Itinerary At-A-Glance
Location: Manitoba – Winnipeg and Churchill
Timeline: Friday, Aug 4th – Sunday, Aug. 13th, 2023
My wife is the inspiration for this trip to Winnipeg and Churchill. Churchill has polar bears in the summer, and for the longest time, she has yearned to see them in their element. And a bonus at this time of year – the beluga whales are calving in the mouth of the Churchill River. Double benny! In fact, the outfitter we used for this trip, Lazy Bear Expeditions, has entitled this trip the “Ultimate Bears and Belugas Adventure.”
Winnipeg is the natural stop on the way to Churchill — it’s where you meet the outfitter to fly 1000 km north to this town on the shore of Hudson Bay. (FYI, there are no roads leading into Churchill; access is only by train and plane.) We decided to tack on a few days in Winnipeg so that we could explore this city that my wife would occasionally visit in her high school days. She and her buds would drive four hours north from their Fargo/Moorhead, Minnesota hometown, and I guess when you’re in high school a road trip to Winnipeg is great fun. She’s come a long way since then, my wife.
The hook for me is that Wapusk National Park is located next to Churchill, so this trip would afford me the opportunity to visit a national park in the province of Manitoba. (I have that goal of visiting at least one national park in each of Canada’s thirteen provinces and territories.) Triple benny!
What’s Special About Winnipeg
Walking: With broad avenues, century-old architecture, riverside walks, and cute neighborhoods — this is a very pleasant city to walk about unless it’s winter.
Our favorites activities included:
- The Forks: Winnipeg, once a central trading site of the North, was shaped by the confluence of its two main waterways – The Red and Assiniboine Rivers. Take a 45-minute boat ride from the southern tip of The Forks with Splash Dash Tours as an intro to this city, once named “the Chicago of the North”. Then, have a walk around The Forks — don’t miss the Oodena Celebration Circle, an outdoor amphitheater nor the indoor Forks Market — and along the riverbanks.
- French Quarter (aka St. Boniface): a pedestrian bridge provides access to this part of town, home of the largest Cdn. French-speaking population outside of Quebec and enjoy a picturesque stroll down the esplanade bordering the Red River to the gravesite of Louis Riel and the Cathedral.
- Exchange District: a 15-minute walk from the museums below, this is a neighborhood of historical buildings, fine pubs/restaurants, offbeat shops, and open-air music venues.
- Assiniboine Park: a 20-minute ride toward the airport, the Park is a vast expanse of lawns, gardens, woods, trails, zoo, and indoor exhibits (butterflies and biomes) with an excellent café. Don’t miss the statue and exhibit of Winnie the (Pooh) Bear.
Museums: For a small city, Winnipeg boasts a cadre of excellent museums, each worth at least a half-day visit.
Here’s what I suggest:
- Museum for Human Rights: an architectural masterpiece, the museum’s mission is to enhance our understanding of human rights and promote respect for others. Its ten core galleries are arranged along an upward spiral pathway leading to the building’s apex, offering a panoramic cityscape view. This is a Do-Not-Miss experience.
- Manitoba Museum: a very accessible set of exhibits on the history of the planet and the province. Highlights include a life-sized replica of a 17th-century sailing vessel, 1920s Winnipeg and other 3-D walk-through galleries, hands-on science exhibits and a planetarium. I could have spent a full day there.
- Winnipeg Art Gallery: the world’s largest collection of Inuit art. There are other exhibits and collections, but the indigenous art is what you come here for.
Indie Music and Other Arts: Winnipeg has a storied history, giving birth to musicians such as The Guess Who, Neil Young and BTO, as well as many notable painters, writers and actors. Today, live Indie music pops up everywhere. Walk around, you can’t miss it.
Shaw Park: a baseball stadium located in the centre of downtown, near The Forks, is home to the Winnipeg Goldeyes. It’s a beautiful ballpark, conveniently located, and we attended an evening game on our last night.
Lodging and Dining Options
Winnipeg has experienced a cultural resurgence over the past decade or so. We very much enjoyed its lodging and dining offerings.
Here’s what we particularly enjoyed:
Inn at the Forks: an elegant, modern hotel, with a good restaurant conveniently located in The Forks to easily access most of the activities we enjoyed in Winnipeg.
Resto Gare and Train Bar Bistro: located across the Red River in a former St. Boniface train station, serving upscale French cuisine. We chose to dine al fresco, which was delightful on a fine summer evening.
Enoteca Wine Bar: a 15-minute ride from The Forks to this intimate, small-plate restaurant, with a French/Spanish angle and an excellent, reasonable wine list.
Peasant Cookery: serving upscale comfort food in the Exchange District. Vintage building with an equally fine bar.
What’s Special About Churchill
Wildlife: this is the only reason to visit Churchill, frankly, as there’s nothing else going on here. Polar bears and beluga whales make this their home for summer and early fall, then venture back out once the Bay freezes. Churchill is a unique wildlife locale; if lucky, you might also get a show of the northern lights.
Bear Patrol and Prison: on the subject of wildlife, polar bears present a risk here, and visitors are asked to walk by day in small groups around town and to avoid being outside after sunset. The town maintains a vigilant patrol for bears and will tranquilize and imprison problem bears for a month before releasing them far from town. In fact, the day we arrived, they were in the process of sequestering a new offender.
Seawalls Churchill Murals: In 2017, Winnipeg artist Kal Barteski organized an effort of 18 artists from around the world to volunteer their time and paint a mural on the side of a building around town. The murals spoke to me, and I made an effort to visit nearly every one.
Wapusk National Park: a brief helicopter flight away, a visit to the Park is done from the air, is short (1 hour,) and is expensive. There is no good reason for the average tourist to visit Wapusk, as it primarily acts as a habitat for denning polar bear migrating caribou. The Park has no roads or trails, and that says it all.
Local Arts & Culture: Innuit art and culture are highlighted at the one-room local Itsanitaq Museum. It’s interesting for an hour or so.
Lodging and Dining Options
The town doesn’t offer fine dining or lodging. You don’t come here for that. My research and observation of Churchill is that Lazy Bear Lodge is far and away the nicest accommodations and dining. I did venture out one weekday night to the only bar in town that had cable TV and found one other patron, that’s it, with last call at 9:30 pm so patrons could walk home before 10 pm sundown.
Clockwise: Museum of Human Rights, Polar Bear in Summer, Belugas, Polar Bear Prison, Borealis, and St. Boniface at sunset.
Daily Itinerary
Day 1: Getting to Winnipeg (Friday, August 4)
- 6:00 – 9:00 PM: Fly from Toronto to Winnipeg on Air Canada and take a taxi to the Inn at the Forks. No rental car; use Uber all weekend.
- 9:00-10:30 PM: Wine and cheese at the Inn’s restaurant, the SMITH.
Day 2: Exploring “The Forks” of Winnipeg (Saturday, August 5)
- Morning: Breakfast at the Original Pancake House in The Forks Market. Explore The Forks and take a River tour with Splash Dash Tours.
- Afternoon: Visit the Manitoba Museum, lunch at the James Avenue Pumphouse and explore downtown Winnipeg.
- Evening: Dinner at Resto Gare and Train Bar Bistro, followed by outdoor musical entertainment
Day 3: Exploring Winnipeg, Part 2 (Sunday, August 6)
- Morning: Breakfast at Tall Grass Prairie Bread Co. in The Forks Market. Explored the St. Boniface neighborhood (aka “French Quarter”) with stops at shops and galleries, the gravesite of Louis Riel, and the St. Boniface Cathedral
- Afternoon: Visit the Museum for Human Rights and the Winnipeg Art Gallery
- Evening: Dinner at Enoteca Wine Bar.
Day 4: Exploring Greater Winnipeg (Monday, August 7)
- 6:00-9:00 AM: Sunrise walk across the Red and Assiniboine Rivers, and breakfast at the SMITH.
- Morning: Visit the Manitoba Legislative Building
- Afternoon: Visit Assiniboine Park, lunch at the Park Café, and visit the Butterfly Garden, The Leaf, and the Pavillion Art Gallery which houses the Winnie the (Pooh) Bear exhibit and an outdoor statue of Winnie
- 7:00-9:00 PM: Dinner at Peasant Cookery, followed by open mike night entertainment at Caravan
Day 5: On to Churchill (Tuesday, August 8)
- Morning: Breakfast at the SMITH; check-in with Lazy Bear Expeditions, transfer to the airport and fly on Calm Air 2.5 hours to Churchill.
- Afternoon: Lunch at Lazy Bear Lodge, followed by the Churchill Heritage Tour (3 hours) to Polar Bear Prison, shorefront, and “Miss Piggy,” a reasonably intact airplane which crash-landed near the airport.
- Evening: Dinner at Lazy Bear Lodge, followed by a debrief for the next day and a sunset walk
Day 6: Time for Bears and Belugas! (Wednesday, August 9)
- Morning: breakfast at Lazy Bear, then explore Churchill on foot with visits to the Visitor Centre for Wapusk National Park and the Itsanitaq Museum (Inuit art and culture)
- Afternoon: Hudson Bay Coastal Boat Tour (7 hours), including lunch and sightings of polar bears and belugas.
- Evening: dinner at Lazy Bear. Midnight wake-up to see Aurora Borealis (northern lights) a half hour outside of town for 3 hours.
Day 7: More Belugas! (Thursday, August 10)
- Morning: breakfast at Lazy Bear followed by a 2-3 hours Kayaking Tour in the Churchill River with our beluga buddies.
- Afternoon: Lunch at Lazy Bear followed by 3 hours of Aquagliding in Hudson Bay to see belugas up close.
- Evening: dinner at Lazy Bear followed by a visit to the only local bar with cable TV.
Day 8: a “Vist” to Wapusk National Park (Friday, August 11)
- Morning: breakfast at Lazy Bear, followed by exploring the town to see all the murals on various buildings.
- Afternoon: lunch at Lazy Bear, then a helicopter ride with Hudson Bay Helicopters over Wapusk National Park – views of more polar bears, snow geese and miles of tundra & bogs.
- Evening: Prince of Wales Fort tour led by Parks Canada, then dinner at Lazy Bear
Day 9: Farewell to Churchill and a Ballgame in Winnipeg (Saturday, August 12)
- Morning: Tundra Tour on Arctic Crawler to see more polar bears
- Afternoon: Calm Air flight back to Winnipeg (2.5hrs.)
- Evening: Baseball game at Shaw Park – Winnipeg Goldeyes vs Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks
Day 10: Return to Toronto (Sunday, August 13)
- Morning: Return flight on Air Canada from Winnipeg to Toronto
