Edmonton

A vast shopping mall opened in 1981, holding an indoor waterpark with a wave pool, an amusement park and an ice rink. Even in deep winter, when it drops below minus 30 outside, people ride the slides in swimsuits.

A domed building completed in 1913, with free guided tours. On one spot of the fifth floor rotunda the fountain far below sounds as if it were splashing overhead, and the guides always point it out.

The provincial museum, reopened in 2018 after moving to the heart of downtown, covering everything from dinosaur bones to Indigenous artefacts. A separate room keeps live insects, and children refuse to leave the tarantula tanks.

Four glass pyramids stand in the river valley at this botanical garden, opened in 1976. Each holds its own climate, tropical, temperate or desert, so stepping in from the snow in winter fogs up your glasses.

An open air museum rebuilding a fur trade fort and streets from successive eras, toured by steam train and streetcar. It opens only in summer, and the Indigenous peoples gallery was added in the 2021 expansion.

A fenced national park 40 minutes east by car, home to both plains bison and wood bison. Bison often stand in the road and you wait it out inside the car, and since it is a dark sky preserve some people stay until night for the stars.

82nd Avenue in Old Strathcona, south of the river, with bars and used bookshops filling red brick buildings. In August the Fringe theatre festival claims every lane and stage in the neighbourhood, and on Saturdays a farmers' market fills an old bus barn.

A steel bridge from 1913 with cars on the lower deck and, in summer, a vintage streetcar on the track along its top. As the car rolls high over the river the railings sit low, leaving the drop in full view.

A building finished in 2010, wrapped in a gleaming ribbon of steel that loops around its outside. It sits on Churchill Square facing City Hall, so kids playing in the plaza fountain and the gallery's glass wall share one view.

An inclined lift running between the downtown bluff and the riverside trails, installed in 2017. No fare is charged, and with stairs and a viewing deck alongside, many walk down and ride only on the way back up.

A science centre with an IMAX theatre and a domed planetarium, set in the residential northwest of the city. On clear days the small observatory outside points a solar telescope at the sun so visitors can see its surface.

A compact zoo tucked into the southwest corner of the river valley. In the Arctic Shores section, seals and sea lions swim past underwater windows, and a couple of hours covers the whole loop.

An open-air museum about 50km east, built from relocated homes and onion-domed churches of settlers from 1892 to 1930. Costumed interpreters speak as people of that era, and its gates open only in the summer months.

About 100km east stands a giant Easter egg sculpture over 9m tall, erected in 1975. Its pattern of fitted aluminium pieces glints in the sun, and it turns on its base with the wind like a weathervane.

An indoor arena opened in 2016 and home of the NHL's Edmonton Oilers. On game nights fans in orange and blue jerseys pack the plaza out front, worth a look for the atmosphere even without a ticket.