Edmonton

Edmonton wraps more than twenty connected parks around the North Saskatchewan River valley, one of the continent's largest areas of urban parkland, giving a prairie capital city an unusually green, river carved core.

Downtown centres on the Ice District around Rogers Place, with office towers, hotels and a growing residential population a short walk from the Legislature grounds. Just west, Oliver, now officially Wihkwentowin, and Glenora offer some of the city's most established inner city living, Glenora in particular known for stately homes, mature trees and river valley views near Government House.

South of the river, Old Strathcona keeps Edmonton's streetcar era alive along Whyte Avenue, with a Saturday farmers market, live theatre and the University of Alberta a few blocks north. Windermere in the southwest and Summerside further south, built around a private lake with year round beach access, both draw families to newer construction, while Griesbach in the north has turned a former military base into a walkable, new urbanist community of parks and tree lined streets.

Edmonton's river valley trail system means green space and river views are rarely far from any neighbourhood, and the LRT network, anchored by the Capital, Metro and Valley Lines, continues to expand. As the seat of Alberta's government and home to the University of Alberta, Edmonton offers buyers a stable economic base and some of the most attainable big city housing in the country.