Canada travel guide

From vibrant modern cities, including French-speaking Montreal and Quebec City, to rugged wild landscapes like the Canadian Rockies, Gold Rush history, wonderful wildlife, skiing and more, there’s plenty to suit every travel style.

So from practical tips to advice on when to travel to Canada, where to visit and the unmissable attractions, we’ve combined everything you need to know into our Canada travel guide.

There are direct flights from London to seven Canadian cities, including Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary, Halifax and St John’s, with flights taking between around six and nine hours. There are also some direct routes from other cities in the UK to Canada, including Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow, with Toronto as the best-connected international airport, linking to multiple other destinations across Canada. It is possible to cruise from the UK to Canada, although options tend to be more limited.

UK citizens do not normally need a visa to travel Canada for visits of up to six months, although you do need an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA), which you can apply for through the official website of the Canadian government. You don’t need an eTA if you’re arriving by land or sea, although you will need the usual identification and appropriate travel documents. Your passport must also be valid for the length of your planned stay.

Unless you’re at high risk, there are no vaccinations required or recommended beyond those you’d normally need for life in the UK.

You may need to ensure boosters are up to date, and to consider seasonal vaccinations such as for flu.

Travel insurance is not legally required but it is very strongly recommended that you ensure you’re covered for any trips to Canada. There is no reciprocal healthcare agreement between the UK and Canada, so you won’t receive free medical care, and costs can be very high. Optional travel insurance is included in the price of our tours if you don’t already have cover in place.

Local currency is the Canadian dollar, and it’s worth taking some cash with you for smaller purchases or tips, although credit cards are widely accepted across the country.

There’s no bad time to visit Canada, depending what you’re planning to do during your trip, from skiing in the winter to summers in the countryside, as well as city breaks, road trips and rail journeys.

Winter temperatures are no joke in Canada, with temperatures at around -6C on average during January and February, dropping to -20C with wind chill, and even lower during harsh winters or if you’re heading to the far north. The west tends to be sunnier than the east, and the coasts are milder than the interior.

But the weather needn’t deter you from visiting Canada during the winter as long as you’re prepared, as the country is well set-up for snow and ice. If you’re hoping to ski, you’ll be guaranteed plenty of powder in resorts like Whistler, and around Banff and Lake Louise during the winter months, along with snowmobiling and dog-sledding for another snowy adventure. The ski season normally runs from around December to March, with the best conditions towards the end of the season.

Or head to one of the major cities, where you’ll find winter festivals and ice skating to brighten the darker days – Toronto, Montreal and Banff have some of the best Christmas markets, but you’ll find winter and ice festivals across the country.

However, some activities won’t be possible during the coldest months. The Rocky Mountaineer stops running in around mid-October, so it’s not possible to experience the spectacular mountain scenery in its snow-covered glory, although you can enjoy it lit up in blazing autumnal oranges, reds and golds,. Road trips are also harder during the winter months, and best avoided if you don’t have experience driving in snow and cold-weather conditions.

You might associate Canada with deep snowdrifts and frozen peaks, but the summer months can be surprisingly hot. In Toronto and Montreal, temperatures are regularly in the high 20Cs during July and August, while west coast Vancouver is only a few degrees cooler.

If you’re planning a city break, it can be better to avoid the hottest, busiest peak summer months and plan your trip for May-mid June or September. Early summer (and late spring) sees flowers blooming, great temperatures to hike and a chance to see newborn wildlife in the Rocky Mountains.

Canadian summers can be surprisingly hot

There’s more wonderful wildlife on the east coast, with some fantastic puffin-spotting during June, while if you travel slightly earlier in the year, you could be lucky enough to spot floating icebergs while still enjoying the sunshine.

Visiting in September, after the school holidays end, means you can still enjoy pleasant temperatures before the weather starts to cool, with eye-catching displays of autumn leaves – the fiery red maples are particularly eye-catching. If you’re in British Columbia, you might even spy bears grabbing salmon from the rivers during the annual salmon run, preparing for their upcoming hibernation. With the landscapes looking their best, it’s a perfect time to enjoy a rail journey to enjoy the views or set off on a road trip to make the most of being able to explore the country while the weather lasts.

Canada’s sheer size means that you can never see all of its sights in one trip. But these five things to do in Canada should definitely make your travel wishlist.

One of the world’s most popular tourist attractions, Niagara Falls cascade in a thunder of white water across the border of Canada and the US, an easy day trip from Toronto (although it’s also very easy to spend longer exploring the countryside around the falls too). The water flows from four of the Great Lakes before crashing over the falls at almost 70mph on its way to Lake Ontario and eventually to the Atlantic.

Niagara Falls

If you want to see all three falls – Horseshoe Falls, the American Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls – you need to fly above Niagara, but the best way to appreciate the force and power of this natural wonder if by boat. Save time for the Journey Behind the Falls attraction, which also takes you behind and above the torrent

The Canadian Rocky Mountains stretch for around 1,600 kilometres, with the range following the Alberta and British Columbia border. Home to some of the world’s most dramatic landscapes, you’ll encounter snow-topped peaks and plunging canyons carved from the rock, milky turquoise lakes and slow-moving rivers flowing past pine forests.

Medicine Lake, Rocky Mountains

A chance to view this awe-inspiring scenery is one of the highlights of any holiday in Canada, with various different ways to explore the Canadian Rockies including one of the world’s best rail journeys aboard the Rocky Mountaineer.

With 38 national parks, as well as 10 national park reserves, you shouldn’t leave without visiting at least one of Canada’s National Parks. Banff National Park is the oldest, established in 1885, and home to the iconic blue-green Lake Louise. There’s hiking and biking galore, plus a chance to kayak on the lake.

Sulphur Mountain Gondola, Banff

Save time to take the Banff Gondola up nearby Sulphur Mountain for views back down onto Banff itself and to the surrounding peaks. Or discover the lakes and glaciers of Jasper National Park, where the 140-mile Icefields Parkway is one of the country’s most spectacular drives, including a chance to step onto the glacier itself.

Bears are the creatures you’re most likely to associate with Canada, and you can find them across the country – along with a whole lot more. Vancouver Island is home to part of the Great Bear Rainforest, where both grizzly and black bears live, while Banff National Park is another good place to spy grizzlies. Or further north, Churchill in Manitoba is known as the polar bear capital of the world.

Bull moose

Vancouver Island is also one of the best places to spot whales, especially minke and grey whales, and orcas. On the east coast, Newfoundland and Labrador are home to the largest number of whale species in Canada, and particularly good if you’re hoping to see humpback whales, while Manitoba is a great option for beluga whales. Add in bald eagles and puffins, moose, elk, wolves and a whole string of other mammal, bird and marine species, and it’s an animal-lover’s dream.

Canada’s great outdoors is majestic, but you’d be missing out if you didn’t visit one of the country’s vibrant cities along the way. Toronto is Canada’s largest, and said to be the most cosmopolitan with more than 140 languages spoken there – see the views from the top of the CN Tower, visit the islands and discover the city’s culinary scene. Meanwhile, Montreal is the second-largest French speaking city in the world, packed with cultural attractions and historic buildings dating from early French settlement, as well as the UNESCO-listed walled Quebec City.

Toronto

In the west, Vancouver’s ocean setting backed by mountains is spectacular. Don’t miss the huge 1,000-acre Stanley Park and historic Gastown, the oldest part of the city.

With 10 provinces and three territories, Canada is quite simply huge, so focusing on a single area or region is the best way to get the most out of your trip, rather than spending your time travelling from place to place. Fortunately, you can get a taste of many of the country’s top things across Canada; here’s what to include in your trip.

Wherever you go in Canada, there’s a chance to soak up some of the local culture, from the string of festivals which take place in cities year-round to some of the history of the First Nations, as the indigenous peoples of Canada are known. In Vancouver, a walk around Stanley Park will bring you to a collection of indigenous art and totem poles, while Duncan on Vancouver Island is known as the City of Totems for the 80 First National carvings around town.

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Calgary

There are even more unusual sites to discover, such as the memorably named Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump near Calgary, a UNESCO site used by indigenous peoples for thousands of years to hunt buffalo by driving them off a cliff. The interpretive centre shares more about the camps set up nearby, including demonstrations of how to erect a tipi.

There’s more modern culture too, including Canadian and international artists at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) in Toronto, home to the world’s largest collection of Canadian art.

There’s so much to discover in Canada’s cities, all with their own personality and attractions. One of the best ways to learn some of the highlights is on a city tour. Our Grand Canadian Coast to Coast tour introduces you to Montreal, Quebec City, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver along the way. Discover the French history and influences in Montreal and Quebec City, the multicultural mix of Toronto and the laid-back atmosphere of west-coast Vancouver, as well as the often-overlooked capital, Ottawa.

One of the best ways to explore the majestic scenery of Canada is by rail, where you’re free to sit back and soak up the views rather than trying to catch a glimpse of soaring peaks and dramatic canyons from behind the wheel.

Rocky Mountaineer

You can enjoy one of the world’s best railway journeys aboard the Rocky Mountaineer, with routes taking you between Vancouver and Banff, as well as Vancouver and Jasper, or the long-distance route of trans-Canada’s ‘The Canadian’ train, running from Toronto to Jasper and travelling through Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. The perfect way to experience Canada’s beauty and sheer scale in comfort.

Exploring Canada’s great outdoors is a highlight of any trip, whether that’s one of the national parks or hiking through some of the breathtaking landscapes you’ll discover across the country. There’s an activity for all levels too, and you needn’t even leave the cities to get a taste of nature in Canada.

In Ottawa, the UNESCO-listed Rideau Canal was designed to connect the city with Lake Ontario. Today, you can walk or cycle along the tree-lined banks of this chain of waterways, while in winter, one section becomes the largest naturally frozen skating rink in the world. Or in Montreal, the Biodome de Montreal transformed the velodrome from the 1976 Olympics into a series of different climate zones, including South American rainforest, a North American maple forest, the Gulf of St. Lawrence and both sub-Arctic and sub-Antarctic environments.

In Toronto, a visit to the small chain of islands in Lake Ontario makes a lovely car-free day trip, while Vancouver’s Stanley Park covers more than 1,000 acres. Or take the short trip to Vancouver Island to hike in the Pacific Rim National Park; the West Coast trail passes waterfalls and ancient trees, with views out to the sea.

With the longest coastline in the world, stretching for an astonishing 151,019 miles along the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Arctic Ocean to the north, you won’t be short of chances to get close to the water.

Pacific Rim, Vancouver

In Nova Scotia, the Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world, up to an astonishing 40ft, with white water twice a day as the tide turns. If you prefer to enjoy the coast without getting out on the water, you can drive along the bay here or follow the Cabot Trail on Cape Breton Island looking out to the Gulf of St Lawrence. Visit in autumn and you’ll see the landscape transformed in a blaze of crimson and gold.

Newfoundland has its own wonderful coast to explore, including Gros Morne National Park with its glacial fjords, sheer cliffs and dramatic waterfalls, as well as fabulous views out to the sea. On the opposite coast, take a harbour tour in Vancouver, by boat, kayak or paddleboard, before seeing the water from above in one of the floatplanes.

It’s thought that Canada has been inhabited for around 30,000 years, and discovering more about the First Nations is a highlight of any visit to the country. But there’s also a chance to learn more about the earliest years of European settlement, find Gold Rush history and even some Vikings along the way too.

In Newfoundland, L'Anse aux Meadows is a UNESCO-listed Norse archaeological site where the remains of a Viking village were found in 1960, dating from almost 1,000 years earlier, making it the first-known European settlement in the Americas.

Quebec

Or explore another UNESCO World Heritage Site in Quebec City, the only surviving walled city in the Americas north of Mexico, and home to Quartier Petit Champlain, the oldest commercial district in North America.

Get a taste of Canada’s own Wild West in Calgary at Heritage Park, which recreates a pioneer villages from around the turn of the 20th century, with costumed staff bringing Canada’s largest living historical village vividly to life. There’s Gold Rush history in the Yukon too, often visited if you’re combining Canada and Alaska.

Back on the east coast, don’t miss the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 in Halifax, Canada’s version of Ellis Island, where more than a million immigrants passed through to start a new life in the country.

You could theme an entire holiday around Canada’s wildlife – and why not, with so many wonderful creatures to discover. Here’s what to look out for.

• Bears – you can see grizzly and black bears in various places across Canada, polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba, and the rare Kermode bears, known as spirit bears, in British Columbia.

• Whales – look out for everything from beluga whales in the far north to a rare chance to see blue whales in St Lawrence, Quebec, along with pilot, humpback, minke and grey whales, plus orca, porpoises, dolphins and harbour seals.

• Caribou, moose and elk – elk can be seen around the Rocky Mountains, while moose are to be found around Churchill as well as in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario. Or head to Newfoundland and Labrador to watch the caribou migrations between September and October.

• Canada lynxes – this shy and endangered creature is found in Nova Scotia, while if you’re lucky you can also spy lynxes in Newfoundland and Labrador.

• Wolves – Banff National Park and Algonquin Provincial Park are two places you might see wolves, which also live wild in Newfoundland and Labrador.

• Arctic foxes – Manitoba is known for its Arctic wildlife, including Arctic foxes, although there’s also a chance to see them in Newfoundland and Labrador too.

• Birds – bird-watchers are spoiled for choice with majestic bald eagles in the Rockies, along with a string of other birds including ospreys, Atlantic puffins and snow geese.

Grizzly bears

Orca

Moose

Lynx

Arctic fox

Atlantic puffin

It’s vital to follow any rules given in national parks as well as from guides to ensure not only your own safety but to protect the wildlife.

• Never feed wildlife – it’s illegal, and will encourage wild animals to approach people • Always stay a safe distance away from animals; at least 30m from large animals including moose and elk, and at least 100m from bears, wolves, coyotes and cougars.

• Carry bear spray – containing capsaicin, a chemical found in chilli peppers, it’s not lethal but will irritate the eyes and lungs to deter large animals.

• Always hike during the day – many animals are most active in the early morning and early evening, or at night.

• Take additional precautions against polar bears if you’re visiting Manitoba – stay in groups and on well-lit main routes. If you do see a polar bear, back away facing the bear at all times and do not run, but get into a vehicle or building as fast as possible.

Canada’s food is as varied as the country itself, so you’ll find plenty to tempt your tastebuds alongside maple syrup, with indigenous, European, Asian and Caribbean influences to be found, along with wild game in the Northern Territories and fantastic fish and seafood in the Atlantic provinces, such as Nova Scotia lobster rolls.

Vancouver is famous for its Chinatown, and with 45 per cent of Metro Vancouver residents having Asian heritage, you’ll find plenty of Asian influences in the city.

Toronto revels in its famously multicultural mix, reflected in its food as well as the languages spoken; stop in to browse at St Lawrence Market during your visit.

Quebec is the home of poutine, though you can eat it across the country; this classic Canadian comfort food is made up of French fries topped with cheese curds and gravy. Meanwhile, nearby Montreal is known for its bagels, brought by Jewish immigrants but given a local twist as they’re boiled in honey-sweetened water and baked in a wood-fired oven for a distinct taste.

In Halifax, don’t miss the chance to have a ‘donair’ – a variation on a traditional doner kebab, using beef rather than lamb, and a sauce based on sweetened condensed milk and garlic.

Unless you have months to spend exploring, you won’t be able to see all of Canada in one trip – maybe not even in one lifetime. But if you’re hoping to pack as much as possible into your trip, here’s how to do it.

A fantastic city to explore in its own right, Toronto also makes a good base to get out and explore more of Ontario. Niagara Falls is an easy day trip from the city, although you can also combine Toronto with time at Niagara-on-the-Lake for a longer stay near the falls. You’re also just a few hours from other parts of Ontario such as the wineries in Prince Edward County.

If you’re looking to explore more than one city, Montreal and Quebec City are only around three hours apart, so make for a great twin-centre base, as well as a good location to explore more widely in Quebec. Montreal is also around three hours from Kingston, the gateway to the Thousand Islands, a pretty archipelago where you can cruise through the islands, and only a couple of hours from the Canadian capital, Ottawa.

The capital of Nova Scotia, Halifax is where most trips to the province will start and home to many of the main attractions. It’s an easy drive to Cape Breton, several hours away, another part of the original French colony of Acadia, founded in 1605. You’re a similar distance from Prince Edward Island, the inspiration for Anne of Green Gables, with plenty to tempt fans of the classic novel, as well as the beautiful scenery of the Northumberland coast. While it’s possible to travel on to more remote Newfoundland, you’ll need to fly between the two, unless you’re happy to spend over 24 hours by ferry or nearly the same amount of time driving.

The main city on the west coast, there’s plenty to tempt you to Vancouver but the city is easy to combine with some of the loveliest scenery in British Columbia, as well as with the Canadian Rockies and Alberta. Save some time for enjoy the great outdoors and spot wildlife on Vancouver Island or board a train heading to Banff or Jasper for some mountain scenery; a trip on the Rocky Mountaineer is a bucket list adventure. It’s possible to add time in Calgary too, which is around 90 minutes from Banff.

If you’re wondering what else you need to know before visiting Canada, we’ve picked out some of the essentials to plan the perfect holiday.

Explore Canada for yourself on one of our escorted tours of Canada, including city tours, rail journeys and adventures in the great outdoors