Best Things to Do in Saskatoon

Saskatoon is Saskatchewan’s largest city and arguably its most livable — a mid-sized university city on the South Saskatchewan River with a handsome downtown of early twentieth-century brick, an extraordinary riverbank trail system, a thriving arts and food scene, and one of the most significant Indigenous heritage sites in the country on its northern edge. It is a city that has made the most of its river, which cuts through the downtown in a graceful bend crossed by seven historic bridges, giving Saskatoon a distinctive visual character unlike any other prairie city.

Visitors typically have 2–3 days before moving on to Prince Albert National Park or the Cypress Hills, and that is enough time to grasp what makes Saskatoon genuinely worth stopping for rather than driving through.

Wanuskewin Heritage Park

Wanuskewin is the most important reason to visit Saskatoon and one of the most significant Indigenous cultural sites in Canada. The park sits in a river valley 5 kilometres north of the city, protecting an archaeological landscape with evidence of human habitation extending back 6,400 years. The site includes tipi rings, archaeological excavations, medicine wheels, and the remains of bison pound structures — places where Plains Indigenous peoples drove bison over cliffsides or into enclosures for harvest.

The name Wanuskewin means “seeking peace of mind” in Cree, and the site was a gathering place for multiple nations over thousands of years — the same landscape used by Blackfoot, Cree, Assiniboine, and Nakoda peoples across the millenia before European contact.

The visitor centre is purpose-built and excellent, with exhibitions on Plains cultures, bison ecology, and the archaeological discoveries made at the site. Guided walks with Indigenous interpreters are available seasonally, and the narrated walk along the valley trail — with specific stopping points at archaeological features — is the recommended approach for first-time visitors.

In 2023, a small herd of plains bison was reintroduced to the Wanuskewin landscape — the first bison to graze this valley in over 150 years. Seeing them in the context of a site where bison were central to life for thousands of years carries a particular emotional weight.

Allow at least 2–3 hours at Wanuskewin. It is open year-round, though the summer programming schedule is fuller.

The Meewasin Valley Trail

The Meewasin Trail runs along both banks of the South Saskatchewan River through and beyond the city — a multi-use paved trail covering more than 80 kilometres in total, connecting neighbourhoods, parks, and natural areas. In the city centre, the trail passes under the historic Traffic Bridge area (now a pedestrian bridge), past the Ukrainian Cultural Centre and the lush Kiwanis Park, and along both banks of the river with consistent views of the bridges and downtown skyline.

Cycling the Meewasin Trail is one of Saskatoon’s best urban experiences. Bike rentals are available near the downtown core. A full loop of the downtown section — crossing at multiple bridges and using both banks — takes 1.5 to 2 hours at a casual pace. The trail is busy on summer evenings and weekend mornings, which reflects how central it is to local daily life.

Beavers are regularly seen in the river sections north of the downtown — look in early morning or evening near the vegetated banks.

Ukrainian Cultural Centre and prairie heritage

Saskatoon has deep Ukrainian roots — the fertile dark-soil farmland surrounding the city was settled heavily by Ukrainian immigrants from the 1890s through the 1920s, and the cultural legacy persists in food, language, and institutions.

The Ukrainian Museum of Canada in the Saskatoon Cultural Centre holds one of the most significant collections of Ukrainian folk art, textiles, and cultural objects in North America, built from donations by prairie Ukrainian families over generations. The pysanka (Easter egg) collection alone is extraordinary.

Ukrainian food is available throughout the city — perogies appear on menus from the simplest diner to upscale restaurants. The Baba’s Honey company, rooted in Saskatoon, supplies beekeeping communities throughout the province and their products appear at local markets.

The Broadway District and arts scene

Broadway Avenue, a few blocks south of the river, is Saskatoon’s arts and bohemian commercial district — a strip of independent shops, cafés, theatres, and restaurants with a character quite different from the downtown core.

The Broadway Café is a neighbourhood institution — long menus, generous portions, and the kind of casual community café that disappears from most cities as real estate pressure increases. It still exists here.

The Persephone Theatre on Broadway is the main professional theatre company, with a season of contemporary and classic productions.

Remai Modern — Saskatoon’s contemporary art gallery, opened in 2017 on the riverbank — is the most architecturally significant building in the city. The permanent collection includes the world’s most comprehensive collection of Pablo Picasso’s linocuts alongside a strong Canadian and regional art collection. The river-facing terrace restaurant is among the better dining spots in the city.

Saskatoon berries

Saskatoon berries — serviceberries (Amelanchier alnifolia) by their botanical name — are the city’s culinary totem. The small purple-blue berries, similar in appearance to blueberries but with a nuttier, slightly almond-tinged flavour, ripen in late June and early July on shrubs that line the river valley and coulees throughout the region.

U-pick farms on the city’s outskirts allow visitors to harvest their own berries in season. The berries appear in pies, jams, wine, liqueur, and ice cream throughout the summer in Saskatoon restaurants and markets. Berry Barn south of Saskatoon operates a popular U-pick orchard and farm store with Saskatoon berry products year-round.

Saskatoon berry pie with cream is the unambiguous regional dessert and worth seeking specifically.

Craft beer and restaurants

Saskatoon’s restaurant scene has grown rapidly in the past decade. The downtown and Broadway areas have the concentration of good independent restaurants.

Ayden Kitchen and Bar (chef Dale MacKay, Top Chef Canada winner) is the flagship of Saskatoon fine dining — locally sourced prairie ingredients prepared with technical skill. Reservations essential.

21st Street Brewery produces a range of craft beers with a taproom in a converted heritage building. A reasonable starting point for the city’s craft beer scene.

Hometown Diner and several other neighbourhood spots do the prairie comfort food (bison burgers, cabbage rolls, perogies) with local ingredients and consistent quality.

Day trips from Saskatoon

Prince Albert National Park is 240 kilometres north — a 2.5-hour drive that makes it feasible as a very long day trip or more comfortably as an overnight.

Batoche National Historic Site, 90 kilometres north, is the battlefield of the 1885 North-West Resistance — where Riel’s Métis forces were defeated by Canadian militia. The site preserves the original church, rectory, and cemetery with interpretive panels providing the conflict’s context. Essential for anyone who visited Louis Riel’s grave in Saint-Boniface.

Practical information

Getting around: The downtown is walkable; a bicycle covers the Meewasin Trail and Broadway easily. Car rental is needed for Wanuskewin (though it is very close), Prince Albert, and surrounding excursions.

Getting there: Saskatoon is served by Saskatoon John G. Diefenbaker International Airport with direct flights from Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, and Edmonton. VIA Rail’s Canadian passes through Saskatoon on the Toronto–Vancouver route.

Find Saskatoon and Saskatchewan tours on GetYourGuide

Related reading

• Prince Albert National Park: Grey Owl and Saskatchewan wilderness
• Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park
• Moose Jaw Saskatchewan: tunnels, spas and prairie heritage
• Prairies road trip: 7 days
• VIA Rail Canadian: the prairie crossing experience

Saskatoon is a city that rewards slowing down. The Meewasin Trail in the late afternoon light, a Saskatoon berry pie at a Broadway café, and a morning at Wanuskewin where the bison are grazing in the same valley they grazed for millennia — these are experiences that stay with visitors long after the more expected destinations have faded. Saskatchewan’s largest city is also, quietly, one of its best.