Things to do in Winnipeg in the Winter from River Skating to Spa Treatments

While Torontonians and Vancouverites may joke about their ‘Winterpeg’ brethren, no one denies that Winnipeggers are a creative, good-natured, hearty lot. One of the reasons is that we’ve figured out how to deal with the winter season’s frosty chill by embracing the season and turning the city into a winter wonderland. To find out how winter is done right, here’s the best the city has to offer during those wintry, sunny days and oh-so-crisp nights.

But first, here’s where you can drop your bags.

The Forks is the number one tourist spot in the city but it’s also frequented by Winnipeggers throughout the year. A National Historic Site of Canada, this is where Indigenous peoples have met and traded for over 6,000 years at the junction of the mighty Red and the smaller-but-not insignificant Assiniboine Rivers. The renovated railroad warehouses and stables now house a bevy of boutique shops selling everything from locally-made candles to artisanal crafts. There are restaurants that specialize in BBQ or breakfast and food stalls that make the best cinnamon buns in the city (and the tastiest blue cheese-and-fig empanadas).

For families, the Manitoba Children’s Museum can keep you busy around the clock. But why stay inside all day when you can skate along the site’s groomed, naturally-frozen river skating trail? (The longest in the world according to Guinness World Records.)

Approximately six-and-a-half kilometres long — the length fluctuates based on the weather conditions each year — the Red River Mutual Trail meanders along the Assiniboine River, where evergreen trees are placed along the path to break up the blindingly white trail. The trail starts at The Forks and takes you past neighbourhoods full of grand, old mansions and century-old trees.

For the past 10 years, some of the world’s best architects have competed to get a chance to create a winter warming hut along Winnipeg’s Red River Mutual Trail. The Warming Huts — An Art + Architecture competition — takes place annually at the end of January. Each year, a blind jury chooses from about 100 entries to select the winners.

Some creations are witty, like the yellow Lego-like Golden Bison hut from the 2018 competition, some are reflective of the Canadian landscape using rough-hewn wood and natural materials, and some are downright cutting-edge: For the 2019 competition, Winnipeg’s Stantec Architecture is installing a series of white phosphorescent tubes that harness the sound of the wind, growing ever louder to reach a crescendo of sound experienced in the warming hut itself, the Sonus Loci. Whatever the style, all of these creations are beautiful.

Skate along the trail at dusk to take in the perfect quiet that snow brings and stop in all of the huts for a moment to escape the wintry wind and immerse yourself in life-size art.

After you’re finished whooshing along the trail, head to the ultimate pop-up on ice: RAW:almond, a unique restaurant that sets up shop every year on the skating trail. Meant to complement the unique architecture of the warming huts nearby, this temporary foodie haven is a design lover’s delight, testing the limits of what can be erected on ice.

Wrapped up in winter gear and the occasional blanket, diners feast on multi-course gourmet grub created by some of the city’s and the country’s top chefs who come to congregate at this restaurant on ice. Make sure you make a reservation well in advance: Even though RAW:almond runs for over three weeks, with multiple meals served per day, it usually sells out. You can choose which meal you want to partake in by the day, time and/or chef.

Perfect for a winter warm-up, The Canadian Museum for Human Rights at The Forks is an architectural stunner that rises from the prairie landscape as if it is part of it. Made out of 400-year-old limestone rock and glass, it’s seemingly tethered to the earth by strong, tendril-like roots.

The first museum in the world dedicated to human rights, it has 12 galleries in total as well as special exhibitions that take place throughout the year (the moving and enlightening installation, Mandela: Struggle for Freedom, runs until September 2019). Along with the Indigenous Perspectives and Examining the Holocaust galleries, there are others that focus on human rights in Canada and around the world, and how choosing to break the silence is the only path forward.

While the subject may be challenging, you leave the museum feeling as if you’ve taken a journey from darkness to light as you end at the museum’s pinnacle, the Tower of Hope, looking out over Winnipeg’s skyline.

To approach Thermëa Nordik Spa, you turn off of one of Winnipeg’s busiest streets onto a quiet drive that even some locals don’t know about. The outside of the main building is pretty unspectacular and belies what awaits you: a hedonistic healing ritual.

The spa is made up of one temperate pool, two Finnish saunas, two steam rooms, and three cold plunge baths that include an icy waterfall. There’s also a spa and restaurant, all nestled cozily amongst leftover pines that predate the spa.

Thermotherapy has been used for centuries in Nordic countries, purported to improve circulation, aid in digestion, eliminate toxins and even slow ageing. But to receive these bona fide benefits, you must follow the thermal cycle to a T. This involves a retreat into one of the hot saunas or steam rooms, scented with either eucalyptus and mint or orange oils, and then — here comes the hard part — you need to take a dip in the -15-degree Celsius cold plunge pool or get up the nerve for an adrenaline-jolting cold-water bucket splash before heading into one of the relaxation areas to recover. This is to get a rush of adrenaline so that you can release endorphins.

But one of the best things about going to Thermëa in winter is that your cold dip can be replaced by a quick dart to the relaxation cabin. Speaking from experience, this is easier to do than that cold-water-bucket business. Finish with a dip in the temperate pool as steam rises up around you while you remain snuggled in the warm water.

Before you head back to your hotel, try one of the items on the spa menu at Thermëa, like the Himalayan Salt Treatment to prep your skin before taking in the waters. You can also have a hot toddy in the bar or a meal in the restaurant, serving tasty (but good-for-you) treats.

Winnipeg has one of the largest French populations in Canada—Quebec excluded, of course—and the Festival du Voyageur is where everything àla française is celebrated.

The 10-day family-friendly February festival takes place predominantly in the city’s French Quarter, Saint-Boniface, with things like traditional sleigh rides and ice slides. But there are plenty of activities for the adults that take place, too. More than anything, this festival is about music and includes toe-tapping fiddling contests, DJ nights where French performers shine as well as live music that ranges from folk to punk, all with a French-Canadian and Métis twist.

When you’re roaming around the city, look out for the ice sculptures put up during the festival’s International Snow Sculpture Symposium, with contributors selected from all over the world. And, with this much warning, you can start planning now to enter the beard growing contest, should you hope to exhibit this pinnacle of voyageur manliness.

Winnipeg’s Exchange District is a hip neighbourhood full of former offices and warehouses from the glory days of Winnipeg’s grain-trading past. Right next to the downtown, it’s a National Historic Site of Canada thanks to the collection of turn-of-the-20th-century buildings, purported to be the best collection of its kind in North America. Today, these buildings–many of which are made out of pale Tyndall stone, a fossil-rich limestone found only in Tyndall, Manitoba–house local design shops and independent galleries.

This is also the city’s coffee and café district, so slip into one to warm up after a trek touring the streets or at the end of a successful shopping haul. Ones to look out for are Forth, which goes from coffee joint to bar at night, serving live music with that latté, Miss Browns Hot Pressed Sandwich & Coffee Co. if you want something a bit more substantial to go with that cup ‘o Joe, or Amsterdam Tea Room and Bar if you’re more in the mood for a good cuppa or, better still, try one of the Hot Boozy Teas on offer, just in time for these brisker months.