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WHERE TO GO |
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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.
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