piff Poff

OH, I was assuming they wanted to know stuff in and around Red Deer, not sort of day/weekend trips

Yeah Deffo Drumheller, especially if you like weird landscapes (people). You've gotta do some mountain stuff too.

Fort Normandau in town is interesting and aside from the swimming pools that's about it.

I would recommend a leisurely day (if the places are open when you are here) visiting Fort Normandau, Markerville Creamery, Dixon Store Museum (followed by Stephensson house) Historical Village at Innisfail and then supper in Red Deer. There is also the Discovery Wildlife Park and bird sanctury and guzoo in short driving distances. Trail rides at Heritage Ranch and Canyon Ski area. Discovery Canyon will probably still be closed - bit it's really cool.