Northern beauty - Edmonton

30 November -0001

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Alberta's provincial capital, EDMONTON is among Canada's most northerly cities, and at times - notably in the teeth of its bitter winters - it can seem a little too far north for comfort. Situated above the waters of the North Saskatchewan River, whose park-filled valley winds below the high-rises of downtown, the city tries hard with its festivals, parks, restaurants and urban-renewal projects.

With a downtown area that still has the somewhat unfinished feel of a frontier town, however, it's perhaps appropriate that the premier attraction for the vast majority of visitors is a shopping centre, the infamous West Edmonton Mall . This certainly has curiosity value, but not really enough to merit a special journey here. Downtown has a handful of modest sights, though most enjoyment in the city is to be had in Old Strathcona , a rejuvenated "historic" district south of the North Saskatchewan River filled with heritage buildings, modest museums and plenty of eating and drinking venues. Edmonton lacks the big set-piece museums of Calgary and Vancouver, but its Space and Science Centre is a sight within a whisker of the first rank.

Edmonton is one of the easiest places to reach in western Canada. Its road and rail links are excellent, and the international airport , 29km south of downtown off Hwy 2 (Calgary Trail), is served by many national, American and European airlines. There's a small visitor information desk (Mon-Fri 7.30am-11.30pm, Sat & Sun 10am-11.30pm; tel 890-8382 or 1-800/268-7134) in the arrivals area: Travelex (daily 5am-11pm; tel 890-2370) foreign exchange facilities are upstairs in departures alongside the Second Cup coffee concession. The majority of internal flights from the Yukon and Northwest Territories fly here in preference to Calgary; numerous shuttle flights ply between the two cities, and if you phone around, you should be able to pick up some bargain flights. Note that the municipal airport north of downtown, still occasionally mentioned in visitors' blurb, closed to most commercial traffic in 1996; now only very small planes, including one or two shuttle flights from Calgary, use the airport, which is, nevertheless, acquiring a new $300-million international terminal (though until the Air Canada-Canadian Air merger is complete it remains to be seen how exactly that money will be spent). New international connections will certainly be added, including direct flights from Los Angeles and - quite possibly - from the UK.

Edmonton has 2000-odd restaurants , some of them very good. There's plenty in or near downtown, but if you want a bit of nocturnal zip to go with your meal you'd do best to head out to Old Strathcona , a vibrant district of café culture, nightlife and alternative arts located principally along 82nd (Whyte) Avenue between 102nd and 105th streets - any bus marked "University Transit Centre" from 100th Street will get you there. Ethnic options - notably restaurants serving Edmonton's populations of Ukrainian and Eastern European origin - complement the standard Italian-influenced cuisine or steak-and-salmon offerings. Otherwise, the stalls in the downtown mall and streetfront snack bars are lively at lunch time, and all the usual fast-food, snack and breakfast options are available. Beer drinkers should be sure to try the local real ale, Big Rock.

Edmonton's enthusiastic self-promotion as Canada's "Festival City" may have something to do with its relative shortage of indigenous nightlife . There are any number of small-time nightspots, especially in Old Strathcona, putting on live music, but larger clubs capable of attracting big names are thin on the ground. Such big-name acts as do appear - as well as theatre companies

Hardly any area of entertainment goes uncelebrated by a festival at some time of the year in Edmonton, the self-proclaimed "Festival City". There's almost always something good on. One of the best events - and one of the few to merit a special pilgrimage here - is the Edmonton Folk Music Festival (tel 429-1899), rated the best in North America by Rolling Stone : it's held at Gallagher Park (near the Muttart Conservatory) at the end of the first week in August. Also well regarded are the International Street Performers Festival (tel 425-5162), which attracts over 1000 street performers in early July; the International Jazz City Festival (tel 432-7166) at the end of June; and the increasingly popular August Fringe Festival , or Fringe Theatre Event (tel 448-9000), a ten-day theatrical jamboree that's turned into one of the largest festivals of its kind in North America.

The more contrived and commercial Klondike Days (tel 471-7210 or 423-2822) is less compelling, a blowout that claims to be the continent's largest "outdoor entertainment" but has rather too obviously been cobbled together to steal some of Calgary's Stampede thunder. Held for ten days during July, this popular outing revolves around a re-creation of the 1890s gold-rush era, with plenty for kids, and a panoply of events: one of the best is "A Taste of Edmonton", where 40-odd local retaurants set up stalls and let you taste tidbits from their menus.

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