Welcome to our Guide to travel to Canada! If you have come this far, it is because you are looking for a complete guide full of useful tips for traveling to this wonderful country. So congratulations, you are in the right place!
We are María and Marcos, and we are in love with Canada. With this guide, we want to share with you everything that we would have liked someone to have told us the first time we traveled to Canada on our own.
So enjoy, you are in good hands and about to start an experience that will change your life. Shall we start?
The first problem before preparing for a trip like this is to really know where to start planning it. Surely millions of questions are flooding your mind right now: from what visa do you need, what is the weather, or what are those places that you cannot miss. For this reason, we have organized this Guide so that you have all the essentials on one page.
How does this Guide work? This Guide is a kind of “index” of all the small guides that we have been developing throughout all this time. You will see that each section of this article will take you to other super-specific articles where we cover each topic in depth.
What to see and do in Canada
We start our Guide with this section, so you can get to know everything that this wonderful country has to offer. We start with their cities, so that you can locate yourself more easily and, as you progress through the guide, we will introduce you to more specific places.
Visit the main cities of Canada:
Toronto
Toronto is one of the most popular cities in Canada. It is likely that you know its iconic tower, the CN Tower, from which, as the joke said, “it looks Torontontero.” It is a cosmopolitan city with a center in which modern buildings and skyscrapers stand out in contrast to its old town of 19th-century brick industrial buildings.
It is a very pleasant city with all the services that you can demand from a first-class metropolis, where the nature of the country can be seen from every corner, from its many green areas, such as Queen’s Park or High Park.
We recommend all first-time travelers to Toronto to get lost in Queen Street West (the city’s fashionable area), Eaton Center (the shopping area), Chinatown or the famous Kensington Market, the distillery district where the last Sunday of the months of May, June, July, August, September, and October the Pedestrian Sundays are organized, a day in which the streets are closed and so that people can walk quietly through them and enjoy music and shows at the fresh air.
Montreal
Montreal is located on the Saint Lawrence River, being the largest city in the entire province of Quebec. Its name originates from the mount that is right in the center of the island, Mont-Royal, which can be accessed for excursions.
Among its main tourist attractions is the French-style Vieux-Montréal neighborhood where we find the Notre-Dame Basilica, the famous bohemian-style neighborhood Plateau, or the Underground City of Montreal, a huge pedestrian network in which there are all kinds of shops and linking different subway stations underground.
Montreal is also known for its festivals, such as the International Jazz Festival, which takes place in the summer months, or the Snow Festival (Fête des Neiges), which takes place in winter. We also recommend that you visit the Montreal Botanical Garden, a true gem in the center of the city.
Quebec
Quebec, like Montreal, is located along the Saint Lawrence River and belongs to the province of Quebec. One of the most characteristic elements of Quebec is its fortified center, typical of the colonial era, where we find picturesque corners, cobbled streets, and unique buildings, such as the famous Château Frontenac (an imposing castle-shaped hotel) or the Terrasse Dufferin ( an elevated area from which you can see the entire city of Quebec), all located in the Upper City.
By funicular, we can go to the Lower City and stroll through the cobbled streets of the Petit Champlain neighborhood (where we recommend you stop for a coffee in some of its adorable bistros), see a stone church dating from the year 1688, or walk to the Old Port and enjoy its lively nightlife by the river.
If you travel to Quebec in winter you can see the Quebec Carnival, where sleigh rides, ice skating rinks, or snow sculpture contests are organized. You will also see the Hôtel de Glace, the famous hotel made entirely of ice where guests have the opportunity to live the unique experience of sleeping in a completely frozen room.
Vancouver
Vancouver, located in British Columbia, is the largest city on the west coast of Canada. It is a multicultural city with a young and energetic spirit that can be seen in aspects such as the type of construction of its modern buildings, in the dynamism of its inhabitants or even in its art, musical, and theater areas.
One of the most attractive places in Vancouver is Stanley Park, from which you can see the city’s skyline and that in its 405 hectares houses swimming pools, play areas, forests to get lost while doing excursions, and even an aquarium (the Vancouver Aquarium).
We recommend that you take a tour of its varied neighborhoods, from the Punjabi market or China Town to the historic center (Gastown). You should also visit Granville Island, famous for its restaurants and shops. Finally, if you like winter sports, such as skiing or snowboarding, you can take the Skyride cable car up to Grouse Mountain and take advantage of the wonderful views that the journey offers.
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