Edmonton has 22 major parks and more than 150 km of trails in the North Saskatchewan River valley. The river valley is used year round primarily for picnics, hiking, biking, and cross-country skiing. Edmonton is one of the cities with the most urban parkland in North America.

Greater Edmonton is a metropolitan centre with a population of 919413 (Census 2001) encompassing 36 municipalities. It has one of the lowest population densities of any major North American city - about 67 times less than the population density of New York City.

Edmonton is located near the geographic centre of the province of Alberta, a land mass nearly the same size as the state of Texas, almost two times larger than Germany and five times as large as England.

Located on the 53rd latitude, Edmonton is a haven for summer and winter activities, with 17 hours of daylight in mid-summer and the magical Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) in peak activity in mid-winter.

The West Edmonton Mall has 58 entrances, 800 shops, 26 movie theaters, 20,000 parking spaces and 325,000 light fixtures. It covers an area of 483,000 square meters (5.3 million square feet) - equivalent to 110 canadian football fields, or 115 American football fields. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, West Edmonton Mall is the largest shopping mall in the world and has the largest indoor amusement park in the world.

Over 20 major festivals happen throughout the year in Edmonton including internationally famous events such as the Edmonton Folk Music Festival, the International Fringe Theatre Festival, the Canadian Finals Rodeo, and the Canadian Birkebeiner Ski Festival. Check out the Calendar of Events for details about upcoming festivals. Or you can visit the Canada's Festival City website. Also, you may phone 1-800-463-4667 to speak to a visitor counsellors for dates and descriptions of the festivals.