The province of Manitoba, in central Canada will make you feel like you’re in the middle of nowhere, but at the centre of everything. Easily accessible by rail, road and air, Manitoba is bordered by Saskatchewan to the west, Ontario to the east, Nunavut Territory to the north, and the US states of North Dakota and Minnesota to the south. It’s a special place where golden wheat fields meet infinite blue sky. More than 110,000 pristine lakes and waterways, wind-swept tundra and roaming wildlife make it a bucket-list destination for many Australian travellers. The cultural hub of Winnipeg, with its down-home hospitality, is an epicentre of art, music, and lively events.
Who travels to the Manitoba?
Adventure travellers relish Manitoba’s national and provincial parks, long meandering road trips, and far flung destinations where polar bears and arctic creatures roam free. Every season brings its own unique activities. During summer, travellers make the most of endless outdoor adventures, from kayaking the glittering lakes, horse riding, hiking through wildly diverse topography, mountain biking, and outstanding fishing. Winter is the perfect time for dog mushing, snowshoeing and snowmobiling, while the city of Winnipeg comes alive with winter festivals, performing arts, and outdoor communal sports on ice, such as Croki-Curl. A cross between curling and crokinole that takes place outdoors at The Forks, located at the junction of the Red and Assiniboine rivers.
Couples and families are drawn to Manitoba for its endless road trips, both east and west of Winnipeg, abundant with pristine lakes, roaming wildlife and national/provincial parks. There’s no shortage of remote wilderness lodges for the ultimate getaway, always served up with quintessential Manitoban hospitality.
Travellers seeking bucket-list experiences that tug at the heart strings tend to make a beeline for Churchill, known as the polar bear capital of the world. A short flight from Winnipeg, the subarctic town of Churchill is situated on the western shores of Hudson Bay, home to 900 residents and close to 1000 bears. A close encounter with one of these magnificent beasts is nothing short of a transformational experience.
Churchill offers the ideal vantage point for the mystical aurora borealis that shimmer and dance across the sky, with peak viewing season running from January – March.
How to get to Manitoba
Air Canada has daily direct flights to Vancouver from Sydney and Brisbane, with AC now also offering year-round direct flights from Melbourne. Direct flights from Sydney to Vancouver are also available on Qantas. Regular connections are available to Winnipeg.
Top 10 things to do in Manitoba
- Walk with polar bears
The king of the Arctic kingdom, the majestic polar bear can be viewed in Churchill – and there’s more than one way to do it. Take a ride in a tundra vehicle or greet the world’s largest carnivore from the comfort of a fenced wilderness lodge. See them from on high during a helicopter tour or, best of all, get down to their eye-level and photograph them in their natural habitat.
- Crack the Hermetic Code
Step inside the Manitoba Legislative Building in the capital city of Winnipeg and join the exclusive Hermetic Code Tour led by author and historian, Dr. Frank Albo. Uncover mystical secrets of the building’s architecture, so well hidden they have eluded experts for almost a century. Unearth hieroglyphic inscriptions, numerological codes and secret teachings inscribed in a Masonic language. Immerse yourself in evil-repelling icons and mysterious symbols like an 8-pointed star commonly found in ancient temples. Look at the clues and decide for yourself whether the Legislature is a recreation of legendary Solomon’s Temple.
- Witness the northern lights all year round
Located directly beneath the aurora oval, Churchill, Manitoba is considered one of the top three places on Earth to view the aurora borealis, with peak viewing season running from January to March every year. There are many ways to witness the spectacular light show, but if you head south to cottage country at The Pas, you may be lucky enough to witness the northern lights all year round. While you’re there, spend some time at beautiful Clearwater Provincial Park, with its glittering blue waters. Take a short stroll to The Caves, a beautiful rocky oasis, where you can dip your toes in the cool clear waters below.
Alternatively, head to Flin Flon for a stay at a lakeside lodge that offers fishing, hiking and snowshoeing between nightly viewings.
- Visit the Canadian Museum for Human Rights
The Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) in Winnipeg is the first national museum in Canada to be built outside the National Capital Region. It’s an experience that will stir your heart as you become immersed in multi-media technology that makes this an authentic experiential encounter. Take a journey through time and space as you move from the darkest reaches of humanity’s history (on the ground level) all the way up to the brighter, natural light that culminates at the Tower of Hope. This architectural wonder parallels the long road to freedom and human rights that so many have walked before us.
- Step into olden-day prairie life
A short drive from downtown Winnipeg, at FortWhyte Alive, you’ll get up close and personal with a herd of grunting bison – the largest animal to roam the North American landscape. Discover how Indigenous people and settlers lived alongside bison at Plains Cree Tipi, where you can hold artefacts made from bison, practice tossing a hunting spear (an ‘atlatl’) and paddle a Voyageur canoe on the lake, once filled with bundles of fur for trading.
- Gangler’s North Seal River Lodge
Intrepid explorers love Manitoba’s north with its vast, untouched wilderness, where prairies give way to boreal forest and countless glittering lakes, teeming with fish. Just 100 kilometres south of the Nunavut border, Gangler’s North Seal Wilderness Adventures offer genuine bucket-list experiences. The lodge is situated on Lake Egenolf, a prime location for unique northern adventures and wildlife spotting. Go fishing for walleye, trout and pike, traverse the giant eskers (sand bars) on fat bikes, check out the glacial erractics – the huge boulders dotted across the landscape – and catch a floatplane to the border of Nunavut, where you could be lucky enough to witness migrating caribou.
- Riding Mountain National Park
Hike more than 400 kilometres of trails, find a cycling route, hop on a horse with equipment from a local outfitter, or catch your dinner while fishing on one of many lakes or rivers at Riding Mountain National Park. The nature found in Riding Mountain National Park represents three distinct ecosystems: grasslands, mixed-wood forest, and eastern deciduous forest, all protected within the Riding Mountain Biosphere Reserve.
- Red River Mutual Trail
Strap on some skates and experience a true Winnipeg tradition as you glide your way along the Red River Mutual Trail, the longest naturally frozen skating trail in the world. Start in the heart of the city at The Forks where the Red and Assiniboine rivers converge, a gathering place for recreation, shopping and dining. Pause along the way at the unique warming huts that line the route during January, as well as renowned pop-up restaurant RAW:almond.
- Journey to Churchill
Assiniboine Park Zoo is one of the best ways to get up close and personal with magnificent polar bears and other arctic species. Journey to Churchill, a 10-acre exhibit, features magnificent polar bears, as well as wolves, snow owls, muskox, Artic fox, ringed seals, harbour seals and caribou. Prepare to be awestruck as you poise your camera while frolicking polar bears swim overhead an acrylic tunnel. Journey to Churchill is the most far-reaching project ever undertaken in Canada aimed at issues related to climate change, polar bears and other northern species.
- Festival du Voyageur
Join in Western Canada’s largest winter festival. Festival du Voyageur is the perfect venue to embrace a Manitoba winter while enjoying unique entertainment. Meet Fort Gibraltar’s historical characters, admire the incredible snow sculptures created by artists from around the world, dance along to lively music, and feast on delicious French-Canadian food. Bonding the traditions of the past with the vitality of the Franco-Manitoban community of today, Festival du Voyageur is a kitchen party not to be missed.
How to book Manitoba
Most wholesalers who sell Canada, also sell Manitoba specifically for FIT travel. For example, Adventure World Travel, Canada & Alaska Travel Connection, Momento Travel, Qantas Holidays and Natural Focus Safaris.
How to learn more about Manitoba
Destination Canada’s agents’ training program is called the Canada Specialist Program. This hugely popular program educates Australian agents on all that Canada has to offer and helps them sell Canada as a desirable holiday destination. The program includes content and training specific to Manitoba and includes opportunities for familiarisation tours to provide first-hand experience of the destination. Agents can also visit Manitoba’s travel trade website: https://www.travelmanitoba.com/travel-trade/
