Family profile Gillian Marx, a media relations officer, Tony Marx, an agricultural program facilitator, Benjamin, 11, and Jacob, 8.

What Gillian loves about St. John’s It has old-world charm, a bustling downtown, great coffee shops, waterfront, great dining and lots of choices. There’s boutique shopping, fantastic nightlife and live entertainment on George Street. We’ve got fresh, clean air, and camping at Pippy Park (pippypark.com) is within city limits! Another bonus: fun downtown festivals like St. John’s Time (stjohnstime.ca), the George St. Festival, the St. John’s Downtown Buskers Festival and the Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival (stjohns.ca).

What Benjamin and Jacob love The quick access to trails for hiking and biking (stjohns.foundlocally.com) – we can scoot out after supper and go on an adventure. The Science Centre (nlsciencecentre.com) downtown rocks, as does rock climbing at Wallnuts (wallnutsclimbing.com).

Favourite stores and restos The boys dig Ballistic Skate & Snow (170 Water St.), a funky skateboard shop, and Sugar Cane Lane, a great downtown candy store (202 Water St.). A great night out à deux would include a drink at Blue on Water (blueonwater.com), followed by dinner at the Gypsy Tea Room (195 Water St.).

A perfect family day in St. John’s We’d go for a bike ride on the T’Railway (trailway.ca) that goes from the old railway museum out to Bowring Park (bowringpark.com). There’s a wonderful playground and an outdoor swimming pool there, and lots of space for a picnic lunch. We’d drop off our bikes and then walk about downtown and check out Downtown Comics (141 Duckworth St.). Ben likes Sword ’n’ Steele (266 Duckworth St.) too. There are so many places to choose from to eat, We’d either grab a sandwich at Hava Java (216 Water St.) or Auntie Crae’s (272 Water St.). Then we might trek over to Moo Moo’s Ice Cream Inc. (88 Kings Rd.) where Turtle Cheesecake is our favourite flavour of their home- made ice cream. We’d either sit on their picnic bench or walk across the street to Bannerman Park (on Bannerman Rd.) to eat it. We also might drive to Signal Hill (pc.gc.ca) and run around the trails there, then watch the sunset.

TOP TEN CITIES

1. Québec City
2. Montréal
3. Vancouver
4. Vaughan, Ontario
5. Richmond Hill, Ontario
6. Toronto
7. Markham
8. St. John’s, Newfoundland
9. Gatineau, Québec
10. Calgary

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