The time and expense involved in covering Canada's immense
distances means that most visitors confine their explorations to
the area around one of the main cities - usually Toronto, Montréal,
Vancouver or Calgary for arrivals by air. The attractions of these
centres vary widely, but they have one thing in common with each
other and all other Canadian towns - they are within easy reach of
the great outdoors.
Canada's most southerly region, south Ontario , contains
not only the manufacturing heart of the country and its largest
city, Toronto , but also Niagara Falls , Canada's
premier tourist sight. North of Toronto there's the far less
packaged scenic attraction of Georgian Bay , a beautiful
waterscape of pine-studded islets set against crystal-blue waters.
Like the forested Algonquin park, the bay is also accessible from
the capital city of Ottawa , not as dynamic a place as
Toronto, but still well worth a stay for its art galleries and
museums.
Québec , set apart from the rest of the continent by the
profundity of its French tradition, focuses on its biggest city,
Montréal , which is for many people the most vibrant place
in the country, a fascinating mix of old-world style and commercial
dynamism. The pace of life is more relaxed in the historic
provincial capital, Québec City , and more easy-going still
in the villages dotted along the St Lawrence lowlands, where
glittering spires attest to the enduring influence of the Catholic
Church. For something more bracing, you could continue north to
Tadoussac , where whales can be seen near the mouth of the
splendid Saguenay fjord - and if you're really prepared for
the wilds, forge on through to Labrador , as inhospitable a
zone as you'll find in the east.
Across the mouth of the St Lawrence, the pastoral Gaspé
peninsula - the easternmost part of Québec - borders New
Brunswick , a mild-mannered introduction to the three
Maritime Provinces , whose people have long been dependent
on timber and the sea for their livelihood. Here, the tapering
Bay of Fundy boasts amazing tides - rising and falling by
nine metres, sometimes more - whilst the tiny fishing villages
characteristic of the region are at their most beguiling near
Halifax , the bustling capital of Nova Scotia .
Perhaps even prettier, and certainly more austere, are the land and
seascapes of Cape Breton Island , whose rugged topography
anticipates that of the island of Newfoundland to the north.
Newfoundland's isolation has spawned a distinctive culture that's
at its most lively in the capital, St John's , where the
local folk-music scene is the country's best. The island also
boasts some of the Atlantic seaboard's finest landscapes,
particularly the flat-topped peaks and glacier-gouged lakes of
Gros Morne National Park .
Back on the mainland, separating Ontario from Alberta and the
Rockies, the so-called prairie provinces of Manitoba and
Saskatchewan have a reputation for dullness that's somewhat
unfair: even in the flat southern parts there's the diversion of
Winnipeg , whose traces of its early days make it a good
place to break a trans-Canadian journey. To the north, the myriad
lakes and gigantic forests of the provinces' wilderness regions
offer magnificent canoeing and hiking, especially within Prince
Albert National Park . Up in the far north, beside Hudson Bay,
the settlement of Churchill - remote but accessible by train
- is famous for its polar bears, who gather near town from the end
of June waiting to move out over the ice as soon as the bay
freezes.
Moving west, Alberta's wheatfields ripple into ranching
country on the approach to the Canadian Rockies , whose
international reputation is more than borne out by the reality. The
provincial capital, Edmonton , is overshadowed by
Calgary , a brash place grown fat on the region's oil and
gas fields, and the most useful springboard for a venture into the
mountains. British Columbia embodies the popular picture of
Canada to perfection: a land of snowcapped summits, rivers and
forests, pioneer villages, gold-rush ghost towns, and some of the
greatest hiking, skiing, fishing and canoeing opportunities in the
world. Its urban focus, Vancouver , is the country's third
city, known for its spectacular natural setting and a laid-back
West Coast hedonism. Off the coast lies Vancouver Island , a
microcosm of the province's immense natural riches, and home to
Victoria , a devotedly anglophile little city.
North of British Columbia, wedged alongside Alaska, is the
Yukon Territory , half grandiose mountains, half subarctic
tundra, and full of evocative echoes of the Klondike gold rush.
Whitehorse , its capital, and Dawson City , a
gold-rush relic, are virtually the only towns here, each accessed
by dramatic frontier highways. The Northwest Territories and
Nunavut , arching over the provinces of Alberta,
Saskatchewan and Manitoba, are an immensity of stunted forest,
lakes, tundra and ice, the realm of Dene and Inuit native bands
whose traditional way of life is being threatened as oil and gas
exploration reaches up into the Arctic. Roads are virtually
non-existent in the deep north, and only Yellowknife , a
bizarre frontier city, plus a handful of ramshackle villages, offer
the air links and resources necessary to explore this
wilderness.