A visit to Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta’s badlands is a must. We took a road trip through Alberta and spent time glamping (comfort camping) in the ancient fossil-filled land during our road trip to Drumheller. Dinosaur Provincial Park in the Badlands of Southern Alberta.
It is a long way from anywhere, and if you don’t have a tent or camper, you need to drive a fair distance to find a place to stay. That is why it’s great to take advantage of the comfort camping tents the park has set up for your enjoyment.
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Dinosaur Provincial Park
We had one day and one night at Dinosaur Provincial Park and during that time, we took two hikes. Read more: The 52 Best Things to do in Alberta, Canada – The Ultimate Guide
The Centrosaurus Quarry Hike
The Centrosaurus Quarry Hike is the best way to see a huge concentration of dinosaur fossils. This was an excavation site, but scientists got all they needed from here and left the rest for us to see. It’s an interactive tour and the guide tests your knowledge as you try to remember everything you learned in school about dinosaurs.
Or if you are like me, what you can remember from the movie, Jurassic Park Much of the park is off-limits to visitors without a guide, so taking a tour is the best way to explore. Plus you learn a lot about history, geology, and about dinosaurs.
Dinosaur Provincial Park is a Working Fossil Excavation Site
Excavations are ongoing here and discoveries happen regularly as this is one of the most fossil-rich destinations on the planet!
It’s amazing to see these fossils up close and personal and I can’t imagine how many would disappear if they let everyone walk through freely. Even during our tour, we had a woman try to steal a fossil in broad daylight; right after our guide told us ‘please do not pick up anything.’
I had to say something because I couldn’t believe it. I blurted it out of my mouth “he just told us not to take anything and you just picked up a fossil!”
Nice, she had her child with her too, what a great role model she is. If everyone took a rock or bone during each tour, there would be nothing left for the future. Some people just don’t think.
Spotting Fossils in Alberta Badlands
We saw many dinosaur bones during our walk and learned how to tell a rock from a fossil. By the time we walked back to our bus, we could easily spot bones and fossils at every turn.
Once you know what you’re looking for and if you just so happen to be walking through an area filled with fossils, they’re easy to see. The Centrosaurus walk was great, but it happened in midday when the sun was the hottest and the highest. See another amazing park in Alberta, Jasper National Park
Sunset Tour of Dinosaur Provincial Park
We wanted to get some photographs of this extraordinary canyon but that hike wasn’t about the photos it was about the dinosaurs. We wanted shots of this gorgeous landscape.
We couldn’t believe our eyes when we first drove up to Dinosaur Provincial Park. It’s absolutely stunning! The Sunset tour takes you to all the best spots to view the rocks as the sun lights them.
The tour changes each day and is led by a veteran guide who takes you to his favourite spots in the park. You’ll see some awesome views and get the chance to take amazing shots. You may also like: The Most Beautiful National Parks in Canada
Amazing Views of the Alberta Badlands
Be warned, you are on a tour with many people, so shoot fast. Know your camera and be ready. The majority rules and if everyone wants to go back to the camp before the sun actually sets (yes that happened to us) there is nothing you can do about it. So take your shots while you can.
The canyons are filled with hoodoos and coulees and incredible rock formations for as far as the eye can see and sunset or no sunset, the scene is beautiful.
Note: A coulee is a deep ravine and hoodoos are tall, thin rock spires that are made of soft rock but have a hard rock balancing on top, like a hat. Check out: Things to do in Drumheller, Alberta
Glamping – Glamour Camping in Dinosaur Provincial Park
Many people give glamping (camping with comfort) a hard time. They think that if you are not camping properly, with a tent, you are not camping at all. We disagree.
When you are traveling, you can’t always carry all of your camping gear with you, but sometimes you want to stay out in the middle of nature. The campsites come equipped with gas barbeques, so we decided that tonight would be a perfect night for a couple of steaks.
We popped over to the town of Brooks to grab our dinner and spent the night under the stars enjoying the great outdoors in comfort.
Dinner at the Campsite
Beef is amazing and affordable in Alberta so I bought the most expensive cuts I could find at $7 apiece. Not bad! The potatoes had been baking for about 30 minutes, and when the bus dropped him off at the campsite, I opened a bottle of wine and popped the corn and steak on the grill.
Everything that we needed was supplied in a giant Rubbermaid container. Cooking utensils, oil, plates, and cutlery…we didn’t need to bring a thing. We could even put our leftovers in the fridge overnight.
Luxury Tents
It was glamping at its finest. We sat outside on the picnic table, enjoyed our meal and then cleaned up quickly and easily at the washing facilities a couple of doors down. Everyone was outside eating and it was a relaxing atmosphere.
I just love camping in Canada. As you walk by campsites everyone says hi with a smile, but the campsites are also spread out enough for privacy. We went back to our tent and finished off our bottle as we watched the stars and listened to the silence. We fell asleep to the sound of crickets and awoke refreshed and ready to drive on to Drumheller where more hoodoos await.
Drumheller
Drumheller is just an hour’s drive from Dinosaur Provincial Park and a perfect next stop. Be sure to give yourself an entire day to drive from Dinosaur Provincial Park to Drumheller. It’s only a 200 km drive, but there are many sites to see along the way.
The most famous stop is the Hoodoos of Drumheller. These fascinating hoodoos stand in a cluster off the highway and are thousands of years old. We wrote all about them at The Hoodoos of Drumheller Be sure to have lunch at the Last Chance Saloon and tour the historic Atlas Coal Mine along the way.
Royal Tyrell Museum | Dinosaur Bones
Drumheller is home to the Royal Tyrrell Museum and the World’s largest dinosaur. After seeing the scattered bones at Dinosaur Provincial Park it was very cool to see the result of the years of excavations.
The museum is a working museum so they are always cleaning bones and bringing in the new finds. It’s one of the few museums on earth showcasing actual dinosaur bones and not just casks. If you love Dinosaurs, this is a road trip you must take!
For more information on camping at Dinosaur Provincial Park visit their Website for reservations.
- Read More
- The 52 Best Things to do in Alberta, Canada – The Ultimate Guide
- The Best Things to do in Edmonton, Alberta
- Alberta Road Trip – Following the Cowboy Trail
- The Best Canada Adventures: 36 Amazing Trips from Coast to Coast
- The World Can Learn a Thing or Two From Canada
- 21 Best Things to do in Calgary, Alberta
- 14 Best Hikes in Jasper National Park – Alberta Canada
I usually love roughing it (or as “roughing it” as tent camping in a campground gets), but I just had my first “glamping” experience in Alberta a few months ago and loved it! I totally agree–it’s a great way to get out into nature when you don’t have your camping gear. But I might stick with the term “comfort camping.” 🙂
Love your photos of the park! I heard good things about it but had limited time while I was in Calgary (and decided to head to Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump instead–have you been there?). Definitely want to head back to Alberta sometime!
After rough camping our way through Southern and Eastern Africa – I won’t lie – GLAMPing looks pretty damnnn fine!
I would love to try GLAMPing out in Alberta! Hailing from Ontario- Alberta is still on our list – if we ever make it back to Canada!
And that scenery! Wowzas! Wonderful photos, as usual, guys!
Glad to hear! We camped and cycled our way through Africa as well, and it’s an amazing adventure. Enjoy your time there, it’s so wonderful. We agree too, there is nothing wrong with a little comfort once in a while. This year, we’ve done some epic camps as we camped unsupported while we circumnavigated on kayak in Mexico. It was amazing. No showers for 10 days! We know how awesome a good roughing it experience can be and that helps us to definitely appreciate a glamping experience even more. You must get yourself to Alberta, it’s so beautiful.
What a beautiful, rugged landscape. I’d love to visit a real dinosaur site. Sounds like a cool experience.
I could probably handle glamping. I don’t do well when sleeping on a bad bed let alone in a sleeping bag on the ground. And I definitely need a real toilet, no peeing in the woods for me!
Lovely photos! Another reason to explore Alberta. We’re thinking of taking the little one through national parks and of course international ones soon, and I’ll be sure to bookmark this one!
This looks so cool. I would love to go exploring and hunting for fossils!
Also, I had never heard of glamping before, but this certainly seems like my kind of camping!
Wow! what a stunning pictures! I love camping but this one is awesome fun. Looking forward to visit this beautiful place.
You guys really know how to rough it. Beautiful images by the way!
Glamping looks awesome guys! I think we could cope with that just fine ;0) great photos as always, following your national parks posts with great interest!
If staying in the great outdoors I think glamping might be the way to go, Dinosaur Provincial Park also looks fascinating.
I want to go glamping! Ever since I learned about it from the Real Housewives of Orange County, I have wanted to try it, preferably without high heels and the attitude of course. I love that you can hike and see dinosaur fossils.
I have been meaning to try out some glamping with friends that are not huge outdoor fans. It can bring different personalities together, which I am all for sharing.
I really am glad you called out the lady that tried to take something. Good for you. I am not sure what I would do in that situation. . .
Sounds like an amazing adventure and am glad some artifacts were left for others to see!
What a amazing imagination of the Auther, its interesting as well as like a fairy tail, keep it up debendev. We appreciate your contribution to travel industry.
I wish I did glamping when I visited Dinosaur Provincial Park. What better way to experience the place. The sunset tour sounds interesting too.
I’m glad we had the opportunity. We never would have known about the camping experience either. We would have done what most people do, drive on to the Ramada Inn in Booth. Haha, the Ramada’s in this area are all really good though, everyone has a great breakfast and swimming pool with waterslide! Woot.
Looks fun! We plan to bring Baby B to Alberta in the spring… and you can bet a visit to see dinosaurs is on the itinerary!
Awesome.I am assuming that you guys have been all over Alberta, You have to do the Dinosaur Park to Drumheller Road Trip. There are a lot of great stops along that route.
Wow, that’s cool. I also want to see dinosaur bones in the actual camping site. It will be an awesome experience to see those Jurassic fossils.
That would be cool eh? It wouldn’t surprise me if something surfaced at some point. There was a rich dinosaur population here back in the day and some sort of cataclysmic event suddenly happened to bury and preserve them all in this place. who knows what has yet to be discovered.
Now, that’s my kind of camping! And I love dinosaurs, so this all looks awesome.
Awesome all around! Yes, this is a great way to camp. In Canada, people to a lot of car camping (ourselves included when we were home more) and it’s so much fun to sit out by the fire. Not everyone has all the equipment so this is a great way to get outdoors with little investment or experience.
Wow, I wouldn’t think of badlands either. How interesting: camping and history all rolled into one. =D
We never knew a lot about this part of Alberta ourselves and didn’t expect it to be so beautiful. I think it’s been left off the list a lot and lacking in promotion. It’s a really interesting and stunning place to visit and all anyone ever thinks about is Banff and Jasper. There’s so much more to Alberta and the Badlands are amazing.
Wow–loved this post! We spent a week in Dinosaur, Utah when I was 16 so my mother, who was a writer, could research some paleontological details and talk with park rangers. It reminds me of your descriptions of Dinosaur Provincial Park.
Loved the fossil and sunset photos!
EWM
So glad to hear that we reminded you of Utah, I believe that Alberta is a wee bit similar to Utah. Both are gorgeous! Sounds very cool that your mom was a writer. What kind of writing did she do?
Love all of your Alberta posts, makes me so proud of my home province 🙂 & glamping looks lush, that bed!!! x
Thank you! So glad that you are enjoying. It’s easy to write about a place that we loved so much. Sometimes we have nothing to say, but when it comes to Alberta, we can’t wait to share our experiences from there. It’s Canada’s most beautiful province in our opinion. Now, we haven’t seen them all yet, but I do believe Alberta is hard to top!
When I think of Alberta, I think of the Canadaian Rockies and not Badlands at all. However, your pictures are stunning and it seems I may have an excuse to return to the province to see something new! It looks like a fantastic place to hike, and of course, to glamp.
So glad to hear we could introduce you to another part of Alberta. We too were guilty of only going to the Rockies. Our first trip out there was to the usual spots…Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper….which are amazing as well, but there is a lot more to the province. We never expected the badlands to be so vast and beautiful. It’s a great road trip indeed.