I’ve been a resident of Edmonton for 7 years, and I’ve spent most of that time within the Edmonton itself, save for a few trips to the national parks, where I got to see bits of Calgary, but didn’t truly get to experience it myself. Recently, I did get the chance, and spent the day there. Here’s what I think.

Downtown Calgary: absolutely amazing

This may be a bit of green grass on my part, but Calgary’s city centre is pretty good. Its beautiful, has lots of buildings, and is generally quite lively. I had a few hours to explore it, and even though it was mostly around 7 Ave S (save for a trip down to Memorial Park), I had a lot of fun.

I got to see the Central Library, well-renowned as one of the best libraries in the world, and can clearly see why it has earned that reputation. It’s beautiful. I had a great time walking through it, just going up all the floors, even though I couldn’t check out any books. The Milner library in Edmonton is pretty good, but this was on another level.

Then I walked through the Municipal Building. When it comes to exterior appearances, I prefer Edmonton City Hall, but on the inside, the Municipal Building has its own appeal too. I saw the public engagement hearings on zoning, and gave them an obligatory scoff, given we already have a superior zoning bylaw in Edmonton enacted earlier this year.

The Core was pretty cool too. West Edmonton Mall is big and has a lot of cool stuff in it, sure, but honestly, I like The Core more, since it’s in the city centre. The skylight adds to its appeal, and the Devonian Gardens are a neat touch too (though I’m told they were bigger before). Compared to the shockingly abysmal state of the Edmonton City Centre mall, it’s night and day.

Out on the streets itself, it was lively. Even when I was out walking at 9 pm to the CTrain, I felt safe on the downtown streets. I’ve heard people say that Calgary’s downtown empties out after 5pm, but in my experience I couldn’t find that to be further from the truth. Edmonton’s downtown, by contrast, as much as I want to like it, just makes it hard to appreciate at times. It doesn’t feel like it’s on the same scale.

Overall, pretty great, solid 9/10, point deducted because nothing in this world can be perfect.

The Suburbs: mixed bag

I stayed in a hotel on the north edge of the airport. At first I thought I’d take a bus to Saddletowne. Sure, it’d take some time to get there, but that would be reasonable, right? Nope, I missed the bus and the next one was in 50 minutes. 50. What in the actual hell? I took a car there instead.

Speaking of cars, an important point. In Edmonton, Alberta Highway 2 meanders through a bunch of freeways and expressways that only go up to 90 or 100 km/h in the freeway portions on the outskirts where people don’t really live. In Calgary, Alberta 2 is a high-speed highly-packed death trap that goes by the civilian name of Deerfoot Trail. Whose idea was it to put a 110 km/h freeway throughout city limits? Calgary Trail and Gateway Blvd, which is a continuation of the same road as Deerfoot are only 90 in the south end of Edmonton. They drop to 70 once the freeway ends. Whitemud Drive, which cuts through some neighbourhoods, has a maximum of 80 km/h for safety reasons.

Calgary also just feel a lot less dense than Edmonton does, mainly outside of the core. I’m not sure how the statistics actually are, and it could be there’s not much of a difference, but with the more hilly terrain, it feels like things aren’t as dense as they could be. If there’s a saving grace for the Calgary suburbs, it’s the existence of the CTrain. Connecting bus service needs drastic improvements, but the CTrain itself is quite well-done and makes it easier to get around than driving. I appreciate the increased length of the existing Red and Blue lines compared to the Capital Line and especially the puny Metro Line. But also, where’s the Green Line? The Valley Line was delayed for a comedic amount of time, but the Green Line hasn’t even broken any ground yet.

Overall, I’d give the suburbs a 5/10. CTrain is nice and the hills can be fun, but I wish it was denser and that there was more transit.

Closing thoughts

It’s hard to pin down exactly why this is, but Calgary feels really different from Edmonton. I was having a bit of a hard time believing the two cities are in the same province. Maybe it’s the cowboy hats and being surrounded by the southern Alberta cattle ranches on each side, compared to the farmland that Edmonton is surrounded with. Maybe it’s how the city is much less flat than Edmonton is, with a more vibrant city centre combined with more poorly laid out suburbs. Maybe it’s that the CTrain windows have giant Canadian maple leafs on them while Edmonton LRT vehicles don’t have any provincial or federal branding on them. People say the cities are quite similar, but in my view that makes the contrasts all the more apparent. These differences make it a fun place to visit, and I do want to come back again when I can (though I’ll probably get a hotel closer to the core).

All being said, I’d rather live in Edmonton than Calgary. Yes, the city centre is beautiful and has cool buildings, and I could spend days exploring it. Banff National Park is closer, the city is a bit hilly, and seeing the mountains to the west is kind of cool. However, I like how in Edmonton things feel a bit more compact, a bit better laid out. I like how the river valley feels like its own world. I like the neighbourhoods of Strathcona, probably my favourite area in the province. I like how on most days in most neighbourhoods I can expect a bus that comes more than once in an hour. I like how the city government, despite its flaws, is willing to make things better. I like how the world’s sharpest object was invented here. And the Stantec Tower is still taller than everything in Calgary. I could go on and on about why I like it here more, but it still couldn’t come close to the sheer relief and joy I felt coming back.

TL;DR

• Calgarians, give your city centre more credit as it’s awesome.
• Calgary suburbs feel spread out, and buses suck.
• CTrain is good but I want more.
• The visit was fun, but I’m happy living in Edmonton.