Among its various attractions, Manitoba is perhaps richest in its outdoor settings.

Mostly wilderness, the park provides 1,150 sq mi/2,980 sq km for hiking, camping, golfing, horseback riding and canoeing. Many forms of wildlife may be encountered there, including elk, moose, bears, coyotes and even a small herd of bison.

The nearby resort town of Wasagaming has several interesting shops and restaurants and the Log Interpretive Center, where park staffers give talks and lead hikes through the park.

Among the other notable parks in Manitoba are ASESSIPPI PROVINCIAL PARK (north of Russell), where you’ll find great fishing on a man-made lake, and ATIKAKI PROVINCIAL WILDERNESS PARK (on the province’s eastern border), where the wilderness river system is the only highway (and a great place for white-water rafting and canoeing).

At CLEARWATER LAKE PROVINCIAL PARK (north of The Pas), you can find the lake that’s considered to be the clearest in Canada (be sure to look for the caves, huge slabs of rock that have broken off the south shore’s dolomite cliffs). You can see Mount Baldy, Manitoba’s highest point at DUCK MOUNTAIN PROVINCIAL PARK (northeast of Roblin).

All of the province’s parks offer a range of activities and facilities, and some offer overnight accommodations, as well.

Contact the provincial tourism bureau for more information.

The city of Flin Flon is the major mining community in Northwestern Manitoba, and northeastern Saskatchewan. Located just over 800 kilometres (600 miles) North-northwest of Manitoba's capital city, Winnipeg, parts of the community are in both Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Flin Flon is the gateway to Northern Manitoba's bustling tourism industry.

Abundant mineral resources enabled the small village to grow to the present status of the day. Flin Flon is proud of being the only city in the world named after a science-fiction character.

In 1915, a group of prospectors who were portaging near the Churchill River in Northern Canada found a tattered copy of "The Sunless City" by Preston Muddock. During the long evenings they read the novel. However, they never found out what became of Josiah Flintabetty Flonatinas: the last pages of the book were missing. Later, on the shore of a lake which reminded them of Flin Flon's they found a promising outcrop, staked a claim, and named it for the grocer-adventurer. The claim led to a mining venture and the City of Flin Flon was born.

Intrigued by the story of Flin Flon, Al Capp of'Lil Abner' fame, donated his time and talent to creating an image of the gentleman, known for two things: his small stature and his huge perspective.

The Flin Flon and District Chamber of Commerce had the statue constructed in Winnipeg, Manitoba and Flintabbety Flonatin now resides in the Flin Flon Tourist Park at the entrance to the City on Hwy #10A.

A town of 1,300 on Hudson Bay, Churchill has become famous as the polar-bear capital of the world. This is the only easily accessible human settlement where the great white bears can be seen in the wild. Located in the far northern part of Manitoba, Churchill can be reached only by air or on VIA Rail, Canada’s national rail line, from Winnipeg (the train trip takes two nights).

In peak season (October and early November), up to 150 polar bears pass close to the town as they return to the ice floes on Hudson Bay. On occasion, bears wander right into town. An alarm system alerts residents to their presence. Should you be in Churchill when one happens by, you’ll be glad for the alarm: The bears can weigh 1,500 lb/400 kg, stand up to 12 ft/4 m in height and are known for their fearlessness and savagery.

The way most people view the bears, thankfully, is by one of the tundra-vehicle tours of the area. Tundra vehicles look like lunar rovers: Sitting on huge balloon tires, they carry you almost a dozen feet above the ground where you can photograph the bears in safety. They join into convoys with other vehicles, a diner and bunkhouses for extended tours of the area. Though there is a small chance of seeing the bears as early as July, fall (October and the first half of November) is the best time to visit: That’s when the largest numbers of bears are found on the tundra outside town.

Several tour operators offer polar-bear tours, but you’ll need to book well in advance (at least a year); space on the tundra vehicles is limited. The few hotels in the area also book up rather quickly in the peak bear season, so plan ahead.

Bears aren’t the whole story in Churchill. The area is also a nesting ground for hundreds of birds, including a variety of hawks and falcons, the harlequin duck and the rare Ross’ gull. Bird Cove is an excellent spot to observe the activity. In the summer, visitors can watch as beluga whales crowd the mouth of the Churchill River. Boat tours to view the whales, and also seals, are available.

Churchill is known as a good location to see the Northern Lights (though they can be viewed from other places as well). The best time of the year to see them is January-March, although the phenomenon occurs from September through April.

As for man-made attractions, Churchill has the Eskimo Museum, which contains carvings and artifacts from the Inuit people. There are also two military sites: Cape Merry National Historic Site is the remains of a gun emplacement from the mid 1700s, while the Prince of Wales’ Fort is a restored stone fortress begun in 1731 by the Hudson’s Bay Company (you travel there by boat). Just a short ways upstream from the fort is Sloop’s Cove: Once a harbor for sloops, it’s now a meadow surrounded by rocks that still have the old iron mooring rings in them.

You can relive the peak of the fur-trading days at this once-bustling site of trading activity.

A Hudson’s Bay Company trading post operated there from 1682 to as late as 1957, when it finally shut down.

York Factory is an important relic from the days when Hudson’s Bay Company was, for most purposes, the government of large chunks of northern North America.

Of the structures originally at the site, only the depot building, or Great House, remains. Built in 1832, it is now a museum, with fur-trade artifacts on the ground floor and an exhibit of photographs upstairs.

The York Factory site isn’t easy to get to: You have to go by canoe or chartered plane.