Story Ideas
The Great Canadian Beer Festival on Tour to Cranbrook
This September, Canada’s oldest beer festival is going on tour! The Great Canadian Beer Festival On Tour, presented by the BC Ale Trail and Cranbrook Tourism, is coming to Cranbrook, BC on Saturday, September 23. For 29 years this festival has taken place in Victoria, BC, and for the first time you’ll be able to experience tasting Canadian craft beer from coast to coast in the basecamp of the Kootenay Rockies.
Mount Baker Hotel Revival in the Heart of Downtown
The Mount Baker Hotel was built in 1923, right after the prohibition. At the time, it was one of the finest hotels in Cranbrook. This boutique hotel has been undergoing an art deco revival over the last couple of years. The hotel turns 100 years old in 2023
Encore Brewing Open
The dynamic team behind the Fire Hall Kitchen and Tap opened Encore Brewing in May 2023. The new brewery finds its home in a long-time bowling alley, though the bowling balls havent't stopped rolling.The new venue has maintained 8 of the lanes and added some other entertainment including a niche collection of arcade games. encorebrewing.ca
A Reason in All Seasons
Every season gifts new perspectives, but a Kootenay fall is extra generous: it's when the vast landscape turns golden, each larch tree showcasing its honey-toned splendor before eventually taking its final frosty breath into winter slumber. It offers the perfect chance to take in the views, catch the last paddle, the last ride and the last call. Relive the gold rush, take in golden views and craft brews, or explore local food and art. Explore it all at ROCKIESEXPLORING.CA
The Columbia Valley Bird Trail
Nestled between the Rockies and the Purcell Mountains the Columbia Valley Bird Trail features a number of locations for observing birds. In the Cranbrook area visit the Elizabeth Lake Wetlands and the Wycliffe Butte to get started.
New Adaptive Bike Trail Padawan Completed
Padawan is a 5km green flow trail suitable for all ages. This is the newest trail in the Cranbrook Community Forest to join the Star Wars themed trails at Eager Hill. Constructed to meet adaptive specifications, this trail is meant to be a trail for all users, whether riding with kids, pushing a stroller or riding an adaptive bicycle. Adaptive trails are designed to be suitable to those who cannot ride a typical 2 wheel bicycle whether it be due to mobility, vision or cognitive limitations.
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Canadian Rockies Golf Safari
With seven amazing golf courses located within 24 minutes of one another, Cranbrook shines as a top golf destination. Each of these seven unique 18-hole golf courses are well established award-winning golf destinations. Offering inspiring, scenic views of mountain peaks, river valleys and forested hillsides, the Golf Kimberley Cranbrook courses are sure to impress. Arriving by air or land couldn't be easier when flying into the Canadian Rockies International Airport, and just an hour from one of Canada's primary travel routes, Highway # 3. The airport has direct service to Calgary, Vancouver and Kelowna.
Train Buffs Love the Canadian Museum of Rail Travel at the Cranbrook History Centre
The Canadian Museum of Rail Travel is a collection of 28 railway cars of which 13 are currently available for guided tours to the public. Highlights of the collection include the 7 cars of the 1929 "Trans-Canada Limited" (a classic "Jazz Era Art Deco" design), 2 cars of the 1907 "Soo-Spokane Train" (a deluxe example of "Edwardian Art Nouveau Elegance"), and the 1927 executive night car "Strathcona" which has housed many VIP guests during its time in service, including Queen Elizabeth II and Sir Winston Churchill.
Explore the Powder Highway
Cranbrook is the Gateway to the Powder Highway! Stay in Cranbrook and you're only minutes away from some of BC's top ski destinations.
Kimberley – 31 minutes from Cranbrook
Are you looking for a place to get away from the traffic, away from the full calendars and away from all things marked 'urgent'? Look no further than Kimberley Alpine Resort in Kimberley, B.C. where a laid back, genuine Canadian ski town and resort awaits you. Perfect Purcell powder and an abundance of sunny days come together to make Kimberley Alpine Resort the top pick for your next ski vacation! With a huge variety of ski in/ski out accommodations and family activities (including the family skating rink, night skiing, events and kids après activities) as well as race event nights and live music in the Stemwinder for the parents. Kimberley truly is the all-around winter playground you have been searching for.
Fernie – 55 minutes from Cranbrook
Delivering over 2500 acres of skiable terrain, up to 37 feet of snow in a season, 142 named runs, 5 alpine bowls, state of the art snowmaking and grooming equipment, and an exceptional beginner's area, Fernie is a true winter playground for skiers and riders of all levels. Also now featuring the most snow, most ski runs, and biggest vertical in the Rockies! Epic snow. Big lines. Vast mountains. A historic town complete with stories & legends. Interesting characters. Passionate people. This is Fernie. Where legendary skiing and snowboarding fuses with real stories from locals, pioneers, ski bums and freeskiers in one of the most classic Rocky Mountain ski towns in North America.
Cranbrook's Historic Downtown Culinary Revival
The Heid Out and Fisher Peak Brewery
The Heid Out and Fisher Peak Brewery feature fantastic food paired with beer you can only get in Cranbrook. Fisher Peak Brewery is a stop on the BC Ale Trail. Heidi's Restaurant was a popular Cranbrook establishment for years. The Romichs chose to renovate and update the restaurant, adding a brewery to the facility. The result is a welcoming and comfortable restaurant that has a kitchen focused on seasonally produced local ingredients and serves delicious, fresh craft beer. And it's just as busy as Heidi's ever was.
The Fire Hall Kitchen and Tap
A gourmet taphouse in Cranbrook's Ninety-year-old former Firehall. With red brick, high ceilings and large roll-up doors the Firehall has the rustic charm you would expect from a Firehall converted to a restaurant. With over 20 beers on tap, this is the place to taste the ales of B.C. The menu of fun dishes includes "The Token Healthy Dish", "Brinner" a waffle with beer battered chicken, and a good selection of signature poutines and burgers.
Morchella Market
This downtown market features the very best in organic, specialty and ethnic ingredients. The market also features a grab and go deli with healthy and delicious organic and/or locally-sourced options and coffee bar.
Legend, Land and Language - Discover an Ancient Culture in the Canadian Rockies
Hear stories, scrape hides, learn to bead, play traditional games and sleep in a traditional tipi with this exclusive First Nations experience. This completely unique indigenous experience is offered exclusively through the Ktunaxa Nation-owned St. Eugene Golf Resort & Casino, a Rocky Mountain destination in southern British Columbia. Guests experience traditional knowledge and culture interpreted by nation members in a hands-on environment. The Speaking Earth program is unlike any other First Nations experience. It is an artful blend of authenticity and comfort in a resort environment with a caring and knowledgeable team.
- Fast Facts
- Environment Canada reports Cranbrook as having the most sunshine hours of any BC city at 2229 hours annually.
- Cranbrook is the largest urban centre in the Kootenay region with a city population of 20, 047 and greater Cranbrook being home to 26, 083 residents.
- The Ktunaxa people have occupied the East Kootenay Region for 15,000 years.
- The Canadian Rockies (Cranbrook) International Airport is the only international airport in the Rocky Mountains.
- The Royal Alexandra Hall is widely considered the most elegant public venue in southeastern BC. Built in Winnipeg in 1906, closed in 1967 and then carefully disassembled into hundreds of pieces in 1971, it was acquired by the Cranbrook History Centre, reconstructed and opened in Cranbrook in 2004.
- Fast Facts
- Environment Canada reports Cranbrook as having the most sunshine hours of any BC city at 2229 hours annually.
- Cranbrook is the largest urban centre in the Kootenay region with a city population of 20, 047 and greater Cranbrook being home to 26, 083 residents.
- The Ktunaxa people have occupied the East Kootenay Region for 15,000 years.
- The Canadian Rockies (Cranbrook) International Airport is the only international airport in the Rocky Mountains.
- The Royal Alexandra Hall is widely considered the most elegant public venue in southeastern BC. Built in Winnipeg in 1906, closed in 1967 and then carefully disassembled into hundreds of pieces in 1971, it was acquired by the Cranbrook History Centre, reconstructed and opened in Cranbrook in 2004.