A Travel Guide to Canada
Canada is the world’s second largest country and is the least densely populated – Alaska lying on its West. To its east lies the largest island in the world - Greenland lying to its right. The rest of the United States, barring Hawaii, lies south with the North Pole northward. It is part of the Commonwealth of Nations with Queen Elizabeth II as its monarch.
Canada globally has the longest coastline with the colder seas of the Arctic on the north, with the Atlantic on the east and the very popular and warmer sea of the North Pacific on its west. Naturally, depending on your choice of activity will depend on where you want to go. Sunbathers will opt for the North Pacific coastline of British Columbia whilst Polar bear watchers will go east to the Hudson Bay coastline in Churchill Manitoba.
For lakeside waters there are the Great Lakes that the province of Ontario in Canada shares with the United States. Another natural water feature shared with them is the nearly four thousand feet of rushing water that annually attracts twelve million visitors - the Niagara Falls - that borders New York and Toronto.
Toronto is also the home of Canada’s Wonderland – a popular many rides theme park and the CN Tower of which its observation deck is said to be the highest in the world - the view of Lake Ontario from here is simply breath-taking. Ontario is also the province that houses the capital of Canada in Ottawa whose government buildings are loosely based on the British Houses of Parliament and not forgetting the beautiful Algonquin Provincial Park in Whitney with its popular outdoor sports of fishing, kayaking and hiking.
Besides the marvellous waterways of Canada that offer many coastal adventures, there is also the long chain of mountains that is only second in length to the Andes – the Rocky Mountains. The northern extremity of these mountains, lie in the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia.
Alberta is the province that hosted the Winter Olympics of 1988 in Calgary. This superlative venue also featured the Never Say Die attitude of Eddie the Eagle and the debut of the tropical country of Jamaica’s ‘Cool Runnings’ Bobsled team. The Olympics clearly left an imprint and also an improved infrastructure for many winter sports such as skiing, bobsledding, snowboarding and skating. Alberta and British Columbia have many popular resorts that are well equipped with facilities and fun things to do. Quebec which is east of Ontario also hosts many winter sports including a winter annual carnival that has competitive ice fishing, horse-drawn and dog pulled sled rides and celebrates with snow baths and concerts.
Canada also has one of the best views of the unique natural wonder of the Aurora Borealis more commonly known as the Northern Lights.
There is a wide variety of self catering vacation rentals in Canada ranging from cooler coastal homes on the North Pacific coastline of British Columbia to warm log cabins and chalets in the mountainous ski resort areas.
