Any visitor to the region would be missing out on the area's natural beauty with its varied landscape and unique bird and wildlife if a driving tour was not on the itinerary. There are a variety of driving tours that are recommended by Medicine Hat Tourism, Canadian Badlands and Travel Alberta that encourage visitors to not only share in the breathtaking beauty of the area but also to learn about the culture and history that the region is steeped in.

Picnic in the Park in Medicine Hat (One to Two Hours)
Start with a picnic at the Cultural Centre pond, followed by a stroll through McCutcheon Drive Trail that gives spectacular views across the South Saskatchewan River and then end with a glance through Medicine Hat Public Library or explore Ewart-Duggan House, the oldest remaining brick house in Alberta.

Cruising through Cypress Hills (Half Day)

The Eagle Butte Road offers a leisurely approach to the Cypress Hills, passing Bullshead Reservoir and historic St. Margaret's Church. The last ten kilometers winds through a partially wooded coulee to Highway 41 where the view of the Sweetgrass Hills in Montana is spectacular, before ending up in Cypress Hills Inter Provincial Park. On the way back to Medicine Hat, Rattlesnake Reservoir may entice you for boating and fishing.

Arts and Crafts (Full Day)
About 120 km from Medicine Hat on Highway 41, just beyond a U-pick Saskatoon orchard near the Village of Empress is an art gallery that also features top quality hand crafted willow furniture and jewelry. Peace and tranquility are within reach as you drive through grassland that is dotted with ducks on small ponds or hawks perched on fence posts. A perfect picnic spot awaits you at Sandy Point on the South Saskatchewan River, arguably south-east Alberta's best kept camping secret.

Crowsnest Highway 3 East to West (3 days)
Crowsnest Trail follows historic roadways and features numerous heritage sites. This tour starts at Medicine Hat; progresses to Lethbridge which was originally named Coalbanks, just past Bow Island (the first town in Alberta to operate its own natural gas well) and Taber; meanders through Milk River and historic Writing on Stone Provincial Park; includes Alberta's first Provincial Historic Area (Fort Macleod) and UNESCO World Heritage Site Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump just beyond; passes through the Lebel mansion and Kootenai Brown Pioneer Village in Pincher Creek; momentarily stops at Crowsnest River below Lundbreck Falls; and ends at Frank Slide and Leitch Collieries in the Crowsnest Pass.

Trail of the Buffalo (3 - 6 Days)
This tour tracks the path of the prairie bison. The tour starts on Highway 12 west of Stettler near Buffalo Lake, moves to Castor on Highway 36 and Forestburg on Highway 13. Day 2 progresses to the Buffalo Interpretive Centre and National Park in Wainwright on Highway 14, followed by Day 3 which ends up in Provost at the Bodo Archeological Site and Museum. Days 4 and 5 are in the Palliser Region exploring the art community of Empress, the warm water skiing waters near Sheerness, the Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park, historical Big Valley, and the Doll Palace, Handhills and Giant Grey Goose Replicas of Hanna before returning to Stettler.

Trans-Canada Highway 1 (6 Days)
This cross-province tour starts in Cypress Hills Provincial Park where the top 100 metres of the Hills is one of the few areas in western North America untouched by the last glacial period. The tour moves to the sunniest spot in Canada, the City of Medicine Hat, where sites such as the Saamis Teepee or the Clay Products Interpretive Centre and Medalta Historic Site await you. From Medicine Hat, the tour progresses to Brooks' Aqueduct and Dinosaur Provincial Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, before moving to Calgary, Canmore, Kananaskis, Banff and Lake Louise.

UNESCO Trail (7 - 14 Days)
This tour takes you to five of Canada's Thirteen UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The tour starts at the far southwest corner of Alberta in Waterton Lakes National Park; moves to Head-Smashed-In-Buffalo Jump outside of Fort Macleod; skips to Dinosaur Provincial Park on Highway 36; beelines to Banff and Jasper National Parks, which together have been declared a World Heritage Site; and ends in Wood Buffalo National Park, the second largest national park in the world consisting of a boreal forest and the world's largest free-roaming herd of wood bison and the last natural habitat of the rare whooping crane.

Hoodoos and grasslands mark this tour that includes Cypress Hills, Writing-on-Stone and Dinosaur Provincial Parks. The tour starts at Fort Walsh National Historic Site near Medicine Hat and moves to Reesor Lake before stargazing in Cypress Hills' Dark Sky Preserve. The next day involves searching for fossils at Red Rock Coulee in the County of Fort Mile, watching the Etzikom Windmill Museum before ending up at Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park where you can see First Nations rock art. Day 3 involves looking at Devil's Coulee's dinosaur eggs and exploring the grain elevator at Scandia before hiking the badlands at Dinosaur Provincial Park. Prairie wildlife is the sight as the tour goes back to Medicine Hat where the Historic Clay District and the Esplanade await you.

Palliser Economic Partnership Room 109, Provincial Building 346-3rd Street SE

Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada T1A 0G7 T 403-529-3630 F 403-529-3140

business@palliseralberta.com