Canada

If you’re searching for the promised land, there's a good chance you'll find it somewhere in the endless forests, inlet-punctuated coastline and meat-cleaver mountain ranges of Western Canada. A Natural Show Western Canada has historic sites, music venues and wonderful restaurants, but the real ‘show’ in these three provinces isn’t hidden away in some dark, dusty museum; it’s paraded outside in a dramatically expansive landscape of mountains, lakes, plains, forests, rocky bluffs and storm-lashed beaches. You haven’t fully experienced this spectacular corner of the planet until you’ve gone for a swim in a glacier-fed lake, run with delight across an alpine meadow, followed in indigenous footsteps across a remote mountain pass, and watched a bear foraging for wild berries. Get in training! Epic Adrenaline Rushes Steely calved West Coasters have been discovering ways to interact with the outdoors for decades, and there are hundreds of operators here that can help you do the same. Whistler morphs from skiing capital to mountain-biking bonanza depending on the season. Banff and its satellite national parks contain an A-to-Z of trails, and Tofino is the original Canadian 'surf city'. Recent years have brought more creative inventions, including scarily long zip lines and numerous via ferrate (fixed-protection climbing routes). Alternatively, you can do what the First Nations have been doing for thousands of years and take to the water in a canoe or kayak. Urban Adventures It's easy to be seduced by the Canadian wilderness, but this region also offers sparkling city action. Alberta puts on a show with Edmonton's arts scene and Calgary's contemporary cowboy vibe, but it's British Columbia that offers the best city-based shenanigans, with two very different approaches. Provincial capital Victoria frames its increasingly cool scene with a backdrop of historic buildings, while Vancouver, Western Canada's largest city, provides a full menu of ethnically diverse neighborhoods that are ripe for exploration. From slick Yaletown to hipster-haven Main St, cool Gastown and the 'gayborhood' of West End, the 'City of Glass' is a place with many personalities. First People Responsible for 95% of the region’s history in a trajectory that stretches back over 10,000 years, Western Canada’s indigenous culture – once rudely ignored, but now proudly exhibited – is part of a complex story of creation beliefs, against-the-odds survival and diverse First Nations traditions. Piecing it together will take you from the towering totems of Haida Gwaii to the chronicles of Vancouver’s Museum of Anthropology. BC alone has 198 First Nations groups, nearly one-quarter of the Yukon’s population claims indigenous heritage, while Alberta is the heartland of the Blackfoot and Cree. Uncover their legends in art galleries, cultural centers, festivals and hotels, or listen to their mythical stories retold in over 30 indigenous languages.

British Columbia & The Canadian Rockies

Home to Canada's craggiest coastline, loneliest lighthouses and fiercest tides, this is a land where you can feel the full force of nature at work. Coastal Splendor The Maritime provinces bear the brunt of the Atlantic's might. Pounded and battered by relentless swells, this part of Canada has been profoundly shaped by the sea: geologically, historically and temperamentally. Whether it's hiking along a lonely beach to a remote candy-striped lighthouse, braving the whitewater of the Shubenacadie River, watching sapphire-blue icebergs floating past the Newfoundland coast or watching the astonishing ascent and fall of the Fundy tides, it's a place where the salt-tang of the sea will never be far from your nostrils. Thar She Blows! There are few places on the planet better for whale-watching than Atlantic Canada. From June to October, these leviathans of the deep cruise into the plankton-rich waters off Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland, allowing an unparalleled opportunity to get up close and watch them in their natural environment. Few experiences are as exhilarating as buzzing along in a little Zodiac, pursuing a distant spout of spray – then watching in awe as the whale breaches, crashing back into the sea in an explosion of foaming water. Ocean Feast Whether it's a perfectly pan-fried scallop, a sumptuous lobster dinner or a simple bowl of chowder, sampling the region's incredible seafood bounty is an undisputed highlight of any visit to the Maritimes. Crustaceans (lobster, crab, shrimp) and bivalves (scallops, mussels, oysters) are a staple feature on practically every menu, but it's up to you how you eat them: down-and-dirty in a seaside fishermen's shack, upscale in a high-class seafooderie or elbow-to-elbow with the locals at a traditional lobster supper (paper bibs, claw-crackers and meat-picks provided). Kaleidoscope Cultures Several contradictory cultures have shaped this part of Canada. Squabbled over for centuries by the English and French, visited for generations by fishermen from Iceland and Scandinavia, and settled by all manner of folk from the Scottish Highlands to French Acadia, it's a place that's soaked up all these influences, sculpting them into the uniquely warm, welcoming, down-to-earth and open-hearted character for which the Maritimes are known. But there's another, much older culture that mustn't be overlooked: First Nations people were kayaking the rivers, fishing the coastline and walking the trails long before Europeans arrived.

Nova Scotia, New Brunswick & Prince Edward Island

Explorable neighborhoods, drink-and-dine delights and memorable cultural and outdoor activities framed by striking natural vistas – there's a superfluity of reasons to fall for this ocean-fringed metropolis.

Taste-Tripping

Don't tell the rest of the country but Vancouver is Canada’s dine-out capital. Abandon your diet and dive right into North America's best Asian cuisine, from chatty Chinese restaurants to Vietnamese banh mi sandwich joints, or unleash your appetite on a rich smorgasbord of fresh-caught local seafood, including seasonal spot prawns and succulent wild salmon. The farm-to-table movement has also reinvigorated West Coast cuisine here – anyone for Fraser Valley lamb with a side of foraged morels? And we haven't even started on Vancouver’s thirst-slaking craft-beer scene, pouring the nation’s finest IPAs, sours and more.

Neighbourhood Villages

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 diverse and distinctive mini-districts. Whether discovering the independent boutiques of Main St or the coffee shops of Commercial Dr, the redbrick bars of Gastown or the heritage-house beachfronts of Kitsilano, you'll find this city ideal 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 and regaling you with their personal recommendations.

Culture Hub

There's a multi-textured canvas of creativity to pore over in this city. Dig deeply and you'll find an eclectically diverse grassroots scene that operates like a locavore movement for culture fans. Mingle with the regulars at indie festivals, sparkling theatrical events, toe-tapping live music, waterfront Shakespeare shows and a camera-ready menagerie of eye-popping public art. There’s also a savor-worthy menu of independent galleries, a large public gallery that’s about to break-ground on a grand new building, and a huge, party-like open-house art crawl that lures locals and visitors every November.

Outdoor Wonderland

Those snow-capped giants 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 rainforest hiking trails, while the city itself is studded with sandy shorelines, kayaking routes, verdant gardens and Canada's urban green-space jewel, the mighty and highly beloved Stanley Park.

Vancouver

Visitors to Canada's westernmost province should pack a long list of superlatives to deploy here; the words 'wow,' 'amazing' and 'spectacular' will only go so far. Luckily, it's not too hard to wax lyrical about the mighty mountains, deep forests and dramatic coastlines that instantly lower heart rates to tranquil levels. There's much more to British Columbia (BC) than nature-hugging dioramas, though. Cosmopolitan Vancouver fuses cuisines and cultures from Asia and beyond, while mid-sized cities such as Victoria and Kelowna are increasingly creating their own vibrant scenes. It's also hard to beat the welcoming, sometimes quirky character of smaller communities – from Cumberland to Powell River and Salt Spring – that are the beating heart of BC. Wherever you head, the great outdoors will always call. Don't just point your camera at it: BC is unbeatable for life-enhancing skiing, kayaking and hiking experiences that can make this the trip of a lifetime.

British Columbia

Québec truly feels like a country within a country, an island of francophone linguistic and cultural identity within the greater Canadian sea. Of course, this is Canada, with its interplay of vast wilderness and cosmopolitanism, but Québec's embrace of terroir, its language, its passion for everything from winter snow to wine to gastronomy, is something else, an 'else' that encompasses identities both distinctly North American and European.

Montréal and Québec City are bustling metropolises with a perfect mixture of sophistication and playfulness, and history-soaked preserved quarters tucked away around town. The rustic allurements of old Québec are scattered among the Eastern Townships, and produce from bucolic Charlevoix graces the tables of the region's stellar restaurants. Past these creature comforts is the raw outdoors: the jagged coasts of the unblemished Gaspé Peninsula, the vast taiga and tundra of the North Shore, and the windswept isolation of the Îles de la Madeleine.

Québec

Bright and bustling, Toronto is a cosmopolitan city whose residents have roots across the globe. Art, food, beaches, nightlife – in Toronto, you’ve got it all.

Arts & Culture

Where to begin? Toronto is itself a cultural phenomenon, with residents from around the world and scores of languages, foods, customs and celebrations – they’re what make the city great. As Canada’s largest city, Toronto has outstanding museums and galleries, from the Frank Gehry–redesigned Art Gallery of Ontario to the delightful Bata Shoe Museum (yes, shoes). The same goes for theatres; the gorgeous Elgin & Winter Garden Theatre has backstage tours as well as regular shows, and Shakespeare in High Park channels the Bard every summer. There’s live music, poetry readings, comedy shows, LGBTIQ+ spots and more, too.

Food

People gotta eat, and nowhere is Toronto’s remarkable diversity more evident than in its food and restaurants. Pakistani, Persian, Portuguese; aboriginal and new fusion; Japanese pancakes and Korean barbecue; fresh pasta in Little Italy, shawarmas in Greektown and the best damn dumplings in Chinatown. Torontonians love to eat out, whether it's sitting at sidewalk bistros on a warm summer night or getting all bundled up for some hot Vietnamese pho. That's to say nothing of Toronto’s great food on the go – there are peameal-bacon sandwiches at St Lawrence Market and food trucks selling an array of fragrant delights.

Nightlife

No matter what your taste in drinks and nightlife, Toronto has you covered. It's no surprise that this humming metropolis has sleek martini bars and high-end cocktail lounges – some of the best are on rooftops. But it’s also an old city, with ancient pubs and gritty dive bars – just the sort of place adventurous travelers love. And of course there are craft breweries where bearded bartenders serve handcrafted suds in curated flights. Add to all this nightclubs, drag shows, poetry slams, comedy clubs and more, and it’s easy to have a great night out in Toronto.

Urban Outdoors

Like any place that's cold, Toronto adores its spring and summer months. Torontonians aren’t necessarily outdoorsy as a bunch, but the city makes it easy to enjoy those precious sunny days. There are beaches and waterfront paths along Lake Ontario, plus kayaking or standup paddling around the Toronto Islands. Green spaces such as High Park and Kew Gardens, huge and grassy, are perfect for a picnic and an afternoon stroll, while the east end has a growing network of leafy bike paths and walkways. Even in winter, on a gray, chilly day, there’s outdoor ice skating to enjoy!

Toronto

The breathtaking four-seasonal palette of Ontario's vast wilderness, endless forests and abundant wildlife awaits. Around 40% of Canada’s population lives here for good reason: Ontario is larger than France and Spain combined. Over 250,000 lakes, including the Great Lakes bordering the US, contain a fifth of the planet's fresh water. Most Ontarians call behemoth Toronto or Ottawa, the nation's cosmopolitan capital, home. Foodies, fashionistas and funsters converge on Toronto's vibrant multicultural neighborhoods, where immigrants from far and wide live in hockey-following harmony. Both cities have hopping arts and entertainment scenes, kept current by the neighborly influences of New York and Montréal. Whether you want to reconnect with nature or lose yourself in the excitement of the most multiculturally diverse and socially cohesive region on Earth, you've come to the right place. Let Ontario surprise you with the beauty of her scenery and welcome you with the warmth of her people.

Ontario

Witness a French-infused city that's in love with festivals, the arts, good food, living well and enjoying life to the hilt.

Cuisine Capital

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, vegetarian options galore 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.

Festivals Galore

Toronto may be Canada’s economic capital, but Montréal remains the country’s cultural juggernaut. The city, standard bearer of an entire linguistic-cultural identity – francophone Canada – simply lives for public celebration of the arts. There are some 250 theater and dance companies, more than 90 festivals and a fascinating medley of neighborhoods where artists, writers and musicians have helped cement the city’s reputation as a great arts center. The Festival International de Jazz de Montréal is the headline event, followed by parties dedicated to world cinema, comedy and gay pride.

City of Design

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.

Winter Wonderland

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.

Montréal

They call Newfoundland 'the Rock', a fitting name, as this is an island of thoroughly elemental attractions and aesthetics. The muskeg and cliffs are barren and salt-drenched. The trees give off the smell of spruce like the air was spiced. The ocean roils, flecked with icebergs and spouting whales. The wind roars, and at any time, a storm may scream across the bights and coves.

If you enjoy the rugged and the rough, there are few more beautiful places. Yet ever contrasting the harsh geography is a culture that is, simply, magic. Bright houses painted like rainbows spill over the cliffs; menus advertise cod tongue and crowberries; at night, fiddles compete with the howling wind; and the ever-present chill is countered by the warmest locals you'll ever meet. This, then, is Canada's easternmost, most idiosyncratic province, a marriage of land and salt and storm all its own.

Newfoundland & Labrador

With a cliff-top position above the St Lawrence River and captivatingly picturesque old streets, North America’s oldest French-speaking city is a gorgeous, seductive place. Stunning Architecture Québec City's dramatic setting does enhance its appeal, with picture-postcard views of the St Lawrence River (and even the Laurentians on a clear day) unfolding from the Terrasse Dufferin boardwalk high above. But its beauty is not all God-given; humankind has played a role in shaping this pretty face too. Just walking down the street here is an aesthetic treat. The city’s historic core is unlike anyplace else in North America, with hundreds of gorgeous mansard-roofed old stone buildings clustered inside a perfect frame of crenelated town walls. A Living Museum Québec City is 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 hotel and city icon 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. History buffs will especially love Québec’s 19th-century hilltop Citadelle and two museums offering graphic representations of the battles between France and Britain for control of the city. French at Heart Québec City has something else: the heart and soul of the province, the fiercest of grips on French-Canadian identity and the French language. It is something people here have fought and died for and something they treasure deep. Québécois grow up studying English, but because the anglophone minority here is so tiny – just 1.5% of the population speak English as their mother tongue – they rarely use it outside the major tourist areas. Most city residents are fully bilingual, but if you stray into the surrounding countryside, you’ll quickly find that French is the province’s official language. Food, Festivals & Fun Québec City offers a fabulous dining scene and, thanks to the agricultural abundance of nearby Île d’Orléans and Côte de Beaupré, it is a locavore cuisine. The provincial capital goes to great lengths to entertain visitors. All summer long, musicians, acrobats and actors in period costume take to the streets, while fantastic festivals fill the air with fireworks and song. In the coldest months of January and February, Québec’s Winter Carnival is arguably the biggest and most colorful winter festival around. Fall and spring bring beautiful foliage, thinner crowds and dramatically reduced prices.

Québec City

Sit atop a mountain, hike through the forest, feel the spray of a waterfall: Banff and Jasper offer outdoor experiences at their simplest and best. Untamed Grandeur ‘No scene has ever given me an equal impression of inspiring solitude and rugged grandeur.’ So said the explorer Walter Wilcox when he first gazed upon the Valley of the Ten Peaks, near Lake Louise, in 1899. It’s a maxim that could still happily apply today. These landscapes may not be quite as untouched as those seen by pioneers such as David Thompson, Tom Wilson and Mary Schäffer, but there’s still a whiff of wildness on the breeze in Banff and Jasper, which remain among the world's best places to see Mother Nature's raw machinery in action. The Great Outdoors Whether it’s hiking along a snow-dusted ridgeline or canoeing across a placid glacial lake, Banff and Jasper boast some of North America's finest outdoor adventures. Embracing the great outdoors is an essential part of experiencing these parks, and there are activities to suit all ages and abilities – even if that just means a gentle riverside stroll or a soak in one of the region’s natural hot springs. For more active types, there’s no end of ways to get your adrenaline racing – from exploring the endless network of backcountry trails to kayaking the restless white-water rapids of the Kicking Horse River. Wonderful Wildlife There’s nothing like glimpsing animals in their natural habitat, and the Canadian Rockies have some of the best wildlife watching in the world. Shaggy mountain goats, curly-horned mountain sheep, hooting marmots and majestic moose are just some of the inhabitants you’re likely to encounter. If you’re really lucky, you might glimpse a wild black or grizzly bear moseying down the avalanche slopes, perhaps with a couple of fuzzy cubs in tow. Keep a respectful distance and soak it all in; these are the experiences that will remain with you long after the Rockies have faded from view. Pieces of History While other countries protect ancient ruins and medieval castles, Canada offers up Banff and Jasper, legendary natural wonders replete with crenelated peaks, majestic meadows and scenery-shaping glaciers that together make up an important part of North America's historical jigsaw. Of the hundreds of national parks scattered around the world today, Banff, created in 1885, is the third oldest, with Jasper less than 25 years behind. Associated with the development of Canada's trans-continental railroads, which lured wealthy visitors into previously unexplored wilderness, these parks practically invented modern tourism, and their hold on the popular imagination has not diminished.

Banff & Jasper National Parks

Facing the wild swells of the Atlantic, Nova Scotia is heavily influenced by the sea. With its candy-striped lighthouses, salty fishing towns and towering red cliffs, this Maritime province feels thrillingly rugged and wild, especially in winter, when storms thrash the coastline and the ocean freezes. But come summer it's a different picture: Nova Scotians emerge to hike the trails, lounge on the beaches, tuck into gigantic lobster suppers and celebrate their Celtic roots with lively ceilidhs (parties with music and dancing). Life here has always been tough, but the locals' warm-hearted humor can't fail to make you feel welcome.

Most adventures begin in seaside Halifax, followed by a jaunt to postcard-perfect Peggy's Cove and Unesco-listed Lunenburg. Further afield, the vineyards of the Annapolis Valley beckon, along with the wild coastline of Cape Breton, the lakes and forests of Kejimkujik National Park and the incredible tides of the Bay of Fundy.