Sights to see
Sightseeing
Every year, Canadian communities host thousands of fairs, festivals and sundry other celebrations. But some of the best events are organized by Mother Nature.
Twice daily, 200 billion tonnes of water (equivalent to all the world's rivers) floods in and out of the East Coast's Bay of Fundy. One spot to see its awesome impact is at Hopewell Rocks, 30 kilometres south of Moncton. At high tide, the rocks look like tree-topped islands; six hours later, when the Bay drops a whopping 14 metres, they look like mammoth “flowerpots” rising from the bare ocean floor. (877-734-3429; www.thehopewellrocks.ca).
The Great White North has great white wildlife, and Churchill, Manitoba, is the best place for viewings. Hop aboard a helicopter to watch the world's largest concentration of polar bears return to their dens after the annual seal hunt, or set out in an open boat to see the beluga whales that arrive en masse each summer to nurse their young. (800-690-7887; www.toursexplore.com).
If white's not your colour, try a three-day orca and grizzly tour around Vancouver Island. In summer, Coastal Spirits Wilderness Expeditions runs a 28-metre ketch from Port McNeill through Johnstone Strait into the Coast Mountain Inlets. Watch for killer whales -- the world's largest resident population -- and grizzlies, which can weigh up to 780 kilograms. (888-427-5557; www.bearsandwhales.com).
Whales come with a side order of icebergs in Newfoundland's Notre Dame Bay. Every spring, 10,000-year-old mountains of ice drift in from Greenland. The bergs are big: they can weigh 100,000 to 200,000 tonnes and loom 60 metres above sea level. Thanks to tunnels, runnels, and colours ranging from dazzling white to celestial blue, they're also surprisingly beautiful. (800-563-6353; www.gov.nf.ca/tourism).
Adrenaline-fuelled adventurers migrate to the North West Territories' Nahanni National Park each summer to tackle some of Canada's roughest terrain. It has an isolated location and a limited entry policy. So what's the attraction? Nahanni, the first park to be named a World Heritage Site, features one of the country's wildest rivers, one of the continent's deepest canyons and a waterfall twice as tall as Niagara's. Whew! (867-695-2713; www.nahanni.com).
For more inspiration to help plan your dream getaway, visit our Travel section.
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