1182 Best Sights in Canada

The Maligne River cut 50 meters (165 feet) deep through limestone bedrock to create Maligne Canyon. An interpretive trail winds along the river, switching from side to side over six bridges as the canyon progressively deepens. The 4-km (2½-mile) trail along the canyon can be crowded, especially near the trailhead. Just off the path, you'll find the Maligne Canyon Wilderness Kitchen and a nice gift shop. On a wintertime ice walk, the views from the bottom of the frozen canyon are spectacular.

This 4.4-km (2.7-mile), one-way trail east of Jasper townsite leads to views of the area's famous limestone gorge. Starting at the fifth of six bridges spanning the canyon, the winding trail gains about 100 meters (330 feet) in elevation. There's a waterfall at the head of the canyon. Easy.

The remarkably blue, 22-km-long (14-mile-long) Maligne Lake is one of the world's largest glacier-fed lakes and the largest natural lake in the Canadian Rockies. The lake was well known to Indigenous people who called it “Chaba Imne” (Beaver Lake). The first outsider known to see the lake was Henry MacLeod, a surveyor looking for a possible route for the Canadian Pacific Railway, in 1875. He was on a high mountain and saw the lake from a distance.

In 1907, Mary Schäffer, a wealthy Quaker from Philadelphia, led an expedition to the lake following a map drawn by an Indigenous man named Samson Beaver. Schäffer was one of the few female explorers in the Canadian Rockies in the early part of the 20th century. She wrote about her adventures and her popular book inspired others to travel to the Canadian Rockies. Schäffer returned to survey the lake a few years later for the Geographical Board of Canada. Her work was instrumental in getting the lake included as part of Jasper National Park.

Spirit Island is one of the most famous sights in Maligne Lake. The island is 14 km (8.7 miles) up-lake and can be reached by canoe or kayak or on a boat cruise that is offered several times per day. If you choose to paddle to Spirit Island, you may wish to stay in one of the three backcountry campsites along the lake that can only be reached by canoe or kayak.

There are many hiking trails near Maligne Lake including Opal Hills Loop and the epic Skyline Trail. Cycling, canoeing, kayaking, and fishing are also popular activities. Cross-country skiing and snowshoeing are favored activities in winter. Wildlife is abundant near the lake. Watch for moose, bears, deer, bighorn sheep, and the rare woodland caribou.

At the head of the lake, you’ll find three restaurants---Waffle Hut, Lakehouse Café, and The View---that serve everything from waffles to gourmet cuisine. There’s also a gift shop where you can buy essentials and souvenirs.

There are picnic tables, toilets, canoes rentals, and places where you can buy sandwiches and other picnic fixings.

St-Jean's beautiful Normandy-style manor was built in 1734 for Jean Mauvide, the surgeon to Louis XV, and his wife, Marie-Anne Genest. The most notable thing about this house, which still has its original thick walls, ceiling beams, and fireplaces, is the degree to which it has held up over the years. The house serves as an interpretation center of New France's seigneurial regime, with 18th-century furniture, a historic vegetable garden, a multimedia presentation, and tours with guides dressed in 18th-century costumes.

This 1.3-km (0.8-mile) interpretive trail encircles a wetland that is fed by warm underground springs. There's an observation deck to observe birds and plants in the wetland and interpretive signs that describe the unique environment. Easy.

A definite highlight of Kootenay National Park, Marble Canyon trail starts immediately from the parking lot at the side of Highway 93. The short hike (1.4 km [0.9 mile] with minimal elevation) takes you across seven bridges that crisscross the deeply carved limestone gorge, as the torrential glacial blue waters rush downward far below. At the top of the trail, you can see a small waterfall on the river, right where it drops into the canyon. New interpretive panels detail the formation of this impressive gorge.

You can't buy fruits and vegetables in the Marché Bonsecours anymore, but you can view an exhibit; shop for local fashions, crafts, and souvenirs in the row of upscale boutiques that fill its main hall; lunch in one of the cafés or restaurants; or grab a craft beer. But the marché is best admired from the outside. Built in the 1840s as the city's main market, it is possibly the most beautifully proportioned neoclassical building in Montréal, with its six cast-iron Doric columns and two rows of meticulously even sash windows, all topped with a silvery dome. Perhaps the marché was too elegant to be just a farmers' market.

On a spectacular headland, this site commemorates the spot at Table Head where, in 1902, Guglielmo Marconi built four tall wooden towers and beamed the first official wireless messages across the Atlantic Ocean. An interpretive trail leads to the foundations of the original towers and transmitter buildings. The visitor center has large models of the towers as well as artifacts and photographs chronicling the radio pioneer's life and work.

Exhibits at this unassuming and yet widely renowned museum are proudly old-school, which seems fitting because they're housed in a former one-room schoolhouse. On display are all manner of fishing tackle, photographs, hand-tied flies, and other memorabilia related to salmon angling on the Margaree—check out the rod that once belonged to a wartime British spy who shared fly-fishing tips with Hermann Goering. Visitors can watch videos, study models of the river, and peek into the fish tank.

Inspired by New York's Chrysler Building, the Marine Building is worth stopping for a look. The terra-cotta bas-reliefs on this 21-story, 1930s art deco structure depict the history of transportation—airships, steamships, locomotives, and submarines—as well as Mayan and Egyptian motifs and images of marine life. Step inside for a look at the beautifully restored interior, then walk to the corner of Hastings and Hornby Streets for the best view of the building.

Marine Life is a great way to get up close and personal with some of the ocean’s more charismatic sea creatures. Enjoy an encounter with an African penguin while learning about its habits and then head underground to the Sea Live Caverns, where only a pane of glass separates you from more than 100 species, including sharks and sea turtles.

The exhibits in this waterfront museum, housed partly in a restored chandlery, include small boats once used around the coast, as well as displays describing Nova Scotia's proud sailing heritage. The most memorable ones, though, are devoted to the Titanic and the Halifax Explosion. The former includes the ship's only surviving deck chair. Also on display are a section of wall paneling, a balustrade molding and part of a newel from the dual curving staircase, a mortuary bag, and the log kept by a wireless operator in Newfoundland on the night the ship sank. In the Halifax Explosion exhibit, newspaper accounts and quotes from survivors are poignantly paired with everyday objects recovered from the rubble. Other exhibits cover the Canadian Navy, sailing ships, the Age of Steam, and shipwrecks. On the wharf outside is the hydrographic steamer CSS Acadia, permanently moored here after a long life of charting the coasts of Labrador and the Arctic, and museum-ticket holders can board for tours from May through September. 

The waterfront area at the foot of King Street is where the Loyalists landed in 1783. Today it's a lively and appealing area—the site of restaurants, pubs, and a venue for festivals and street performers—but it still conveys a sense of the city's maritime heritage. There's access to the Harbour Passage Trail; a floating wharf accommodates boating visitors to the city and those waiting for the tides to sail up the St. John River; and there's a beach area with imported sand and volleyball nets. 

On a hill overlooking Ste.-Marie among the Hurons, a twin-spired stone cathedral was built in 1926 to honor the eight missionaries stationed in Huronia who were martyred between 1642 and 1649. In 1930, all eight were canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. The shrine is still active as a pilgrimage site and has daily services.

Between Pier 21 and the Seaport Farmers' Market, the exhibit space of the Nova Scotia Centre for Craft and Design, home of the Mary E. Black Gallery, presents shows of pottery, jewelry, textiles, metalwork, and other innovative, high-end crafts. The center also holds classes, including one- and two-day workshops, from fall through spring.

David Ross McCord (1844–1930) was a wealthy pack rat with a passion for anything that had to do with Montréal or Canadian history. His collection of paintings, costumes, toys, tools, drawings, and housewares provides a glimpse of what city life was like for all classes in the 19th century. If you're interested in the lifestyles of the elite, however, you'll love the photographs that William Notman (1826–91) took of the rich at play. One series portrays members of the posh Montréal Athletic Association posing in snowshoes on the slopes of Mont-Royal, all decked out in Hudson Bay coats and woolen hats. Each of the hundreds of portraits was shot individually in a studio and then painstakingly mounted on a picture of the snowy mountain to give the impression of a winter outing. The McCord Stewart Museum's mission is to showcase life in Montréal, past and present. There are guided tours (call for schedule), a reading room, a documentation center, a gift shop, a bookstore, and a café. 

Merchant and fur trader James McGill would probably be horrified to know that the university that he helped found in 1828 has developed an international reputation as one of North America's top party schools. McGill also happens to be one of the two or three best universities in Canada, and certainly one of the prettiest. Its campus is an island of grass and trees in a sea of traffic and skyscrapers. The statue of James McGill himself was removed in Summer 2021 after several bouts of vandalism aimed at the representation of the deceased slave owner. Take the time to stroll up the drive that leads from the Greek Revival Roddick Gates to the austere neoclassical Arts Building and meander over to the splendid Romanesque Redpath Hall building. McGill's first dedicated library is now a grand 300-seat concert hall ( www.mcgill.ca/music/about-us/halls/redpath-hall), though the newer library building next door still bears the generous benefactor's name. If you have an hour or so, drop into the temple-like Redpath Museum of Natural History ( www.mcgill.ca/redpath) to browse its eclectic collection of dinosaur bones, old coins, African art, and shrunken heads.

Prosperity is embodied in the striking, glass-sided Medicine Hat City Hall, which won the Canadian Architectural Award in 1986. Guided group and self-guided tours are available.

There were many industries that thrived in Medicine Hat prior to World War I, but the manufacture of clay products became a booming industry that still remains today. The historic factories, equipment, and artifacts of this business have been declared one of Canada's national historic treasures, and a tour of the museum will allow you to view historic pottery, stoneware, ceramics, brick, and the equipment that was used to produce it as early as 1885. Guided tours are available.

The Tourist Information Centre has detailed trail maps of the preserve.

Known as "The Disappearing Lake," Medicine Lake has long been a place of mystery and legend. In summer, it looks like a normal alpine lake, but in the fall and winter, the water almost completely disappears. Indigenous people had legends to explain the phenomenon, but scientists believe it's actually caused by an expansive underground cave system that the lake water is constantly draining through, and in the summer there is enough glacial runoff to maintain water levels. Once the runoff slows, the lake begins to drain and the surface dries up. The underground cave system runs 17 km (11 miles) downstream and resurfaces below Maligne Canyon. It's common to see bald eagles, osprey, bears, moose, and bighorn sheep near this lake.

Perched atop the highest vantage point on the escarpment with vines as far as the eye can see, the vineyard gives off a larger-than-life personality paired with facetious branding like "pompous" Pinots and "narcissistic" Rieslings. Tours and experiences are incentivized, with ticket fees going towards a bottle purchase. Timing your visit with a meal at the restaurant is an excellent way to take in the gorgeous hills. 

One of Nova Scotia's most popular beaches, Melmerby has a boardwalk, picnic tables, and some of the warmest water north of the Carolinas. Beaches straddle both the inner and outer edges of this horseshoe of land, the inner portion a glorious stretch of white sand. Swimming is safe here unless winds are high, when strong currents develop. The supervised area (in July and August) is clearly marked. Beware of poison ivy in the sand dunes and, between mid-July and early August, jellyfish in the water. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards; parking (free); showers; toilets. Best for: swimming.

The gardens at this 110-acre natural area include rock gardens, a Newfoundland historic-plants bed, peat and woodland beds, an alpine house, a medicinal garden, a native plant collection, a vegetable garden, a crevice garden, a shade garden, a dried-flower garden, and a compost demonstration garden. There are also five pleasant walking trails. You can see scores of rhododendron varieties here, as well as many kinds of butterflies and the rare hummingbird hawkmoth.

At this provincial historic site you can slip back in time more than a century to the era when mercantile families ruled tiny communities. Next door, the counting house has been restored to the 1820s and the retail store to the 1900s. An interpretation center traces the history of Trinity, once a hub of commerce.

Cider is made in the traditional English way at this apple orchard, cidery and distillery; in addition to several varieties of cider and fortified wines, they also make spirits, like brandy, vodka, gin, and an apple eau de vie. Visitors can take a cidery and tasting tour at noon on Saturdays or a spirits and brandy tour on Sundays. Lunches of local fare served on the orchard-view patio. There's also a shop selling ciders, juices, baked goods, and jams, and you can even spend the night in a glamorous yurt on the property.

Two important First Nations archaeological sites, the Augustine Mound and Oxbow national historic sites, are at the heart of this park, "Where Spirits Live"—where the Mi'kmaq have lived for more than 3,000 years. In the museum, enthusiastic and knowledgeable staff are on hand to answer questions about the exhibits, and there's a good film about the history of the site. Outside, there are a number of walking trails to explore, and events include drumming circles, traditional dancing, and the annual powwow in June. First Nations experiences on offer include traditional foods, tipi retreats, storytelling from Mi'kmaq elders around the firepit, and guided walks.