Dinosaur Provincial Park is an Alberta Parks provincial park 48 kilometres northeast of Brooks, and Alberta Parks is clear that it is not at Drumheller. The park has one day-use area, two campgrounds, one comfort-camping option, one group-use area, and one visitor centre.
It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979 for its fossil abundance, badlands, and riparian habitat.
Dinosaur Provincial Park is one of the richest dinosaur fossil sites in the world. Alberta Parks says more than 500 species of life have been recorded here, including 58 dinosaur species; the nature-history page notes more than 150 complete dinosaur skeletons and over 50 dinosaur species from the late Cretaceous Period.
Visitors can use the Visitor Centre, guided tours, public interpretive programs, trails, and outdoor fossil displays. Fossil Display 1 contains a nearly complete duck-billed dinosaur skeleton still partly encased in sediment, while Fossil Display 2 recreates a palaeontological quarry modelled on the Centrosaurus Bone-Bed.
Recreation includes camping, paddling, front-country and interpretive hiking, interpretive programs, and winter camping. Bicycles are restricted to paved and gravel roads, not interpretive trails or badlands. Fishing is permitted in the Red Deer River, and paddlers can float the river with careful planning.
Plan around the Visitor Centre, guided hikes, fossil programs, interpretive trails, fossil displays, photography, camping, comfort camping, Red Deer River paddling, and fishing checks.
Read current service notices before booking campsites or counting on water.
Confirm campground maps, water availability, tour schedules, trail safety, river access, fishing regulations, maps, advisories, weather, and Alberta Parks updates.
