Choose wisely. Connect locally.Add your business Brandon is the second-largest city in Manitoba and the commercial heart of the Westman region, set on the Assiniboine River about 214 kilometres west of Winnipeg. Known as the Wheat City, it is a friendly prairie hub with museums, a riverside trail network, a university and a calendar of agricultural fairs.
Brandon is a city big enough to have good museums, restaurants and live music but small enough to cover in a relaxed weekend.
For travelers, the appeal is a mix of small-city culture and prairie landscape. You can spend a morning at a gallery, an afternoon on the river, and the next day in dunes or in forested hills.
The city also has a surprising range of international food and a lively university community, so evenings are rarely dull.
The downtown is full of twentieth-century brick architecture, including the old McKenzie Seeds building, the Central Fire Station and the Brandon Court House.
The Riverbank Discovery Centre offers trails along the Assiniboine River and canoe and kayak rentals. Photo: Nordberg at English Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.5
The centre is the starting point for self-guided trails around the Assiniboine River and also provides tourism information and canoe and kayak rentals. Allow a couple of hours for a riverside walk or paddle, and check seasonal opening before you go.
The old McKenzie Seeds building is one of the best-known landmarks of downtown Brandon. Photo: Words in the Wind, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Built in 1882 for Thomas Mayne Daly, the first mayor of Brandon, this museum recreates a late-nineteenth-century upper-class home with a parlour, kitchen and bedrooms, plus a replica general store. Plan about an hour, and ask about guided visits.
The Daly House was built in 1882 for Brandon's first mayor, Thomas Mayne Daly. Photo: Abbeywood, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
This gallery runs year-round exhibitions of local, provincial and national artists, and it is a good rainy-day choice. Its hours vary by day, so confirm them on the gallery website before you visit.
The Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba shows work by local, provincial and national artists. Photo: Jghampton, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
At Brandon Municipal Airport, this museum remembers the airmen who trained across Canada during the Second World War. It holds aircraft, navigation and ground-crew displays and is on the Canadian Register of Historic Places.
The Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum at Brandon Municipal Airport displays Second World War aircraft. Photo: J Hazard, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
One of the largest entertainment and agriculture complexes in Canada, the Keystone Centre hosts the Brandon Wheat Kings hockey team from autumn to spring and the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair in late March.
The Keystone Centre is home to the Brandon Wheat Kings and the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair. Photo: Nordberg at English Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.5
The campus on 18th Street is known for its School of Music and hosts a jazz festival in mid-March, as well as Bobcats basketball and volleyball games in the colder months. It is worth a stroll if your visit lines up with a concert.
About 60 km southeast of Brandon, the park protects the Spirit Sands, also called the Carberry Sandhills, one of the few areas of open sand dunes in Canada. The dunes support unusual plants and animals, including cacti and hognose snakes, and the park has hiking trails and a Canadian Dark-Sky Preserve designation.
Spirit Sands in Spruce Woods Provincial Park is one of a few areas of open sand dunes in Canada. Photo: Classenc, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
About 40 km south, the town of Souris is home to Canada's longest swinging bridge, around 177 metres, across the Souris River. The original was built in 1904 and was rebuilt after flooding.
The Souris Swinging Bridge is a footbridge about 177 metres long across the Souris River. Photo: Rhonda Guenther, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Roughly 100 km north, this park rises above the prairie with forested hills and lakes. Highway 10 runs through the park, and the south entrance is at Wasagaming on Clear Lake.
Wasagaming sits on Clear Lake and is the main townsite of Riding Mountain National Park. Photo: Robert Linsdell from St. Andrews, Canada, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Prairie comfort food is the theme here. Saskatoon berry pie, made from a native berry, is the classic dessert of the Prairies.
For something sweet, try Velvet Dip, one of the original ice cream shops in Brandon. Local fairs and the Keystone Centre events are good places to find prairie food in one stop.
Popular dishes to try in Brandon
Downtown Brandon puts you near the galleries, the river and restaurants, and it suits visitors who like to walk and want a city feel.
Victoria Avenue, especially the west end, is lined with roadside hotels and is the practical choice for drivers arriving on the Trans-Canada Highway with easy parking.
Wasagaming, inside Riding Mountain National Park, suits nature lovers who want to wake up beside Clear Lake.
Where to stay in Brandon
Brandon has a dry continental climate. Summers are warm and sometimes hot, with July daytime highs near 25 degrees Celsius, while winters are cold and dry, with January highs around minus 11.
Summer is best for river trails, Spirit Sands and Riding Mountain. Winter brings hockey and the big agricultural events, with Ag Days in mid-January, the jazz festival in mid-March and the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair in late March.
Brandon sits at the junction of the Trans-Canada Highway and Highway 10, about 214 km west of Winnipeg. Winnipeg's airport is the main gateway, and a shuttle links it with the city. Brandon Municipal Airport has limited daily service to Calgary.
Buses connect Brandon with Winnipeg, Regina and other prairie cities, and VIA Rail's Canadian stops at Rivers, about 30 km north. Brandon Transit runs routes across the city, and taxis are easy to find.
Walk downtown, visit the Daly House Museum and the art gallery, then follow the river trails from the Riverbank Discovery Centre in the afternoon.
Drive to Spruce Woods for a morning on the Spirit Sands trails and return to Brandon in time for dinner.
Head to Souris for the swinging bridge, then visit the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum on your way back through town.
Go north to Riding Mountain National Park and Wasagaming for a lakeside walk before returning to Brandon or continuing to Winnipeg.
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