The essential guide to visiting Canada

Fast Facts

Capital: Ottawa
Size: At 3.855 million square miles, Canada is the second largest country in the world by area, and shares the longest border in the world, with the U.S.
Population: 40 million
Government: Canada has a king, Charles III, and is a federal parliamentary democracy, comprising 10 provinces and three territories.
Airports: Toronto-Pearson (YYZ) and Vancouver (YVR) are Canada’s two busiest. Ottawa (YOW) is the gateway to the nation’s capital.
Time zones: Six, including the anomaly of Newfoundland, where the time zone is offset by 30 minutes.
Fun fact: Ninety percent of Canadians live within 100 miles of the U.S. border.

Why you should visit Canada

The majesty of Niagara Falls and Banff National Park. Champagne powder at British Columbia ski resorts. Dense forests, teal waters. Polar bears and spirit bears and loons. Poutine in Montreal, lobster rolls in Halifax. The most lakes of any country in the world.

Glacier-fed Moraine Lake is one of the jewels of Banff National Park, in Alberta, Canada.

Photograph by Jonathan Irish, Nat Geo Image Collection

Best time to visit Canada

Spring: Whale-watch at Clayoquot Sound (pronounced clack-what) as some 20,000 gray whales migrate past the coast, a UNESCO Biosphere Region. A million tulips bloom in Ottawa as part of a spring festival.

Summer: This is prime season for canoeing Ontario’s many lakes, driving the glorious Sea-to-Sky Highway from Vancouver to Whistler, rock-climbing at Squamish, and golfing at a world-renowned seaside course, like Nova Scotia’s Cabot Cliffs or Cabot Links. End of summer sees the stars come out at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

Autumn: Polar bears gather in large numbers in Churchill, Manitoba, waiting for ice to form on Hudson Bay so they can hunt seal. For fall colors, take a boat trip up the Saguenay River, in Quebec.

Winter: Dogsled, ice-fish, and snowshoe at the Carnaval de Québec winter festival. Ski or snowboard at any of a score of high, steep, powdery ski resorts that populate the west, including Whistler Blackcomb, Kicking Horse, and Revelstoke, the last being one of the snowiest places on Earth. At Whistler, ride the bobsleigh track featured at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Tour companies take visitors on bird- and whale-watching trips in Clayoquot Sound, on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Wildlife include humpback and gray whales, black bears, and bald eagles.

Photograph by Joel Sartore, Nat Geo Image Collection

Lay of the land

Cities: Mountains and ocean sandwich outdoorsy Vancouver. Lakefront Toronto’s dramatic skyline is interspersed with museums and vibrant ethnic neighborhoods. Sophisticated cobblestoned Montreal is where Canadians go to let their hair down. Colorful houses cling to the rock of St. John’s while icebergs drift offshore. “Any boat ride that has you entering St. John’s Harbour at dusk is a divine experience,” says legendary Newfoundland folk-rock musician Alan Doyle. 

West: In British Columbia, get lost among the islands of Haida Gwaii, home to some of the densest, most concentrated coastal temperate rainforest left on Earth. In Desolation Sound, cultural interpreter and bear guide Klemkwateki (Randy) Louie teaches visitors how to weave with cedar bark and to carve miniature canoe paddles. He also takes guests by boat up the Toba Inlet (Yekwamen), among whales, orcas, seals, and sea lions, to the Klite River to watch grizzly bears in their natural habitat. “I’ve been involved in my Coast Salish teachings for 30 years, singing, drumming, dancing, giving visitors some Klahoose history. We’ve handed this down to the younger generation and to our guests to help with building a connection in working together.”

The 47-mile backcountry West Coast Trail (WCT) crosses beaches studded with flowerpot rock formations, and passes through groves of old-growth trees. Down the Vancouver Island coast is the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail, a shorter but more hilly option. “Both trails zigzag through thick coastal rainforest with lots of muddy sections and ladders to help you up and down the steep slopes,” says Taryn Eyton, founder of HappiestOutdoors.ca.

On Vancouver Island’s Juan de Fuca trail, a suspension bridge crosses Pete Wolfe Creek on the way to Mystic Beach.

Photograph by Stephen Bridger, Getty Images

North: In the Northwest Territories (NWT), paddle the Nahanni River through Canada’s deepest river canyons, along rapids, and past Virginia Falls, nearly twice the height of Niagara. NWT is also where you can canoe and swim in enormous Great Slave Lake and spot the northern lights, visible here 240 nights per year. 

Prairie provinces: Elk Island National Park, in Alberta, is home to bison, elk, and more than 250 bird species. Nearby on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River, Métis Crossing features a cultural center, historic exhibits, and dome accommodations with transparent ceilings for night-sky viewing. In early fall, Jasper National Park holds a Dark Sky festival with family-friendly events like night hikes.

Fly in by floatplane to lodges in Saskatchewan or Manitoba for trophy catches of northern pike, walleye, and lake trout. “Since there’s very little fishing pressure, the fish are typically giants, and more than willing to hit just about any lure you show them,” says Patrick Walsh, editor of Outdoor Canada magazine. 

Ontario: Charter a boat and cruise the 120 miles from the capital Ottawa down the 19th-century Rideau Canal (the oldest continuously operated canal system in North America), through a series of lakes, locks, and rivers. Drive west alongside Lake Ontario to Prince Edward County, one of the hottest vacation spots in Canada, known for its wineries, food, hip hotels, and historic small towns like Wellington and Picton. Climb the immense sand dunes of Sandbanks Provincial Park, the largest freshwater barrier beach and dune system in the world. Continuing west along the lake, a new Canadian Canoe Museum opened in Peterborough in May 2024.

Quebec: Montreal comes alive in summer with a series of events, such as the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal. In compact, French-speaking Quebec City, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were in a charming town in northern France. Off the beaten path, drive the Gaspé peninsula, encompassing four national parks and iconic offshore limestone formation Percé. Stop in at the International Garden Festival at Grand-Métis, Quebec.

Atlantic Canada: A magical place of mountains and verdant coastline, Gros Morne National Park, in Newfoundland, is one of the few places where you can stroll atop the Earth’s mantle, exposed when two continental plates collided. Visitors can hike to the top of Western Brook Pond fjord for an iconic view, or board a boat. The oldest known European settlement in North America—beating Columbus by centuries—is at L’Anse aux Meadows. Windswept homes of timber, peat, and sod, the Viking site lay undiscovered until 1960.

At the Cliffs of Fundy UNESCO Geopark in Nova Scotia marvel at the world’s highest tides in action. 

Cape Breton Island is home to one of the world’s great drives, the 185-mile Cabot Trail. A few hardy types bike the steep winding hills. Offshore, visitors whale-watch or fish enormous bluefin tuna.

Carved by the power of tides, a flowerpot rock formation decorates Soley Cove, in Nova Scotia’s Cliffs of Fundy UNESCO Geopark.

Photograph by robvann, Getty Images

One of the most scenic train journeys in North America, the Rocky Mountaineer takes passengers to and from Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies.

Photograph by Drew Rush, Nat Geo Image Collection

Getting around Canada

By plane: Leading carrier Air Canada has more than 900 flights daily. Floatplanes operated by small companies connect remote locations. U.S.-bound passengers can pre-clear U.S. customs and immigration at nine Canadian airports.  

By train: Rail is the time-honored way to see Canada, and operators run specialized services for tourists, like Rocky Mountaineer’s deluxe routes from Vancouver through the Canadian Rockies to Banff or Jasper. Regular train service by Via runs a limited number of routes.

By bus: Intercity bus service has declined across Canada.

By car: A car is essential for moving about within regions of Canada, but some top tourist spots—like Churchill for polar bears—are accessible only by plane or train.

By boat: Bounded by three oceans and with an abundance of lakes and rivers, a cruise or boat trip is a great way to see the country.

Know before you go

Cultural heritage: Native rights and the debts owed by settlers have become front and center in the public discourse, with land acknowledgements, which originated in Canada, now standard practice. Canada’s newest (1999) territory, Nunavut, is governed by the Inuit, and Torngat Mountains National Park, on the northern tip of Labrador, is owned and managed by the Inuit, the first of its kind.

The transcontinental railway helped establish Canada as a nation, but at the same time pushed aside Indigenous peoples and their rights. Blasting through the Canadian Rockies, untold numbers of imported Chinese workers died and were buried by their fellow countrymen, often in unmarked graves.

Canada became a self-governing dominion in 1867, but when Great Britain declared war in 1914 Canada automatically joined too as it did not yet control its own foreign affairs. Canada gained legislative independence from Britain in 1931, an official flag of its own only in 1965, and constitutional independence from the U.K. as recently as 1982.

At Saglek Fjord, in Torngat Mountains National Park, Labrador, visitors arrive by boat and can fish for Arctic char. This site has been used for thousands of years as a summertime camping ground for the Inuit.

Photograph by Anne Farrar, Nat Geo Image Collection

Hours: Bars in Canadian cities typically stay open until 2 a.m. Drinking age is 18 or 19, depending on province or territory, while some remote northern communities place restrictions on alcohol use. Marijuana is legal for both recreational and medicinal uses.

LGBTQ+: Canada is consistently ranked the world’s best country for LGBTQ+ rights and safety of travelers. The country legalized same-sex marriage in 2005—at the time only the fourth country in the world to do so. Pride Toronto (June) is one of the largest organized gay pride festivals in the world.

How to visit Canada sustainably

Greenpeace was founded in Canada and today the country ranks a respectable 14th out of 76 countries on the Green Future Index. Keep your distance from wildlife. Bring your own reusable water bottles, coffee cups, and toiletries. Put all garbage and recyclables into designated bins. Support Indigenous peoples by taking guided walks and visiting Indigenous art galleries.

What to read and watch

Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery. This globally loved 1908 children’s book set on Prince Edward Island was adapted most recently into a Netflix series. November 30, 2024, will mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of Montgomery.

Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands, by Kate Beaton. This autobiographical comic from Cape Breton’s Kate Beaton recounts her experience as one of the few women working in the rough-and-tumble oil patch of northern Alberta. Beaton’s story also captures the never-ending tale of Canadians from the Atlantic provinces migrating westward for work.

The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America, by Thomas King. This history of Indigenous peoples in North America has been turned into a 2020 documentary.

The Sleeping Car Porter, by Suzette Mayr. The award-winning 2022 novel focuses on a 1920s Black closeted gay Canadian working as a railway porter to save money to attend dental school.

The Hockey Sweater, by Roch Carrier. This 1979 short story about a Quebec boy who receives a hated Toronto Maple Leafs jersey in error has been an enduring favorite of Canadians, managing to capture the importance of both hockey and winter to Canadian children, and also serving as an explainer of relations between English and French Canada.

Schitt’s Creek. The pandemic’s surprise hit series was written by and stars Canadians, and more than anything has a gentle, Canadian-defining vibe to it. If these characters are your people, you’ll feel at home in Canada.

Kim’s Convenience. Written by Ins Choi, this sitcom about a Korean-Canadian family who own a corner store in downtown Toronto captures the intimate feel of the city’s many ethnic neighborhoods, as well as the common multi-generational immigrant experience in one of the world’s most international metropolises.

Go with Nat Geo: National Geographic Expeditions offers rail, cruise, and land journeys in Canada.​

Alexander Wooley is a Canadian writer covering travel, among other topics. Follow him on Instagram.

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