Edmonton: the mall with its own water park

For years the world's largest shopping mall, the West Edmonton Mall coexists with one of North America's most extensive urban riverpark systems.

The center is explored on foot; the rest of the city requires a car.

Opened in 1981, the West Edmonton Mall held for years the record of the world's largest shopping center, featuring an indoor water park, an ice rink, and an amusement park all within its walls.

Descending toward the river, you walk through the North Saskatchewan River Valley, one of the continent's most extensive connected urban park systems.

Along the river, Fort Edmonton Park recreates different historical periods of the city through buildings and costumed characters.

For those with more time, Elk Island National Park, east of the city, protects herds of plains bison among the most significant in Canada.

The West Edmonton Mall also includes a scale replica of Columbus's Santa Maria, used as an attraction for indoor mini-golf: a detail that surprises those expecting only shops.

The bison of Elk Island descend from herds saved from extinction in the early twentieth century, when the species was reduced to just a few hundred specimens across North America.