Top 10 things to see and do in Winnipeg this Autumn
These can’t-miss city experiences will see you standing below swimming polar bears, witnessing a wondrous winged migration and getting scared silly at some incredible Halloween events
These can’t-miss city experiences will see you standing below swimming polar bears, witnessing a wondrous winged migration and getting scared silly at some incredible Halloween events
Journey to Churchill at Assiniboine Park Zoo
The world’s most comprehensive Arctic species exhibit is a real showstopper. Its vast terrain is home to muskox, Arctic fox, snowy owls, caribou, wolves and of course, the show-stealing polar bears. In fact, the polar bears are no longer the only stars at the zoo, as you can catch the veterinary team on the CBC television show, Arctic Vets. Also new to the zoo is Aunt Sally’s Farm, a fun exhibit that features goats climbing rainbow bridges right over your head, along with pot-bellied pigs, llamas and mini donkeys.
Winnipeg Art Gallery
The WAG is home to the world’s largest collection of contemporary Inuit art, which now has an incredible home in the $65-million Qaumajuq. This architectural marvel—it straddles the south side of the WAG, adding to the building’s angular architecture with a façade that recalls an Arctic glacier—pays homage to the stark beauty of the Arctic landscape with thousands of works representing nearly every Inuit community. In the WAG proper, you can currently witness a collection spanning 24,000 works in a variety of mediums—running from the late Renaissance to the present—with a particular emphasis on works by local, Canadian and Indigenous artists.
The Forks National Historic Site
For more than 6,000 years, The Forks has been a meeting place for Indigenous peoples, while today it is the most-visited tourism destination in Manitoba. To celebrate its Indigenous history, you’ll find numerous works of public art throughout. This includes Niimaamaa ("my mother”) a huge sculpture by KC Adams, Jaimie Isaac and Val Vint, along with signage in Cree, Ojibway and Michif all of which is part of “one of the largest collections of Indigenous-led public expressions in any historical site in Canada.” A central feature of the area is The Forks Market, brimming with shops, food kiosks by some of the city’s best chefs and food trucks, and a gorgeous indoor and outdoor wine and beer bar called The Common.
FortWhyte Alive
Have you heard that Winnipeg is home to a huge urban bison herd? These grunting, munching beasts are always out and about at FortWhyte Alive, where experiences include encountering them on a safari. This beautiful, primarily outdoor centre has a mandate of connecting people with nature. Amongst its many trails, lakes and wetlands, you can do some birding, hiking, biking and canoeing against a backdrop of stunning fall foliage. During this season (starting in October), FortWhyte Alive’s skies are filled with migrating ducks and geese at dusk, a spectacle that is celebrated with the ever-popular Goose Flight Feasts.
The Exchange District
Winnipeg’s hippest neighbourhood is home to North America’s largest collection of turn-of-the-20th century buildings, all of them built when the city was the booming central transportation hub of the continent, with more millionaires per capita than any Canadian city. These handsome brick and marble façades are now home to some of the city’s best cafes, galleries, locally owned shops, restaurants and design firms. It all makes for a great spot to spend a day walking gorgeous streets that often stand in for New York and Chicago in Hollywood productions.
Canadian Museum for Human Rights
The building’s awe-inspiring architecture is visible from almost every area of the city, beckoning with its “glass cloud” façade. Within, visitors embark on a journey that physically climbs from darkness to light through 11 interactive galleries that present human rights stories from across the globe via artifacts, video installations and new media displays. It provides an experience that will shake you to your core, while it’s pinnacle—The Tower of Hope—provides sweeping views of the surrounding prairie, Downtown and St. Boniface.
Royal Canadian Mint
You can bet your bottom dollar that tours here are always on the money. During one, you’ll see how millions of coins are made each year for countries around the world, while interactive exhibits will test your currency knowledge and have you lifting a $600,000 gold bar (which is super heavy). The building is a stunner too, even when it serves as a stand in for an evil pharmaceutical company in the Ralph Fiennes classic, The Constant Gardener.
Manitoba Museum
This place does such an amazing job of mixing classic, somewhat-retro dioramas with modern new media displays to tell the story of the region. Its artifacts, fossils and specimens run from pliosaurs of the Cretaceous period (who once stalked the seaway where Winnipeg now stands; both the replica and 90-million-year-old fossil are quite the sight), to the national treasure HBC Collection, to the life-sized (and ever-popular) Nonsuch ship. The museum recently completed $20.5 million in upgrades, which has resulted in stunning new spaces like the revamped Prairies Gallery, which is a real feast for the senses.
Thermëa by Nordik Spa-Nature
Winnipeggers take their spa-ing seriously, which is one of the many reasons why Thermëa has been such a hit since it opened in 2015. This open-air spa features numerous thermal pools, fire pits, relaxation rooms, heated hammocks, steam rooms and saunas, all serviced by an incredible farm-to-table restaurant and bar. You can (and people often do) spend all day here, leaving feeling like the total embodiment of relaxation.
Fun Fall Frights and Events that Celebrate Autumn
Throughout October, numerous Winnipeg attractions go all out when it comes to frightfully good times. For adults, attractions like Heebie Jeebies, Fear Wpg, and Six Pines Haunted Attractions come alive with a cast of the undead, who inhabit some seriously cool spaces for groups to explore/run from in terror. For the whole family, head to spots like Amaze in Corn and Deer Meadow Farms for corn mazes, hayrides, petting zoos and more fun out on the farm after harvest.