Calgary is Alberta's energy capital — a city built on cattle, wheat and oil whose surrounding landscape carries the extraordinary contrast of Rocky Mountain ghost towns, Badlands coal mining ruins and prairie ghost towns still standing against the big Alberta sky. A CPR coal town inside Banff National Park. A well-preserved 1900s prairie community whose saloon still has bottles on the bar. A Badlands mining town where a 1930s hotel still stands above the Red Deer River. Here are 5 of the best abandoned places in Calgary, selected from our Abandoned Places Map Canada — 2,500+ GPS locations across Canada.
Why Calgary Is a Hidden Gem for Urban Exploration
Calgary's urbex landscape is defined by the extraordinary concentration of coal mining ghost towns in the surrounding Alberta Badlands and Rocky Mountain foothills — a region where the CPR's demand for fuel created and then abandoned entire communities within a single generation — alongside the prairie grain elevator ghost towns of southern Alberta and the Bow River valley industrial heritage of Calgary itself.
1. Bankhead Ghost Town – Banff National Park, Alberta — 1903 CPR Coal Town of 1,000, Closed 1922, Lamp House and Foundations Still Visible on Cascade Mountain, 1.5 Hours from Calgary (Known Location)
The Canadian Pacific Railway built Bankhead in 1903 on the slopes of Cascade Mountain in what is now Banff National Park — a complete company town of 1,000 residents mining coal to fuel CPR locomotives on the mountain crossing. When lower coal grades and labour unrest made the mine uneconomic, the CPR closed Bankhead in 1922 and demolished most structures. The original lamp house, building foundations and the interpretive trail that traces the original town layout are accessible via a short hike from the Bankhead parking area on the Lake Minnewanka road. The most historically significant and most scenically situated abandoned place accessible from Calgary.
🔗 Learn more: Wikipedia – Bankhead Alberta
2. Rowley Ghost Town – Rowley, Alberta — Well-Preserved 1900s Prairie Town, Original Buildings Still Standing, Saloon with Bottles on the Bar, 2 Hours from Calgary (Known Location)
Rowley is one of the best-preserved prairie ghost towns in Alberta — a turn-of-the-century agricultural service community whose original wooden buildings still stand in striking condition. The general store, a hotel, the grain elevators and the saloon with bottles still on the bar create one of the most complete surviving small-town streetscapes on the Alberta prairie. Local preservation efforts have kept the buildings standing and accessible; the community holds occasional events. The combination of the preserved townscape and the enormous Alberta sky makes Rowley one of the most photographically extraordinary abandoned places near Calgary. Exact location available on our Abandoned Places Map Canada.
🔗 Also read: Top 5 Best Abandoned Places in Canada →
3. Wayne, Alberta – Drumheller Badlands — 1913 Coal Mining Town, 1930s Hotel Still Standing Above the Red Deer River, 1.5 Hours from Calgary (Known Location)
Wayne in the Drumheller Badlands was a thriving coal mining community from 1913 through the mid-20th century — at its peak hundreds of miners and their families lived in the river valley community, crossing the famous series of eleven wooden bridges that still span the Rosebud Creek. The Rosedeer Hotel from the 1930s still operates seasonally; the surrounding ghost town infrastructure of abandoned mine buildings, company housing and the stark Badlands landscape create one of the most dramatically atmospheric abandoned mining landscapes in Alberta. The combination of the canyon setting, the ten remaining historic bridges and the ghost town atmosphere make Wayne one of the best abandoned places near Calgary. Exact location available on our Abandoned Places Map Canada.
4. Abandoned Alberta Badlands Coal Mine – 1900s-1940s Underground Mine Complex, Headframe and Tipple Still Standing in the Red Deer River Canyon, Drumheller Region (Exclusively on Our Map)
A 1900s-1940s underground coal mine in the Drumheller Badlands — the original headframe rising above the canyon wall, the tipple structure where coal was sorted and loaded and the mine portal cut into the hoodoo-striped badlands formation. Drumheller's coal seams powered CPR locomotives and Alberta homesteads for half a century; over 139 mines operated in the valley at peak production. The abandoned mines that remain are among the most visually extraordinary industrial ruins in Canada — concrete and timber infrastructure in a canyon landscape unlike anything else in the country. Exact location available on our Abandoned Places Map Canada.
5. Abandoned Southern Alberta Prairie Homestead – 1910s-1920s Dry Belt Farm, Original House and Barn Still Standing, Wheat Fields Returned to Grassland, Palliser Triangle (Exclusively on Our Map)
A 1910s-1920s dry belt homestead in the Palliser Triangle of southern Alberta — the original homestead house with its tar-paper siding still partially intact, the collapsed barn and the grain bin row standing alone in land that was briefly plowed for wheat before the 1930s drought returned it to grassland. The Palliser Triangle was settled by homesteaders who arrived in the optimistic pre-WWI years and lost everything in the Dirty Thirties — their abandoned farmsteads are the most poignant monuments to that catastrophic failure of agricultural optimism. One of the best abandoned places near Calgary for prairie homestead photography against the enormous Alberta sky. Exact location available on our Abandoned Places Map Canada.
Safety Tips
- Mine shafts: the Drumheller region has hundreds of unfenced mine shafts — never approach vertical openings in the ground and stay on established paths near any mine site
- Alberta weather: the Badlands and prairies experience extreme heat in summer and severe storms — always carry water and check forecasts before rural exploration
- Never explore alone — always bring at least one other person
The urbex code applies everywhere: "Take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints."
❓ FAQ
What is the most famous abandoned place near Calgary?
Bankhead ghost town inside Banff National Park — a 1903 CPR coal company town of 1,000 residents closed in 1922, with the original lamp house and building foundations accessible via a short interpretive trail from the Lake Minnewanka road. The most scenically situated ghost town in Alberta.
What is Rowley ghost town?
A turn-of-the-century Alberta prairie town whose original buildings — general store, hotel, grain elevators and saloon with bottles still on the bar — still stand in striking preservation. One of the best-preserved prairie ghost towns in Canada, about two hours northeast of Calgary.
What was the Drumheller coal industry?
Over 139 coal mines operated in the Red Deer River canyon at peak production — extracting the coal seams exposed in the Badlands formations to fuel CPR locomotives and Alberta homesteads. The mines declined through the 1940s-1960s as natural gas replaced coal; the abandoned mine infrastructure in the canyon landscape is unique in Canada.
🎯 Summary
Calgary's abandoned places range from a CPR coal town inside Banff National Park to a Badlands coal mine whose headframe rises above a canyon of dinosaur-age rock and a 1920s Palliser Triangle homestead abandoned in the Dirty Thirties. Each of these 5 abandoned places in Calgary captures a different layer of Alberta's extraordinary boom-bust history.
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