The Saint-Boniface Museum isn't huge or fancy. I was surprised that none of the locals seemed to…read morehave ever gone there. It's a very easy museum to visit. There's plenty of street parking nearby. It's just outside of downtown. You don't need to dedicate a day to go through everything. You can just pop in and see everything in an hour or two. Admission is by suggested donation, so it's not going to be an expensive afternoon unless you're feeling particularly generous. The museum is located in Winnipeg's oldest existing building, which is a former convent. The Gray Sisters were brought in from Montreal in order to serve the tiny frontier community of Winnipeg, which meant providing everything they saw a need for: education, eldercare, nursing, boarding. If you're a local, you're already familiar with the institutions that have their roots in this building. I'd read about the history of Winnipeg and the ways Metis and Francophone cultures shaped Manitoba. It was still different to consider it in the restored building, looking at artifacts. I also spent a lot of time trying to make sense of the cult of personality around Louis Riel, which inspired quite a bit of reading and pestering my friends with questions. The museum is well worth a visit.

I work at The Forks, so I get plenty of questions from tourists about what there is to see in the…read morecity and The Winnipeg Railway Museum is a place that I always recommend. I visited in the middle of winter last year and it was fantastic. They've turned the old docking shelter for trains next to the station right into a rich tapestry of Winnipeg's past as a central shipping hub for North America. Rates are low--especially for students--and the sheer volume of detailed displays, preserved vehicles and train equipment, and interesting information is well worth the price of admission. There are multiple preserved trains cabs that you can explore inside of, my experience inside them brought me back to being a kid in the Children's Museum back before it was renovated. If you go in the winter, bring a coat! The interior is far too large and too old of a building to keep it heated, so it gets chilly!

Interesting museum with lots to see and read. Give at minimum 1 hour to walk through it all and do…read moresome reading. Good value for $7 entry fee.

Tip: It gets humid at The Leaf, so wearing lighter clothing is recommended…read more The Leaf is an indoor horticultural display at Assiniboine Park that showcases distinct biomes: - Tropical (Hartley and Heather Richardson) - Mediterranean - Horticulture (Babs Asper display house) - Butterfly garden (Shirley Richardson) The Leaf is a nice addition to the park, with the Assiniboine Zoo nearby. It is a fairly new attraction, having opened in December 2022. The gardens around The Leaf opened the previous year. It's nice that you can visit the gardens whenever you'd like, as it's open 24 hours every day. It's free. There is plenty of parking in front of the building. I was picking up a couple of friends who were here (they took my recommendation) on our final full day in Winnipeg. The funny thing is that I am so used to parking in the lot and walking in that I parked. I then realized that I should be heading to the passenger pickup area... haha! If you are pressed for time, admiring the building itself and taking photos of it externally is a decent option. The roof is stunning. It's translucent for the plants inside to get some sunlight and looks like a blossoming flower that's unfurling. As a math fan, I learned that The Leaf's design stems (I'm so punny that it kills me) from nature and the Fibonacci sequence, specifically nautilus shells and sunflowers. Cool! I like butterflies. The butterfly garden is worth the price of admission. The variety of butterflies are incredible. They are beautiful and I learned so much doing a self-guided tour. It does get hot and humid in this building, as you'd expect with tropical plants and butterflies. Wearing lightweight clothing is recommended. Otherwise, you'll be sweating buckets. You do need a ticket to enter The Leaf. It's roughly $16 for an adult before taxes. You select a thirty-minute window to show up at The Leaf. You can stay as long as you want, even until closing time if you'd like! The Leaf has a gift shop to get souvenirs. I like the handmade items. You can also get tea and snacks. If you're hungry, it has a restaurant and a cafe. I haven't visited either of them yet. I hope to when I revisit this lovely venue. If you visit The Leaf often, consider getting a membership. There are various types of memberships, from family, to individual. You can also bundle it with the zoo. My friends enjoyed coming here. I was so pleased that they took my suggestion to visit The Leaf. I highly recommend it if you like horticulture and butterflies. (306)

An awesome space, especially so in the winter, to breathe…read more The humidity and all the plants make this an excellent experience anytime of year and especially impactful in the dry winter months. There is a walking path, benches along the way to sit and soak in the sights, smells and feel of this wonderful indoor nature preserve. So much green, so many flowering plants all year around. As a bonus, there are other indoor and outdoor attractions nearby including the zoo. Much to see. Worth the visit.

This museum is absolutely amazing and I am so glad I came to visit!…read more It's right next to the airport, and easy to get to. The museum architecture itself is beautiful, but once you walk in, you will be astounded at the size and the amount of aircraft and exhibits! I planned to spend an hour or so here, but I ended up staying for three hours and could've stayed even longer. The aircraft are beautiful and well placed, it is amazing to see so many aircraft with historical significance. You also realize just how important aviation was to the early days of Canada, as the only way to get to some of these places were by ai, and many of these places to this day are really only accessible by air- so you can see how the early pilots flew around Canada. They also have outside aircraft, as well as aircraft that they bring in for a visit- this day, they had a weather aircraft you could go into and talk to the pilots. THe gift shop is great as well, and the prices for T SHirts and such were very reasonable. There's not a lot to do in Winnipeg, but I will definitely recommend this museum- even if you're not into aircraft, this place is a great time!

This is absolute must-see museum when you're in Winnipeg. I can spend a whole day in there. There…read moreis something for every age. The taxidermy were really realistic and the museum is arranged in a logical sequence so you don't miss anything. I regret not going when the museum opens at 10 so I rushed the very end part.

Don't underestimate this place just because it isn't the Human Rights Museum -- the Manitoba Museum…read moreis massive and absolutely worth visiting. It's one of those attractions that quietly surprises you with how much there is to see and do once you step inside. The museum offers a fantastic mix of history, science, and culture, all tied to Manitoba's story. You'll find beautifully detailed exhibits covering everything from early Indigenous life to natural history, the fur trade, and modern innovations. The full-sized ship replica -- the Nonsuch -- is a true highlight. Stepping aboard feels like stepping back in time, and it's hard not to be impressed by the craftsmanship and storytelling around it. The planetarium is another must-do -- immersive, well-presented, and great for all ages. The Science Gallery is perfect for hands-on exploration, especially if you're visiting with family or just want to unleash your inner kid. The museum is clean, well-organized, and very spacious, so even on busier days it never feels crowded. The staff are friendly and knowledgeable, and you can tell a lot of care goes into maintaining the exhibits. Honestly, this is one of Winnipeg's most underrated attractions. You could easily spend several hours here and still feel like there's more to see. A must-visit for locals and tourists alike -- five stars all the way. In my case, spending an hour and a half here was not enough to visit the museum in its entirety.

A true gem of a gallery . Exceptional staff and amazing art…read moreby local Manitoba artists. Something for everyone! The Gallery is located in the Johnston Terminal adjacent to the Old Spaghetti Factory.

The WAG was on my list to visit for years. I finally made it happen by driving the long drive from…read morethe US. Was it worth it? Oh, yeah! I geek out on Inuit sculpture and this museum has a treasure trove. The lobby of the modern white addition to this museum has a multi-story wavy glass vitrine filled with Inuit pieces. It's a delicious appetizer so I eagerly went up the stairway and into a massive gallery with rows of Inuit pieces, I felt like I was 5 years old and wanted to jump up and down. Every piece is beautifully displayed and illuminated in a white-walled room that, despite having no windows, is perfectly lighted. Art appreciation is so much easier and pleasant in a room like this. This 'Art by Inuit' exhibition is a survey from approximately 200 BCE to present day. It includes typical hunting and domestic scenes of which Inuit art is most well known. There are also many works that explore the human psyche. For me, this is the humble and sincere strength of Inuit art that can grab the viewer. The small exhibition titled 'Gasoline Rainbows' features the work of Tarralik Duffy. Her leather gas cans find the sculptural beauty in the everyday world. Her Spam-container-looking leather sculpture called 'Klik' is a biting reminder of how western foods replaced the traditional foods of these northern communities. There's more to the WAG in their ultra-cool Brutalist building. A surprising gallery of European Old Masters is one of the better small collections in Canada. Another gallery has Impressionist and mid-20th century paintings. (The harsh lighting in these galleries could use the magic touch from the Inuit galleries.) A cavernous exhibition featuring the meticulous works of Tim Gardner, an artist who I'm embarrassed to say that I'd never heard of, blew me away. That one person could churn out so many detailed paintings and watercolors seems impossible. His works include portraits, images of liquor bottles, hyper-realistic paintings copied from amateur photos, and images of Los Angeles so engaging that I felt as he had entered my mind and tagged along on bike rides through my old neighborhoods. The WAG is a joy, both architecturally and in the art on display. For dessert, the gift shop can't be missed. Several Canadian art museums do something that is more rare in the States: feature and sell compelling works by local and regional artists. This isn't the books, mass-produced art/souvenirs, and t-shirts often for sale in other museums. There is genuine one-of-a-kind art and shelves of superior quality artisan-created crafts for sale. It's like a little museum in itself. I happily walked out with an Inuit sculpture that could have been included in the exhibition upstairs.

When I was here, the galleries were full of flower arrangements inspired by the artworks they were…read morepresented with. I've never seen anything like it in a museum before and it was an interesting idea. I happened to show up during the opening for this event, so the gallery was pretty lively. While there are wall cards giving background on the curatorial direction and on individual pieces, I found they assumed a familiarity with Manitoba's history that I lacked. It was refreshing to see so many pieces of art by artists I'm unfamiliar with and to leave with a long list of things to look up later. It inspired me to pick up some books after my visit. That said, they also have a small, thoughtful selection of the sort of stuff you expect to see in an art museum in North America. So if you want to see representations of the standard European and Canadian art movements and pieces by familiar names, you'll find those, too.

I just wish we had an institution celebrating human rights in the USA. Yeah...., we have a…read moreHolocaust Museum, an African American History Museum and others. But we lack a place where we can see not only the triumphs but also the history of oppression. Which in the US, it is being whitewashed - pun intended. Entering the facility the visitor sees the inaugural exhibit of the museum's opening by HM Queen Elizabeth II in 2010. Inlayed on the exhibit is a stone from the meadows of Runnymede at the place where the Magna Carta was signed, the precursor of constitutional government in modern Western Civilization. Thee institution then offers several exhibits depicting the progress of human rights in Canada. One in particular is the Purge of LGBT People in Canada. Of particular interest is that LGBT people had been a part of Native American culture for thousands of years, and a part of the subjugation of Native cultures was to extirpate tolerance. Sexual diversity, long practiced by First Nations, became a crime. Part of the exhibit is information about how Canada, same as the US, did everything possible to eliminate Native cultures by forcibly removing Native children from parents and sending them to schools where they would be stripped of their cultures. The exhibit on LGBT purges continued throughout Canadian history, its association with the U.S. during the Cold War, and additional developments until full incorporation on all citizens into Canadian life. An amazing historical institution.

Ok. I love museums and history. Checking this place out was on a list while in Winnipeg. Check…read moreout the special free days. Kids under 17 are also free. Located at the Forks with tons of paid parking available. There's gonna be plenty of walking when you come here. 6 levels of ramps with wide open spaces. Exhibits were interesting but minimal compared to the spaces they were in. I was expecting huge exhibits from eras gone by but left looking for more. Especially from the early civil rights and holocaust timelines. There's a great view of the city from the top observation deck but it's not for the faint of heart walking up those stairs. Take the elevator down to avoid the long walk out. Nice place to check out but for most people it's gonna be a one and done.