6 essential places to visit in Canada

In this article we are going to show you six essential places to visit in Canada. And it is not easy to synthesize what to see in this North American nation in such a small space. Not in vain, with almost ten million square kilometers, it is the second largest country in the world after Russia.

Impressive natural parks like those of Banff y Jasper, spectacular lakes like the Louise and colossal waterfalls like those of the Niagara they make up their territory. But you can also find big cities like Torontoo, Quebec o Montreal. Based on all this, below, we are going to show you six essential places to visit in Canada.

Niagara Falls

We have to start our tour of the essential places to visit in Canada at its most famous waterfalls, so much so that they hardly need a description. However, we will give you a few details so that you can get an idea of ​​its enormous dimensions and majesty.

Actually it's a set of waterfalls with an average drop of about fifty-one meters. There are mainly three: the Canadian, the American and the so-called Bridal Veil, a little smaller. In fact, they are between Canada y United States and were discovered by the explorer Samuel Champlain in 1604.

But, almost unanimously, the most beautiful is the call Horseshoe, which is shaped like a horseshoe and covers almost seven hundred meters wide. As a curiosity, we will tell you that "niagara" is a word from the Iroquois language and means "water thunder". In short, Niagara Falls are one of the symbols of canada, as they receive more than fourteen million visitors a year.

Banff National Park

There are many natural parks that you can visit in Canadian territory and which one is more impressive. We could advise you Jasper's, where the imposing glacier is athabasca and the precious Maligne Lake, surrounded by mountains. Or the Capilano Park, with its spectacular suspension bridge of the same name, which has a length of one hundred and twenty-seven meters, and with its gigantic sequoias.

But we have chosen the one from Banff, which is located in the province of Alberta, south of the Rocky Mountains. It covers almost seven thousand square kilometers and has some of the most impressive landscapes in the country. This is the case of the environment of moraine lake, which is fed by a glacier and is surrounded by the mountains that make up the Valley of the Ten Peaks.

We also recommend that you see the Peyto Lake, with its turquoise blue waters, as well as the bow with its glacier. And, along with them, the Mirror, Agnes and Minnewanka lakes. But, perhaps, the most spectacular thing about the park are the views from the sulfur mountain, which you can go up by cable car.

Finally, we recommend that if you want to visit both this park and Jasper, go from one to the other by the call Icefields Parkway o Ice Fields Highway. The landscape is wonderful, as it runs parallel to the aforementioned lake louise (to which we will return later) and at Rocky Mountains.

Ottawa, one of the essential places to visit in Canada

In a guide about the essential places to visit in Canada, its capital could not be missing, Ottawa. It is located in the extreme southeast of the country and is washed by the river that gives it its name, although it also includes the mouth of the Rideau. It has a population of approximately one million inhabitants, but its metropolitan area exceeds two.

Precisely, one of the best activities you can do in Ottawa is to walk through the Rideau canal, which connects the city to Lake Ontario. Declared Heritage, is the oldest in all of North America and is still in use. In fact, in summer you can explore it by boat, while in winter, it becomes a long ski slope.

Another area that you should visit in Ottawa is the Parliament Hill, where the most important official buildings in the country are located. Among them, stands out, logically, the Parliament, a spectacular neo-Gothic construction from the mid-19th century in which the Peace Tower.

It is also typical of the city ByWard market, more than two centuries old and almost three hundred positions. If you want to buy a souvenir from the city, this is your place. But, before leaving it, you have to visit some of its beautiful museums.

Among them, the National Gallery of Art, located in a beautiful glass building, or the Canadian Museum of History, which covers more than twenty thousand years in its rooms. But you can also see that of war, whose headquarters is a building that imitates an aircraft, or that of nature, which shares a location with the Queen Victoria Memorial.

lake louise

There are also many lakes that dot the Canadian territory and they are all spectacular. We have already mentioned some, but now we want to recommend you the louise as another of the essential places to visit in Canada because, in addition to being one of the most beautiful, it is among the most famous.

It is located in the province of Alberta and, as we told you, you will reach it by Ice Fields Highway. It is 1750 meters above sea level and has an area of ​​0,8 square kilometers. But, as happens with other lakes in the area, its waters have a beautiful coloring. It is due to the remains of dust that reach it when the Victoria and Lefroy glaciers.

As if that were not enough, the surroundings of the Louise are impressive. You can make magnificent hiking trails by him (some can also be done by bicycle). For example, those that lead to Fairview Mountain, Mount Whyte or Mirror Lake. Likewise, on the shore there is the Lake Louise Castle. It was a tourist complex built by the Canadian Pacific Railway company at the beginning of the 20th century.

Whistler, tourist town

The municipality of the municipality has a very different character from the previous one. Whistler, which, however, should also be among the essential sites to visit in Canada, especially if you like el esqui. Because it is the largest tourist complex in all of North America for the practice of this sport.

It is made up of mountains Whistler y Blackcomb, united by a beautiful pedestrian town. Between them, they offer you more than two hundred tracks with varying difficulties, five snowparks and other infrastructure to enjoy the snow. Likewise, it has thirty-eight lifts that move up to sixty thousand skiers per hour.

On the other hand, in summer the facilities become the mountain biking park biggest in the world. All of this means that around three million travelers visit Whistler every year, which also contributes to the beauty of the town, which has received several design awards. If you want to ski between the colossal walls of ice that make up the mountains of the British Columbia, this is your site.

Quebec, another city among the essential places to visit in Canada

In addition to the country's capital, you have other beautiful cities to visit in Canada. We could talk to you about Toronto, with its spectacular CN Tower which, with its more than five hundred meters high, offers you spectacular 360-degree views. Or Vancouver, with its bay, beaches and areas like Granville Street.

However, we have opted for Quebec and not only because it is the second most populated in the country with almost eight million inhabitants. We chose it because it is the most French, in the sense that it has a wonderful colonial architecture. In fact, it belonged to the French country since 1534, when it arrived Jacques Cartier, To 1763.

Its historic center is encompassed within the old walls of the 18th century and is Heritage. Precisely, in the complex the fortifications of the Gate of San Juan and San Luis, but, above all, the Frontenac castle. Built at the end of the 19th century, it responds to the historicist style based on the French Renaissance. Its creator was the architect Bruno Price and, since then, it has operated as a hotel.

Another of the wonders of Old Quebec is the Town Hall, in his case designed by the Frenchman Georges Tanguay and from the same time. Also, you have to see the imposing building of the local parliament and that of Seminar. In turn, the Day hospital It is the oldest of its kind in all of North America.

Regarding religious constructions, the Basilica of Our Lady of Quebec, which dates back to the 17th century, although two fires destroyed it. Its current neoclassical appearance was given to it in the 19th century by Jean Baillairgé.

Other emblematic buildings of the city are the Montcalm palace; the Gros Bécs, Conservatory and Capitol theaters, or the whole of the Laval University. All this without forgetting its museums. Between these, those of Fine Arts, French America, Civilization or Inuit Art.

In conclusion, we have proposed six essential places to visit in Canada. But we could mention others such as the cities of Montreal, Edmonton o Halifax, as well as natural spaces of beauty Yoho, Glacier, Waterton Lakes parks o from Saint Lawrence Island. Dare to discover all the beauties that the North American country offers you.