Winnipeg

Winnipeg, Manitoba, at the geographic centre of Canada, is a prairie city with a disproportionate cultural richness for its size — home to the Royal Winnipeg Ballet (one of North America's finest), the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the outstanding Canadian Museum for Human Rights and a food scene reflecting its extraordinary demographic diversity (Métis, First Nations, Ukrainian, Jewish, Filipino communities have all left deep culinary marks). The Canadian Museum for Human Rights, opened in 2014, is architecturally spectacular (Antoine Predock's building of alabaster, glass and living garden) and one of the most thoughtful and important museums in North America — dedicated to exploring human rights as a concept and documenting both violations and victories. The Manitoba Museum covers the province's natural and human history with exceptional quality. The Exchange District, a National Historic Site of pre-war commercial architecture, has been reinvented as the arts and restaurant hub. The Forks, where the Red and Assiniboine rivers meet (and where humans have gathered for 6,000 years), is now a vibrant public market, skating hub and gathering place. Osborne Village and Corydon Avenue are the most pleasant neighbourhoods for independent restaurants. Winnipeg has the coldest winters of any Canadian city (January average -16°C) but compensates with exceptional summer warmth. Churchill, 1,000km north (accessible by train or air), is the polar bear capital of the world.