World / North America / Canada / Alberta and the Rockies / Calgary / Arrival
Approaching Calgary by air you're rewarded (in the right weather) with a magnificent view of the Rockies stretching across the western horizon. Calgary International Airport ( www.calgaryairport.com ), a modern, often half-deserted strip, is about 15km northeast of downtown. There's a small information centre (daily 10am–10pm) in Arrivals. The Arrivals level also offers courtesy phones to hotels and car-rental agencies, though most of the hotels are well away from the centre but at least usually served by courtesy shuttles. The cheapest way downtown is with Calgary Transit service #57 (every 20–30mins 6am–11pm) which costs only $2.25 but takes around an hour. You can halve the journey time by taking a shuttle bus: the Airporter (every 30mins; $9; 403/531-3907) drops you off at major downtown locations, while the Airport Shuttle Express (call to book; $12; 403/509-4799) will pick you up and drop you off at virtually anywhere. A taxi downtown costs $30.
Calgary's Greyhound bus terminal ( 403/265-9111 or 1-800/661-8747, www.greyhound.ca ) is comfortable but not convenient. It's located west of downtown at 8th Avenue SW and 850-16th St, an uninspiring thirty-minute walk to the city centre. Fortunately free transit buses operate to the C-Train at 10th Street SW, the key to the city's central transport system (free from this point through the downtown area). The shuttles leave from Gate 4 within 20 minutes of every bus arrival to the terminal and are announced over the loudspeaker: keep your ears open. Shuttles return from the same point more or less hourly on the half-hour. Alternatively, taxis for the short run to downtown ($6) are plentiful outside the terminal.
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