Ipanema in Manitoba

A lot of Twin Citians head north to the lake on summer weekends. In Winnipeg, we do as well, but our lake is a lot bigger and is a legitimate long weekend destination for any Midwesterner.

A quick glance at a map, and you can see why Lake Winnipeg looms large in the Manitoba consciousness. The province is known as the Land of 100,000 Lakes and Lake Winnipeg is far and away the largest; in fact, it ranks as the tenth-largest freshwater lake in the world. Its stretches of sand and scenery are on par with tropical beaches on oceans thousands of miles (and dollars) away.

On scorching-hot days when kicking around in the city just doesn’t seem feasible, like a mirage, the shimmering waters of Lake Winnipeg roll around in my head. The magnetic pull is so palpable I can almost smell the suntan lotion. There’s simply no stopping the urge to jump in the car and head north.

Once on the road, you’re presented with two disparate choices on opposing shores. If you head to the east side, you’ll end up at Grand Beach, where you can lie on a matchless stretch of sand once ranked by Playboy as one of the top ten beaches in North America (in contrast to those rocky Lake Superior foot scrapers). If you pick the western shore, you find yourself in Gimli, a quaint Icelandic fishing village with a smaller beach but no less beautiful coastline. Both Grand Beach and Gimli are equidistant from Winnipeg and less than an hour’s drive.

Lake Winnipeg’s water is alluring, relatively clean, and rather warm. On an early fall Sunday last year when the mercury rose to uncommon highs, I frolicked in the lake for hours.

Here’s a quick once-over for the uninitiated:

Lake Winnipeg When to Go Prime time for swimming and sunning at Lake Winnipeg’s beaches is June through August, although there are also plenty of splendid days in May, September, and even October. Getting There Gimli and Grand Beach are roughly an eight-hour drive from the Twin Cities, primarily on I–94 and I–29. Northwest Airlines has several daily ninety-minute nonstops: Roundtrip fares to Winnipeg started at $475 when we checked in early spring; connections on Air Canada via Chicago were a bit cheaper. Learning More For Lake Winnipeg area information, contact Travel Manitoba (800-665-0040). Grand Beach travel information is available at grand.beach.mb.ca, which offers a link service to area information and businesses. For Gimli info, phone Interlake Tourism (877-468-3752) or see the city website .

Grand Beach
Imagine a two-mile expanse of some of the purest white silica sand found on the globe. Framed by stunning twenty-five- to forty-foot-tall sand dunes, it’s revered by sun worshippers, swimmers, cottagers (cabin owners), and tourists of every age and ilk.

Beach bums such as Sarah Sitarz, a lifelong cottager from the nearby area known as Grand Marais, love Grand for its “pure sand and the Grand Beach Surf Club,” a fun beachside patio bar that offers people-watching of the highest order. Winnipegger Joanne Forzley says she’s lived elsewhere, but Grand Beach always draws her back. “It’s my favorite place in the world,” says Forzley, who’s been going to Grand Beach since she was five. Come summer, she’s always prepared: She keeps a bathing suit in her purse and a towel in her trunk. Paula Siwinska, visiting from Warsaw, Poland, was left in awe of the views while sauntering up the beach with relatives. “This is the most beautiful place in Manitoba, no?” she asks, adding that Grand Beach reminded her of seaside resorts on the Baltic Sea.

In fact, there’s an ocean feeling to the entire experience. The powder sand and grass-topped dunes set the stage, and Lake Winnipeg seems so vast that it can be difficult to make out its westerly shores at the horizon line. Add intense sand volleyball games, oiled-up sunbathers, sailing, and sexy socializing, and it’s less of a hyperbole than you’d think to compare it to Rio de Janeiro’s famed Ipanema Beach. The only visible difference is the windsurfers on waves rather than surfers navigating rollers. Oh, and the concession stands here hawk burgers, hot dogs, and fries not coco gelado, grilled prawn kebabs, and cold beer.

The Grand Beach campground, with its close proximity and easy access to East Beach, provides a quieter, family atmosphere. It’s also the best bet to view Manitoba’s most spectacular sunsets. A couple of years back, I spent my birthday camping with friends at Grand Beach. My memorable gift? One of the most breathtaking sunsets I’ve ever caught, plus s’mores and banana boats by the campfire.

Grand Beach has been a favorite holiday destination since 1916, when it was developed by the Canadian Northern Railway. Alf Goodall, a spry ninety-year-old, recalls trainloads of sun lovers taking advantage of the boardwalk, carousel, and dance hall. He’s watched its evolution since the 1940s, when he began a “lifelong obsession” with Grand Beach. “In the 1950s, we bought a cottage so we could spend even more time here,” he says.

Grand Beach Grand Beach is about fifty miles north of Winnipeg on Provincial Highway 59. Stay The provincially managed Grand Beach Campground  offers 350 basic and electrically serviced sites, showers, and a laundry, store, and amphitheater. From C$12, 888-482-2267 Inn Among the Oaks B & B is located in the adjacent Grand Marais cottage area. The two-story cedar and pine home has four guest rooms with refrigerators, along with a swimming pool, indoor hot tub, and grills. From C$59, 204-754-8109 Do Grand Beach is in Grand Beach Provincial Park, where you can stroll on the boardwalk, traipse along sandy beaches, or hike nineteen miles of backcountry trails. The best bet is the Ancient Beach Trail, where hikers can explore an old beach line of glacial Lake Agassiz and are bestowed with a lovely view of Lake Winnipeg. An interpretive brochure is available at the trailhead. There’s also berry picking in the adjacent forests in the summer. 204-754-5040 Eat The Grand Beach Surf Club boasts a vibrant outdoor patio overlooking the tanned masses on the adjacent sands of Grand Beach. The fare is not imaginative, but it’s good: wraps, quesadillas, chicken fingers, wings, pasta, fish, and steak dinners. 204-754-2047

Gimli
Gimli was settled by waves of Icelanders frustrated by an epidemic that wiped out sheep and crippled the island nation’s economy during the 1860s. They emigrated to form the Republic of New Iceland with Gimli as its capital, and the town remains the largest Icelandic settlement outside of the homeland. Iceland, one of Europe’s powerhouse fishing nations, left its Viking prints on almost every aspect of Gimli. The largest industry is commercial fishing (most of the walleye you eat in the Twin Cities comes from these waters), so Gimli’s very lifeblood emanates from Lake Winnipeg.

Gimli has more than a mile of beaches within its boundaries, but the most popular stretch of sand lies right beside 1st Avenue, the main drag. The bottom drops gradually into the beautiful waters and this is where windsurfers show off their skills for sunbathers. But it’s the beach’s easy access to Gimli’s shopping and dining area at 1st Avenue and Centre Street that lures families, seniors, and all kinds of beach-crazed visitors.

My personal Gimli ritual involves laying down a towel, going for a swim or two, then making the three-minute trek to Kris’ Fish & Chips for the oh-so-yummy pickerel (what you call walleye) and chips (pan-fried, of course, with extra lemon). Then I create a picnic lunch (or in the dog days of summer, sometimes even dinner) and dig in, on my towel, on the benches along the paved walkway, or even on the shaded grassy picnic area in front of the beach. The food is scrumptious, the lake vista stellar, and I can wash off any crumbs with another swim soon afterward.

Other nearby options include the best imperial cookies (a sugar cookie with lemon and nutmeg) at Central Bakery (where there’s also a popular diner serving up basic breakfasts and lunches) and Kaffe Haus for an iced cappuccino. There’s even cool shopping at H.P. Tergesen & Sons—the oldest operating store in Manitoba (it opened in 1899)—with an original pressed tin exterior and interior. The vintage surroundings belie the store’s trendy merchandise, from the latest in beach fashions and rad surf-wear to a surprisingly excellent book selection.

Gimli Beach is also one of the venues during The Gimli Film Festival (August 1–5 this year), where you can see quirky Canadian movies on a giant screen erected in Lake Winnipeg. Nothing quite compares to sprawling on a moonlit beach on a hot summer night and watching a flick into the wee hours.

Gimli Gimli is about fifty-five miles north of Winnipeg on Provincial Highway 8. Stay Lakeview Resort features an outdoor pool and rooms overlooking Gimli Beach, along with an indoor pool and boutiques. From C$119, 877-355-3500. Always Summer Bed and Breakfast, a mere two blocks from the beach, offers an indoor pool, hot tub/spa, and sauna, as well as queen beds and private bathrooms. From C$70, 204-642-7013 Eat Lakeview Resort’s attractive restaurant and lounge, Seagulls, serves a diverse menu that includes steaks, pizza, and salads, plus beer-battered pickerel (walleye) and other items with local flair. The food is complemented by the best patio in town with swell views of Lake Winnipeg and Gimli’s harbor. To fully savor the town’s Icelandic heritage, pop into Amma’s, a charming tea room, and order the Icelandic sampler plate with rúllupylsa (smoked lamb), pönnukökur (crepes), a yogurtlike cheese known as skyr, and a slice of vinarterta—an incomparable multilayer cardamom-prune cake. Amma’s brews eighteen varieties of loose-leaf teas. Waterfront Centre, 94 1st Ave., 204-642-7232 Do If all the town’s Viking flavors leave you intrigued, the New Iceland Heritage Museum will unfold the story of New Iceland, including the arrival of the first settlers on the shores of Lake Winnipeg and the history of the area’s fishing industry. 204-642-4001 The Icelandic Festival of Manitoba (also known as Islendingadagurinn), August 4–7, is a celebration of all things Icelandic and features cultural celebrations, poetry readings, folk music, Viking reenactments, and Islendingadunk, a game where contestants sit on a pole suspended over water and try to knock each other off with pillows. 204-642-7417

Gaylene Dempsey is a Winnipeg-based writer who loves Minnesota, but is stymied by its lack of glorious beaches.