Regina holds two things nowhere else in the world can claim. The largest Tyrannosaurus rex ever found lives here. So does the training academy where every single Mountie in Canada learns the job.
We stopped here on a road trip through the Canadian Prairies, primarily to find out how somebody becomes a Mountie. We came away thinking Regina is badly undersold, and that we had planned our visit wrong.
Regina is the capital of Saskatchewan, about 45 minutes east of Moose Jaw and 2 hours 40 minutes south of Saskatoon. The two unmissable stops are the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, home to Scotty the T. rex, and the RCMP Heritage Centre at Depot Division. Both can be done in a day. Come on a weekday, not a Sunday, and check what is running at Depot before you fix your dates.
Regina is the capital of Saskatchewan, in the south of the province, on the Trans-Canada Highway. It is the second largest city in the province after Saskatoon, and it has its own airport.
Drive times to the places you are most likely to be coming from:
Moose Jaw: About 45 minutes west.
Saskatoon: About 2 hours 40 minutes north, or a little over three hours if you detour via Little Manitou Lake.
Grasslands National Park: Around 3 hours 30 minutes south west.
We came in from Moose Jaw and drove on to Saskatoon. Full drive times for the whole route are in our road trip planning guide.
If you do one thing in Regina, do this.
Scotty is the largest and heaviest Tyrannosaurus rex ever discovered, and he is on display at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in the centre of the city. He is roughly 13 metres long, stood around four metres at the hip, and is estimated to have weighed close to nine tonnes in life. That is heavier than an adult elephant, and it dethroned Sue at Chicago’s Field Museum from a record she had held for years.
The story of how he was found is almost better than the numbers.
On 16 August 1991, a local high school teacher named Robert Gebhardt joined palaeontologists from the museum on a prospecting trip into the Frenchman River Valley badlands near Eastend, in the far south west of the province. He wanted to learn how fossils are identified in the field. Within half a day he had found a worn tooth and a tail vertebra, both pointing to a T. rex.
Getting him out took two decades. The bones were locked in extremely hard sandstone and had to be removed almost entirely by hand. Preparation was not finished until 2011. What emerged was a skeleton around 65 per cent complete, including the skull and hips, making it one of the most complete T. rex specimens ever found as well as the biggest.
The nickname came from the field crew, who wanted to toast the discovery and found they had nothing on hand but a bottle of scotch.
Scotty lived roughly 66 million years ago and had a hard life. He reached at least 28 years old, which is old for the species, and the bones show it: a broken jaw, broken ribs, a bone infection behind the eye, and serious damage to the tail that may have come from another tyrannosaur’s bite.
The Frenchman River Valley, where Scotty was found, runs through Grasslands National Park. If you are visiting both, seeing the landscape first and the skeleton second makes far more sense than the other way round. The skeleton is displayed on the lower ground floor, and there is a good second view from the balcony above. T. rex was named Saskatchewan's provincial fossil in 2018.
Scotty is the headline, but there is more here and one thing worth a warning.
The First Nations Gallery sits on the same floor and covers the history and traditions of Indigenous societies in Saskatchewan. When we visited there was a guide explaining the exhibits, and listening to her was one of the better half hours of the trip.
The natural history floor upstairs is taxidermy, and a lot of it. Every bird and mammal of the region, mounted and displayed. Moose, wolf, bear, and a mother beaver with her young in a den. One of our family found it very upsetting and it coloured their whole memory of the visit.
We mention it because nobody warned us. If anyone in your group is likely to find that difficult, do Scotty and the First Nations Gallery and skip the upper floor entirely. You will not miss anything essential.
The museum operates on a donation basis rather than a fixed admission charge, though this can change, so check before you go. If you decide not to go in but are passing, look at the carvings on the outside of the building, which depict over three hundred animals native to Saskatchewan.
Regina is where every Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer in the country is trained, and has been since 1885. Depot Division is an active training academy, and the RCMP Heritage Centre sits at its entrance on Dewdney Avenue.
The centre traces the force from its beginnings in 1873 as the North West Mounted Police through to modern policing. There are galleries, a theatre, virtual and augmented reality exhibits, a police car simulator, a True Crime room, and the chance to try on the Red Serge tunic and the Stetson.
The best thing in the building is a short film about cadet training. Every cadet, without exception, goes through the same 26 week programme. It includes taking a face full of pepper spray, wrestling assailants considerably larger than themselves, disarming techniques, firearms and running with a dog handler.
Horse riding is not part of the training. The RCMP are police officers first, and horses are used only for ceremonial duties now. So much for our assumptions.
Graduating cadets have to accept a posting anywhere in Canada, including the most remote northern communities. Having watched the film, we concluded none of us would make it through.
If you are visiting Cypress Hills on the same trip, Fort Walsh sets up this story properly, since it was the North West Mounted Police’s headquarters in the 1870s. Doing Fort Walsh first and Depot second gives you the whole arc.
This is the part we got wrong, and it is the reason we are writing this section first rather than last.
We arrived on days when the Depot tours were not running, could not change our itinerary, and settled for the museum alone. What we did not realise is that there are two other ways to see Depot, both free, and neither requires the tour.
The Sergeant Major's Parade: Cadets on the parade square, held on weekdays through the summer around the middle of the day. You need to pre-register, usually by noon on the day.
The Sunset Retreat Ceremony: The one to plan around. Held on summer evenings, free to attend, and it includes the cadet marching band, a cannon drill, a foot drill display by cadets in scarlet tunics, the ceremonial lowering of the flag and a march past. It is an outdoor event, so bring a blanket or a folding chair, and arrive early.
Depot Tours: Behind the scenes tours of the training academy, running weekdays through the summer season. Registration is on the day, first come first served, and photo ID is required.
The Memorial Service: Held annually on the second Sunday in September and open to the public.
All of these run to schedules that change, and Depot is a secure, active training facility, so access is controlled and can be withdrawn at short notice. Check the RCMP Heritage Centre and Depot Division websites before you fix your dates, not after. That is the single most useful piece of advice in this article.
While you are there, the chapel at Depot is the oldest building in Regina.
Regina reportedly has more parks and green space per head than any major Canadian city, and Wascana Centre is why. It is a very large park built around Wascana Lake, which is entirely man made, and it sits right in the middle of the city.
We walked around the lake on our way to the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, passing an outdoor pool with music going that looked like a great deal of fun and rather punctured the calm.
What else is in the park:
The Saskatchewan Legislative Building: Regularly listed among the top things to do in Regina, and free guided tours run inside. We did not go in, which we regret. Do not make our mistake.
The Saskatchewan Science Centre: Good for families.
The MacKenzie Art Gallery: Saskatchewan's oldest public art gallery.
Bike paths and a marina: Boat rentals in summer.
Bar Willow Eatery: A lakeside restaurant on Wascana Drive if you want to make an afternoon of it.
Wascana Marsh at the eastern end is a genuine wildlife area, which is unusual for the middle of a provincial capital.
More than we managed in two nights.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders: The CFL side, and something close to a provincial religion. Mosaic Stadium is in the city and a home game is a proper Saskatchewan experience. Time your visit for one if the season allows.
Government House: The former residence of the Lieutenant Governor, with restored Victorian interiors and gardens. Free to visit.
The Regina Farmers' Market: Runs in Victoria Park downtown in the warmer months.
Victoria Park: The green square at the heart of downtown, and the setting for a lot of the city's summer events
The Conexus Arts Centre: The province's main performing arts venue, also in Wascana.
Cathedral Village is billed as Regina’s most characterful neighbourhood, full of independent shops, cafes and restaurants, and we had planned it as the counterweight to a morning in a museum.
We came on a Sunday. Almost everything was shut.
Learn from us and come on any other day. We consoled ourselves with a soft scoop from Elle’s To Go, cherry and watermelon, and retreated to the hotel bar to rest our feet and watch the Olympics, which was pleasant but not what we had planned.
The neighbourhood also hosts the Cathedral Village Arts Festival in late spring, which is one of the city’s biggest street events.
Walking route · Regina
Almost everything worth seeing in central Regina sits either in Wascana Centre or a short walk north of it, which makes this an easy city to do on foot. Here is the route we would give anyone with a day.
Go in for Scotty before you do anything else, while you are fresh and before the afternoon coach parties. On the way out, look up at the frieze running along the top of the building, 137 metres of Tyndall stone carved with over three hundred animals native to Saskatchewan.
This is one of the largest urban parks in North America, larger than Central Park, and it opens up immediately behind the museum.
It is the single best hour you can spend in Regina. Along the way you pass Speakers’ Corner, built with columns salvaged from the old city hall, the historic Albert Street Memorial Bridge, the Trafalgar Fountain and a run of monuments and memorials. Sixteen interpretive pedestals along the north shore walkway tell the story of the last century here.
Completed in 1912 and unquestionably the finest building in the province. We did not go in and it is the thing we most regret. The view of it from the north shore of the lake is the photograph everyone takes.
Continue round to the Saskatchewan Science Centre on the eastern side if you have children with you, or carry on along the Red Trail around the marsh if you want the quieter, wilder half of the park.
Victoria Park is the green square at the centre of the city, with the Cenotaph at its heart. On Saturdays in the warmer months the Regina Farmers’ Market takes over the square.
The Warehouse District is the old industrial quarter turned over to restaurants, brewpubs and bars. Cathedral Village is the independent, low-rise neighbourhood where the city’s daily life actually happens. Either makes a good place to stop walking and start eating.
A full day, roughly 8 km of walking, and it covers the museum, the park, the Legislative Building, downtown and a neighbourhood.
If you would rather be shown round than work it out yourself, the good news is that most of the guided options here are free.
Free, daily, in English and French. No booking needed for individuals.
Free walking tours of the park through the summer season, from the visitor kiosk in Wascana Centre. Walk-in or by appointment.
Free, weekdays in summer, covering the chapel, the dorms, the cemetery and the riding stables. Photo ID required.
Free guided tours led by costumed interpreters, with an interpretive centre and the restored Edwardian gardens.
The city has narrated app-based tours of the Warehouse District and of downtown’s historic buildings, both free and available year round.
Several of Regina’s breweries run free tours, generally by appointment or on set weekend afternoons.
On booking platforms, it is worth setting expectations. Regina has very little bookable third-party tour inventory, and what does exist is mostly self-guided audio apps rather than a guide in person. Anything you book ahead online for this city will almost certainly be something you could have walked yourself with this article open. The best tours here are the free ones run by the institutions themselves, and none of them need booking through anybody else.
The RCMP Heritage Centre, which is west of the centre on Dewdney Avenue and needs a car, a taxi or a bus. Give that its own half day.
We stayed at the Hotel Saskatchewan, a Marriott Autograph Collection property in the centre of town. It has a lovely ground floor bar with a fireplace and a television, and it is a ten minute walk to Wascana Park.
It has kept a good deal of its historic character too, including the original mail chutes, where deposit boxes on the upper floors fed down to a central collection point at ground level. A small thing, and exactly the sort of detail that makes an old hotel worth choosing over a new one.
We only had two nights here and barely scratched the surface, so this is a short list of what we tried and a longer one of where we would head first on a return visit.
The Diplomat: An old style dining room hung with photographs of the celebrities who have eaten there over the years. It was the smartest meal of our road trip and not the best food we had. Not bad at all, just outshone elsewhere. The atmosphere was excellent and the evening was a good one.
The Royal Saskatchewan Museum cafeteria: Functional, and it did the job between Scotty and the afternoon.
Circa 27 at Hotel Saskatchewan: The dining room in the hotel we stayed in, which we somehow never ate in. Contemporary Canadian cooking in a properly grand room, and the obvious choice if you are staying there and want an occasion without going anywhere.
Bar Willow Eatery: Out on Wascana Drive, overlooking the lake, so you can pair it with an afternoon in the park. A relaxed gastropub feel rather than anything formal, and the setting is the draw.
Memories Dining and Bar: The name that comes up more than any other when Reginans are asked where to eat. Seasonal menus built around Saskatchewan ingredients, with a Greek influence and a steakhouse streak. Book ahead.
If you want something lighter, Cathedral Village is where we would look, and 13th Avenue Food and Coffee House is the one people point you to for good coffee and a vegetarian-friendly menu.
One full day covers Scotty and the RCMP Heritage Centre, which are the two things you cannot get anywhere else. Two days is better and lets you add Wascana properly, the Legislative Building tour and Cathedral Village.
Summer, without much question. The Sunset Retreat Ceremony, the Depot tours, the Sergeant Major’s Parade, the farmers’ market and the boat rentals on Wascana Lake all run in the warmer months and most stop outside them.
And not on a Sunday, which is the mistake we made. Cathedral Village largely closes, the Depot programme does not run, and you will see the city at its quietest. Any weekday is better.
In closing
Yes, and we would give it more time than we did. Our honest experience was of a city we did not see at its best, and almost all of that was our own planning. We came on a Sunday, missed the Depot programme entirely, skipped the Legislative Building and found the shops shut. That is a scheduling failure, not a verdict on Regina..
What we did see justified the stop on its own. Scotty is a world-class specimen, displayed properly, in a museum that costs almost nothing to enter. The RCMP Heritage Centre tells a story that exists nowhere else on earth, and the training film alone was worth the drive.
Plan around the Depot schedule, come on a weekday, give it two days, and Regina will repay it. We will be back to see the Sunset Retreat Ceremony, which is free, and which we drove straight past without ever knowing it existed.
Over and out!
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