Calgary 5-Day 4-Night Travel Guide

I set aside four days for a solo trip to Calgary. I originally planned to spend one day at a nearby park, but that fell through, so I ended up just exploring downtown Calgary for four whole days... I’ve finally reached a point where I suspect even Calgary locals don’t know downtown as well as I do...😅 Friends, if you’re only visiting Calgary city itself, I doubt there’s a more comprehensive note on Xiaohongshu than this... If you’re also heading to Banff, you can check out the guide I wrote earlier on my profile! 📍 Itinerary ▫️ Day 01: Chinatown → The Bow → Olympic Plaza → Zcrew Cafe → Studio Bell → Central Library → 17 Ave → Happy Lamb Hotpot I flew from Eastern Canada to Calgary, and thanks to the time difference, I arrived pretty early. So after leaving the airport, I wandered downtown from north to south. I saw the iconic face sculpture outside The Bow and the geese wandering at Olympic Plaza🦢. My final destination was Zcrew for brunch! This shop is pretty popular online. Personally, it was decent but not as amazing as I’d hoped? But after a few days here, I feel like Calgary’s food scene is a bit lacking, haha... In the afternoon, I kept exploring downtown, visiting Studio Bell and the Central Library, which are close to each other. Calgary’s Central Library is really beautiful and new, with distinct architectural features and fully equipped functional spaces inside🏛️. But the biggest surprise of the first day had to be Studio Bell, the music museum—it’s totally worth a visit! Due to word limits, I’ll write a dedicated post about it later. In the evening, I went to 17th Avenue City Walk, hoping to grab dinner while I was at it. However... I’d call the shops on this street... the bane of introverts. The atmosphere was so lively I hesitated to go in🤣. In the end, I went to Happy Lamb Hotpot, haha—hard to say I wasn’t also eyeing the Oomomo next door to pick up some stationery for my journal🛍️. ▫️ Day 02: 9 Ave → St Patrick's Island → Contemporary Calgary → Seoul Cafe → Peace Bridge → Core → Stephen Avenue Walk → CF Chinook Centre Guys, 9th Avenue in Calgary (the Inglewood area) is really fun to browse! Plant shops, home decor stores, bookstores, cafes... perfect for a relaxing weekend☕️. St Patrick's Island is a small viewing island where you can see downtown from the north. Unfortunately, at the end of April, all the trees were still bare, so the view wasn’t anything special🌿 (pre-sprouting version). After leaving the island, I went to Contemporary Calgary, west of downtown—it’s not a big venue. They recently launched a plant-themed exhibition, which was quite interesting; the artist used composite materials to make plants that look incredibly lifelike🖼️. In the afternoon, I wanted to see the Peace Bridge, so I stopped by the 2D cartoon-style Seoul Cafe on the way. It was busy and cute, but the food was just so-so😐. From the Peace Bridge, I headed back south to start my mall tour. The Core is in the city center, and its fourth floor has an indoor botanical garden🌳. After that, I went south to Chinook for dinner (Shangshangqian—felt a bit underwhelming💣)... But the "Mirror Mirror" exhibition at Chinook Mall was a nice little surprise. The theme of light and mirrors was pretty fun✨. I can’t fit the next two days here, but for most people visiting Calgary, the above covers the main spots for a typical trip. #CanadaTravel #RoyalTyrrellMuseum #DinosaurLoversParadise #AlbertaHiddenGems #FamilyTripRecommendations