1180 Best Sights in Canada

In the Shangri-La's Lobby Lounge, where guests check in, a band performs, a fireplace soothes, and silk-clad waitresses seemingly float from sunken couch to sunken couch bringing light meals and cocktails to a mix of locals and hotel guests. You can take in the scene over Afternoon Tea, offered seven days a week. This experience starts at $45 per person for a three-tier spread that includes a pot of one of the expertly blended teas—there are two tea sommeliers on staff to explain the 72 varieties of tea. Expect delicate pastries, buttery scones with homemade jam, and clever twists on finger sandwiches, such as brie, apple, and ham on marble rye on the menu.

Beautifully landscaped with willows, manicured hedges, and flower-bordered infield lakes, the Fort Erie Race Track has dirt and turf horse racing, with the year's highlight being the Prince of Wales Stakes, the second jewel in Canada's Triple Crown of Racing.

Guided tours, birding trips, ice walks, and snowshoeing tours are all available here. Most tours last three hours. The center also books canoeing, rafting, and other types of excursions.

Three provincial parks make up the 4,200-square-km (1,600-square-mile) recreational region known as Kananaskis Country, whose northern entrance is 26 km (16 miles) southeast of Canmore. The area includes grand mountain scenery, and though it's not quite a match for that in the adjacent national parks, Kananaskis allows some activities the parks prohibit, including snowmobiling, motorized boating, and off-road driving. There are also spectacular cross-country and mountain-biking trails.

The main route through Kananaskis Country is Highway 40, also known as the Kananaskis Trail. It runs north–south through the front ranges of the Rockies. Only the northern 40 km (25 miles) of the road remain open from December to mid-June, in part because of the extreme conditions of Highwood Pass (at 7,280 feet, the highest drivable pass in Canada), and in part to protect winter wildlife habitats in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. Highway 40 continues south to join Highway 541 west of Longview. Access to East Kananaskis Country, a popular area for horseback trips, is on Highway 66, which heads west from the town of Priddis.

Throughout the month of August, an international competition of fireworks performances set to music lights up the skies between Old Québec and Lévis, launched from barges on the St. Lawrence River, near the ferry docks. Special shows are presented on the sites before the first rockets launch.

The dress code at the neighboring casino might ban camisoles and strapless tops, but here anything seems to go on warm summer days, when the beach is a sea of oiled bodies. You get the distinct impression that swimming is not uppermost on the minds of many of the scantily clad hordes. If you do want to go in, however, the water is filtered and closely monitored for contamination, and there are lifeguards on duty. A shop rents swimming and boating paraphernalia, and there's a restaurant and picnic areas.