Thread: Canada trip

What are you after and time of year. I went back after being away for a long time in July. Spent most of my time along the lake front of Toronto . Easy to get about on foot public transport or cycling. Given a unlimiteted choice I would really like to go around the maritimes. There was a pub that was bisected by the 49th parallel , so you could drink in Canada and the USA. Doubt that still exists though. But I am biased to the east and downtown Toronto so my views may not suit

My old boy wants to see Canada, so I've just started looking, will be natural scenic sites, probably 3-4weeks, just wanting to either purchase or hire a vehicle, with no real set itinerary, just a list of must see's and make it up along the way

preferably not peak tourist season, so close to this time next year

I've only been just over the border from the US. Niagara Falls is an amazing volume of water for someone from a dryish continent. The view is spoiled by the sideshow alley type Main Street. Very out of place next to such a natural wonder.

I have been in all of the main provinces of Canada - Wife and i spent about 6 weeks driving from west to east several years ago.
Starting west to east:
Vancouver Island - very much like tassie, with a lot of little islands where some interesting artisans live and apply their craft.
Vancouver - a very pretty city with coast and mountains all in one view, their is Hyde park, Gas town and the largest China town in north america.
You can do a ferry up the west coast to Anchorage and then a bus trip back to Vancouver through the interior of British Columbia.
The train trip through the Rockies is spectacular - so is the drive.
Into Alberta Calgary is like one big country town. If you like Dinosaurs head north to Drumhellar and the Tyrell Museum - worth spending a couple of days in this area. Edmonton use to have the largest mall in North America - West Edmonton Mall.
Jasper and Banff are worth visiting and the glaciers.
Saskatchewan and Manitoba are flat featuring agriculture as its main industry.
Into Ontario and if you like lakes is the place to be very spectacular scenery - worth the drive through the province. Toronto is a great city.
Quebec - take it or leave it but Ottawa is the capital city and is a fabulous city, so is Montreal - visit old montreal if into architecture, and the under ground city is suppose to be something else. Niagra falls is spectacular, except for the actual town which is worse than the Gold Coast.

Then you get into the maritimes - PEI, Nova Scotia is pretty, and Newfoundland.
I would say hire / buy a car and Drive.
At each boarder between the provinces is an Information centre where you can get all kinds of helpful ideas as to what to see in each province. Each province has multiple provincial parks that you can camp in. Camping in Canada is a lot different than the caravan parks in Australia - you actually have space between campsites, most provide fire wood, and a lot of campsites have a bit of bush between them.
Best time to visit - depends but July / August is the summer and is when all the kids are on school holidays - very busy time to be in Canada.
May is a good time and so is August - can have warm days but the nights will be cold. Many touristy things are only open during the July / August summer holidays - so you may be limited to what you can do as a tourist. Once October rolls around you could encounter snow at any time.

Dave_S on here lived in Canada for quite a while (west coast) so is probably the best person to talk to.

Dave has a mate near vancouver who has a fleet of landies (all working) including a 101 with a LC80(?) drivetrain and an Australian built 110 county that Dave sold him.

Lots of great things to see and do. Getting an 8 seater seaplane from Vancouver Island to Seattle was great fun and worth doing if it fits with your schedule.

A friend did the train up north and a cruise and came back raving.
One of our sons went to Calgary with a band and when he got out of the airport terminal it was minus 50!

Minus 50 is why we have fridges. Stops the beer from freezing !

Originally Posted by trog

Minus 50 is why we have fridges. Stops the beer from freezing !

Oh, you live there!

Interested in helping out and maybe scoring a cheap vehicle?