Canada Travel

Rugged Canada is well-known for its spectacular natural beauty, and there is no better way to experience that than with the great hikes, walks, and strolls to be found in the parks, wilderness, and cities of the country.

Here’s a few of Canada’s top hikes:

Quebec: One Canada’s great urban walks can be found in Montreal, where the cobblestone streets of Old Montreal offer glimpses of the city’s history all the way back to 1642. Century-old structures have been converted in homes, stores, restaurants, and nightclubs, while below ground an old tunnel system leads from the new Museum of Archaeology to the old Custom House. Tired of walking? Stop for a pastry and cup of coffee, or let yourself get absorbed by the history with a horse-drawn carriage ride.

British Columbia: In the Pacific Rim National Park on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, lies Long Beach. This beach is aptly named, with more than 16 km of walkable coast-line framed by rolling surf, cliffs and rain forests of cedar, fir, and Sitka spruce. Here you might spot a soaring eagle, a basking sea lion, or even a gray whale, but what will really captivate your attention is the serenity and beauty of this coastal gem. Read the rest of this entry »

For the twin pleasures of bustling, international cities and miles of breathtaking unspoilt countryside, the Atlantic side of Canada is the place to visit. Known as the Maritime Provinces, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick are an excellent focus for a coastal adventure peppered with fun night life and the chance to get up close to the natural habitat of rare bird and animal species.

Halifax and Nova Scotia

A tour might usefully start in Halifax, Nova Scotia (5.5 hours flying time from the UK). Halifax is a lively city with a deep connection to the UK as a formed British dependency. You can visit Citadel Hill with its 19th-century star-shaped fort (a National Historic Site of Canada), the Public Gardens, the fascinating harbour front with its military heritage. You might also visit Fairview Cemetery, where over 100 people who died on the doomed liner Titanic have found their resting place. The waterfront also has numerous traditional pubs offering local ales and Gaelic tunes, a reminder of course, that these parts were first settled by Scottish Highlanders – hence the name “New Scotland” – Nova Scotia.

Halifax is also the base for a tour to one of the most photographed locations n Canada, Peggy’s Cove, which is overlooked by Canada’s only light house which has a post office.

Cape Breton Island

After Halifax, a trip to Cape Breton Island, said to be one of the earliest European settlements in North America, can be followed by a stay in Baddeck. Baddeck has the Museum dedicated to former summer resident and famous inventor Alexander Graham Bell. Baddeck also gives you the base for the Cabot Trail, a circular tour on a highway carved high into the mountains, taking in Cape Breton National Park and several traditional village where Scottish customs are still the norm. Read the rest of this entry »

There have been more travelers going to the Canadian Arctic region in recent years for both business and tourism. Adventure tourism companies are beginning to promote the Arctic as a unique destination to experience the natural beauty and wildlife of the north as well as the culture of the native Inuit who live there. As a result of the creation of the Nunavut territory and government, the capital city of Iqaluit has been growing as Inuit from smaller Arctic communities migrate to the city for more job opportunities. This growth has created the increase of business travelers to the Arctic.

Getting to the Arctic has always been a problem for travelers since there are no roads that go up there from southern Canadian cities. The Arctic communities are very isolated from the rest of Canada as well as from each other. Flying in has been the only option although many coastal Arctic areas are serviced by cargo boat during the summers as well. For the average traveler, the air option is the only way to go. Although travel to the Canadian Arctic has increased, the number of travelers going up north is very small compared to number of travelers between southern Canadian cities. As a result, the major Canadian carrier Air Canada and certainly none of the US carriers service the Arctic. The only commercial airlines which service the Arctic (Nunavut and Northwest Territories) for the average traveler are First Air and Canadian North. A smaller airline called Air Inuit services the native Inuit communities in Nunavik (Arctic Quebec). First Air and Canadian North both fly out of Ottawa. First Air also flies out of Montreal while Canadian North also has flights departing from Edmonton and Calgary. These Canadian North flights will stop in Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories before continuing to Nunavut. So travelers will have to get to one of these Canadian cities from their points of origin in order to connect with an Arctic carrier. Getting to a smaller Arctic community such as Cape Dorset will involve an additional connection in Iqaluit. Read the rest of this entry »