Downtown Winnipeg is for culture seekers
Downtown Winnipeg is expansive and wildly diverse. For starters, it’s home to our Sports, Hospitality and Entertainment District, which features True North Square – a collection of four towers featuring affluent residences, a vibrant food and drink hall called Hargrave Street Market, the forthcoming luxury Sutton Place Hotel (scheduled to open 2028) and office buildings. They’re all connected to Canada Life Centre – one of North America’s busiest concert venues and home to the NHL Winnipeg Jets, AHL Manitoba Moose and Winnipeg Sea Bears, 2026 champions of the CEBL (Canadian Elite Basketball League).
It also features the Exchange District – a national historic site filled with more than century-old brick buildings that house some of the city’s best restaurants, galleries and cafes. The upper floors of the Exchange District’s “terra cotta skyscrapers” have been transformed into chic loft-style apartments and condominiums. The city's theatre district, the Exchange comes alive with performances throughout the year but particularly in the summer, when patios are packed along its tree-lined sidewalks.
If you’re wondering why there’s snow on the ground in the middle of June, it’s because it’s common to see a Hollywood feature or Hallmark film being shot in The Exchange, as it regularly stands in for major U.S. cities, including New York and Chicago. (The snow is fake!) Just to the north is Chinatown, where you’ll find a tranquil public garden and a number of well-known dim sum restaurants.
Portage and Main, the city’s most famous intersection, is the figurative heart of downtown. It’s home to a trio of office towers and several 19th century bank buildings which are now home to some of our largest commerce and agriculture companies, government organizations and the Manitoba Metis Federation, which has become a major downtown property owner in recent years. Just north of Portage and Main is the universally celebrated Manitoba Museum, while downtown’s Broadway, meanwhile, is home to the Manitoba Legislative Building, WAG-Quamajuq, one of Canada’s best art museums and the Fort Garry Hotel, Spa and Conference Centre, which was built by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in 1913 as luxury accommodations for upper class passengers during the golden age of train travel.
Downtown residents can easily walk to restaurants, breweries, shops, galleries and the theatre, while public transit and cycling routes provide convenient connections throughout the downtown core.
The Forks, Manitoba’s most-visited attraction for tourists and Winnipeggers alike, is also part of downtown. Locals gather here year-round to enjoy the public market, festivals, outdoor concerts, skating trails and scenic riverwalks. Arguably the biggest attraction is the iconic Canadian Museum for Human Rights , but The Forks is also home to the Manitoba Children’s Museum, Manitoba Theatre for Young People and tour companies Winnipeg Waterways and the Indigenous-owned and-operated, Turtle Tours.
Downtown housing options are plentiful. They include character lofts in restored heritage warehouses, modern condominiums overlooking the Red and Assiniboine rivers, luxury apartment towers and new mixed-use developments. Residents appreciate being within walking distance of offices, post-secondary institutions, entertainment and cultural attractions and NHL hockey, making downtown an ideal choice for professionals, students, and those wanting a convenient urban lifestyle.