Edmonton, Alberta | With a star-studded selection of choices to choose from - everything from majestic opportunities to swing a five-iron, casting your favourite fishing rod or lacing up a pair of skates - you'll find that your line-up card will quickly fill up in Edmonton.

Edmonton golf lets players tee up at more than 70 courses - a majority of them at the 18-hole championship calibre level - in the Greater Edmonton region including Northern Bear, a Jack Nicklaus signature course. Play and stay, and you'll see why golfers want to come back here for more: tree-lined courses, majestic river valley surroundings and challenges only Mother Nature could put in a golfer's path.

Indy race fans can get their engines revved up at one of the most fan-friendly circuits where 80 per cent of the track can be easily seen from anywhere in the stands. With speeds having exceeded 320 km/h it won't just be the summer sun that heats up the Rexall Speedway.

Angling for something a bit different? Get Hooked Fishing Adventures offers a variety of fishing packages designed to meet the thrills and challenges of fishing the waters of the Edmonton area.

For the armchair quarterbacks in the vacation crowd, catch the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League at Commonwealth Stadium, where grass, not artificial turf, rules the game. The Eskimos, with a proud CFL heritage, have been a playoff contender for 34 consecutive years - from 1972 to 2005 - a record for a North American professional team.

Hockey fans will find themselves in hockey heaven in Edmonton. A trip to Rexall Place - home to the National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers and the arena where hockey legend Wayne Gretzky led the Oilers to a string of Stanley Cup victories - is steeped in hockey magic. People eat, live and sleep hockey in Edmonton, and after watching the Oilers it’s not hard to see why.

Check out the Edmonton Rush of the National Lacrosse League as well as the Edmonton Cracker-Cats of the Golden Baseball League (professional independent baseball), and the Edmonton Oil Kings (junior hockey in the Western Hockey League) or head over to the Horses at Northlands Park where horse racing is front and centre.

Skiers who'd like to carve out their own course, can catch an edge with world-class downhill skiing in nearby Jasper, via the Snow Train to Jasper (it operates during winter months only) from Edmonton. The train's domed Panorama rail car offers breathtaking 360-degree views of the Rockies, making the approaching slopes that much more enticing.

Or for a cross country experience of a lifetime, schedule a trip to coincide with the Canadian Birkebeiner Ski Festival, an annual event held east of the city where you'll follow the historic legend of the original Birkebeiner (Viking skiers) from more than 800 years ago. It's Canada's premier cross-country ski event and features a 55 km point-to-point course.

For more information about all of the recreational excitement Edmonton has to offer, visit

Jenifer Christenson