Ninety minutes northeast of Calgary the prairie drops out from under you. One moment it is flat farmland to the horizon, the next you are looking down into a valley of striped cliffs, dry coulees and rock spires that looks like it belongs on another planet. That is the Canadian Badlands, and Drumheller sits in the middle of it.
It is the most underrated day trip from Calgary. Dinosaurs, coal mining history, a ghost town with a saloon, and scenery you cannot see anywhere else in the country. Here is how to do it in one day without spending the whole day in the car.
Getting there from Calgary
Drumheller is about 135 km northeast of Calgary, roughly 90 minutes each way on Highway 9. It is an easy drive, no mountain passes, no traffic to speak of once you clear the city.
The catch is that Drumheller is not one attraction. It is a valley about 25 km long with stops spread from Horseshoe Canyon in the west to the Atlas Coal Mine in the east. Doing it properly means a lot of getting in and out of the vehicle. For families that is fine. For a group of twenty or more in a convoy of cars, it is where a good day quietly turns into a logistics problem.
When to go
- June through August is peak season. Everything is open, everything is running, and the valley gets genuinely hot. The Badlands hold heat in a way the rest of Alberta does not, so expect it to be several degrees warmer down in the valley than it was in Calgary.
- September and early October may be the best window of the year. Warm days, cool evenings, thin crowds, and the light on the cliffs late in the afternoon is worth the drive on its own.
- Winter is quiet and stark and beautiful, but several seasonal attractions close. The Royal Tyrrell Museum stays open year round on shorter hours.
The Royal Tyrrell Museum
This is the anchor of the trip and one of the best palaeontology museums in the world, with a collection running into the tens of thousands of fossils and a hall of mounted dinosaur skeletons that stops people in their tracks.
Three things to know:
- Book your tickets online in advance. Entry runs on timed tickets and summer slots do sell out.
- Budget two hours minimum. Most people who plan on one end up staying longer.
- Check current pricing before you go. Adult general admission runs in the mid twenties, and through the summer of 2026 children and youth 17 and under enter free under the Canada Strong program. Rates change, so confirm on the museum site.
Groups of 12 or more should contact the museum’s bookings office directly. Group rates and pre-booked entry times exist for exactly this reason, and they make a bus arrival far smoother than twenty people queuing individually.
Horseshoe Canyon
About 17 km west of Drumheller on Highway 9, this is the first real look at the Badlands and the best place to understand what you are seeing. A viewing platform sits right at the parking lot, and trails drop down into the canyon for anyone who wants to walk among the formations.
Fifteen minutes here is enough for photos. An hour is enough to hike. Either way, do not skip it, because it is the moment the landscape actually lands.
The World’s Largest Dinosaur
A 26 metre fibreglass Tyrannosaurus rex in the middle of town, roughly four times life size. You can climb the stairs inside it and look out over the valley from the mouth. It is pure roadside spectacle and it is fantastic. Small admission fee, twenty minutes, and it is the photo everyone actually sends home.
The Hoodoos and the Star Mine Suspension Bridge
Head southeast on Highway 10 toward East Coulee and the valley narrows into the best stretch of the day.
The Hoodoos are the mushroom shaped sandstone pillars Drumheller is famous for, capped with harder rock that protected them while everything around them eroded away. There is a proper site with boardwalks and stairs. Stay on the paths. They are fragile and they took millions of years to form.
The Star Mine Suspension Bridge at Rosedale is a pedestrian bridge across the Red Deer River, originally built so miners could get to work. It bounces. That is half the fun. Ten minutes, free, and a good leg stretch between stops.
The Atlas Coal Mine
Twenty three kilometres southeast of Drumheller near East Coulee, the Atlas is the last survivor of 139 coal mines that once worked this valley, and the site of the last wooden coal tipple standing in Canada.
This is the stop people do not expect to love and end up talking about all the way home. Guided tours cover the processing plant, the mine portal hike and a ride on a 90 year old battery powered mine locomotive. The guides are excellent and the stories are not sanitised.
It is seasonal, generally open daily from mid May to early September with reduced fall hours after that, and tours run on a schedule that fills up. Book ahead. School groups and groups of 12 or more can arrange custom bookings year round by contacting the site directly.
Wayne and the eleven bridges
If you have an hour left, take the road south from Rosedale to the village of Wayne. It crosses the winding Rosebud River eleven times on single lane bridges in about six kilometres, through a canyon that feels like a film set. It was one, more than once.
Wayne had around 2,500 residents and a dozen working coal mines a century ago. Today it has a few dozen. The Rosedeer Hotel and the Last Chance Saloon sit between bridges nine and ten, complete with bullet holes framed on the wall and a hundred years of stories. It is a fine place to end the day before the drive back to Calgary.
What to pack
- Water, more than you think. The valley is hot, dry and exposed. There is very little shade out on the Hoodoos trail.
- Sunscreen and a hat. Same reason.
- Closed, sturdy shoes. Required for parts of the Atlas Coal Mine tour, and better everywhere else.
- A light layer. Evenings cool off fast once the sun drops behind the canyon walls.
- Snacks. Food options thin out quickly once you leave the townsite.
Common mistakes
- Treating Drumheller as one stop instead of a valley with stops 25 km apart
- Turning up at the Royal Tyrrell without a timed ticket in July
- Leaving the Atlas Coal Mine until the end and arriving after the last tour
- Underestimating the heat down in the valley
- Climbing on the hoodoos, which damages them and carries fines
A realistic one day plan
- 8:00 am Depart Calgary
- 9:15 am Horseshoe Canyon
- 10:00 am Royal Tyrrell Museum, pre booked entry
- 12:30 pm Lunch in Drumheller and the World’s Largest Dinosaur
- 2:00 pm Hoodoos and the Star Mine Suspension Bridge
- 3:00 pm Atlas Coal Mine, pre booked tour
- 5:00 pm Wayne and the eleven bridges
- 6:00 pm Drive back to Calgary
Tight but comfortable. Cut Wayne if you are running behind.
Coming as a group?
Drumheller is one of the best group days in Alberta and one of the most annoying to run in a convoy. Eleven single lane bridges, gravel pull offs, a museum parking lot in August, and eight stops spread across 25 km of valley. Somebody always gets separated.
A private bus with a professional driver solves all of it. Everyone travels together, nobody navigates, nobody parks, and the group arrives at each stop at the same time, which matters when your museum entry and mine tour are booked for a set slot. RTB Tours and Shuttles runs everything from 7 seater luxury vehicles to 54 seater coaches, and our guides know this valley.
You can also join our scheduled Drumheller and Badlands Tour if you are travelling as a smaller party.