Top five must-sees in Winnipeg: From the Canadian Museum for Human Rights to Assiniboine Park Zoo

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Winnipeg is definitely a city on the rise, with fabulous new museums and a new feeling of confidence. Here are five must-do activities and things to see in Manitoba’s capital.

MUSEUMS

The Canadian Museum for Human Rights is the only national museum of Canada located outside the Ottawa region and it’s a beauty. The building is an airy delight near the joining of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers in The Forks area, with shimmering interior bridges lined with Spanish alabaster and LED lights that give the stone a glowing, opaque effect. At the top, the Tower of Hope provides awesome views of the city. Inside, find compelling stories of human struggles – and human foibles – from Canada and around the world. The Manitoba Museum has lovely galleries and displays on everything from native Canadians to massive, awe-inspiring dinosaurs. There’s also a planetarium and science gallery.

ASSINIBOINE PARK

This is one of the top urban parks in North America, a sprawling complex of green space, gardens and attractions designed in 1904 by a student of legendary parks planner Frederick Law Olmsted, who co-designed Central Park in New York City. Gardeners will take great delight in the floral displays and ponds, as well as the sculpture garden. Inside the Assiniboine Park Zoo, the Journey to Churchill might be the best place in the world to watch polar bears play in the water from a glass tunnel below their enclosure and admire their grace and agility. The zoo also has a steam train, snow leopards, lions and more.

NEIGHBOURHOODS

The Forks in many ways is the heart of Winnipeg, a vast stretch of riverside real estate filled with visitors and locals on a spring or summer day. Find a lovely market with everything from organic baked goods to wine and gourmet cheese, as well as artisans selling crafts, cigars and more. There’s also a children’s museum, restaurants, a skateboard park, vintage rail cars and the nine-acre Forks National Historic Site park. Osborne Village, named Canada’s best neighbourhood in 2012 by a group of urban planners, is a wonderful, walkable area south of downtown with interesting shops and restaurants, such as Rockabetty, with its vintage-looking, rockabilly-influenced clothing, The Happy Cooker, with wonderful kitchen gear, and Baked Expectations, which serves angel food cake with pecans, whipped crème and caramel sauce.

ICONIC FOOD

Winnipeg is famous for several inexpensive, but hugely fun, food places. The Bridge Drive-In (known as The BDI) is a popular old-fashioned ice cream place that dishes out dozens of treats, including something called a Goog, a blueberry milkshake with banana, chocolate fudge, peanuts and a cherry. The Salisbury House has been selling hamburgers called “Nips” for 85 years. It’s a fun place partly owned by Burton Cummings and features cool Guess Who paraphernalia.

SPORTS

Winnipeg somehow feels more complete now that the NHL is back in town. The Jets play in a lovely new arena in the heart of downtown, the MTS Centre, which is sparking new development and hope for the central business district. The AHL Manitoba Moose also play at the centre, which hosts not only sports but concerts by the likes of Metric and ZZ Top. The CFL’s Blue Bombers play in the recently built Investors Group Field.

DEAL OF THE WEEK

Until April 30, 2016, travellers who book with Insight Vacations on a selection of its 50 most popular itineraries from their Premium and Luxury Gold 2016 Europe and Britain collection will receive free airfare for their travelling partner. There are seven other itineraries where the second guest can fly for $399. For information, visit insightvacations.com/ca/special-offers/fly-free.