Five years ago, in June 2012, I landed in Montreal Airport. It wasn't my first time in Canada, but this time I was here to stay. A decision I haven't regretted once. Canada is a huge country with so much to offer, it isn't perfect, but it's pretty damn close!
Five years ago, I decided to travel from Montreal to Vancouver, on the west coast. Here's my recollection of this incredible journey! (Hopefully my memories are still accurate enough!)
Montreal
Biggest city in Quebec, Montreal is a vibrant and exciting city, especially during the summer! I arrive at the perfect time, right during the Jazz Festival. The free concerts outside attract lots of people in the streets. Montreal can be extremely cold in winter but don't be fooled, the summers here are far from being cold!
My favorite place in Montreal is the park Mont-Royal. It feels like a wild forest in the middle of a big city. You have great views of Downtown Montreal from the Chalet Mont-Royal.
The Old-Montreal, located on the banks of the St Laurent River, is a must-see. This is where Montreal first started so you will find museums and historical buildings. Renting bikes is a very fun to explore the city and the metro is very convenient, but personally, I find that nothing beats wandering around the city on foot! If you like roller coasters, check out La Ronde on the Ile St Helene.
I'm not gonna go and list all the cool stuff to do in Montreal (it would take me days!) but there's no way you could get bored while visiting the city. You better work on your French before coming here, even though everyone is bilingual here, they are very proud of their French and will be way nicer to you if you make the extra effort to speak some French!
Their accent is so different than mine but I actually find it pretty cute and after a few days in Montreal, I end up speaking like them!
Many great bars with live music and restaurants. While you here, you must try the Poutine!! It isn't exactly diet food I admit it, but after a night of drinking, this will be the best food you ever had! Fries, gravy and cheese!
You can easily spend a week in Montreal (which is what I've done) and then it's time to get going, in my case, direction the capital city, Ottawa!
Ottawa
I arrive in Ottawa on a special occasion, the Canada Day! I've been here before and it seemed like a quiet little government city.
But today, it is full of people wearing white and read, waving their Canadian flags proudly, eating hot dogs and drinking. I plan to see the fireworks at Parliament Hill, the political center of the city. Ottawa isn't as entertaining as Montreal I'll be honest with you, but it has its charm. In the summer you can canoe on the Rideau Canal (and ice-skate in winter!). There is a fantastic Canadian Museum of History worth the visit for sure and in general, it is a nice place to spend a weekend.
You can go to Montreal or Toronto with the Greyhound buses, fast and relatively cheap (compared to flying obviously).
At night that day, the fireworks are spectacular, people are singing and enjoying a free concert. Everyone seem so proud to be Canadian, I am not a Canadian, in fact I just moved here a few days ago but I feel part of this amazing group of people, I feel like I somehow belong here to, and I sing as well even though I don't know the lyrics, who care, O Canada!
Toronto
The biggest city in Canada, Toronto is located along the shores of Lake Ontario. It is a massive city of skyscrapers and financial districts.
At first sight, it doesn't really appeal to me, but don't judge a city by its appearance, Toronto is much more than a big city without a soul.
I enjoy walking along the Lake Ontario, south of the city is where wealthy people choose to build their houses and it is quite an interesting sight. Surprisingly you can find a few very nice parks and in summer, Toronto is a very hot and humid city so parks are always welcome!
If you are a nerd like me, you probably would enjoy the Royal Ontario Museum but if you are not a nerd, you can always just go to the top of the CN tower and enjoy the views of the city and the lake!
Toronto also has plenty of festivals for you to forget you are in a big modern city, I love eating so for me, anything with food is a great event!
Niagara Falls
Easily accessible by bus or by car from Toronto, the Niagara falls are internationally famous and a very popular sight for tourists here. I've been there twice and even though the falls are definitively not as impressive as the Iguazu Falls in South America, I think it is still worth seeing and taking a boat to get closer (and end up completely drench!).
The falls actually get way more impressive as you get closer, it is loud and you feel like a tiny little thing next to this powerful element: water!
The town of Niagara Falls isn't anything special, lots of attractions for tourists and restaurants.
Winnipeg
About 2000km from Toronto, located in the south of Manitoba, the city of Winnipeg is a little lost in the middle of nowhere. At least it was my first impression. I'm sorry if I offend people, but Winnipeg isn't a fantastic city BUT the surroundings are very beautiful. I would suggest you spend most of your time around the city instead. The Winnipeg lake and little towns around like Gimli are worth driving the extra miles. Gimli's first settlers came from Iceland and today it is called New Iceland! It is a great place to visit! (and try the local delicacies!).
Even if Winnipeg in itself is nothing special, the people in Manitoba are pretty special. So welcoming and friendly, I've never felt so welcome somewhere.
I met a very nice couple, Jacques and Natalie, both francophone, who have living in Winnipeg for years. Jacques work for the Oak Hammock Marsh so he suggests we drive there to check it out. It is only 42km north of Winnipeg but it is such a gorgeous place where you can observe the wildlife as you please! It is a non-for-profit organization which tries to connect people to the wetlands of the region. It is home to many species of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians! I spend an hour waiting for a shy ground squirrel to show his cute little face so I could photograph him. Worth the wait!
Edmonton
1300 km north-west of Winnipeg, many hours of bus across a vast flat land later, I found myself in the province of Alberta and the city of Edmonton.
I knew nothing about Edmonton, except that they had the biggest shopping mall in North America. Not really something I usually care about but I decided to check it out anyway. It is, as advertised, huge mall with a ice-skating ring in the middle of it and so many stores that you could spend your entire life savings in here!
Since I have no life savings (or should I say, no savings at all), I quickly moved to a different part of the city. I found walking along the banks of the North-Saskatchewan River to be really pleasant. If you like beers, there are a few nice brewery in town. In general the city appears to be as really quiet, I heard the winters in Edmonton are drastic, good thing I'm only spending a few summer days here. About 47 km from the city center, you can visit Elk Island National Park and really, if you have the time, you should! You can see entire families of bison walking around freely. I was a little scare of them and tried to keep my distances as much as possible but the babies are absolutely adorable!
Another good news regarding Edmonton is, it is only 350km away from a true magical place: the Canadian Rockies!
Jasper National Park
From Edmonton, I drive to Jasper National Park. It takes about 3,5 hours and the scenery is absolutely breathtaking. Mountains everywhere, pure wilderness! You can spot a black bear eating on the side of the road or an elk chilling in the grass, nature is all around you and you might feel like stopping to take pictures every 5 minutes. And you should! Go ahead, take your time here! It's not everyday you can witness something like this!
Stop on the shores of the Jasper Lake and breathe the fresh air! It is now July but I can still see some snow on the highest mountains! It is not that hot during the evenings, I'm glad I have a warm jacket.
Mosquitoes are having the time of their life but nothing can stop me from enjoying this moment. After reaching the town of Jasper where I buy some camping food, I head south on the Icefields Pkwy, what an incredible ride! This place is absolutely fantastic! I can't believe my eyes! I go for a few hikes where I see absolutely no soul for hours (except for thousands of mosquitoes following me but I'm pretty sure they don't have a soul!).
You can see waterfalls, rivers and lake everywhere. My favorite is Athabasca Falls, 30km south of the town of Jasper but there are many others which are probably worth the visit. You could spend a full year in Jasper National Park and still not see everything!
100 km south, almost at the border with Banff National Park is the Columbia Icefield! It is the largest icefield in the Rockies! It is really impressive and you get a chance to walk to the feet of the glacier. Some people pay a lot of money to take a bus which drives on the glacier...I don't really see the point in doing that, if you decide to go ahead and book it, great, but remember, you should never walk on a glacier on your own! It is very dangerous and you could fall and injure yourself in a hidden crevasse.
Banff National Park
In Banff National Park you can see two fantastic turquoise lakes: Lake Moraine and Lake Louise! My favorite is undeniably Lake Moraine, I found Lake Louise to be a little too touristic and busy, plus there is a huge Fairmont Hotel built right next to it, it takes the feeling of being lost in the wilderness away from you. You can rent a canoe on Lake Moraine, obviously you are not going to be swimming since even in summers, the water is extremely cold! You can hike around both lakes, there are many trails, I find it busier than Jasper National Park but it is still really nice to hike here.
Banff is a natural habitat for grizzly bears so it is advise to always hike with a minimum of 4 people. If you are alone (like me!) just wait at the beginning of a trail and ask the next hikers if you can join them. I didn't have to wait for long during the busy month of July. But otherwise you might want to have bear spray, a bell that makes a lot of noise and make sure animals are aware of your presence. You do not want to surprise a grizzly bear here! I admit that for the first hour of the hike, I wasn't really feeling reassure, every sound I would jump, ready to drop on the floor and play dead! I had so much fun taking pictures of chipmunks though!
Drumheller
From Banff, I drove to Calgary, can't really say much about this city since I only drove around for one afternoon. But after Calgary, I headed towards Drumheller. It seems to be in the middle of nowhere so might wonder why I decided to drive more than 100 km to reach this little arid town in Alberta. The answer is, remember I told you, I'm a nerd. I love dinosaurs! And Drumheller is located on the Red Deer River Valley which is often called... the Dinosaur Valley! Obviously, no, there aren't any dinosaurs here (unfortunately) but there used to be! Many fossils were found in the region and now you can visit the great Royal Tyrrell Museum which has a lot of dinosaurs bones exposed. 15 minutes drive from the city, you will find an expected sight: a canyon! Called the Horsethief and Horseshoe Canyons. It is all dry and hot here, it feels and looks like a desert. You can walk down the canyons and explore around if you want to. It looks so different than Jasper and Banff, I'm glad I took the time and made a little detour.
After that, I got lost on some countryside road, in the middle of the agricultural fields of Alberta.
I kept thinking "Should I keep going straight or turn back?". Eventually, I reached a magical place, I was completely alone here, not a single human being for miles! Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park! The park is the site of an ancient buffalo jump, where Cree native people drove bison over the cliffs in large numbers to kill them and eat them. It is a spectacular place, really, definitively not a bad place to get lost into!
Vancouver
Finally, after about 40 days of traveling by bus (and occasionally by car) across Canada, I made it to Vancouver.
It was August, sunny and warm, so many people enjoying the beach.
I could go ahead and describe Vancouver to you, I will do that for sure in a separate post, I've got too much to say!
Vancouver is an amazing city, my personal favorite, surrounded by nature, mountains, forest, lakes and the ocean! British Columbia has so much to offer for tourists so please, don't skip it!
Crossing Canada was a great experience for me, I got a chance to meet some very friendly and helpful people.
I did couchsurfing most of the time and I'm still friends with some of the people I've met on this journey.
Sure Canada isn't the cheapest place to visit, but you can still find ways to travel on a small budget. And if you love the outdoors and are ready to go on an adventure, it is THE place to be!
I still have so much to discover, remember, it is a gigantic country!
I want to add that I'm incredibly grateful for the opportunity I have to live my life here in this tolerant, open-minded and beautiful country! Nothing is perfect and we still have to fight for things, but you gotta appreciate a good thing when you have it!
Now it's your turn! Tell me what you love about Canada if you've been here or tell me where you're planning to go!
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