Cranbrook

Cranbrook serves as the East Kootenay's largest city and service centre, a rail and highway crossroads with Rocky Mountain views in every direction and the region's busiest airport.

The Canadian Museum of Rail Travel preserves a fleet of restored 1920s passenger cars downtown, a nod to Cranbrook's history as a Canadian Pacific Railway divisional point, and the St. Eugene Golf Resort and Casino occupies the grounds of a former residential school, redeveloped in partnership with the Ktunaxa Nation.

College of the Rockies anchors post-secondary education in the city, and Cranbrook's regional airport is the East Kootenay's largest, keeping the city connected to Calgary and Vancouver. Highway 3 and Highway 95A meet here, making Cranbrook a natural base for exploring the whole East Kootenay.

Housing tends toward detached family homes with mountain views at prices well below the Okanagan or the Coast, and Cranbrook's role as a regional hub means fuller services and shopping than most Kootenay towns of similar size.