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Understand

thumb|Downtown Kitchener Kitchener and Waterloo were pioneered by Mennonites from Pennsylvania, Cambridge by British, principally Scots, in the early 19th century. Once named Berlin, Kitchener was renamed in 1916 due to the anti-German sentiment during World War I, after British military hero Lord Kitchener. Since the 1950s when Waterloo attained city status, Kitchener and Waterloo have been known as the "Twin Cities", "K-W", or "Kitchener-Waterloo". Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge (a 1970s merger of the older City of Galt with the neighbouring Towns of Preston and Hespeler, and the village of Blair) are often collectively referred to as the "Tri-Cities".

Immigration, beginning with Germans and Central Europeans in the 19th century and continuing to the present from Central and South America, the Near East, Far East and Asia have created a broad-based multi-cultural population. Kitchener and Waterloo, in 'North Waterloo' exhibit a strong German heritage, celebrated most notably in their 9-day Oktoberfest, the largest outside of Munich. Cambridge, in 'South Waterloo', has a sizeable Portuguese population, from the Azores, and a large constituency of Newfoundlanders, relocated from Belle Isle, Newfoundland, in the 1960s.

Do

thumb|upright|Oktoberfest administrative building and gift shop

Drink

See Nightlife, the weekly entertainment supplement published Thursdays by The Record, the area's daily newspaper, for its calendar of what's on in clubs, concerts, movies, stage, art, and kids stuff.

Sleep

thumb|Walper Hotel in Downtown Kitchener

Go next

Kitchener is one of three cities in Waterloo Region. Visit Waterloo to the north or Cambridge to the south. It is also a great base for exploring the surrounding countryside, the towns of New Hamburg, St. Jacobs and Elora are all within easy driving distance.