Canada

Canada’s best Pacific entry point: serious food, seawall and park time, with mountains and ocean built into the city. It is the easiest place to combine a city break with immediate outdoors, though the surrounding trails fill fast on clear weekends.

The drive north from Vancouver through Squamish to Whistler is the payoff: fjord-like scenery, climbing, hiking and mountain-bike infrastructure without needing a full Rockies commitment. Give it nights rather than treating it as a rushed turnaround from Vancouver.

Victoria supplies a civilized harbour stop; Tofino and Ucluelet deliver surf beaches, rainforest and Pacific Rim’s raw coast. The ferry and long west-coast drive mean this is a real island trip, not a Vancouver day trip.

Banff, Lake Louise, the Icefields Parkway and Jasper are Canada’s essential mountain circuit: huge scenery with unusually accessible trailheads and services. It is spectacular but requires advance planning for accommodation, shuttles and the famous lakes.

Canada’s most useful big-city arrival point, with its best range of immigrant food, museums, sports and neighborhoods. Pair it with Niagara for one concentrated hit of spectacle, then move on rather than lingering in the chain-attraction zone.

The country’s most compelling city for eating, drinking and wandering neighborhoods: Old Montréal is only the start, not the whole visit. Base yourself near the Plateau, Mile End or Little Italy and treat festivals as either the point of the trip or something to avoid booking around.

The strongest old-world city experience in Canada, with a compact fortified core, French-speaking atmosphere and a dramatic St. Lawrence setting. Two nights is enough for the city itself; extend only for Charlevoix or Île d’Orléans.

Halifax, fishing harbours, seafood and the Cabot Trail make this Canada’s most forgiving Atlantic road trip. Drive Cape Breton slowly; trying to conquer the Cabot Trail in one day turns the coast into a windshield exercise.

St. John’s, Bonavista and Gros Morne offer the country’s most distinct local character and most dramatic eastern geology. Come with time, a car and tolerance for weather; this is for travelers who prefer outports and long coastal drives to polished convenience.

Whitehorse and Kluane are the accessible version of northern Canada: aurora in the dark season, huge daylight and empty-road hiking in summer. It is expensive and cold when it needs to be, but far more practical than improvising an Arctic expedition.