Ten reasons to visit Canada
Canada is more than its hulkingmountain, craggy-coast good looks: It also offers wild road trips and rocks cool culture.
The sawtooth, white-topped mountains straddling the British Columbia (BC)–Alberta border inspire both awe and action. Four national parks – Banff, Yoho, Kootenay and Jasper – offer countless opportunities to delve into the lush wilderness with ribbons of hiking trails, rushing white water and powdery ski slopes. The Rockies Rail Route provides another popular way to experience the grandeur: luminous lakes, jumbles of wildflowers and glistening glaciers glide by as the steel cars chug up mountain passes and down river valleys en route to points east or west.
Once known as the Queen Charlotte Islands, this daggershaped archipelago 80km off BC’s coast is a magical trip for those who make it. Colossal spruce and cedars cloak the wild, rain-sodden landscape. Bald eagles and bears roam the ancient forest, while sea lions and orcas cruise the waters. But the islands’ real soul is the resurgent Haida people, best known for their war-canoe and totem-pole carvings. See the lot at Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, which combines lost villages, burial caves and hot springs with some of the continent’s best kayaking.
Vancouver always lands atop the ‘best places to live’ lists, and who’s to argue? Sea-to-sky beauty surrounds the laid-back, cocktaillovin’ metropolis. With skiable mountains on the outskirts, 11 beaches fringing the core and Stanley Park’s thick rainforest just blocks from the glass skyscrapers downtown, it’s a harmonic convergence of city and nature. It also mixes Hollywood chic (many movies are filmed here) with a freewheeling counterculture (a popular nude beach and the Marijuana Party political headquarters) and buzzing multicultural communities.
Crowded? Cheesy? Well, yes. Niagara is short, too – it doesn’t even crack the top 500 worldwide for height. But c’mon, when those great muscular bands of water arc over the precipice like liquid glass, roaring into the void below, and when you sail toward it in a mistshrouded little boat, Niagara Falls impresses big time. In terms of sheer volume, nowhere in North America beats its thundering cascade, with more than one million bathtubs of water plummeting over the edge every second.
The 300km Cabot Trail winds and climbs over coastal mountains, with heart-stopping sea views at every turn, breaching whales just off shore, moose nibbling roadside and plenty of trails to stop and hike. Be sure to tote your dancing shoes – Celtic and Acadian communities dot the area, and their foot-stompin’, crazy-fiddlin’ music vibrates through the pubs. Gorgeous hot springs, haunted gorges and gorging grizzlies fill this remote park near the Yukon border, and you’ll have to fly in to reach them. Only about 1000 visitors per year make the trek, half of them paddlers trying to conquer the South Nahanni River. Untamed and spectacular, it churns 500km through the Mackenzie Mountains. Thirtystory waterfalls, towering canyons and legends of giants and lost gold round out the journey north. Canada’s main vein stretches 7800km from St John’s, Newfoundland, to Victoria, BC, and takes in the country’s greatest hits along the way. Gros Morne National Park, Cape Breton Island, Quebec City, Banff National Park and Yoho National Park are part of the path, as are major cities including Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary and Vancouver. It takes most road-trippers a good month to drive coast to coast, so what are you waiting for? Fuel up, cue the tunes, and put the pedal to the metal.
A pastoral strip of rolling hills northeast of Quebec City, the Charlevoix region harvests much of the province’s food. Gastronomes road-trip out, knowing that the produce from the farms and orchards that flash by will end up as part of their next meal in true farm-to-table fashion. Village inns and alehouses serve the distinct, locally made wares: think tomato aperitif with foie gras or pear ice wine served with fresh sheep cheese. Artsy towns such as Baie St-Paul and La Malbaie make good bases for exploration.
The largest freshwater island in the world and floating right smack in Lake Huron’s midst, Manitoulin Where else can you join more than two million calm, respectful music lovers (no slam dancing or drunken slobs) and watch the best jazz-influenced musicians in the world, choosing from 500 shows, of which countless are free? Only in Montreal, Canada’s second-largest city and its cultural heart. BB King, Prince and Astor Piazzolla are among those who’ve plugged in at the 11-day, late-June Montral Jazz Festival. You might want to join them after your free drumming lesson and street-side jam session. The good times roll 24/7. ❚ This is an edited extract from the 13th edition of Lonely Planet Canada. Published this month, RRP: $44.99.