Canada (Alberta)
Edmonton
Alberta's provincial capital, EDMONTON is among Canada's most northerly cities, and at times - notably in the teeth of its bitter winters - it can seem a little too far north for comfort. Sat above the waters of the North Saskatchewan River, whose park-filled valley winds below the high-rises of downtown, the city tries hard with its festivals, parks, restaurants and urban renewal projects.

With a downtown area that still has the unfinished feel of a frontier town, however, it's perhaps appropriate that the premier attraction for seventy percent of visitors is a shopping centre, the infamous West Edmonton Mall. This certainly has curiosity value, but not really enough to merit a special journey here. Downtown has a handful of modest sights, though most enjoyment in the city is to be had in Old Strathcona, a rejuvenated "historic" district south of the North Saskatchewan River filled with heritage buildings, modest museums and plenty of eating and drinking venues. Edmonton lacks the big set-piece museums of Calgary and Vancouver, but - in the outlying Space and Science Centre - has a sight within a whisker of the first rank.

 

Some History
Edmonton's site attracted Native Canadians for thousands of years before the arrival of white settlers, thanks to the abundance of local quartzite, used to make sharp-edged stone weapons and tools. Fur traders arrived in the eighteenth century, attracted by river and forest habitats that provided some of Canada's richest fur-producing territory. Better still, the area lay at the meeting point of the territory patrolled by the Blackfoot to the south and the Cree and Assiniboine to the north. Normally these Native Canadians would have been implacable enemies, but around Edmonton's future site they were able to coexist when trading with intermediaries like the North West Company. In 1795 the North West Company built Fort Augustus on Edmonton's present site, joined later the same year by Fort Edmonton, a redoubtable log stockade built by William Tomison for the Hudson's Bay Company (and named in fine sycophantic fashion after an estate owned by Sir James Winter Lake, the Hudson's Bay Company's deputy governor).

Though the area soon became a major trading district, settlers arrived in force only after 1870, when the HBC sold its governing right to the Dominion of Canada. The decline of the fur trade in around 1880 made little impact, as the settlement continued to operate as a staging point for travellers heading north. Worldwide demand for grain also attracted settlers to the region, now able to produce crops despite the poor climate thanks to advances in agricultural technology. Crucially, though, the first trans-Canada railway was pushed through Calgary at Edmonton's expense, and when a spur was built by the Edmonton Railway Company in 1891 it finished south of the town at Strathcona, where a new settlement developed. The city only became firmly established with the Yukon gold rush of 1897, and only then through a scam of tragic duplicity. Prompted by the city's outfitters, newspapers lured prospectors with the promise of an "All Canadian Route" to the gold fields that avoided Alaska and the dreaded Chilkoot Trail. In the event, this turned out to be a largely phantom trail across 3000km of intense wilderness. Hundreds of men perished as they pushed north; many of those who survived, or who never set off, ended up settling in Edmonton. World War II saw the city's role reinforced by its strategic position relative to Alaska, while its postwar growth was guaranteed by the Leduc oil strike in 1947. By 1956 some 3000 wells were in production within 100km of the city. If Edmonton has achieved any fame since, it has been in the field of sports, as the home of Wayne Gretzky, the greatest player in ice-hockey history. Oil money continues to bankroll all sorts of civic improvements, though never quite manages to disguise the city's rather rough-and-ready pioneer roots.

Downtown

Downtown Edmonton only really comes alive as a place to wander on sunny days when office workers pour out for lunch; otherwise it's really not much of a place to linger unless you're in town for one of the city's many festivals. However, with time to kill the following low-key sites would keep you occupied. The Edmonton Art Gallery (Mon–Wed 10.30am–5pm, Thurs & Fri 10.30am–8pm, Sat, Sun & holidays 11am–5pm; $4, free Thurs 4–8pm; tel 422-6223), part of the Civic Centre on 99th Street and 102nd Avenue on the north edge of Sir Winston Churchill Square, deals mainly in modern Canadian artists, though it also hosts many visiting exhibitions. To get here if you're not already downtown, take the #2 bus or LRT to Churchill station. More satisfyingly offbeat is the Edmonton Police Museum and Archives on the third floor of the central police station at 9620-103A Avenue (Mon–Sat 9am–3pm, closed public holidays; free; tel 421-2274), which traces the long arm of Albertan law enforcement from the formation of what would become the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) in 1873 to the city's current flatfoots. Marvel at handcuffs, old jail cells and a stuffed rat that served time as an RCMP mascot.

Walk across the Low Level Bridge to the distinctive glass pyramids of the Muttart Conservatory (Mon–Fri 9am–6pm, Sat & Sun 11am–6pm; $4.75; tel 496-8755), just south of downtown and the river at 9626-96A Street. Three high-tech greenhouses reproduce tropical, temperate and arid climates, complete with the trees and plants (and occasional exotic birds) which flourish in them; a fourth houses a potpourri of experimental botanical projects and temporary exhibitions. If you don't want to walk, take bus #51 (Capilano) travelling south on 100th Street just south of Jasper Avenue as far as 98th Avenue and 97A Street, then walk one block south.

Finally, you might stop by for a free guided tour of the domed sandstone Alberta Legislature Building (March to late May & early Sept to Feb Mon–Fri 9am–4.30pm, Sat & Sun noon–5pm; late May to early Sept Mon–Fri 8.30am–5pm, Sat & Sun 9am–5pm) south of Jasper Avenue on 97th Avenue and 107th Street (the nearest LRT station is Grandin). Set in the manner of a medieval cathedral over an ancient shrine, it was built in 1912 on the original site of Fort Edmonton. Topped by a vaulted dome, it's a big city landmark, its interior reflecting the grandiose self-importance of the province's early rulers, who imported wood for their headquarters from as far afield as Belize: the marble came from Québec, Pennsylvania and Italy, the granite from rival British Columbia. Just to the north, amidst 57 acres of parkland that flanks the building, stands the Alberta Legislative Assembly Interpretive Centre, where you can learn more than you probably want to know about Alberta's political history and the building in which much of it took place (same hours as Legislature; tel 427-2826 for general information on the Legislature Building, tel 427-7362 for tour information and booking).

Edmonton Space and Science Centre
The splendid Edmonton Space and Science Centre opened in Coronation Park, 11211-142nd St, in 1984, and is now one of the city's principal attractions (Tues–Sun 10am–8.30pm; $6.95, Combo Pack $11.95 includes Zeidler Star Theatre Shows, exhibits and scientific demonstrations or one IMAX film presentation; tel 451-3344 or 452-9100, www.edmontonscience.com). The complex has two main attractions: the Margaret Zeidler Star Theatre (daily 11am–7pm) houses Canada's largest planetarium dome, several galleries and presents different laser and star shows hourly; and the IMAX Theatre, housed with a café and shop in the so-called Lower Gallery, is a large-screen cinema with special-format films and laser shows (prices and times vary according to shows). Elsewhere, the Middle Gallery features a range of temporary exhibitions on scientific and technological themes, while the Upper Gallery contains the Challenger Centre and its "Astronaut Missions", designed to allow you to make simulated space missions. There are also assorted displays on advanced communications technology, and a selection of the various science demonstrations you can expect to see around the centre throughout the day. Computers are dealt with in the Dow Computer Lab, while budding astronomers can check in to the centre's Observatory (weather allowing Fri 8pm–midnight, Sat & Sun 1–5pm & 8pm–midnight). To get here on public transport take a #5 (Westmount) bus travelling west on 102nd Avenue and then north on 124th Street – ask the driver to tell you when you're close.

Fort Edmonton Park
Located southwest of the city on a deep-cut bend of the North Saskatchewan River at the southwest end of Quesnell Bridge and Fox Drive, the 158-acre Fort Edmonton Park (daily late May to late June Mon–Fri 10am–4pm, Sat & Sun 10am–6pm; late June to early Sept daily 10am–6pm; rest of Sept Mon–Sat 11am–3pm, Sun & holidays 11am–6pm; $7.25 late June to early Sept, tel 5.50 rest of the opening period; tel 496-8787) undertakes to re-create the history of white settlement in Edmonton during the nineteenth century. Everything has been built from scratch and, while you can't fault the attention to detail, the pristine woodwork of the supposedly old buildings hardly evokes period authenticity (though the carpentry methods are apparently those used around 1846). To get here take the LRT to University station and there pick up buses #4, #30, #32 or #106 to Fox Drive, Whitemud Drive and Keillor Road, about ten-minutes' walk from the site, which is off the Whitemud Freeway near the Quesnell Bridge.

The heart of the complex is a facsimile of Fort Edmonton, a fur-trading post dominated by the Big House, former home of the Chief Factor, John Rowland, head of the (then) ill-defined Saskatchewan District between 1828 and 1854. Arranged around the house are the quarters of the 130 or so people who called the fort home and who are now represented by appropriately dressed guides pretending to be blacksmiths, shopkeepers and schoolteachers from the era. Edmonton's later, pre-railway age is represented by a rendition of Jasper Avenue as it appeared in 1885, while two other streets simulate 1905 and 1920, complete with working steam engines and trams, which you can ride at no additional cost, to bolster the period effect.

Old Strathcona
The Strathcona district south of the North Saskatchewan River grew up at the end of the nineteenth century, thanks to a decision by the Calgary and Edmonton Railway Company (C&E) to avoid the expense of a bridge across the North Saskatchewan River by concluding a rail spur from Calgary south of the river and Edmonton proper. In 1912, when its population had reached about 7500, the new town was incorporated into the city. Today the streets and many of the older buildings have been spruced up in a manner typical of urban-renewal projects – lots of new pavements and fake period street furniture. This said, it's still the city's best-preserved old quarter, and the nicest to wander around on a sunny day. Plenty of buses run here from downtown, or you can walk across the river via the Walterdale or High Level bridges. The best approach is to take the LRT to University station and board buses #8, #43 or #46 to 104th Street and 82nd Avenue.

The area centres on Whyte Avenue (82nd Ave) to the south, 109th Street to the west, and 103rd to the east. Most of the cafés, restaurants and shops are on or just off Whyte or 103rd, which makes the Old Strathcona Foundation office (summer Mon–Fri 8.30am–4.30pm; rest of the year Tues & Wed 8.30am–4.30pm; tel 433-5866), at 401-10324 Whyte Ave, on the corner of these two thoroughfares, a sensible first port of call. Here you can pick up pamphlets detailing walks and drives that take in the area's historic buildings. Just to the north, on 83rd Avenue, is the Old Strathcona Farmers' Market (July & Aug Sat 8am–3pm, Tues & Thurs noon–4pm; rest of the year Sat 8am–3pm; tel 439-1844; free), a happy hunting ground for picnic supplies and craft goods.

If you tire of wandering or sitting in cafés, you can give a little structure to your exploration by heading for one or both of the area's two small museums. Rail buffs should check out the C&E Railway Museum, 10447-86th Ave (June to Aug Tues–Sat 10am–4pm, winter by appointment; $2; tel 433-9739), a collection of railway memorabilia, costumes and photos housed in a replica of Strathcona's original 1891 station. Nostalgia buffs might make for the Telephone Historical Information Centre, 10437-83rd Ave (Tues–Fri 10am–4pm, Sat noon–4pm; $3; tel 441-2077), a collection of exhibits and displays connected with telecommunications in Edmonton past, present and future housed in Strathcona's original 1912 telephone exchange. It's North America's largest museum of its kind.

Provincial Museum of Alberta
Housed in a drab building well out in the western suburbs – a ten-minute drive from downtown – at 12845-102nd Ave, the Provincial Museum of Alberta (daily 9am–5pm; $6.50; tel 453-9100) makes a reasonable introduction to the history, culture, flora and fauna of western Canada if Edmonton is your first stop in the region. There's no getting round the fact, though, that Calgary, Victoria and Vancouver all have vastly superior museums on similar themes, although much of Edmonton's museum is in the process of being spruced up. To reach it by bus, take the #1, #14, #100, #111, #113, #114 or #120 buses heading west to "Jasper Place" on Jasper Avenue.

Natural history exhibits include painted dioramas and stuffed animals, taxidermy being the stock in trade of virtually all western Canada's museums; by far the best section concerns the region's bison herds and their virtual extinction. Other displays include a humdrum collection of domestic appliances, a couple of beautiful chrome stoves and vintage jukeboxes and a rundown of the native peoples of the province. The last collection used to be pretty workaday, but has been cheered up considerably by the Syncrude Gallery of Aboriginal Culture, where money from Syncrude, one of the big companies involved in the oil sand business, has produced a series of state-of-the-art multimedia displays that do justice to the history and culture of the Blackfoot and other aboriginal cultures with displays of art, artefacts, and other exhibits. Other more engaging parts of the museum are the Bug, a showcase of live and often exotic insects, and "Earth's Changing Face", a geological display of gems, minerals, rocks and dinosaur exhibits. The museum also comes into its own when hosting temporary and travelling exhibitions from collections and museums around the world – ask at the visitor centre for details of latest exhibitions.

West Edmonton Mall

"Your Adventure Awaits", announces the brochure to West Edmonton Mall (tel 444-5200 or 1-800/463-4667, www.westedmall.com), preparing you for a place that gets eleven mentions in the Guinness Book of Records, including its main claim to fame as the "largest shopping mall in the world." Built at a total cost of $1.1 billion, the complex extends over the equivalent of 115 American football fields (or 48 city blocks) and boasts more than 800 shops – of which some 110 are restaurants – plus 19 cinemas, and 11 department stores. The mall's effect on Edmonton has been double-edged: it employs 15,000 people but has captured thirty percent of the city's retail business, thus crippling the downtown shopping area, though it has also succeeded, to everyone's surprise, in attracting twenty million visitors a year (or 55,000 a day).

Funnily enough, many of the shops are rather downmarket (retail hours are Mon–Fri 10am–9pm, Sat 10am–6pm, Sun noon–6pm), though the sheer size of the place is enough to keep you browsing all day. There's almost a queue of superlatives. Its car park is the world's largest, with room for 20,000 cars; it has the world's largest water park (50 million litres of water); it uses enough power to run a town of 50,000 people; and features the world's only indoor bungee jump (jumps from about $60, to $90 if you want the full video and T-shirt package). The world's largest indoor lake (122m long), part of a cluster of attractions known as Deep Sea Adventure (Mon–Thurs 11pm–4.30pm, Fri & Sat 11am–7.30pm, Sun 11am–5.30pm; $13) contains a full-sized replica of Columbus's Santa Maria, and four working submarines – more than are owned by the Canadian navy – offering an underwater trip past some 200 different species of marine life. Other distractions here include dolphin shows ($2), canoe rentals, scuba diving and an underwater aquarium ($3 on its own) laced with the inevitable sharks.

Then there's the world's largest indoor amusement park, the Galaxyland (Mon–Thurs noon–8pm, Fri & Sat 10am–10pm, Sun 11am–7pm; day-pass $29.95), which features such attractions as the Drop of Doom, a thirteen-storey "free-fall experience", and the fourteen-storey Mindbender triple-loop roller coaster. The latter, it comes as no surprise to learn, is the world's largest indoor roller coaster. The World Waterpark, by contrast, is a superb collection of vast swimming pools, immense water slides and wave pools (Mon–Thurs noon–7pm, Fri & Sat 10am–8pm, Sun 11am–6pm; day-pass $29.95, cheaper after 5pm). If you've still any energy, you can also ice-skate on a National Hockey League-size skating rink ($4.50 a session, skate rental $3). You could round off the day or indulge yourself further in one of the mall's many cinemas (including a recently introduced IMAX), the Ice Palace, Dolphin Presentations, Sea Life Caverns, Professor Wem's Golf Adventure, or a variety of clubs. If you want to go the whole hog, then spend the night, in the 354-room Fantasyland Hotel (tel 444-3000 or 1-800/661-6454; $175–240) where 118 of the rooms are intricately equipped and decorated to fulfil various assorted fantasies: Roman, Hollywood, Arabian, Victorian Coach, African, Igloo, Canadian Rail and, most intriguing of all, Truck. Cheaper rooms are available without jacuzzis and mirrored ceilings. There are over 100 places to eat, some lined up on two "theme" streets: Europa Boulevard and a New Orleans-style Bourbon Street.

Bus services to the mall heading west out of downtown include #100, #109, #111 and #113. The monster's location, so far as it has an address (it has five different postal codes and 58 entrances – remember which one you parked by if you've come by car), is 170th Street and 87th Avenue. Maps are available throughout the main building at information booths, where you can also get information and any number of facts and figures. If you get tired, scooters can be rented from about $6 an hour. For more information, call 444-5200 or 1-800/661-8890.

Arrival, transport and orientation
Edmonton is one of the easiest places to reach in western Canada. Its road and rail links are excellent, and the international airport, 29km south of downtown off Hwy 2 (Calgary Trail), is served by many national, American and European airlines. There's a small visitor information desk (Mon–Fri 7.30am–11.30pm, Sat & Sun 10am–11.30pm; tel 890-8382 or 1-800/268-7134) in the arrivals area: Travelex (daily 5am–11pm; tel 890-2370) foreign exchange facilities are upstairs in departures alongside the Second Cup coffee concession. The majority of internal flights from the Yukon and Northwest Territories fly here in preference to Calgary; numerous shuttle flights ply between the two cities, and if you phone around, you should be able to pick up some bargain flights. Note that the municipal airport north of downtown, still occasionally mentioned in visitors' blurb, closed to most commercial traffic in 1996; now only very small planes, including one or two shuttle flights from Calgary, use the airport, which is, nevertheless, acquiring a new $300-million international terminal (though until the Air Canada–Canadian Air merger is complete it remains to be seen how exactly that money will be spent). New international connections will certainly be added, including direct flights from Los Angeles and – quite possibly – from the UK.

A shuttle bus, the Sky Shuttle (tel 465-8515 or 1-888/438-2342, www.edmontonairports.com), runs to downtown hotels on three different routes – two serving the university district and the west of the city as well – with services leaving every twenty minutes (every thirty minutes on weekends and holidays) from 4.30am to 12.15am, for $11 one-way, $18 return; there's a dedicated shuttle-info desk almost alongside the visitor-information desk, but you purchase tickets from the driver – the bus leaves from outside arrivals through doors near both desks. Taxis from the airport to the downtown area cost around $35. Note that the airport shuttle's "West End" route will take you directly to the West Edmonton Mall : this bus runs every 45 minutes on weekdays and every hour on weekends. The new Jasper Express service links Edmonton airport directly with Jasper (information and reservations: tel 1-800/661-4946).

Following the closure to passengers of the famous Rockies railway via Calgary, Edmonton is also where you'll arrive if you take Canada's last remaining transcontinental passenger train. The new VIA Rail station is now some 3km or ten-minutes' drive northwest of downtown at 12360-121st St (ticket office usually daily 8am–3.30pm, longer hours when trains are due; ticket office tel 422-6032; Via Rail tel 1-800/561-8630, www.viarail.ca); the Greyhound bus terminal (daily 5.30am–midnight; depot tel 413-8747, Greyhound tel 1-800/661-8747 in Canada, 1-800/231-2222 in the US, www.greyhound.ca) is also central at 10324-103rd St and within easy walking distance of central downtown just to the south. It has an A&W restaurant, cash machine and lockers ($2). Note that if you're arriving from, or heading to, Calgary on Red Arrow buses (four daily; tel 424-3339 or 1-800/232-1958 in Alberta, www.redarrow.pwt.ca), their terminal is at the Howard Johnson Plaza hotel at 10010-104th St.

Information centres can be found at the airport in arrivals and dotted around the city, but the most central, on the Pedway Level (one level down from the street and pretty well hidden – follow signs for "Economic Development Edmonton") in the Shaw Conference Centre, 9797 Jasper Ave NW (Mon–Fri 8.30am–4pm; tel 496-8400 or 1-800/463-4667, www.tourism.ede.org, www.infoedmonton.com or www.discoveredmonton.com), have all the usual maps and pamphlets and can also help with accommodation. There's another big information centre south of the city at 2404 Calgary Trail Northbound SW, site of the Imperial Leduc 1 Oil Derrick and Interpretive Centre (June to early Sept daily 8am–9pm; rest of the year Mon–Fri 8.30am–4.30pm, Sat & Sun 9am–5pm).

The downtown area is easily negotiated on foot. Unless you have a car, longer journeys have to be made using Edmonton Transit, an integrated bus and light-rail (LRT) system. Interchangeable tickets for bus and LRT cost $1.65; day-passes cost $5. You can buy tickets on buses or from machines in the ten LRT stations. Transfers are available from drivers on boarding for use on other services for ninety minutes. The LRT is free between Grandin and Churchill stations Monday to Friday 9am to 3pm and Saturday 9am to 6pm. Call 496-1611 for route and timetable information or visit the Customer Services Outlet at Church LRT Station, 99th Street (Mon–Fri 8.30am–4.30pm).

Addresses are easy to decipher if you remember that avenues run east–west, with numbers increasing as you travel further north, while streets run north–south, the numbers increasing as you move westwards. Building numbers tend to be tacked onto the end of street numbers, so that 10021-104th Avenue is 21 100th Street, at the intersection with 104th Avenue.

Accommodation
Edmonton has no shortage of hotels, due to its importance among business travellers. As the city sees fewer tourists than Calgary, its budget accommodation is more available but also less salubrious than that of its southern neighbour. There are plenty of reasonably priced beds in the big middle-ranking hotels – especially out of season. Motels can be found in the unlovely outskirts of the city, the main concentrations being along Stony Plain Road (northwest of downtown) and on the Calgary Trail (south). For a free accommodation reservation service, contact Alberta Express Reservations (tel 464-3515 or 1-800/884-8803, www.hotelforyou.com). For details of B&B lodgings, contact the visitor centre or Alberta Central Bed & Breakfast Association (tel 437-2568, www.bbcanada.com/albertacentral), but note that hotel beds in the city are generally not expensive, so you won't necessarily make much of a saving in B&Bs.
 
  • Alberta Place Suite Hotel, 10049-103rd St (tel 423-1565 or 1-800/661-3982, fax 426-6260). Large, well-equipped suites with kitchens and extra facilities; weekly rates available. $80–100.
  • Best Western City Centre Inn, 11310-109th St (tel 479-2042 or 1-800/666-5026, fax 474-2204, www.travelweb.com). Typical property of this reliable mid-priced chain. $80–100.
  • Coast Edmonton Plaza Hotel, 10155-105th St (tel 423-4811 or 1-800/663-1144, fax 423-3204). Edmonton's top-of-the-pile 299-room hotel is worth considering if you want modern facilities rather than the Macdonald's old-world charm . $125–175.
  • Days Inn Downtown, 10041-106th St (tel 423-1925 or 1-800/267-2191, fax 424-5302). Mid-sized and renovated central motel with parking just off Jasper Ave. $80–100.
  • Econo Lodge Downtown, 10209-100th Ave (tel 428-6442 or 1-800/613-7043, fax 428-6467). Reliable downtown motel with covered parking, TV, phone and usual facilities. $80–100.
  • Edmonton House Suite Hotel, 10205-100th Ave (tel 420-4000 or 1-800/661-6562, www.edmontonhouse.com). Bigger (300 suites) and more expensive than the Alberta Place, but rooms have balconies and views; also an indoor pool and a free shuttle to the West Edmonton Mall. $100–125.
  • Grand Hotel, 10266-103rd St (tel 422-6365, fax 425-9070). Handily located near the bus terminal, this hotel is anything but grand: its 65 rooms, only some with private bath, are used mainly by long-stay residents. $40–60.
  • Inn on Seventh, 10001-107th St (tel 429-2861 or 1-800/661-7327, fax 426-7225, www.innon7th.com). Modern, quiet and civilized high-rise, with variously priced rooms; probably the best of the middle-range hotels and close to two good restaurants – the Portico and Café Select. $80–100.
  • Hotel Macdonald, 10065-100th St (tel 424-5181 or 1-800/441-1414, www.cphotels.ca). One of the big historic "railway" hotels run by Canadian Pacific, and undoubtedly the first choice if you want to stay in Edmonton in traditional style. Some rooms are a little small for the price, but lots of facilities including pool and health club. $175–240.
  • Mayfair Hotel, 10815-Jasper Ave (tel 423-1650 or 1-800/463-7666, fax 425-6834). This modern city-centre hotel has 100 low-priced rooms, suites and self-catering apartments. $60–80.

Eating & Drinking
Edmonton has 2000-odd restaurants, some of them very good. There's plenty in or near downtown, but if you want a bit of nocturnal zip to go with your meal you'd do best to head out to Old Strathcona, a vibrant district of café culture, nightlife and alternative arts located principally along 82nd (Whyte) Avenue between 102nd and 105th streets – any bus marked "University Transit Centre" from 100th Street will get you there. Ethnic options – notably restaurants serving Edmonton's populations of Ukrainian and Eastern European origin – complement the standard Italian-influenced cuisine or steak-and-salmon offerings. Otherwise, the stalls in the downtown mall and streetfront snack bars are lively at lunch time, and all the usual fast-food, snack and breakfast options are available. Beer drinkers should be sure to try the local real ale, Big Rock.

Restaurants
  • Bistro Praha, 10168-100A St (tel 424-4218). A good opportunity to sample Eastern European cuisine, Edmonton style, in the city's oldest European-style restaurant. Slightly highbrow and expensive, though – better for lunch or late at night.
  • Café Select, 10018-106th St (tel 423-0419). An excellent, intimate place, trendy without being intimidating. Serving fine, simple bistro-type food, it's one of downtown's best choices for a late-night treat; book ahead. Moderate.
  • Da-De-O, 10548A-82nd (Whyte) Ave (tel 433-0930). A bright, brash and popular Old Strathcona 1950s-style bistro-diner that claims "loud food and spicy music": this may sound off-putting, but the mostly Cajun food is actually pretty good, the clientele is pleasantly mixed, and things get satisfyingly lively later on. Inexpensive.
  • De Vine's, 9712-111th St (tel 482-6402). Innovative French-Canadian cuisine served in an old residence just outside the city centre with great river-valley views, an excellent place for a romantic or special occasion; book ahead. Moderate.
  • Earl's, 11830 Jasper Ave (tel 448-6582). This invariably excellent chain of relaxed and popular mid-range restaurants has no fewer than eight Edmonton outlets serving modern North American cuisine. This branch, known as the Tin Palace, is the most central.
  • Hardware Grill, 9698 Jasper Ave (tel 423-0969). The seasonally inspired Canadian cuisine in the best restaurant in Edmonton is served in a chic modern enivornment with dark hardwood floors, simple lines and elegant linen. Be sure to book. Expensive.
  • Il Portico, 10012-107th St (tel 424-0707). A tasteful and innovative Italian restaurant opposite the Inn on 7th hotel with lovely outdoor terrace for dining in good weather. Moderate.
  • Jack's Grill, 5842-111th St (tel 434-1113). Probably a tad too south of the city centre unless you have a car, but this is one of the top-rated places in Edmonton for modern, innovative Pacific Rim cuisine. Moderate.
  • The King and I, 8208-107th St (tel 433-2222). If you want a change from steaks, salmon and the Italian-based cuisine of many Edmonton restaurants, then you can't do better than this superlative Thai restaurant. Moderate.
  • La Ronde, 10111 Bellamy Hill (tel 428-6611). Stunning views of Edmonton from the city's only revolving dining room (atop the Crowne Plaza Château Lacombe). The Albertan cooking – steaks, bison, berries – is good too. Dancing nightly, live entertainment Fri–Sun. Expensive.
  • Mandarin, 11044-82nd Ave (tel 433-8494). Edmonton's best Chinese restaurant is located on the western side of the Old Strathcona district. Inexpensive.
  • Packrat Louie, 10335-83rd Ave (tel 433-0123). Bright, young and welcoming bistro in Old Strathcona with generous portions of steaks, salads, chicken and other more sophisticated international dishes. Closed Sun & Mon. Inexpensive to moderate.
  • Silk Hat, 10251 Jasper Ave (tel 425-1920). A fine place to knock back a Molson from the brewery up the road, this local institution's dim interior hasn't altered in forty years. Best known for the 1950s jukeboxes at each booth, but the inexpensive, basic food is as good as the ambience.
  • Sorrentino's, 10401-82nd Ave (tel 439-7700). One of six family-run Italian restaurants with great atmosphere and service serving good affordable food in a pleasant, stylish setting. This the Old Strathcona location: the downtown branch is at 10162-100th St (tel 424-7500).

Cafes
  • Café La Gare, 10308a-81st Ave. Small tea-and-coffee joint in Old Strathcona; the sort of place where you can read a book or paper for hours. Occasional evening poetry readings.
  • Grabbajabba, 82nd Ave and 104th St. Coffee, cake and the works at this very popular nonsmoking café in the heart of Old Strathcona; other outlets around the city.
  • 9th Street Bistro, 9910-109th St. Relaxed and cosy hangout – generous helpings, imaginative soups and good desserts.
  • Zenari's on First, Manulife Building, 10117-101st St (tel 425-6151). This is a great downtown Italian deli/houseware shop with a tremendous lunch counter for soups, salads, sandwiches, pasta, pizza and other Italian staples.

Nightlife and entertainment

Edmonton's enthusiastic self-promotion as Canada's "Festival City" may have something to do with its relative shortage of indigenous nightlife. There are any number of small-time nightspots, especially in Old Strathcona, putting on live music, but larger clubs capable of attracting big names are thin on the ground. Such big-name acts as do appear – as well as theatre companies, Alberta Ballet (tel 428-6839), Edmonton Opera (tel 429-1000) – tend to use the University of Alberta's Jubilee Auditorium, 87th Avenue and 114th Street (tel 427-2760, www.jubileeauditorium.com), and the Citadel Theatre, 9828-101A Ave (tel 426-4811, 425-1820 or 1-888/425-1820, www.citadeltheatre.com): the latter, with five performance spaces, is Canada's largest theatre complex. Some companies, plus the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (tel 428-1414, www.edmontonsymphony.com), use the excellent new performance space, the Francis Winspear Centre for Music, 4 Sir Winston Churchill Square (tel 428-1414, www.winspearcentre.com). The season for most of the city's dozen or more theatre companies runs from May to September. For revivals, foreign films and art-house cinema, try the old Princess Theatre, 10337-82nd Ave (tel 433-0728).

The best listings source is the free weekly Vue(published Thurs, available from stores, hotels and street kisoks), as well as the entertainment sections of the city's main newspapers, the Edmonton Journal and the Sun. Tickets for most classical music, dance, opera, theatre and other events – including big-name concerts and Edmonton Oilers ice-hockey games, which are played in the Skyreach Centre (formerly the Edmonton Coliseum), 118th Avenue and 74th Street – are available from Ticketmaster outlets (tel 451-8000) around the city.