Regina is the capital city of the province ofSaskatchewan. With about 215,000 people (2016), it is in thesoutheastern part of the province on theTrans-Canada Highway (Highway 1). Wascana Centre, created around the focal point of Wascana Lake, remains one of Regina's attractions and contains the Provincial Legislative Building, both campuses of the University of Regina, First Nations University of Canada, the provincial museum of natural history, the Regina Conservatory (in the original Regina College buildings), the Saskatchewan Science Centre, the MacKenzie Art Gallery and the Saskatchewan Centre of the Arts.
Regina is pronounced with a long "I" in the middle. It's home of the RCMP Training Academy and the Canadian Football League's Saskatchewan Roughriders. BeforeAlberta and Saskatchewan became provinces, Regina was the capital of theNorthwest Territories. Louis Riel, founder ofManitoba and the leader of the Métis peoples, was executed in the city.
Residential neighbourhoods include precincts beyond the historic city centre are historically or socially noteworthy neighbourhoods – namely Lakeview and The Crescents, both of which lie directly south of downtown. Immediately to the north of the central business district is the old warehouse district, increasingly the focus of shopping, nightclubs and residential development; as in other western cities of North America, the periphery contains shopping malls and big box stores.
As demand has risen for Saskatchewan's agricultural and mineral resources, Regina has enjoyed a period of strong economic growth.
The site had been called Wascana ("Buffalo Bones" in Cree), but was renamed "Regina" (Latin for "Queen") in 1882 in honour of Queen Victoria. This decision was made by Queen Victoria's daughter Princess Louise, who was the wife of the Governor General of Canada, the Marquess of Lorne.
Unlike other planned cities in the Canadian West, on its treeless flat plain Regina has few topographical features other than the small spring run-off, Wascana Creek. Early planners took advantage of such opportunity by damming the creek to create a decorative lake to the south of the central business district with a dam a block and a half west of the later elaborate 260-metre (850-ft) long Albert Street Bridge across the new lake. Regina's importance was further secured when the new province of Saskatchewan designated the city its capital in 1906.
In 1912, the Regina Cyclone destroyed much of the town; in the 1930s, the Regina Riot brought further attention and, in the midst of the 1930s drought and Great Depression, which hit the Canadian Prairies particularly hard with their economic focus on dry land grain farming. The predecessor of the New Democratic Party (the main left-wing political party in Canada), formulated its foundation Regina Manifesto of 1933 in Regina.
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Regina experiences a humid continental climate with cold winters and warm summers. Summer temperatures average around26 °C (79 °F) during the day and13 °C (55 °F) at night. Some particularly hot days during heat waves can see temperatures climbing upwards to or even exceeding32 °C (90 °F) with nighttime lows around17 °C (63 °F). The sun is up from 5AM to 9PM in the summer, but due to no time zone DST changes, winter sunlight hours run from 8:45AM to 5PM.
(updated May 2022)Canadian airlines operating to Regina:
(updated Apr 2022)(updated Apr 2022)(updated Apr 2022)(updated Apr 2022)Bus route 24 connects the airport to downtown Regina on M-F from 6AM to midnight.
(updated Dec 2020) Routes stopping in Regina:There is noVia Rail service to Regina.
Regina is pretty navigable, especially its inner city area where roads are on a grid, like most other cities around the region. Regina also has a Ring Road, though it is only a half ring road and can take you around most of the city.
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Regina has more parks and greenspace per capita than any major city in Canada.
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Regina is home to many performing arts venues.
These are theatres that show movies after their main theatrical run at a discount. Tickets are usually under $5.
(updated Oct 2019)(updated Oct 2019)(updated Oct 2019)There are many public golf courses throughout the Regina area. The Royal Regina is a semi-private course. Joanne Goulet, Tor Hill & the Murray are municipal courses. The city also runs a par 3 course at Lakeview. The surrounding area boasts championship courses at Deer Valley Estates and Emerald Park.
Eclectic, locally-owned shops and boutiques can be found clustered in the pedestrian-friendlyCathedral Village orhttps://www.warehousedistrict.ca/ Old Warehouse District].
Visitors to Regina will also find all the indoor shopping malls and big box power centres endemic to most North American cities:
Saskatchewan is known for having one of the largest per-capita ratio of restaurants to citizens, so there is a wide variety of places to choose from. Regina's downtown alone has approximately seventy eating establishments. Aside from the regular chains, here is a list of local favourites:
The legal drinking age in Saskatchewan is 19 years.
For those looking to check out a bar or night club in the evening, Regina's Old Warehouse district is the place to be. There are 6 bars and clubs on Dewdney Ave between Albert and Broad Sts:
Staying atbed and breakfasts is a great way to meet local people. Prices in Regina start at $70 for single and $85 for double occupancy.
Much like Saskatoon, Regina has a higher-than-average crime rate per capita (at one point being known as Canada's most dangerous city), but unless you go out looking for trouble, nothing is likely to happen to you. The downtown area is quite safe, though you may run into the occasional panhandler or drunken person at night.
The two main neighbourhoods to avoid in Regina are the North Central and Heritage/Chinatown districts, (which are located northwest and northeast of the downtown core), and where most of the crime and prostitution is concentrated.
| Routes through Regina |
| Medicine Hat←Moose Jaw← | W  E | →White Butte→Brandon |
| Melfort←Quill Lakes← | N   S | →Corinne→Sidney /Weyburn via.svg) |
| Saskatoon←Lumsden← | N  S | →END |
| Thiscity travel guide toReginais ausable article. It has information on how to get there and on restaurants and hotels. An adventurous person could use this article, but pleasefeel free to improve itby editing the page. |
