SUNSET-RETREAT ceremony, RCMP Training Academy, Regina. -- Sun files

FIRST ONTO the parade square come three Mounties on carefully groomed horses. Then the cadets, followed by a pipe band. The sight of so many of those distinctive red serge jackets -- more than you're likely to see at one time almost anywhere else -- causes a chain reaction of camera flashes. The Sunset-Retreat ceremony at the RCMP Training Academy in Regina is a tourist favourite. It's performed Tuesday nights, from July 1 until mid-August, starting at 6:45.

The ceremony is over by 7:30, giving visitors a chance for a quick look at the RCMP Centennial Museum, Regina's No. 1 tourist draw, which is open until 8:45 those summer Tuesdays. Among the artifacts are the handcuffs worn by Metis leader Louis Riel, who was hanged there in 1885.

Guided tours are available, weekdays, year-round, and there's a sergeant-major's parade at 12:45 p.m.

If you're not driving, you can reach the academy by public transit. Call Regina Transit, 306-777-RIDE, for directions. CNT, a local firm, does a sunset ceremony tour in summer. Contact 306-584-3524 or cnttours.ca.

The RCMP facility is free, as are all of Regina's major attractions except the Science Centre. That should be music to the ears of budget-conscious travellers, but one tourism official worried some visitors take the absence of an admission fee to mean the attractions aren't worth visiting.

That's definitely not the case with The Royal Saskatchewan Museum, which Attractions Canada named best indoor site in Canada in 2002. Images of more than 400 native animals and plants have been carved on its exterior walls.

Inside, the newest gallery has a series of dioramas with stuffed wildlife, sound effects and vegetation to illustrate Saskatchewan's diversity.

There are tours every half-hour of the impressive legislative building. It is second in size only to Ottawa's Parliament buildings, with a 56-metre-high dome that can be seen from almost anywhere in Regina.

The building is faced with white Manitoba Tyndall stone, as are many of Regina's structures. There's also a model for a statue of Queen Elizabeth on her favourite horse, Burmese, which the city hopes the Queen will unveil next year. Burmese was raised in Saskatchewan. The RCMP gave it to the Queen in 1969 and she rode it until it was retired in 1987.

The legislative building overlooks Wascana Centre, at 930 hectares one of North America's largest man-made urban parks. Largely the result of a Depression-era make-work project of the early 1930s, it was intended to create a green oasis in an otherwise featureless prairie. The lake was dug by hand, and the islands created from dredged fill. Try the Park Place for lunch.

Regina was treeless when the railway arrived in 1882. Every tree you see today, an estimated 350,000, has been planted by hand. One-quarter are elm.

CNT's Regina Trolley Tour is good for an overview. It takes about three hours and runs twice daily, Monday-Friday, from mid-June into September.

For information, contact Tourism Regina, 1-800-661-5099, Ext. 303, or tourismregina.com or contact Saskatchewan Tourism, 1-877-237-2273, operator 23VG, or sasktourism.com.