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Edmonton is Alberta's capital and calls itself Canada's Festival City, running events almost continuously through a summer that delivers 17 hours of daylight in June. The Edmonton International Fringe Festival is the largest and oldest fringe theatre festival in North America, and K-Days and the Folk Music Festival fill much of the rest of the calendar.
The North Saskatchewan River valley cuts through the middle of the city and forms the largest stretch of urban parkland in North America, more than twenty times the size of New York's Central Park, with trails, ski hills and golf courses inside the city limits. West Edmonton Mall, once the world's largest, still contains a water park, an ice rink and a rollercoaster.
Old Strathcona around Whyte Avenue is the best neighbourhood for bars, record shops and independent restaurants. Edmonton is also the northern gateway to Jasper National Park, four hours west, and to Elk Island National Park, where free-roaming bison graze 45 minutes from downtown.
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June to August is the clear peak. Edmonton calls itself Canada's festival city, and summer packs in K-Days, the Edmonton International Fringe Festival and the Heritage Festival under long northern daylight that stretches past 10pm. September is mild and much quieter. Winters are genuinely cold, often below minus 15C, but the city is built for it with a pedway network, indoor attractions and the Silver Skate Festival, and hotel prices are at their lowest.
Edmonton International Airport is about 30 km south of the centre, a 30 to 40 minute drive. Route 747 buses run to Century Park station, where the LRT continues downtown, for a modest fare, while taxis and ride-hailing run roughly CAD 60 to 70. Traffic on the Queen Elizabeth II Highway can add time in the afternoon peak.
It is one of the largest shopping centres in the world and closer to an indoor resort than a mall, holding the Galaxyland amusement park, the World Waterpark with its wave pool, an ice rink, a sea lion habitat and two hotels. It is a genuine draw in winter, when outdoor options thin out, and families can easily spend a full day there. Individual attractions are ticketed separately, with combination passes available.
Two days covers the city core, the river valley trails, the Royal Alberta Museum, Old Strathcona on Whyte Avenue and Fort Edmonton Park. Add a third for West Edmonton Mall or an Oilers game at Rogers Place. Many travellers use Edmonton as the gateway to Jasper, about four hours west, or to Elk Island National Park half an hour east for bison and dark-sky stargazing.
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