This past year, Canada has been singled out by travellers and foreign publications alike for its many great travel offerings. Looking for the Happiest Place, the Top Islands and Cities of North America, Best Eco Trips or World Class Hotels? You'll find them here -- in Canada. Here's a sample:
- Canadian islands and cities are among the best in North America: Vancouver Island has come in first place again! For the seventh year in a row, the British Columbia island is No. 1 on a list of top 10 North American Islands, based on a survey of 32,633 readers of Conde Nast Traveler magazine. Two other Canadian islands made it to the list: the Gulf Islands in B.C. which came in fourth, followed by P.E.I. in fifth place.
Meanwhile in the same survey, Canada had five cities in the top 10 North American Cities list. Vancouver came in second after Buenos Aires, and was followed by Quebec City and Victoria in third and fourth places respectively. Montreal took seventh place while Toronto placed ninth.
- Historic Canada: Canada may be a young country but not one without a history worth exploring.
In the new book 1001 Historic Sites You Must See Before You Die (Barron's Educational Series), editor Richard Cavendish -- in collaboration with UNESCO -- has selected 14 places of note in Canada. Along with the popular sites you'd expect to see such as the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland (North America's only authentic Viking settlement), and Dawson City, Yukon, are a few lesser known places worthy of attention. These include Wanuskewin Heritage Park in Saskatoon -- a sacred prairie site of Canada's First Nations; Fort Edmonton Park -- Canada's largest "living-history park," and former trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company; Hotel-Dieu de Montreal -- an illustrious medical institution; and Chateau Ramezay -- one of the oldest buildings in Montreal and home to the city's governor in 1704.
- B.C. is tops for world-class hotels: Canada has no fewer than 43 hotels and resorts that made it to the Conde Nast Traveler magazine's (January 2009 issue) Gold List of "710 World's Best Places to Stay." The list is based on data collected from the magazine's annual Readers' Choice Survey.
More than half of the Canadian properties (26) are in B.C. Among them are the King Pacific Lodge on Princess Royal Island, the Magnolia Hotel & Spa in Victoria, Long Beach Lodge Resort, Tofino, and the Pan Pacific Village Centre in Whistler. One of the highest rated is the Fairmont Vancouver Airport, described as a "glass hotel backed by mountains ... where guests can watch planes take off and land without hearing them thanks to soundproof windows."
- More Canadian hotels to love: Unlike the Conde Nast list above, which is based on a readers survey, National Geographic Traveler magazine (April 2009 issue) tapped into the experiences of veteran journalists, road warriors and local experts for its list of "129 hotels we love."
They based their picks on criteria such as a sense of place, architecture, a room with history, local food, sustainable practices, and whether the hotel reflects and defines its surroundings or engages with the community.
The 13 Canadian properties that made it to the list include Lazy Bear Lodge and Cafe in Churchill, Man., Fairmont Algonquin in St. Andrews-by-the-Sea, N.B., and Cape Breton Island's Chanterelle Country Inn and Cottages and Crown Jewel Resort Ranch. Others on the list are the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto, Hotel Nelligan in Montreal, Auberge Place d'Armes in Quebec City, and two in the Yukon -- Bombay Peggy's Victorian Inn & Pub in Dawson City and Inn on the Lake in Whitehorse.
Four of the hotels are in B.C. -- Island Lake Lodge in Fernie, Hastings House Country House Hotel on Salt Spring Island, Sonora Resort on Sonora Island, and Clayoquot Wilderness Resort in Tofino.
- Ecotrips, cool camps and happy places: Kayaking the Yukon River has been rated one of the top three eco-trips, according to the book Lonely Planet's Best in Travel 2009: 850 Trends, Destinations, Journeys & Experiences for the Year Ahead. The 3,770-km long waterway, once a principal trade route for gold miners, has Grade 1 waters that make for great wilderness paddling, the authors contend. They suggest a 315-km-long 10-day trip from Minto to Dawson, where you can camp on sandbanks and islands along the way.
The book also rates Canada as "one of the Top 10 Countries" in which to travel based on the many festivals and events and an "insane amount of terrain to play on ..."
Elsewhere, in the category of "Coolest Camps," they list Tipi Camp on the shores of Lake Kootenay, "a peaceful, low impact camp on the traditional lands of the Ktunaxa Nation with access by boat or a hike through the forest." One of the "Happiest Places" is Montreal, which stages one of the world's best comedy festivals -- Just For Laughs -- every July.
One of the top 10 places to experience the blues is in Blue River, an outpost between Kamloops and Jasper that offers "spectacular mountaineering, glacier adventures and wildlife encounters." In the "Best for Reflection" category, the book suggests going down the road from Lake Louise to the less-visited Moraine Lake for "mirror-image mountains in the glassy water."
- Canada has World's Top Cycling Routes: Two of Canada's cycling routes have received high praise in the book National Geographic's Journeys of a Lifetime: 500 of the World's Greatest Trips.
Quebec's Route Verte (Green Route) ranks first in the top 10 bike routes on the planet, chosen for its "beauty, length and excitement," varied terrain and vistas, and because it is "well signed, easy to follow and includes directions to interesting sites."
In the No. 2 spot, is the Underground Railroad Bicycle Route, a portion of which goes through Canada. The 3,310-km route, in five segments, was developed by the Adventure Cycling Association, and runs from Mobile, Ala., to Owen Sound, Ont. The Canadian segment passes several places of historic interest from a plaque at Queenston Heights Park commemorating Ontario's first Coloured Corps to the place in Owen Sound where an Emancipation Picnic has been held every year since 1862.
- Two awards for the Port of Quebec City: The Quebec Port Authority (QPA) has received two notable awards presented by the DreamWorld Cruise Destinations magazine at the Seatrade Cruise Shipping Miami conference held in March. The QPA got the "Most Responsive Port" award -- given to the port that most promptly meets requests for information and comes up with solutions to cruise line challenges and requirements. It also received the "Best Destination Experience Independent" award -- as voted by cruise passengers who planned their own land-based excursions. This is the third time the port has received this award.
- Toronto is hip: Under the headline "Canada's Cutting Edge," Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel magazine, in its March 2009 issue, called Toronto, "the new cultural stop of the north."
It praised the Daniel Libeskind-designed crystal addition to the Royal Ontario Museum as well as two of the city's annual events: The Toronto International Film Festival in September and Luminato in June.
WRITER@INTERLOG.COM
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