1182 Best Sights in Canada

Interpretive signs on this easy 2.5-km (1.6-mile) trail describe river ecology and mammals of the area. Hikers will walk along a small section of the Little Elbow River just before it empties into the Elbow River. Easy.

The most accessible—and visited—section of the park is the Long Beach Unit, the highlight of which is a 15-km (9-mile) stretch of pristine forest-backed sand just off Highway 4 between Ucluelet and Tofino. Four-hour "beach walk" passes are available at Long Beach Parking Lot only. Amenities: parking (fee); toilets. Best for: surfing; walking.

Among the few Newfoundland lighthouses you can climb (55 steps), this 1876 structure on a 300-foot cliff inspires gasps with its panoramic view, which includes whales and icebergs at the right times of year. For those who choose not to go inside, the lighthouse serves as a departure point for picturesque walking trails. The nearby Long Point Centre has a fascinating collection of local artifacts.

Stretching all the way from the southwest coast to the Northern Peninsula, a distance of about 400 km (250 miles), the Long Range Mountains form the northernmost extent of the Appalachian Mountains. Their highest point, southwest of Corner Brook, is 2,670 feet, and the range encompasses the Gros Morne National Park and several provincial parks. Jacques Cartier, who saw them in 1534 as he was exploring the area on behalf of France, noted that their shape reminded him of the long, rectangular-shaped farm buildings of his home village in France. Among the mountains, small villages are interspersed with rivers teeming with salmon and trout.

New Brunswick has its fair share of superlatives, but this Hartland attraction may be the most surprising. In what is otherwise a rather sleepy little town, the St. John River is spanned by the longest covered bridge in the world—1,282 feet long. A national and provincial historic site, the bridge opened in 1901 and is still used by traffic crossing the river between Routes 103 and 105—maximum vehicle height is 13 feet 9 inches; maximum weight 10 tons. Through the openings in the side walls, passengers can enjoy nice river views in both directions. There also is a safely separated walkway that you can walk across. A fun fact is that of the total 131 covered bridges in Canada, New Brunswick has 58.

There's only room for traffic going one way at a time across the bridge, and there are no traffic lights; so stop and check whether there's anything coming the other way and wait your turn if necessary, then turn on your headlights before driving across.

At this two-level indoor market—less frenzied than its Granville Island counterpart—vendors sell prepared foods, just-caught seafood, and fresh produce. You can also shop for crafts, kitchenware, and toys, or sample the beer or kombucha at Green Leaf Brewing. Outside you can wander the quay and enjoy the views of the Downtown skyline across the water. The market is a short ride from Downtown on the SeaBus and just steps from the Polygon Gallery, MONOVA, and the Shipyards District.

One of the few surviving examples of a grand sandstone prairie mansion, Lougheed House is the former residence of some of Calgary’s most influential citizens, including Peter Lougheed, premier of Alberta from 1971 to 1985. Both a national and provincial historic site, Lougheed House hosts history and art exhibits and is surrounded by large and wonderful gardens that are worth exploring in the summer months.

A costumed maid or chauffeur greets you when you visit this elegant Grande Allée house, the former home of Louis S. St. Laurent, prime minister of Canada from 1948 to 1957. Within the house, which is now part of the federally owned Plains of Abraham properties, period furnishings and multimedia touches tell St. Laurent's story and illustrate the lifestyle of upper-crust families in 1950s Québec City.

Nestled into the precipitous North Shore Mountains, this 5,668-hectare (14,000-acre) reserve includes 100 km (62 miles) of hiking and biking trails—some that are steep and challenging. The meandering Seymour Valley Trailway is a 10-km (6-mile) paved pathway, suitable for cyclists, in-line skaters, strollers, and wheelchairs. Popular hikes include the easy 2-km (1-mile) loop around Rice Lake and the steep climb to Lynn Peak.

Established soon after the United Empire Loyalists arrived in 1783, the cemetery features a magnificent beaver-pond fountain, created to depict the hard work and tenacious spirit of the city's founders and those who followed them. Brick and granite walkways lead from the memorial gates through the restored gravestones—the oldest is that of Coonradt Hendricks, dated 1784—and crypts amid shady trees and flowers. Closed in 1848, the cemetery was sadly neglected until 1995, when the Irving family restored it as a gift to the people of Saint John.

The former home of the Merritt family, wealthy Loyalist merchants, this imposing Georgian structure was built in 1817 and, as one of the few survivors of the great fire of 1877, is a designated National Historic Site. It is furnished with authentic period pieces, including a working piano organ and the original kitchen equipment. Visitors can explore on their own or join a guided tour, and visits may be possible by appointment during the closed season.

The cottage-y white house with green trim overlooking New London Harbour, 11 km (7 miles) southwest of Cavendish, is where the Anne author was born in 1874, and the interior has been furnished with antiques to conjure up that era. Among memorabilia on display are a replica of Montgomery's wedding gown and personal scrapbooks filled with many of her poems and stories.

These 12-meter (39-foot) falls on the Crowsnest River are stunning in every season. You can watch them from the observation platforms above the falls or walk down into the limestone gorge to see them up close.

If you love antiques and would thrill at the notion of discovering an old barn or attic crammed with centuries-old furniture, household items, and miscellaneous other artifacts, it's worth the short trip out here from downtown Moncton. Within a restored 1883 meetinghouse, there are authentic household, work-related, schoolroom, and even military items of the area's non-Acadian pioneer settlers, including the Lutz family, from as far back as 1766. Ignore your first impression—there's more than immediately meets the eye when you enter; more than 3,000 artifacts are crammed into the upper floor and basement areas as well as the main level, and guided tours tell fascinating stories behind the objects. The museum hosts a Canada Day Farmfest and occasional theater, tea, and supper events.

The exhibits at the MacBride provide a comprehensive view of the colorful characters and groundbreaking events that shaped the Yukon. An old-fashioned confectionery and an 1898 miner’s saloon are among the highlights of the Gold to Government Gallery illuminating gold-rush and Whitehorse history. The gold-related exhibits illustrate particularly well what people went through in quest of a little glint of color. Other displays investigate the Yukon's wildlife (including a taxidermied albino moose) and geology, and there are fine collections of photography and First Nations beadwork. Outdoor artifacts include the cabin of Sam McGee, who was immortalized in Robert Service's famous poem "The Cremation of Sam McGee."

Once home to journalist William Lyon Mackenzie—Toronto’s first mayor, elected in 1834, and the designer of the city’s coat of arms—this Greek Revival row house now serves as a museum. Among the preserved period furnishings is an 1845 printing press that visitors can try for themselves. Mackenzie held office for just one year. In 1837, he led roughly 700 supporters down Yonge Street in an attempt to overthrow the government. The rebellion was swiftly crushed, and Mackenzie fled to the United States with a bounty on his head. Years later, after receiving a pardon from Queen Victoria, he returned to Canada and was reelected to the legislative assembly. By then, he had fallen on hard times and a group of friends purchased the house for his family. Mackenzie lived there only a few years before his death in 1861. His grandson, William Lyon Mackenzie King, would become the longest-serving prime minister in Canadian history.

This sprawling 563-acre estate in Gatineau Park is nearly as eccentric as William Lyon Mackenzie King, the long-serving prime minister who made this his summer home in the early 20th century. Imposing ruins that King collected on his travels adorn part of the grounds; formal gardens or natural woodland occupy the rest. You can tour two of the cottages, Moorside and Kingswood, but the cottage where King died, called the Farm, is now the official residence of the Speaker of the House of Commons and is closed to the public.

Surrounding the giant pond created by the Mactaquac Hydroelectric Dam on the St. John River is Mactaquac Provincial Park. Its facilities include an 18-hole championship golf course that's a stop on the PGA Tour Americas Explore NB Open 2024–2029, two beaches, two marinas (one for powerboats and one for sailboats), supervised crafts activities, myriad nature and hiking trails, and a restaurant. There are also guided walks on summer Wednesdays through a nature reserve to beaver ponds. Reservations are advised for the more than 300 campsites in summer. Winter is fun, too, with trails for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, and sleigh rides are available by appointment ( 506/328–7030). The toboggan hills and skating/ice hockey ponds are even lighted in the evening.

This is an excellent theme park, adjacent to Magnetic Hill. It includes the SplashZone water park with a huge wave pool, thrill-ride body slides, including the 60 km/hour (37 mph) Kamikaze and three giant twister slides. The FunZone has plenty of thrill rides as well as rides for younger children, including battery-powered Bumper Boats with built-in squirters, while video games in the TekZone and four 9-hole golf courses round out the attractions.

Stop for a tour and tastings at this charming family-owned winery that started making award-winning fruit wines before expanding into grapes. There's a patio overlooking the vines where you can sit, sip, and enjoy a charcuterie plate.

This is the largest zoo in Atlantic Canada, covering 40 acres and housing 575 animals in more than 70 species, including a Big Cat exhibit housing endangered Amur tigers (which produced three cubs in 2018) and a leopard in a replication of a Siberian landscape (the New Brunswick climate is also similar to that of Siberia). In addition to imaginative viewing areas, the cats are fed from a zipline, which encourages them to chase and jump. There's no shortage of other exotic species, including lemurs, lions and other big cats, zebras, and ostriches, plus around 80 bird species are represented, both Indigenous and exotic. A tropical house has reptiles, amphibians, birds, and primates, and at Old MacDonald's Barnyard, children can pet domestic animals or ride a pony in summer. Check feeding times on the way in.

This stately stone house, actually three residences unified into one, was built in 1752 for the shipowner Jean-Baptiste Chevalier. Its location near the docks was highly sought after by import-export merchants, and later by innkeepers. The architecture is quintessential New France, with its distinctive mansard roof and striking scarlet color. Although the building is not open to visitors, its exterior is exceptionally well worth a look.

The island's first home was built in 1648 for Jacques Gourdeau de Beaulieu, who was the first seigneur (a landholder who distributed lots to tenant farmers) of Ste-Pétronille. Remodeled over the years, this white house with blue shutters now incorporates both French and Québec styles. Its thick walls and dormer windows are characteristic of Breton architecture, but its sloping, bell-shaped roof, designed to protect buildings from large amounts of snow, is typical Québec style. The house is not open to the public.

Many of Québec's greatest landscape artists, including Jean-Paul Lemieux and Clarence Gagnon, have depicted the area, and a selection of these works is on show here (some are also for sale). The gallery was Gagnon's former studio and also the home of painter René Richard for the last 43 years of his life. Guided tours of the studio are available for groups.

If you need a map of Mont-Royal's extensive hiking trails or want to know about the animals and more than 180 kinds of birds that make their home in the park, the former park keeper's residence is the place to go. It's also a good spot for getting a snack, drink, or souvenir. The pretty little stone house—built in 1858—is the headquarters of Les Amis de la Montagne (The Friends of the Mountain), a non-profit organization that offers various guided walks—including moonlight snowshoe excursions and cross-country ski lessons in winter around the mountain and in nearby areas.  Note that at time of writing, Maison Smith had been closed since December 2024 for an indeterminate period due to renovation work.

Thick stone walls, a steep roof, and mullioned windows mark the Maison St-Gabriel as one of Montréal's rare surviving 17th-century houses. But it's the interior and the furnishings that will sweep you back to the colonial days when St. Marguerite Bourgeoys and the religious order she founded used this house to train les filles du roy (king's daughters) in the niceties of home management. Les filles were young women without family or fortune but plenty of spunk who volunteered to cross the Atlantic in leaky boats to become the wives and mothers of New France. It wasn't an easy life, as the Maison's hard narrow beds, primitive utensils, and drafty rooms attest—but it had its rewards, and the prize at the end was a respectable, settled life. St. Marguerite also had some state-of-the-art domestic equipment—the latest in looms and butter churns, labor-saving spit turners for roasting meat, and an ingenious granite sink with a drainage system that piped water straight out to the garden. Located on the little island of New France and deep in the gentrifying working-class neighborhood of Pointe-St-Charles, Maison St-Gabriel is off the beaten path, but it's well worth a 10-minute taxi ride from Old Montréal.

World War I and the Depression killed early 20th-century plans to turn this industrial center into a model city with broad boulevards, grand public buildings, and fine homes, but just three blocks south of the Olympic site a few fragments of that dream have survived the passage of time.

A magnificent Beaux Arts building, site of the old public market, which has a 20-foot-tall bronze statue of a farm woman, stands at the northern end of tree-lined avenue Morgan. Farmers and butchers have moved into the modern building next door that houses the Marché Maisonneuve, which has become one of the city's major markets, along with Marché Jean-Talon and Marché Atwater. The old market is now a community center and the site of summer shows and concerts.

Monumental staircases and a heroic rooftop sculpture embellish the public baths across the street. The Théâtre Denise Pelletier, at the corner of rues Ste-Catherine Est and Morgan, has a lavish Italianate interior; Fire Station No. 1, at 4300 rue Notre-Dame Est, was inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple in suburban Chicago; and the sumptuously decorated Église Très-Saint-Nom-de-Jésus, has one of the most powerful organs in North America. The 198-acre Parc Maisonneuve, stretching north of the botanical garden, is a lovely place for a stroll.