Where to go in Canada
Introduction
While visitors will find world-class cities and an international feeling in Canada’s diverse communities, wherever you go on your Canada holiday you’ll be met with a warm welcome—and you’ll never be far from some truly breathtaking scenery.
Discover Canada's forests in the Rocky Mountains, take a tour of Banff and Jasper National Parks or disappear into northern Canada and Nunavut for genuine wilderness in Auyuittuq National Park, the chance to meet the Inuit people and to see the Northern Lights. No Canada holiday is complete, however, without a journey to the Great Lakes to experience the deafening roar of Niagara Falls.
On Prince Edward Island, walk along stretches of sand visited by seals and porpoises and enjoy a laid-back approach to life and neighbourliness that invites travellers to relax and go with the local flow. Wander through the sandy dunes and tall sea grasses of Prince Edward Island National Park, or just sit back and enjoy a bowl of the famous local mussels.
In Nova Scotia, holidaymakers can enjoy whale watching or visit the iconic Peggy’s Cove lighthouse while in a cultural mix of French and Scottish immigrants and indigenous peoples. The people of Nova Scotia are proud of their maritime heritage, and make for warm and welcoming hosts.
Canada's four major cities each have their own character. Montréal has delightful eighteenth century enclave and a lively music scene; Québec City is distinctly European; Toronto is ethnically and culturally diverse whilst Vancouver is perfectly positioned to enjoy both mountain and coastal pursuits in the same day. The main draw, though, is the wilderness. Home to wild, pristine landscapes, this is the land of the grizzly, black and polar bear as well as moose, wolf, arctic fox, lynx, beaver, caribou and seal.
Map
List of regions
Rocky Mountaineer ventures deep into the Canadian Rockies, crossing rushing rivers, past waterfalls and alongside snow-dusted mountains. This is what places it among the world's top train journeys, and it's all experienced with gourmet food and glass-domed carriages.
Located in the west of Canada on the Pacific Ocean, British Columbia is home to many islands, a stretching coastline and numerous rivers that offer superb fishing. The mild weather makes travelling here pleasant while there's a huge amount of excellent national parks to enjoy.
A spectacular part of The Rocky Mountains lies in Alberta and can be explored by train. Visit the mountainous wilderness and spot grizzly bear, elk, moose and caribou in Banff or Jasper National Parks. Complete your holiday with a tour of Calgary bringing you back to modern city life.
As with the rest of Canada, everything in Ontario is on a grand scale. Its cities are all Gothic-revival architecture and pretty tree-lined canals; launchpads for the adventures that lie beyond. There's provincial parks of forests and trails, the Great Lakes and headline-grabbing Niagara Falls.
Québec is all vibrant cities gleaming with a proud French Canadian history; a region where contemporary metropoles are interspersed with medieval cobbled streets. It's all framed with colourful maple trees that pepper sprawling parks and gardens, with a snow-capped mountain never far away.
The beauty and hospitality of Canada is perhaps captured in its four Atlantic provinces – Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland & Labrador. Visitors are greeted with winding forest trails, endless national park greenery, ultra-fresh seafood and rock-lined sandy beaches.
A wild region of mountains, lakes, glaciers and rivers, the Yukon is home to an abundance of wildlife including moose, elk and grizzly bears, Canada’s five tallest mountains and the world’s largest sub-Arctic ice field.
The sparsely populated Northwest Territories comprise vast swathes of Arctic tundra and pristine boreal forest. Home to beluga whale and bearded seal, Arctic fox and polar bear, the endless landscapes of Canada’s far northern provinces are blessed with a wild beauty quite unlike any other.
Manitoba and neighbouring Saskatchewan are regions of contrast; a place where polar bears and moose roam epic landscapes, from provincial parks to enormous lakes and whitewater rapids.
Vancouver is all eclectic shops, trendy streets and culinary delights, a place where green spaces abound, hipster cafes dot oceanfront paths, and world-famous art galleries lie round each corner. And it's all framed by endless snow-covered mountains and an outdoor playground so emblematic of Canada.
