Believe it or not, one of the most exciting things to do in Alberta is sitting in a car. That's because you'll find some of the best views of Canada’s mountain lakes, imposing glaciers, and green valleys along the 232 kilometres of Icefields Parkway, which runs through two national parks in the Canadian Rockies. From the route, you can spot snowy mountain peaks reflecting off of pristine water and roadside streams rushing amid lush vegetation. Drivers may even catch a glimpse of a black bear or a bighorn sheep.

There are good reasons to make stops along the drive besides stretching your legs—to watch melting snow spill off the face of a cliff at the Weeping Wall waterfall, for instance, or to hop aboard a snow coach and traverse the area's glaciers. During a walk on the Forefield Trail, explorers listen to a guide discuss the habitat and geology of the Athabasca Glacier, and then they gaze at the huge chunk of ice as they dine inside the Columbia Icefield Restaurant. Along the parkway, drink machines dispense bottled glacial water.

But Alberta isn't all untouched wilderness. In fact, the province is home to two of the five largest urban areas in the country: Edmonton and Calgary. In Edmonton, you can glide around the River Valley atop a segway during a tour that was first of its kind in Canada. Calgary visitors can feel the rush of zooming down the city’s Olympic Park bobsled track, the same track the Jamaican bobsled team walked their sled across after crashing at the 1988 Olympics. The latter town is unusually pedestrian friendly; it's possible to walk 18 kilometres of Calgary without going outside thanks to the suspended walkways that connect 100 of the city's buildings. The idea has an echo in Banff National Park, where animals safely cross over the Trans-Canada Highway by way of 41 wildlife overpasses.