Tourism Winnipeg

Winter fun Despite what you may have heard, winter in Winnipeg is indeed wonderful. Sure, the weather can sometimes get a little chilly, but you just need to dress for success. As you'll read below, there's a winter wonderland waiting for you that you'll want to embrace with two gloved hands (or mitts—they are warmer). Get festive at Festival Western Canada's largest winter festival returns to St. Boniface from February 18 – 27, 2022. Festival du Voyageur celebrates the city's fur trading, Métis and Francophone history via all manner of merriment. Enter a world at Fort Gibraltar brimming with gigantic snow sculptures, blazing bonfire pits, and huge tents where French cuisine, live music, maple syrup and dancing goes on day and night. There's a whole cast of costumed interpreters here too, who you'll find throughout the Fort ready to regale you with fur trading tales from the early 1800s. Skate the city The coolest way to see the city's skyline and shoreline is to experience it on one of our frozen rivers. The Centennial River Trail is one of the world's naturally frozen recreation trails (it took the Guinness World Record in 2008), providing skaters, walkers, fat tire bikers and cross-country skiers with ample space to journey up and down the Red and Assiniboine Rivers past sights like the Legislative Building, mansions and high-rises on Wellington Crescent, and those weird and wacky Warming Huts. These wonderful "huts" are the result of an annual international architecture and design competition, while luminaries like Frank Gehry, Anish Kapoor and Tanya Tagaq have all had designs out on the ice too. The easiest spot to get on the trail is from The Forks Harbour. You can also rent skates from right within The Forks Market. The Forks is also home to Arctic Glacier Winter Park, featuring glittering on-land skating trails, an Olympic-sized hockey rink in front of the WINNIPEG sign and a Crokicurl rink—a Winnipeg invention that mixes curling with crokinole, that is free to play. Winnipeg contains countless outdoor rinks and ponds that provide a great spot to lace 'em up. A few of these notable locations include The Riley Family Duck Pond in Assiniboine Park, St. Vital Park's Duck Pond and Kildonan Park's Duck Pond. Relax outdoors (yes, we're serious) After all that skating, it's time to relax. sauna|Winnipeg (also at the Forks) invites visitors to book a 90-minute sauna session that includes access to a cozy Nordic cabin and private outdoor patio with a firepit that overlooks the Forks Harbour. Robes are available for rent, while your session also includes a towel and warm facecloth. From your little patio, you can also order a glass of wine or beer from The Common to sip in your robe. In Fort Garry, Thermëa by Nordik Spa Nature is even better the colder the temperatures get. This outdoor spa features thermal pools, steam rooms, Finnish saunas, relaxation chambers, heated hammocks and numerous fire pits. Be sure to utilize the icebër waterfall before heading into its largest sauna for a signature Aufguss ritual. Winter, naturally For more outdoor fun check out FortWhyte Alive, the city's top spot for connecting people with nature. Winter offerings here include snowshoeing through its aspen forests and across its little lakes, skiing over the groomed cross-country trails, learning how to icefish and picking up some speed down the Richardson Rrrun toboggan slide. For more snow than you can imagine, head just south of the city to the snow maze at A Maze in Corn. In previous years they've claimed the Guinness World Record for world's largest snow maze, with 300 truckloads of snow used to create a 30,000 sq. ft. maze with two-metre tall walls. Skating at the duck pond at Assiniboine Park, photo by Kristhine Guerrero Fortwhyte Alive, photo by Liz Tran tourismwinnipeg.com 17 Winter fun

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