The playground of dinosaurs

In their hurry to head west to Alberta's top-flight attractions, few visitors arriving at Calgary or Edmonton consider taking a side trip east.

Brokeback Mountain country

Most first-time visitors head straight to Banff National Park, ignoring Kananaskis Country, the dramatic foothill area that sprawls along its eastern boundary.

The scenery here is no less dramatic, as anyone who's seen the film Brokeback Mountain - which was shot here - can confirm.

Waterton village is the laid-back gateway to Waterton Lakes National Park

Make no mistake, Waterton Lakes National Park is as fine a park as any in the Canadian Rockies, yet it remains relatively uncrowded.

Billed as the place where "Canada's wilderness begins", nature indeed encroaches on Prince Rupert from every angle.

And when the mist actually lifts on this remote northern British Columbian city, it reveals a quirky port town with a dramatic fjord-like coastline ringed by rainforest-saturated mountains.

Situated on Kaien Island at the mouth of the Skeena River, Prince Rupert is the gateway to the magnificent Skeena Valley which stretches for 150km to the east.