About Calgary

One of Canada’s largest museums, the Glenbow, is just one block east and features western and Canadian antiquities you will find nowhere else.  One of the permanent exhibits, Warriors, displays armour from around the world over the last five centuries.  One block further will bring you to the Epcor Centre for the Performing Arts, home to four live theaters and a concert hall.  Coming out the south entrance of the hotel brings you onto 8th Ave. or the Stephen Avenue Mall.  During the day the street is a pedestrian mall, allowing you to browse the shops and restaurants away from traffic.

Most buildings in Calgary’s Downtown core are connected by what we call a Plus 15 walkway system, a series of 57 enclosed bridges at approximately 15 feet above street level.  This 16-km system provides protection from the elements and allows pedestrians to travel from building to building, and block to block, often without having to walk outside.

A short LRT ride away is the Calgary Zoo , the second largest in Canada.  The zoo features animals from various Canadian ecosystems and from around the world.  The new elephant habitat gives you a great place to view one of our newest additions, a baby elephant.  A short walk south of the hotel is the Bernard Callibault chocolate factory, where some of the best candies in North America are made.  They do daily tours.

Calgary is renowned for fine dining.  The Hyatt has two of the best restaurants in town, Catch for seafood on the second floor and on the main floor, Thomsons.  Within a block of the hotel you will find some great restaurants such as, Teatro’s for modern Italian, Belvedere’s for French, Saltlik for Alberta beef and James Joyce for Irish pub food.  The Panorama Room, a revolving restaurant at the top of the Calgary Tower, will give you the best view of the city and mountains.  These are just a couple of the restaurants you will find nearby.

A block west along the Stephen’s Avenue mall you will come to the Hudson’s Bay store and the start of a four-block indoor shopping mall.  The Devonian Gardens, an indoor park, occupies the fourth floor of TD Square in the middle of the mall complex.  The garden is one of the world's largest indoor parks.  Today, it houses 20,000 plants representing more than 135 varieties of flora.

Three blocks north of the hotel is Calgary’s China town district.  Here you will find a wide selection of Asian restaurants from China, Vietnam and Japan..  A number of the Chinese restaurants do Dim Sum daily.  There are also a number of Chinese bakeries to get savory and sweet buns.

Two blocks west of Chinatown is the Eau Claire Market and Prince’s Island Park.  If you want an amazing breakfast try the 1886 Buffalo Cafe, a wood-framed building built in 1886 for a lumber company.  Breakfast, and only breakfast, is served until 3 PM.  For an exotic evening out you might try The River Café on the Bow River in Prince’s Island Park.  This cozy restaurant specializes in game meats served by a large fireplace.  Surrounded by trees in the middle of the park, you’d never know you were in the middle of the city.

We are preparing an area and restaurant guide for the WFC 2008, but until that is ready please take a look at the guide prepared for Westercon 2005.  (Distances shown are starting from the Westercon hotel, 4 blocks northwest of the Hyatt.)  The Hyatt is located on the guide map in the block that includes Catch and Thomson’s (#72) (along the LRT train route and 1 block north of the Calgary Tower). [click here for area guide]

There is much more we could say about Calgary, but we'll leave you to discover that on your own.  If you have specific questions, please email us at info@worldfantasy2008.org and we'll do our best to find you an answer.

World Fantasy 2008 Committee

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