1. Banff National Park
Moraine Lake
Located in the magnificent Valley of the ten Peaks in the heart of Banff National Park lies Moraine Lake. It is less than nine miles long, but is probably one of the most beautiful spots on Earth where you can take a slow tour in a kayak or canoe. Cold glacial waters feed the lake, which is quite popular with fishermen. Numerous hiking trails around the lake offer spectacular photo opportunities of the lake and the surrounding mountain peaks.
Lake Louise
Canadians call Lake Louise “the diamond in the wilderness.” It certainly does sparkle like a jewel; the lake is a bright turquoise blue-green body of water surrounded by deep shadows of the surrounding Rocky Mountains. The lake is a very popular tourist destination, and it offers endless opportunities for recreation, from kayaking and fishing on the lake to skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, and even golfing in the surrounding area. Seeing the lake from one of the zip lines or from the Banff Gondola is another unforgettable experience.
Bow Lake
You will notice Bow Lake from the highway because of its startlingly blue waters. It is one of the largest lakes in Banff National Park, and it is especially beautiful in the early morning when the sun paints the surface golden. The lake is only half a mile from Crowfoot Glacier, a nice four-mile hike with not too much elevation. You will be rewarded by the spectacular vistas of the lake, breath-taking alpine meadows full of wild flowers, and finally by the glacier and the waterfall.
Peyto Lake
Peyto Lake is pretty enough to appear on a postcard. In fact, its mesmerizing pale turquoise color is so beautiful that the lake often does appear on postcards that feature the Rockies. The lake is fed by Peyto Glacier, which is part of the Wapta Icefield, via rapid-flowing Peyto Creek. The lake is located in Banff National Park, about 38km from Lake Louise. The best view of the lake is from Bow Summit, the highest point on the Icefields Parkway.
2. Toronto
Welcome to Toronto, the most multiculturally diverse city on the planet: over 140 languages are spoken. It's estimated that over half of Toronto's residents were born outside Canada, and despite its complex makeup, Torontonians generally get along. When the weather is fine, Toronto is a blast: a vibrant, big-time city abuzz with activity. Some of the world's finest restaurants are found here, alongside happening bars and clubs and eclectic festivals. Yes, winter in Toronto can be a real drag. Things get messy on the congested highways and archaic public transit system. But come with patience, an open mind and during the delightfully temperate and colorful spring or fall, and you're bound to have a great time.
CN Tower
Toronto's iconic CN Tower, a marvel of 1970s engineering, looks like a giant concrete hypodermic needle. Its function as a communications tower takes a backseat to relieving tourists of as much cash possible – riding those glass elevators up the once-highest freestanding structure in the world (553m) is one of those things you just have to do in Toronto. Even if you don't, you're bound to catch a glimpse of the tower at night, when the entire structure puts on a brilliant free light show year-round.
Royal Ontario Museum
Celebrating its centennial in 2014, the multidisciplinary ROM is Canada's biggest natural history museum and one of the largest museums in North America. You'll either love or loathe the synergy between the original heritage buildings at the main entrance on Bloor Street and the 2007 addition of 'the Crystal,' which appears to pierce the original structure and juts out into the street like a massive shard. Inside, the permanent collection features over 6 million specimens and artifacts, divided between two main galleries: the Natural History Galleries and the World Culture Galleries. The Chinese temple sculptures, Gallery of Korean Art, and costumes and textile collections are some of the best in the world. Kids rush to the dinosaur rooms, Egyptian mummies and Jamaican bat-cave replica. The cedar crest poles carved by First Nations tribes in British Columbia are wonderful.
St. Lawrence Market
Old York's sensational St. Lawrence Market has been a neighborhood meeting place for over two centuries. The restored, high-trussed 1845 South Market houses more than 50 specialty food stalls: cheese vendors, fishmongers, butchers, bakers and pasta makers. The Carousel Bakery is famed for its peameal bacon sandwiches and St. Urbain for its authentic Montréal-style bagels. Inside the old council chambers upstairs, the Market Gallery has rotating displays of paintings, photographs, documents and historical relics.
3. Whistler
Cheakamus Lake
Cheakamus Lake is a lovely peaceful little lake in Garibaldi Provincial Park less than 3km from Whistler village. Surrounded by old growth cedars and firs, the lake has a wild aura and looks mysterious and secretive. Towering mountains cast their shadows over large boulders and the pleasant beaches around the lake. The water is too cold for swimming, but fish love it, so you can always see a few fishermen in their canoes on the water. The hike to Cheakamus Lake is easy, with almost no elevation, and it provides wonderful opportunities for taking photos of wild flowers and birds around the trail.
Garibaldi Lake
Garibaldi Lake is a beautiful alpine cold lake located in the Coast Mountains of British Columbia just 19km south of Whistler. It is situated 4,900 feet above sea level and is very deep, at some points exceeding 800 feet. Its turquoise waters, surrounding snow-capped mountains, and spectacular plant and animal life make the lake a popular destination for hikers and nature lovers. Magnificent forests and meadows surround the lake, which is rich in diverse plant life and provide home to many wild animals. Bears are a common sight. The lake is part of Garibaldi Park, which has 90km of well-established trails and a number of campgrounds.
4. Vancouver
Walkable neighborhoods, drink-and-dine delights and memorable cultural and outdoor activities framed by dramatic vistas – there's a glassful of great reasons to love this lotusland metropolis. Don't tell Toronto or Montreal but Vancouver is the real culinary capital of Canada. Loosen your belt and dive right into North America's best Asian dining scene, from chatty Chinese restaurants to authentic izakayas (Japanese neighborhood pubs), or taste a rich smorgasbord of fresh-caught seafood, including seasonal spot prawns and juicy wild salmon. The farm-to-table movement has also revitalized the notion of West Coast cuisine – anyone for succulent Fraser Valley duck and a side dish of foraged morels? And we haven't even started on the nation-leading craft-beer scene, plus the city's emerging craft liquor producers.
Downtown is just the start of Vancouver. Walk or hop public transit and within minutes you'll be hanging with the locals in one of the city's many diverse and distinctive 'hoods. Whether discovering the coffee shops of Commercial Dr or the hipster haunts of Main St, the indie bars and restaurants of Gastown or the heritage-house beachfronts and browsable stores of Kitsilano, you'll find this city perfect for easy-access urban exploration. Just be sure to chat to the locals wherever you go: they might seem shy or aloof at first, but Vancouverites love talking up their town. As the city awaits its long-anticipated new Vancouver Art Gallery building, there's already a rich and ever-spreading canvas of cultural action to dive into around the city. Dig deeply and you'll uncover a diverse grassroots scene that operates like a locavore movement for culture-lovers. Mingle with the regulars at eclectic festivals, sparkling theatrical events, toe-tapping live music, waterfront Shakespeare shows and a camera-ready menagerie of public art – as well as the city's independent galleries and a huge, party-like open-house art crawl that lures locals and visitors to East Vancouver every November.
Those snow-dusted mountains that are peeking at you from between downtown's glass towers? They're less than 30 minutes away by car. Vancouverites really can ski in the morning and hit the beach in the afternoon – although it's far more relaxing to chill out and take your time. The city's North Shore nature doorstep offers snow sports, mountain biking and leisurely rainforest viewing, while the city itself is studded with sandy beaches, forest trails, kayaking routes, seawall bike lanes and Canada's urban green-space jewel, the mighty and highly beloved Stanley Park.
Grouse Mountain
The self-proclaimed 'Peak of Vancouver,' this mountain-top playground offers smashing views of downtown glittering in the water below. In summer, Skyride gondola tickets include access to lumberjack shows, alpine hiking, bird-of-prey displays and a grizzly bear refuge. Pay extra for zip-lining and Eye of the Wind, a 20-story, elevator-accessed turbine tower with a panoramic viewing pod that will have your camera itching for action. There are also restaurants up here if you fancy dining: it's an ideal sunset-viewing spot. You can reduce the gondola fee by hiking the ultra-steep Grouse Grind up the side of the mountain – it's one-way only and it costs $10 to get back down on the Skyride. Grouse lures visitors from downtown from May to September by offering a free shuttle from Canada Place. And in winter, it's all about skiing and snowboarding as Grouse become the locals' fave powder-bound playground.
5. Japser National Park
Pyramid Lake
Pyramid Lake is one of several small lakes connected by picturesque hiking trails in Jasper National Park in Alberta. The lake lies in the shadow of Pyramid Mountain, which provides a majestic backdrop for photos. In the winter, the frozen lake is popular for ice-skating, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing. When the snow melts, the lake is full of fishermen, windsurfers, and tourists from the town of Jasper paddling along in canoes. No gas motors are allowed. There are several barbecue fire pits around the lake, but overnight camping is not permitted.
Deep in the Canadian Rockies in the middle of Jasper National Park, lies 22-km long Maligne Lake, a turquoise jewel surrounded by the deep green of majestic spruces and lodgepole pines. Fed by melt waters of the Coronet Glacier, the lake is an exceptionally popular destination for tourists, avid fishermen, campers, kayakers, and nature lovers from all over the world. There are two excellent campgrounds and numerous hiking and cross-country skiing trails around the lake. You might even spot beavers, caribou, moose, Harlequin Ducks, or grizzly or black bears. Take a walk on the small but picturesque and mysterious Spirit Island in the middle of the lake and take spectacular photos of the distant snow-covered peaks of the Rockies.
6. Kejimkujik National Park
Some of Nova Scotia's most unique, magnificent and unspoiled terrain is found in the Kejimkujik National Park (shortened to 'Keji' by locals). The main park occupies 381 sq km in the center of the mainland, while its smaller Seaside Adjunct is located 107km to the south. Less than 20% of Keji's wilderness is accessible by car; the rest is reached on foot or by canoe. Bird-watchers will be in their element, while wildlife ranges from porcupines to black bear. On a less joyful note, biting insects are rampant; watch out for eel-like leeches in the lakes and some seriously large mosquitoes. The 'Keji Adjunct' protects angelic landscapes of rolling low brush, wildflowers, white sandy coves and the granite outcrops spreading between Port Joli and Port Mouton Bay. The Port Joli Basin contains the Point Joli Migratory Bird Sanctuary, with waterfowl and shorebirds in great numbers. It's only easily accessible by kayak.
7. Québec City
Montréal may have more media connections, commercial activity and global cachet, but Québec City has something else: the soul of the province, and the fiercer grip on French Canadian identity. It also happens to be one of North America’s oldest and most magnificent settlements. Its picturesque Old Town is a Unesco World Heritage site, a living museum of narrow cobblestone streets, 17th- and 18th-century houses and soaring church spires, with the splendid Château Frontenac towering above it all. Even with a T-shirt shop on half the corners, there's more than a glimmer of Old Europe in its classic bistros, sidewalk cafes and manicured squares.
Le Château Frontenac
Reputedly the world's most photographed hotel, this audaciously elegant structure was built in 1893 by the Canadian Pacific Railway as part of its chain of luxury hotels. Its fabulous turrets, winding hallways and imposing wings graciously complement its dramatic location atop Cap Diamant, a cliff that swoops into the St Lawrence River. Over the years, it’s lured a never-ending line up of luminaries, including Alfred Hitchcock, who chose this setting for the opening scene of his 1953 mystery I Confess.
8. The Laurentians
The Laurentians, or Les Laurentides in French, are perhaps the best-kept secret of Montréal day-trippers and are just an hour's drive from the city. Here you'll find gentle rolling mountains, crystal-blue lakes and meandering rivers peppered with towns and villages too cute for words. A visit to this natural paradise is like putting your feet up after a long day. Although sometimes criticized for being over-commercialized, Mont Tremblant offers outstanding skiing, rivaled only by Whistler in the whole of Canada. Speckling the Laurentians are many more lower-profile resort villages, whose miniature town centers deliver an air of the Alps, with breezy patios and exclusive, independent designer-clothing shops.
9. Forillon National Park
Forillon National Park occupies a mountainous area between the Bay of Gaspé and the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Québec. It is wild and untamed, with fantastic challenging hiking trails along the sea cliff edges. The park also includes picturesque Gaspésie fishing villages, pebble beaches, hidden coves, and steep cliffs that drop off to the sea. The park has a rare mix of ten diverse ecosystems that include forests, which cover most of the area, sand dunes, cliffs, meadows, lakes, marshes, and streams. Besides maple, fir, and white and yellow birch, there are more than 700 species of plants that exist in the park, including some that belong in the Arctic. Forillon is the beginning of the International Appalachian Trail.
10. Saguenay
The roads snake north of Charlevoix, but they all spread into dozens of detours as they edge a deeply forested, craggy cleft that tears into the heart of this province: the Rivière Saguenay fjord. Overlooking its deep blue waters are windblown, lichen-and-pine studded cliffs that stretch some 500m high. Formed during the last Ice Age, the fjord is the most southerly one in the northern hemisphere. As deep as 270m in some places, the riverbed rises to a depth of only 20m at the fjord's mouth at Tadoussac. This makes the relatively warm, fresh waters of the Saguenay jet out atop the frigid, salt waters of the St Lawrence, leading to massive volumes of krill, which in turn attract the visitor highlight of the region: whales. They and the entire waterway now enjoy protected status.
11. Cabot Trail
Driving the Cabot Trail is Nova Scotia's most famous recreational activity, taking you along winding roads, by serene lakes, beneath soaring eagles and on to cliff-top vistas that are sure to make your jaw drop. The most breathtaking scenery is found on the island's northwestern shore as the trail slopes down to Pleasant Bay and Chéticamp. Keep your eyes on the circuitous road, as tempting as the views become: there are plenty of places to stop, look and hike through a tapestry of terrain for boundless vistas over the endless, icy ocean. Along the way, artists' workshops dot the southeastern flank of the trail like Easter eggs, from Englishtown to St. Ann's Bay. Seize this treasure: drop in to a studio or two to meet an interesting mishmash of characters. You'll find pottery, leather, glass and pewter workers, painters and sculptors, and discover living remnants of Mi'kmaw and Acadian culture.
12. Ottawa
Descriptions of Ottawa read like an appealing dating profile: dynamic, gregarious, bilingual, likes kids and long walks on the river. In person, the attractive capital fits the bill. Canada's gargantuan Gothic Parliament buildings regally anchor the downtown core, an inspiring jumble of pulsing districts around the Rideau Canal. A few days' worth of world-class museums are architecturally inspiring homes to a variety of intriguing collections. Parks, gardens and wide, open public spaces pay an accessible and year-round homage to all four seasons. Average temperatures are well below 0°C from December to March, but locals celebrate the city's longest-seeming season with a bunch of outdoor pursuits. Many skate to work or school on the frozen canal, while the Winterlude festival sees fantastical ice sculptures. As spring clicks to summer, auspicious tulips cheer the downtown, followed by vibrant fall leaves that line the streets with eye-popping reds and yellows.
13. Lake Superior Provincial Park
Lake Superior Provincial Park protects 1600 square km of misty fjord-like passages, thick evergreen forest and tranquil sandy coves that feel like they've never known the touch of humankind. The best bits of the park require some level of hiking or canoeing to access, but if you're not so inclined or have limited time, there are numerous picture-perfect vistas just off the highway, which goes straight through the park. Sights and facilities generally open from May to October. Katherine Cove and Old Woman Bay picnic areas, both by the road, have panoramas of misty sand-strewn shores. Budding anthropologists will appreciate the Agawa Rock Pictographs: between 150 and 400 years old, the red-ocher images comprise a spiritual site for the Ojibwe, one of Canada's largest First Nations groups. A rugged 500m trail leads from near the visitors center to a rock ledge where, if the lake is calm, the mysterious pictographs can be seen.
14. Newfoundland and Labrador
With rocky crags, drifting icebergs and puffins flapping by, Canada's easternmost province – and historically its most rebellious – floats in a stunning world of its own. The island that has long moved to its own beat maintains its own time zone (a half-hour ahead of the mainland) and lilting old-world dialect. St. John's, with its buoyant music, modern dining scene and steep, foggy streets, abounds with entertainment. Outside of the good-time capital, wee fishing villages freckle the coast and isolated outer isles. Here the natural world is your oyster. Set off for woodland hikes, berry picking and sea kayaking with glittering views. Don't miss the Viking vestiges, plates of cod tongue and partridgeberry pie, or the rum-soaked tales that color this remote hunk of northern rock.
15. Bruce Peninsula
Stretching between Georgian Bay and Lake Huron and buffeted by strong winds on both sides, Bruce Peninsula is one of the most dramatic landscapes in Ontario. You can see ancient cedar trees clinging to the steep cliffs that drop off into the gray, forbidding waters of the Georgian Bay, rare orchids, and bright green ferns thriving in rich wetlands just a few yards from thick old forests. Geologically old and part of the Niagara Escarpment, Bruce Peninsula is home to many wild animals, including black bears, rattlesnakes and barred owls. It is also an important stopover for migratory birds.
16. Montréal
Witness a city that's in love with festivals, the arts, good food, living well and enjoying life to the hilt. Blessed with one of the most exciting food scenes in North America, Montréal brims with temples dedicated to Kamouraska lamb, Arctic char and, of course, poutine (fries smothered in cheese curds and gravy). You’ll find irresistible patisseries, English pubs, 80-plus-year-old Jewish delis and magnificent food markets reminiscent of Paris. There are hipster bars with tiny bowling alleys and innumerable cafes in which to while away a lazy afternoon. And there are late-night eateries where you can linger over wondrous combinations of food and drink that you'll find nowhere else on earth.
Montréal is a slice of old Europe in a pie of contemporary design. A day’s wander might take in the photogenic 18th-century facades of Old Montréal before a cycling tour of the lovely Canal de Lachine, or a wander through the glittering shops and restaurants of downtown before ending at the inviting terraced cafes of Plateau Mont-Royal. The architectural sweep of the city takes in a wealth of heritage churches such as the breathtaking Basilique Notre-Dame, as well as 20th-century icons like the Stade Olympique and Habitat 67. Montréal's hotels and museums additionally push the edges of contemporary interior design.
The Québécois love their summers and autumnal colors, but it is the winter that defines much of their lives, which slow down and become more insular in the grip of those long, dark months. With that said, the passion for life that animates Canadian Francophones does not truly dim in the cold, but is rather celebrated around cozy fireplaces, in friendly pubs, at steaming sugar shacks, and, of course, on the slopes of local mountains via skis, snowboards and toboggans.
Old Montréal
On the edge of the St. Lawrence River, Old Montréal is the city’s birthplace, composed of picturesque squares, grand old-world architecture and a dense concentration of camera-toting tourists. The narrow Rue St-Paul, the old main street, teems with art galleries, shops and eateries, while the broad concourse of the Old Port is lined with green parkland and cafes along Rue de la Commune. Nearby Chinatown is a small, wonderful dose of Pacific rim cosmopolitanism in eastern Canada.
17. Mingan Archipelago National Park
Beyond Sept Îles, the landscape becomes primeval and sparse, with lichen-laced black bog stretching to a gray horizon, dotted by a few copses of wet pine trees huddled against the wind. The region's main attraction is Mingan Archipelago National Park, a slice of Canadian wilderness wonderland that lies just past the reach of the mainland. You came a long way to get all the way here; now add a boat to your itinerary and engage in some North Coast island-hopping.
18. Percé
Gaspé's charms seem to lurk deep in its national parks rather than its towns, but then there's Percé and its famous Rocher Percé (Pierced Rock). One of Canada's best-known landmarks, the rock rears out of the sea near North America's largest migratory bird refuge, Île Bonaventure. Both sit in a patch of gulf that, from 1784, attracted schools of European cod fishers. Having stained a lobster bib, you can work off the fishy pounds with a hike in the hills, part of the Appalachians, that shelter the peninsula's most appealing town.
19. Columbia Lake
Columbia Lake is the source of the Columbia River in British Columbia. It is a fresh-water lake with warm and clear water excellent for fishing for whitefish, kokanee, burbot, bull trout, rainbow trout, and cutthroat trout. The lake is also popular with windsurfers, kayakers, and canoeists. The scenic environs of the marshes and wetlands offer great hiking, mountain biking, and nature photography opportunities. Columbia Lake Provincial Park occupies about one percent of the area. The rest is wild, untamed, and mostly unexplored.
20. Calgary
Calgary will surprise you with its beauty, cool eateries, nightlife beyond honky-tonk and long, worthwhile to-do list. Calgarians aren’t known for their modesty; it’s their self-love and can-do attitude that got them through disastrous flooding in 2013 and, in 2016, saw them helping residents of wildfire-stricken Fort McMurray with unquestioning generosity. We mustn’t forget – Calgary also hosted the highly successful 1988 Winter Olympics, elected North America’s first Muslim mayor, and throws one of Canada’s biggest parties, the Calgary Stampede.
21. Nunavut
Picture a treeless, ice-encrusted wilderness lashed by unrelenting weather with a population density that makes Greenland seem claustrophobic. Add polar bears, narwhals, beluga whales and a scattered Inuit population who have successfully mastered a landscape so harsh that foreigners could not colonize it. Nunavut is Canada's largest and most lightly populated subdivision, a mythical assortment of uninhabited islands and frigid ocean that exists on the planet's climatic and geographic extremes. Visitors here face multiple obstacles, not least perennial blizzards, no roads and massive travel costs. But those that do get through have the benefit of welcoming communities and awe-inspiring natural wonders, as well as the privilege of joining a small band of intrepid trailblazers, safe in the knowledge that they are setting foot where few have trodden before.
Iqaluit
Nunavut's capital, Iqaluit (ee-kal-oo-eet), feels like a different country. All the signs are in Inuktitut and you'll hear it widely spoken in the street. The dusty townscape, with its spectacular natural setting around the bay, and its moon-base buildings, houses a fascinating mixture of Inuit professionals, politicians and dropouts, Johnny-come-latelies from around Canada (and beyond) drawn by high salaries, enormous SUVs with elaborately courteous drivers limited by a few short kilometers of road, and barking dogs contesting territory with huge bossy ravens. It's surprisingly cosmopolitan, a good introduction to the region, and has good places to stay and eat, as well as some wilderness-lite to explore on the outskirts of town.
Quttinirpaaq National Park
The northernmost and most mountainous of Nunavut's national parks, 37,775 sq km Quttinirpaaq is Canada's second-largest, way up on Ellesmere Island. Now the mass of frozen crags, topped with age-old ice caps, deep fjords, vast glaciers and sheltered valleys are home to muskox, wolverine and Peary caribou. Highlights include 24-hour daylight, Mt. Barbeau (2616m), eastern North America's highest peak, and Lake Hazen Basin. Multiday treks are offered by Black Feather, which also runs a joint trip with Parks Canada.
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