First pick
Mandalay Bay Park
Park or garden
3.8 ha1 km of path
15 minto walk all 1 km of path
1.8 km north-eastfrom the centre
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Rural Health Professions Action Plan from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada · CC BY 2.0–Not graded
Outdoors in Carstairs · parks, protected land & trails
From Carstairs, Big Hill Springs Provincial Park is the nearest provincial park (37 km)
Out to 10 km from the town’s edge, 0% of the land is protected; 2.3% is typical for a Canadian town. A drive of 78 km reaches Banff National Park, the nearest national park.
Protected land
0%
of the land within 10 km
Typical Canadian town: 2.3%
Protected areas
0
within 10 km, 0 public
Typical Canadian town: 14
Nearest national park
78 km
Banff National Park
Nearest provincial park
37 km
Big Hill Springs Provincial Park
Against other towns
Each figure for Carstairs, set against Canadian towns
Each figure against the 2,611 Canadian towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+ (not city hubs or reserves), with the town marked and the typical one’s line. No letter: the outdoors is described for Canadian towns, not graded.
Protected within 10 km0%Share of the land and water within 10 km of the town’s edge in a protected or conserved area
Protected in town0%Share of the town’s own area in a protected or conserved area
Public protected areas0Areas within 10 km held by a government or an Indigenous nation
Walking routes0Named OpenStreetMap walking and hiking routes with 300 m+ within 2 km
CPCAD 2.9.0 (ECCC, 2026), OpenStreetMap (November 2026). Distances from the town’s outline.
Towns its size
Carstairs has the 3rd least protected land nearby of 40 towns its size
The 40 Canadian towns nearest in population (5,169 to 5,319 residents), by the share of the land within 10 km that is protected. Hover for each one’s figures; click for its page.
Protected within 10 km
Carstairs0%
Towns its size1.5%
Towns in Alberta0.4%
Typical Canadian town2.3%
Public protected areas
Carstairs0
Towns its size3
Towns in Alberta2
Typical Canadian town4
Walking routes
Carstairs0
Towns its size0
Towns in Alberta0
Typical Canadian town0
For public protected areas, Carstairs lags towns its size: 31 of 39 are ahead.
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Protected within 10 km | In town | Areas | Routes | Beaches | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grand Bay-Westfield NB | 29% | 1% | 21 | 1 | 39 |
| 2 | Oliver BC | 19% | 0.8% | 24 | 0 | 1 |
| 3 | Metchosin BC | 18% | 9.6% | 31 | 2 | 22 |
| 4 | Lake Echo NS | 16% | 33% | 25 | 2 | 5 |
| 5 | Montréal-Ouest QC | 16% | 0% | 24 | 0 | 2 |
| 6 | Upper Tantallon NS | 13% | 19% | 157 | 3 | 12 |
| 7 | Témiscouata-sur-le-Lac QC | 11% | 1% | 3 | 6 | 3 |
| 8 | Saint-Denis-de-Brompton QC | 9.4% | 1.6% | 19 | 2 | 3 |
| 9 | Antigonish NS | 7.6% | 0% | 10 | 1 | 0 |
| 10 | Gourley ON | 6.5% | 0% | 17 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | Uplands SK | 5.4% | 0% | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | Trumpeter Area AB | 5.4% | 1.6% | 9 | 7 | 0 |
| 13 | Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay BC | 4.5% | 7.4% | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | Heritage SK | 4% | 0% | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 15 | Aldergrove AB | 3.7% | 0% | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | Crown Point East ON | 3.1% | 0% | 23 | 1 | 6 |
| 17 | Centre Hastings ON | 2.5% | 1.4% | 30 | 2 | 3 |
| 18 | Southdale ON | 1.9% | 0% | 22 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | Waverley Heights MB | 1.7% | 0% | 22 | 0 | 1 |
| 20 | Mt. Hope Huron Park ON | 1.5% | 0% | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | Normand Park MB | 1.5% | 3.1% | 18 | 0 | 1 |
| 22 | South West Industrial SK | 1.4% | 0% | 19 | 0 | 1 |
| 23 | Mount Royal SK | 1.3% | 0% | 16 | 0 | 3 |
| 24 | Shaughnessy Park MB | 1.1% | 0% | 13 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | Marystown NL | 0.6% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| 26 | St. Boniface Industrial Park MB | 0.6% | 0.1% | 19 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | Deer Lake NL | 0.4% | 3.8% | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| 28 | Norwood ON | 0.3% | 0% | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| 29 | Bannerman AB | 0.3% | 0% | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 30 | Bearspaw AB | 0.3% | 0% | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 31 | Ogilvie Ridge AB | 0.3% | 0% | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 32 | Belmont AB | 0.2% | 0% | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 33 | Kirkness AB | 0.2% | 0% | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 34 | Saint-Cyrille-de-Wendover QC | 0.1% | 0.5% | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 35 | Edmonton Energy And Technology Park AB | 0.1% | 0.8% | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 36 | Ritchie AB | 0.1% | 0% | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 37 | Tweddle Place AB | 0.1% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 38 | Carstairs AB | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 39 | Didsbury AB | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 40 | Rundle Heights AB | 0% | 0% | 0 | 1 | 0 |
The map
Where the green is in Carstairs
The town’s parks, woods, protected land and paths, with its named places numbered.
Green: OpenStreetMap parks, gardens, playing fields and woods. Hatched: CPCAD protected areas.© OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL); CPCAD (OGL-Canada)
Places to walk
4 parks and woods to walk in, in or near Carstairs
Largest first: Mandalay Bay Park leads with 3.8 ha. Numbers match the map.
4 named parks and woods, 6 ha in all
Parks & gardens 5.5 ha
Add Mandalay Bay Park to Doggers Park and you have 82% of it.
Carstairs Off Leash Dog Park
Park or garden
0.4 ha
1.0 km eastfrom the centre
Directionsto a point inside
Source: OpenStreetMap parks, gardens, commons and woods with a name, in the town or within 400 m, © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Sizes are the mapped outline’s.
Close to home
About 9 in 10 of Carstairs’ residents are a short walk from a park
Residents of each 2021 dissemination area, at a point inside it, within 400 m (about a 5-minute walk) of a park or playing field mapped on OpenStreetMap.
Within 400 m (89%)Further (11%)
Carstairs89%
Towns in Alberta100%
Typical Canadian town83%
Against the typical Canadian town’s 83%, that is high. About 600 residents live further than 400 m from one.
Protected areas
No protected area lies within 10 km of Carstairs
Every protected and conserved area in CPCAD within 10 km of the town’s edge: parks, reserves, wildlife areas and conservation land.
The nearest provincial park is Big Hill Springs Provincial Park, 37 km away.
Source: Canadian Protected and Conserved Areas Database (CPCAD) 2.9.0, Environment and Climate Change Canada. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
National & provincial parks
Banff National Park is 78 km away
National parks (Parks Canada) and provincial or territorial parks by direction and distance from the town’s edge: every one within 10 km, and the nearest of each within 100 km.
National parkProvincial park
Provincial park
Big Hill Springs Provincial Park
37 km south-west0.3 km²since 1957
National park
Banff National Park
78 km west6,641 km²since 1885
Nearer still is Big Hill Springs Provincial Park, a provincial park 37 km away.
Source: CPCAD 2.9.0 (ECCC): areas and outlines, distances outline to outline; directions from the town’s centre point.
Footpaths and woods
Carstairs and its edge hold 25 km of footpath
OpenStreetMap footpaths, paths, bridleways and steps, and tracks open on foot, in the town and 1 km around it; woods as mapped (landuse=forest, natural=wood).
Footpaths
25 km
in and around the town (30.6 km²)
Woodland
1.8%
about 0.6 km² of mapped woods
Footpaths · km per km²
CarstairsTowns in AlbertaTypical Canadian town
Footpaths0.8
024 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
CarstairsTowns in AlbertaTypical Canadian town
Woodland1.8%
0%50%100%
Woods cover less of it than in 76% of Canadian towns. For path density, 60% of Canadian towns do better.
Source: OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Mapping varies by place: a dense figure can mean keen local mappers as much as many paths.
Walking routes
OpenStreetMap shows no walking route near Carstairs
Named walking and hiking routes on OpenStreetMap with at least 300 m within 2 km of the town, longest first; national routes lead.
OpenStreetMap lists no walking route near the town, though paths on the ground may well exist.
Source: OpenStreetMap (route relations hiking, foot and walking), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Trans Canada Trail sections as OSM maps them.
When to get out
The best months for walking in Carstairs: May and September
Environment and Climate Change Canada’s 1991–2020 normals from Sundre (47 km), and daylight at the town’s latitude. Good months: 12½+ hours of daylight, highs of 15–30 °C, little rain.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 8.3 | 9.9 | 11.7 | 13.8 | 15.6 | 16.6 | 16.2 | 14.6 | 12.6 | 10.5 | 8.8 | 7.8 |
| High (°C) | -2 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 16 | 19 | 23 | 22 | 17 | 11 | 3 | -1 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 13 | 13 | 21 | 30 | 63 | 104 | 85 | 71 | 47 | 20 | 16 | 16 |
Summer highs reach 23 °C in July; in January they stay near -2 °C. June is the wettest month (104 mm) and January the driest (13 mm). Some 139 cm of snow falls each winter. The climate in Carstairs →
Things to do
A viewpoint near Carstairs
Viewpoints, peaks, waterfalls, picnic sites, nature reserves, playgrounds, dog parks, campsites and boat launches mapped within 2 km of the town.
Count 23 playgrounds, the biggest group.
Every named place, with directions
Viewpoints 1
Plus 1 viewpoint without a name on the map.
Nature reserves 1
Plus 1 nature reserve without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 23
Plus 20 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Source: OpenStreetMap (tourism, natural, waterway and leisure tags), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
Next door
Next to Carstairs
The nearest places, coloured by the share of the land within 10 km that is protected; tap one for its outdoors page.
DidsburyCrossfieldCarstairs
Under 1%1–5%5–15%15–40%40%+
| Town | Protected within 10 km | Areas | Routes | Beaches |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carstairs | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Didsbury 12 km | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Crossfield 15 km | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
For protected land, no neighbour of Carstairs doubles its share.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Walking routes. A route counts when 300 m or more of it lies within 2 km of the town. Coverage of trails on OpenStreetMap varies by region.
- Protected land. The 10 km band starts at the town’s outline, not its centre, so a large municipality reaches further than a small town.
- National and provincial parks. Distances run from the town’s edge to the park’s, so 0 km means they touch.
- Private land. Land owned by individuals, companies or conservation groups counts toward the figures but is never named: a person’s land isn’t a place to visit.
Questions about the outdoors in Carstairs
What is the best season to get outdoors in Carstairs?
May and September: long days, mild highs and little rain.
Is Carstairs near a national park?
Banff National Park is closest, at 78 km.
Is there a provincial park near Carstairs?
Big Hill Springs Provincial Park, 37 km from the edge of town.
Sources
Where Carstairs’ outdoors figures come from
Protected areas: Canadian Protected and Conserved Areas Database (CPCAD) 2.9.0, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 2026: every area within 10 km and the nearest national and provincial parks, measured outline to outline.
Walking routes and beaches: OpenStreetMap, November 2026: named hiking, foot and walking route relations within 2 km and beaches within 5 km.
Towns: Statistics Canada 2021 Census boundaries and populations; the comparison is the Canadian towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+, not city hubs or reserves.
When to go: Environment and Climate Change Canada, Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020, from the nearest station that publishes them.
Green space, paths, woods, things to do: OpenStreetMap (Geofabrik’s Canada extract), November 2026: parks, gardens, playing fields, woods, footpaths, the coastline and things to do in and around each town.
Residents: Statistics Canada 2021 Census dissemination areas (population, boundaries), each at a point inside it.
Walking routes and beaches © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database Licence (ODbL).
Not on this page: trailheads and trail grades, and beach water quality. No open Canadian dataset gives these for every town yet.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).