Spring Road Trip to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Spring Road Trip to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Posts on this site may have affiliate links. If you make a purchase using an affiliate link I earn a small commission at no extra cost to yourself. Thanks for your support.

I’ve been to Saskatoon several times before. I have family in Saskatoon, and I try to go there once a year. That said I never felt like I’ve really gotten to see this city. When I go to visit my family, I’m not looking to do much, aside from visit and maybe eat a little too much. For this trip, I wanted to see a bit more of Saskatoon than my aunt and uncle’s kitchen.

As it turns out that’s a little difficult to do when we went in March, at least when it’s -30°C. I’m used to -30°C spring weather (though I don’t love it), but it certainly doesn’t make the idea of, “gee I’ll just go out for a nice stroll” easy. Hardcore winter enthusiasts would probably tell me to bundle up and get out there, but I was sick of the cold. While I was hoping for better weather than what we had, we were happy to visit some indoor attractions and take it easy.

What We Did

The day when it was really cold, we went to the Western Development Museum. It’s an indoor museum showcasing the heritage of Saskatchewan, from early pioneer days up to today. The 1910 Boomtown Street has different replicas of buildings like a harness shop, fire hall, church, etc. that you can go inside. The Western Development Museum has other branches in cities and towns across Saskatchewan, but I believe the one in Saskatoon is the biggest. For families with kids, this would be a great museum to go to, but even as full-grown adults my friend and I still had fun (and we probably learned a little bit too).

Western Development Museum is at 2610 Lorne Avenue. Admission is $10, and they are open 9 am to 5 pm most days.

The 1910 Boomtown exhibit at the Western Development Museum in Saskatoon.

We then took a drive by the University of Saskatchewan campus, and along the river valley. The University campus is lovely, with great views of the river. The river valley area is quite pretty with walking and biking trails. There was still a lot of snow around, but I’d love to come back in the summer and spend more time here.

We also went to a Saskatoon Blades hockey game. My friend is a fan of our local Western Hockey League (WHL) team The Edmonton Oil Kings. When I saw they were playing the Saskatoon Blades while we were in Saskatoon, it didn’t take much to convince her that we should go to the game. Watching the hockey game was a lot of fun, and the arena itself was much bigger than I expected. Also, to show how nice people in Saskatchewan are my friend took a selfie with her standing next to the Saskatoon Blades mascot (Poke Check) despite wearing the opposing team’s jersey. No taunting or anything like that at the game. It was a friendly match, and a fun night out.

The Saskatoon Blades play at SaskTel Centre located at 3515 Thatcher Avenue. WHL season runs from the end of September and into March for the regular season. Playoff season goes until the end of May.

Where We Ate

I wanted to have lunch at EE Burritos, a Latin American restaurant I’d heard about on the Food Network Canada show You Gotta Eat Here. It’s a hole-in-the-wall kind of joint in a strip-mall. The food was delicious. Three different types of pupusas, plus rice and beans for $15 (and I wasn’t even able to eat everything).

EE Burritos is at 102 Avenue P South.

Usually, I avoid arena food because it’s never great, but at The Blades game, I splurged and got some gourmet mini donuts. The maple bacon mini donuts were mini donuts with bacon, maple syrup, and whip cream. Like a pancake breakfast with extra sugar. It was sweet but yummy.

Only a couple of blocks down from where we stayed was a restaurant called Alexander’s Restaurant and Bar and had a pretty good pulled pork sandwich. The restaurant seems to be a University hangout, and I later found out from my family (who lives in Saskatoon) they’re well-known for their cheesecake. Next time I’ll skip lunch and just go for dessert.

Alexander’s Restaurant and Bar is at 414 Cumberland Avenue North.

South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon.

Road Trip Verdict

It was fun to get away for a few days and to see some new things. Saskatoon is a charming city, and pretty easy to get around. I’m definitely hoping to get to Saskatoon again, maybe to check out one of their festivals in the summer.


Things To Know
My friend and I stayed at The Inn on College. It’s located at 1020 College Drive, close to the University of Saskatchewan. Our room had two twin beds and a small TV. There was a shared bathroom, kitchen and living space. Saskatoon doesn’t have a lot of budget accommodation options, and this was perfect for us.
The tickets to The Blades hockey game were provided by Tourism Saskatoon. My friend and I paid for all other expenses during this trip. All of the opinions within this post are my own.


Have you been to Saskatoon? Would you go on a “spring” road trip?

10 thoughts on “Spring Road Trip to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan”

  1. Winter trips are my favorite (I mean, we went to Iceland in the middle of February this year, soo…), but I agree with you that sometimes there’s nothing wrong with just staying inside and taking it easy. And it sounds like you still had a ton of fun! Plus, that Latin American restaurant sounds amazing, and quite a deal, too 🙂

  2. We purposefully try to go to hole in the wall restaurants. Some of the best places we have ate at I questioned myself as we walked in, ‘what am I doing here’. Good thing you went in for that excellent food!

  3. It’s true that when you visit somewhere with family, you just don’t do all the things you might do if you were visiting purely as a tourist. Just yesterday I read a post reviewing a long list of great restaurants in Delhi and realised that staying with family means we hardly ever ate out, and even when we did, it was just at this one restaurant my uncle liked not far from their house. At least we did visit all the tourist sites over the years, but I think this post is a great reminder to explore the attractions of places you visit for family, as there’s always something to be discovered.

  4. I remember driving pass Saskatoon two years ago from Edmonton to Regina. Skipped it, now I wish I didn’t. Maybe one day I be back in the flatlands of Canada. 😀

  5. I have been to Saskatoon a few times and loved Western Development Museum. Although we have Heritage Park in Calgary which is similar, WDM is equally beautiful and a fun place to visit. I can’t imagine myself visiting Saskatoon in winter because we drive from Calgary every time. Winter driving to Saskatoon can be dangerous and not so fun compared to summer driving.

  6. Indoor attractions are great during Winter. We love hole in the wall food and discover great finds! Winter is cold and food keeps us warm! <3

  7. It sounds like a great visit to Saskatoon! I’ve only really given through there. The Western development museum sounds interesting. I always loved pioneer history. Thanks for sharing!

  8. Saskatoon looks really inviting. Living in a place where the climate is temperate, I love winter trips. Would love to visit Saskatoon in the winter. The Museum looks really interesting and the fact that you can go inside the recreated old buildings sounds fascinating. Would love to feat on some burritos too!

  9. I’m from the city of Boston where our arena food makes citywide food lists (Fenway franks!!) but those gourmet mini donuts sound like a food coma waiting to happen!

  10. I would love the 1920 Boomtown Street in the Western Development Museum. There’s a similar museum exhibit in the Provincial museum in Victoria, and that is one of my favorite museums ever! I’m glad to see there are enough fun indoor activities available to do in Saskatoon, since the winters are so cold. You’ll have to share your summer adventures when you go again!

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top